Lilly's return will force a starter to bullpen

Left-hander Ted Lilly will pitch in Peoria tonight in a rehab start, and if all goes well, he'll start Saturday evening in Milwaukee.

The Cubs will have some roster and rotation decisions to make, but manager Lou Piniella said Sunday it's too early to know what the changes will be.

"I don't know who's going to go to the bullpen," Piniella said. "I wouldn't make any guesses yet. It hasn't really been discussed too much. We've been waiting, basically, for Lilly to be ready. Once that he shows us he's ready, then we can start looking at this thing as carefully as possible. But right now, let's wait until Lilly pitches tomorrow."

Because Lilly's back was stiff recently, he won't fly to New York this week to meet the team.

Either left-hander Tom Gorzelanny or right-hander Carlos Silva will have to go to the bullpen when Lilly rejoins the rotation. On top of that, the Cubs will have to send a reliever to the minor leagues.

Lefty James Russell has been a pleasant surprise out of the pen. He has a 0.00 ERA in five games. However, a move to the pen by Gorzelanny would give the Cubs four left-handed relievers.

"We like Russell," Piniella said. "He's the third left-hander in the bullpen, which makes it a little harder to use because we've got to keep the two in front of him (Sean Marshall and John Grabow) sharp. Russell, probably is, when you project a him, a future starter down the road."

Marshall moves up: With Sunday's game tied at 2-2 in the 10th, Lou Piniella turned to lefty Sean Marshall and not to John Grabow.

Before the game, Piniella said of Marshall: "He's throwing the ball as well as I've ever seen him throw it."

Marshall gave up the winning run in the 10th, but he said he appreciated the confidence shown to him by Piniella. In 8 innings over 7 games, Marshall has given up 4 hits while striking out 12 and walking one, and that was an intentional walk Sunday.

Don't hop to it: Lou Piniella says he's all for left fielder Alfonso Soriano stopping his "hop" when he makes plays on flyballs.

"I would advocate something like that, yes," Piniella said. "We've talked about that in the past. All it can do is make your head bob and your eyes move and the ball flutter. It's like catching a knuckleball. If you can keep stable, catch it conventionally, I think it will help him. It's much easier. You can stay more stationary, probably stay on your toes as opposed to your heels much more readily and hopefully that'll help him."

This and that: Reliever Esmailin Caridad, on the DL with a forearm strain, will head to Arizona to begin a throwing program, Lou Piniella said. - Marlon Byrd collected his third multihit and third multi-RBI game of the season.