A look at some good, recent writing from the Cubs Blog Army:

• 1060west looks at Carlos Zambrano's workload this season and concludes that Dusty Baker is working him harder than any other starting pitcher in the game. Elsewhere, Goat Riders of the Apocalypse compares Baker's use of Zambrano with someone who doesn't take care of the car they soon won't need, leaving it in poor condition for the next owner. Baker's use of Zambrano certainly contrasts with how carefully he has handled the rookies in the rotation. The 1060west post also includes a quote from Baker that may be a veiled criticism of Jim Hendry's eating and drinking habits.

• View From The Bleachers links to this semi-interesting "see how they live" segment with Derrek Lee, with Deion Sanders as the host.

• Kyle Johansen at CubsHub.com looks at Will Ohman's 2005 and 2006 seasons, noting that this year he has a similar hits allowed rate as last year, a better walk rate, a better strikeout rate, and a better home run rate, yet his ERA has gone from 2.91 to 4.74 (as of 8/15). There's some luck involved in a reliever's ERA, and that's certainly true for Ohman. According to Baseball Prospectus, last year Ohman allowed six runs fewer than his statistics would suggest, and this year he has allowed three runs more.

• Commenter Eric S, at Baseball Toaster, notes that the Chicago Sun-Times have fired their Cubs' beat reporter Mike Kiley, reports the Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein. Greenstein's unidentified sources state that the problem was "expense-account irregularity." I had a bit too much fun in 2003 with Kiley's reports (see here, e.g.), but his writing style certainly made things interesting, and so he will be missed.

• Al Yellon at Bleed Cubbie Blue rants against Baker's continued use of Neifi Perez in the second spot in the batting order. (Perez has a .269 OBP this year and has 79 at-bats in the #2 slot.) Elsewhere, he says that Hendry's recent comments indicate that Hendry really is going to let Baker walk after the season.

• Luke Jasenosky at Gonfalon Cubs writes on the downfall of Jerome Williams.

• JCB at Agony & Ivy has a report from Wade Miller's 8/16 rehab start for Iowa: "For the most part, he does hit his spots. He does not walk anyone after the first inning, and strikes out 7. For a guy without his regular -- or should I say former? -- fastball, that’s not bad. McEwing takes him deep again in the fifth, but it was more of a cheap one, a fly ball that happened to carry just over the short fence in the left field corner. Other than his velocity being down, he’s pitching well. And it sure would be nice to get a pitcher in the Cubs rotation who doesn’t walk so many batters."

• Chicago Cubs Minor League Baseball notes that Baseball Prospectus's Kevin Goldstein put Donald Veal at #4 and Matt Pawalek at #11 on his list of left-handed starting pitcher prospects.