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Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Rich Hill emerged last season as a legitimate force for any fantasy baseball rotation. He recorded an 11-8 record in 32 starts with a 3.92 ERA. He also had 183 strikeouts compared to 63 walks in 195 innings of work. But, the 2008 season isn’t going so well for Hill, and currently he’s been relegated to spot starts and relief work in the Cubs bullpen. It’s temporary, but cause for alarm.

”We’re just trying to formulate a couple of ideas to see how we can get better quickly,” Piniella said, ”but there’s no deep concerns.”

Beyond specific work and/or short leashes with struggling starters such as Rich Hill, the Cubs will keep their top four starters on fifth-day cycles and skip the fifth guy as days off dictate.

After Marquis’ effort Sunday, he’ll become the fourth guy in the rotation, Piniella said, starting again Friday against Pittsburgh — following Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly.

Hill, who’s in the bullpen awaiting a chance to show for a couple innings the aggressiveness he lacked in his last start, goes Saturday, behind Marquis.

Part of Hill’s problem is his strikeout to walk ratio. In 2007 it was 2.90 (183:63). So far, this season, it’s 1.00 (7:7) in nine innings of work. The strikeout rate (7 in 9 innings) is nothing to worry about, but the ratio to walks surely is.