Chicago's Inside Pitch

Taking a day off today before heading to St. Louis in the morning. Word comes out of Wrigley today that the Cubs are shutting Rich Harden down, possibly for the season. There's nothing official on that, so we'll have to wait and see. Harden went 3 innings last night and hasn't gone 6 since Aug. 26. The Cubs say Harden is fine physically but that Tom Gorzelanny will replace him in the rotation, at least for next Monday at Milwaukee and maybe for the next turn in San Francisco. As I've been writing, it's no sure thing the Cubs will offer salary arbitration to Harden this fall, when he becomes a free agent. So we may have seen him fire his last pitch as a Cub.

He probably doesn't even know, but Bartolo Colon was released by the White Sox before Tuesday night's game at Seattle.
Colon's whereabouts have been a mystery for the better part of three months, and the 36-year-old starting pitcher has been on the disabled list since July 25 with right elbow inflammation.
The Sox never should have signed Colon in the first place, but here is what they got for 1 million bucks _ a 3-6 record and 4.19 ERA in 12 starts.
So long to one of the stranger guys I've run across in major-league baseball.

With it looking like Sam Fuld will need about a week for his strained right thumb to heal, the Cubs selected the contract of veteran outfielder So Taguchi from Iowa. Iowa's season is done, and the Cubs caught up with Taguchi at his home near St. Louis. He'll wear uniform No. 99, last made famous by Todd Hundley.

The Cubs had toyed with the idea of bringing up either Tyler Colvin or James Adduci from Class AA Tennessee, but they decided to let the two kids keep playing in the Southern League championship series, which Jacksonville leads 1-0. Colvin, the Cubs' No. 1 pick in the 2006 draft, will be added to the 40-man roster this fall.

Lineup
Theriot, SS
Fukudome, CF
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Soto, C
Bradley, RF
Fontenot, 2B
Scales, LF
Harden, P

According to a report in the Tribune, Jake Peavy is going to make his first start for the White Sox Saturday against the Kansas City Royals at U.S. Cellular Field. Game time is 6:05 p.m.
Peavy, acquired in a July 31 trade from the San Diego Padres, hasn't pitched since June 8.
The 28-year-old righty has been on the disabled list with a bad right able. He was initially scheduled to debut on Aug. 29, against New York at Yankee Stadium, but Peavy was hit on the right elbow by a line drive during an Aug. 24 rehab start for Class AAA Charlotte.

Sam Fuld walked into the clubhouse today with a splint-like device on his right thumb, courtesy of that diving catch he made last night. Turns out he went for an MRI and X-rays. He said he's still waiting to get the MRI results and that the preliminary results showed just some ligament damage.

The tentative 2010 schedule is out, and the White Sox open at home again, April 5 against the Cleveland Indians.
Here are some other highlights:
*The Sox begin interleague play on May 21 with a three-game home series against the Florida Marlins.
*The White Sox play the Cubs June 11-13 at Wrigley Field. They play the Cubs at U.S. Cellular Field June 25-27.
*The Sox play the Pirates in Pittsburgh June 15-17 and play the Nationals for the first time, June 18-20 in Washington.
*The White Sox host the Atlanta Braves June 22-24.
*After the all-star break, the Sox play four games at Minnesota, three at Seattle and three at Oakland.
*Unlike this season, the White Sox don't have to play the Red Sox and Yankees in back-to-back road series.

Yeah, I know that headline ends with a preposition. If it’s good enough for Winston Churchill, it’s good enough for me. (When upbraided by a woman for ending sentences with prepositions, Sir Winston shot back: “Madam, your insolence is something up with which I will not put.” So there you go.)

Anyway, if the Cubs are indeed “shopping” Carlos Zambrano (and people in the Cubs’ baseball operations department say that information is not coming from them), they better be thinking things through.

First off, why would you want to trade Zambrano? Sure, he’s a knucklehead, but he’s been a pretty effective knucklehead over the years, and we’ll look at some of the starts he lost or got a no-decision in this year that he could have or should have won.

Getting to the ballpark early is one of the fun things about this job. You see teams take early BP, and today, coach Matt Sinatro was working on catching technique with Geovany Soto. The other thing getting to the park lets a writer do is get caught up on a few things.

After today's 5-2 victory over the Reds, the Cubs announced that left fielder Alfonso Soriano will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday. Team doctor Stephen Gryzlo will perform the operation.

Soriano will miss the rest of the season, but the Cubs are glad he's having the surgery this week so he can begin his rehab with their training staff before he goes home to the Dominican Republic for the off-season.

Soriano is batting .241 with 20 homers, 55 RBI, an on-base percentage of .303 and a slugging percentage of .423. Lou says you can figure him to bat sixth in next year's lineup, as his days as a leadoff hitter are done.

Before we get to what Lou said about the fifth spot in the batting order, one quick roster note: Angel Guzman has not pitched since last Tuesday at Pittsburgh because Lou says he's been suffering from the "lat problem" he had earlier this year. Guzman spent time on the DL in late June and early July because of what was termed a right triceps injury. Back then, Guzman said he needed just a few days, but the Cubs put him on the DL to be safe. Lou says Guzman could be back during the upcoming Milwaukee series.

Lineup
Fukudome, CF
Bradley, RF
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Hoffpauir, LF
Baker, 2B
Hill, C
Blanco, SS
Lilly, P