Ted Lilly

Theodore Roosevelt Lilly III (born January 4, 1976) is an American former professional baseball pitcher.

Lilly attended Yosemite High School in Oakhurst, California, and Fresno City College.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Lilly was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 23rd round of the 1996 MLB draft.

After two seasons in the Dodgers farm system, he was traded (along with Peter Bergeron, Wilton Guerrero and Jonathan Tucker) to the Montreal Expos for Hiram Bocachica, Mark Grudzielanek and Carlos Pérez.

Lilly made his MLB debut for the Expos on May 14, 1999, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitching one inning in relief.

He made his first MLB start on September 19 against the Atlanta Braves.

He pitched in nine games for the Expos, with three starts.

Lilly was traded to the New York Yankees on March 17, 2000, along with Christian Parker, as a player to be named later in the 1999 trade that also sent Jake Westbrook to the Yankees in exchange for Hideki Irabu.

On April 27, 2002, Lilly threw a one-hitter against the Seattle Mariners in a losing effort.

Boston's Derek Lowe pitched a no-hitter on the same day.

Lilly played for more than two years with the Yankees before being dealt to the Oakland Athletics in a three-team deal that included pitchers Jeff Weaver heading to New York and Jeremy Bonderman going to the Detroit Tigers.

Lilly was in the starting rotation for Oakland, and pitched in the American League Division Series in both 2002 and 2003.

Lilly was traded from the Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays for Bobby Kielty.

In April, he threw a two-hitter against the Twins in Minnesota.

He made the American League All-Star team in 2004 as the Jays' lone representative that year.

The highlight of his career as a Blue Jay was a start on August 23, 2004, against the Boston Red Sox.

He pitched a complete-game shutout and struck out 13 batters in a three-hit 3–0 victory.

Lilly was 15–13 with a 4.31 ERA and 160 strikeouts in 2006, exceeding his previous career-high for wins (12).

He also equaled a career high for starts (32) and nearly matched his career highs in strikeouts and innings pitched.

This season, he ranked first among the Jays' pitching staff in strikeouts and second only to Roy Halladay in wins (Halladay had a 16–5 record before a recurring elbow injury ended his season in late September).

On August 21, 2006, in a game against the Oakland Athletics, Lilly was surrendering an early 8–0 lead in the 3rd inning when manager John Gibbons took him out of the game.

With the score 8-5 and runners on 1st and 3rd, Lilly refused to give him the ball.

Eventually, he reluctantly left the mound and later feuded with Gibbons in the tunnel leading to the locker rooms.

It was reported that Gibbons left the scene with a bloody nose, though Lilly maintained no punches were thrown.

Lilly filed for free agency at the end of the 2006 season, and alongside Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt and Jeff Suppan, was one of the most sought-after free agent pitchers, partially due to the thin market for starting pitching.

On the morning of December 6, 2006, he informed the Blue Jays that he would not be returning to the club, thus rejecting a four-year, $40 million deal.

He cited a "change in scenery" as his reasoning.

Later on that day, Lilly agreed to an identical four-year, $40 million deal with the Chicago Cubs, officially ending his tenure with the Blue Jays.

In his first start for the Cubs, Lilly defeated the Cincinnati Reds in a strong outing, taking a no hitter into the fifth inning, and only yielding one earned run over seven innings.

Lilly then was the starting pitcher for the Cubs home opening game at Wrigley Field on April 9, 2007.

Lilly gave up three runs in six innings, but did not factor into the decision.

Lilly pitched well in April, lasting at least six innings in each of his five starts while never giving up more than three runs in a game posting a 2.18 ERA.

Lilly was prominent in a contentious series in Atlanta between the Cubs and the Atlanta Braves.

In game one of the series, Alfonso Soriano hit three home runs in his first three at-bats as part of a Cubs 9–1 victory.

In the next game, Tim Hudson hit Soriano with a first-pitch fastball triggering home-plate umpire Tim Tschida to issue warnings to both teams.

On the final game of the series, Lilly hit Édgar Rentería in the first inning, and was promptly thrown out of the ballgame by Jim Wolf.

Lilly was not suspended for his actions in the game.

In 2009, he was named to his second all-star game, as the Cubs lone representative.

He underwent shoulder surgery in the off-season to clean up debris and labrum fraying.