Manager Lou Piniella has named Carlos Zambrano as the opening day starter when the Chicago Cubs take on the Houston Astros April 6th down in Houston. Piniella said that he and pitching coach Larry Rothschild talked things over and everything pointed at Big Z making the start on opening day.

Zambrano will be followed by Dempster, Ted Lilly and Rich Harden in the rotation with the fifth starter to be determined. Because the Cubs will skip the No. 5 starter in the first turn, Lilly is in line to start the home opener April 13 against Colorado.

I really liked this quote from Zambrano:

“There’s no ace on this team,” Zambrano said. “Dempster won [17] games last year, and there’s Rich Harden, who was the ace in the Oakland organization, and you’ve got Ted Lilly also. You have four quality starters, four aces. We have to take care of business and do what we can during the season to win as many games as possible.”

No matter what, I like the Cubs pitching rotation right now. I like the fact that they will be able to skip the #5 spot the first time around as that gives them some more time to decide who will earn the start when the rotation comes back around.

So did Piniella and Rothschile make the right decision with Zambrano starting opening day in Houston? Leave us a comment and let us know if you have a few minutes.