Z just reminds me of Sammy Sosa. As long as he puts up numbers, and pays his fines, the Cubs will keep letting him do this junk without any major consequences. Still, eventually…. I think there will be a parting of the ways between Z and the Cubs.

I don’t think there’s a lot going on upstairs for Carlos. He’s not a rookie any more. Grow up is right.

With Zambrano’s BS, Bradley getting hurt again, and collapsing last night to cost Wells yet another win, I don’t like the way this team is trending.

I hope they can shake off last night’s game, but I don’t have a lot of faith. They’ve never hit Lowe particularly well, and Jurrjens has been lights out for the Braves. Last night was they’re best matchup, and they blew it.

Now you people are bagging on Zambrano because he missed his flight?! He’s immature because he missed his flight?! This is the type of absurd drivel that I would expect to read on the heavily teenager dominated Cubs.com board. Not here. This is patently absurd.

..

Linkage?

Not that I don’t believe you (norm blame a player for saying it), I just don’t recall someone actually going on record as saying they’re tired of Z’s antics.

I read the article. While it’s clear that Z screwed up, it is clear that the team is taking appropriate action, perhaps fining him and making him apologize to his teammates.

But to read this post, it’s as if he killed puppies. So far this has not affected the team on the field. As noted by ak123 above, I’d rather have a decent bullpen.

I’m not going to condemn him for missing a plane when we don’t know the reasons why. I’m not going to praise him for missing a plane when we don’t know the reasons why.

Sometimes, I think fans forget that players are a package. You don’t get a pitcher like Zambrano, who shows flashes of brilliance as he guts his way out to a winning season, without a downside. Every player has their downside. Some just show it more.

Who is pissed that DLee always says the optimistic thing? Who is pissed that Milton Bradley won’t talk to the press, but then when he does talk to the press, he’s a whiner? Who is pissed that Theriot is always first in line for the interview? Who is pissed that Lou hasn’t blown up? Sori was in a slump, then hit the first pitch out yesterday; but he bobbled a ball in the field late in the game. We all love Marmol, but he can’t stop walking people.

He missed a plane. If he blew things off, then yes, he should get fined. But I really don’t think we’re in any position to judge the man based off of “the reasons for missing the flight are unknown.”

He’s paid like an ace
He thinks he can act however he wants because he believes he’s an ace
He’s babied by the Cubs because they think he’s an ace
People defend him here because they think he’s an ace

Roy Halladay is an ace.
CC Sabathia is an ace.

Carlos Zambrano is not an ace. If he wasn’t making $18 million a year he’d be on an airplane to Baltimore.

Z isn’t an employee of the Cubs right now anyway, since he’s being suspended.

If any of us were to throw the kind of tantrums that have occurred this year (the Gatorade machine getting hacked by Dempster, Zambrano tossing the ball, throwing out the ump, whatever) in our own jobs, where would we be? Would we be called immature or unceremoniously tossed on the street?

I’m a lawyer. If a judge makes a ruling against me I vehemently disagree with, I have no choice but to say “yes, your honor” and leave the courtroom. If I took a bat to the jury box, or the courtroom water cooler, or got nose to nose with the judge, I’d be in jail. But let’s say I don’t get that violent, but merely mouth off a lot. Then I don’t show up on a timely basis. Is it fair to say I’m not professional, that I need to mature and grow up? Granted, athletic tantrums have happened since time immemorial, but why do we excuse this type of behavior from athletes when we wouldn’t tolerate it from ourselves?

why he missed his flight before I judge him. I will say though that his temper tantrums, antics etc. are getting old.

I’m not sure this team can pull an ‘07, either. The thing saving them is the NL Central. Lou doesn’t seem to have it in him to help rally this bunch, as he did in ‘07. He seems more exasperated and resigned to things. Or maybe he knows the talent isn’t there. And look at the number of inexperienced players. I blogged about that last week, with all the players with under one and two years of experience.

As far as Zambrano goes, someone on the team will have to say something. From the reports coming out of Atlanta, his teammates were none too happy. In the past, guys like Bob Howry and Kerry Wood would handle such misbehavior. I’m thinking D-Lee, Soto and Reed Johnson are going to have to step up here.

Linky

I did say in this thread that missing a flight is breaking a team rule. That IS a big deal to the other players. Let’s see what the reason given turns out to be.

Z on missed flight: ‘I got nothing to say.’

“Frustrating Cub”, but he’s still a big contributor to the team.

He’s an adult making millions and it seems reasonable to expect him to act professionally. Okay, so that doesn’t happen at times (mores so with him it seems). Probably every team in the league has someone like Z, but it’s more frustrating given his talent and how he can help this team win.

This is what I expect from Z, it’s not even newsworthy to me. But he’s a valuable player to this team and we need him, even with the B.S.

Amazing the media compares him to Michael Vick and then wonder why he doesn’t kiss their butts.

of course we had some here making the same comparison. Hope they don’t have any pets as they consider a gatorade cooler the same as dogs.

Why was it okay for someone else to have several tantrums on the mound, and smash a boombox and such and not okay for Z?

And you know i love the boombox smasher and tantrum thrower.

Ryan Dempster trusts the media that they didn’t let out the info about his family situation and that he was missing some team time. He has no reason to mistrust the media. He is always there for interviews and gives them good copy so he’s never been subjected to personal attacks.

Carlos has every reason not to trust the media after they compared him to Michael Vick. Perhaps something is going on with his family that he doesn’t want to share. Or perhaps he thought on suspension he wasn’t supposed to be on the flight. He and Lou settled it and frankly those are the only 2 people who’s business it is.

The media in this city with the exception of Bruce Miles makes a lot of things personal with the players and that is why they are untrustworthy. One personal attack and everything they say about the player from then on can’t be trusted.

I don’t know who Bruce likes and dislikes on the team and that’s how it should be.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see a major Chicago sports story be handled responsibly by the media and not in a way that sinks lower than the National Enquirer?

I was trying to think to when it all started and I think the first thing was when Mark Giangreco speculated Walter Payton had AIDS on channel 7 back in 1999 which led to Payton revealing the illness that killed him.

And the media has sunk further and further since.

Terry Mulholland “skipped” the team bus by choice. He told the driver to leave without him, and took a cab to Coors Field arriving “late” for pregame warmups. This never made the news or papers, and never will. Why not?

Well, he was talking to a fan who was flying out, and the fan wanted a picture and an autograph along with a few minutes with Terry Mulholland to shoot the shit. Terry felt that the fan deserved it and choose to stay back and pay a small fine (if any) for bieng late. He did so, since in his eye, the fan is why he has a job, and his obligation is to show the fan some appreciation and respect. The fan was flying out of Colorado before the game started, so he could not meet up with Terry post game instead.

I once saw Terry as a Cub throw a less than steller game vs. the Giants, and after the game stick around in the players parking lot signing autographs and posing for as many photos as fans wanted. He asked the adults to step back so the kids could get in first since to the kids its a big deal, and he enjoyed seeing the kids “awestruck” and “excitement” with each autograph and photo. This happened to also be the first game for the youngest two brothers, who truly enjoyed seeing a Cub upclose.

This is why I have the utmost of respect for Mullholland, and really wish there were more like him. I also wish the media would do stories about these type of players and acts of kindness, instead of focus on the negative as much as possible.

Why did the media NOT cover that? Well, who cares about a kind hearted story like that, and wants to read about it. The vast majority want the negative (PED’s are a perfect example).

Cubs vs SF Game www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN199708060.shtml
Atl @ Col series was in August 1999

this trade proposal.

The down-n-dirty:
    * White Sox send San Diego their previous package, including Poreda, Broadway, and Richard
    * Cubs send White Sox Zambrano
    * Padres send Cubs Peavy

What’s sad is if there was a good reason he missed the flight but something is going on he doesn’t want publicized perhaps in his family, he can’t trust the reporters who cover the team with an explanation.

If the reporters had any class they’d get it and put in the papers “Carlos has a personal situation going on that he had to deal with at the last minute and has asked at this time for it to be kept private”

One of our Enquirer wannabees would have put it in the paper.