Shoulder surgery aside, Cubs to check Lilly's knee

MESA, Ariz. - The question was about how Ted Lilly threw Thursday as he recovers from November's shoulder surgery.

That part went fine, but when manager Lou Piniella started hesitating and choosing his words carefully, it signaled something else was going on.

As it turned out, Lilly went to have his right knee checked, with an MRI a possibility. Last season, Lilly underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.

"Lilly, we're holding him back as much as possible," Piniella said. "We've got plenty of time for Teddy to get him ready. We don't him to get a little overanxious.

"It's been like that for a couple days, evidently. We'll see. Hopefully, it's just a minor little thing. But as far as the shoulder is concerned, he's gaining strength, and he feels good. We're just having to hold him back and not have him take a step backward."

Lilly downplayed the seriousness of the knee injury after he threw about 30 pitches from flat ground.

"I don't know what to think of it right now," he said. "I'm sure we'll probably talk about this tomorrow. If not tomorrow, in the future if it's something that comes up. Maybe I'm just a little soft, fragile, I don't know. You expect to feel perfect all the time."

Same old story: Although he said he wasn't "disappointed," Lou Piniella pointed out that pitcher Carlos Silva was not in the best physical shape coming into camp. Fitness has been an issue for Silva, who is coming off two down years with Seattle. The Cubs obtained him in December in a trade for Milton Bradley.

The media guide lists Silva as 6-foot-4, 250 pounds.

"We've got to get him in a little better shape here first, and we will, especially if the weather stays like it is," Piniella said. "Let's hope we get him back to where he was in Minnesota, when he had that good, hard sinker working, nice little breaking ball. I don't know what happened in Seattle. Seattle, really, is a good park to pitch in. They tell me that his ball straightened up a little bit last year.

"I'm not disappointed about anything. We recognize that we're going to get him in a little better conditioning, and he's going to work hard. That's one thing we've been told, that he'll work and we'll go from there."

Seeking relief: With right-hander Angel Guzman slowed after recent knee surgery, the Cubs may have to step up their pursuit of a veteran right-handed reliever.

Until that happens, Lou Piniella says to watch Esmailin Caridad, who went 1-0 with a 1.40 ERA in 14 games last year.

"It's going to be awhile," Piniella said of Guzman. "We feel he will be ready for the season. It's going to be another couple weeks before he can really do everything everybody else is doing.

"We've got some good young kids here, though. I'm anxious to see a few of these kids our minor-league people have really talked up in our meeting (Wednesday). Last year, remember, at the end of the season, Caridad was doing that job. He's got a leg up on the rest of these young pitchers."

Marmol aid: Lou Piniella says he agrees that Carlos Marmol should be more relaxed knowing he's the closer. The past two springs, Marmol was beaten out by veteran pitchers. He took the job away from Kevin Gregg last August.

"There's no competition for him here," Piniella said. "I think he was 13-for-13 in close situations the last six weeks or so of the season. It's obvious and clear that he's our closer. We'll just get him in shape to pitch. I think it'll be a lot more relaxing for him. He doesn't have to compete for the job. All he has to do is concern himself with getting ready for a baseball season. He really relaxed."