…thank goodness we have Tom Gorzelanny.

All those who said we had enough pitching forgot to factor in the “exuberance” of Carlos.

is a child. I’d say he needs to grow up, but I know it’s not going to happen.

He’s absolutely maddening. When he’s healthy, and not melting down emotionally, he’s a really solid SP…unfortunately, this scenario isn’t commonplace enough.

For not curtailing it a lot sooner and for using him as a pinch-hitter in low leverage situations.

I don’t have a problem with them using him to pinch hit on occassion, but it shouldn’t be as often as they do it – especially if they think he has a back issue.\\

This should be fun…

I’m not sure this is as… conclusive as you say it is.

If that’s the case, ‘’we can curtail that,’’ manager Lou Piniella said of how much BP Zambrano is allowed to take before starts.

‘He wasn’t going to pitch for a while regardless,‘’ Piniella said of the decision to put Zambrano on the DL before getting the MRI results. ’’Hopefully, what he has is not serious and he’ll be all right in a couple of weeks.’’

That’s almost insulting. Especially considering Z is probably going to do the “I’m retiring, I’m not retiring” dance for many years to come, just like a whiny little QB from up north who couldn’t cut it in the cold.

Have I been the only one that realizes every time he has a bad at bat he always comes back out and gives up a run? He shouldn’t even be taking batting practice in the first place. You’re on this team to pitch, the hitting is just an extra.

People want him out of town, thats fine, who are you going to get for him? Who would take on his contract? Any Ideas.
 Z is Z, a big kid who may grow up one of these days, I am not counting the days, however he takes the ball, he does eat innings and until this year been real durable.
 I just don’t see a favorable deal that the Cubs would get equal value back. He may not be an ace, however Z will get you 15-17 wins, except of course this year.

He is a charismatic guy who plays 110% often without regard to physical injury and he will do anything to win. This often
results in overly emotional behavior that can detract from his playing but I don’t get most of the anger and sometimes hate directed at him. As the person who first posted that his injury might be the result of over doing it in BP ( um not wild speculation Drew etc) I was not attacking him , just pointing out that he needed to hold back a bit especially when he already had physical issues. I had NO problem at all with his bunt earlier in the season and I wish all the Cubs pitchers would learn how to bunt as that is likely the most valuable batting skill for a pitcher. Z can be exasperating to say the least but I will take his over the top commitment to winning over the lackadaisical attitude of some other Cub players any day of the year. We are all hoping Z can learn to be more measured on the field both physically and mentally and I really do think he has toned it down from past years.

… I used to feel like the team had a 95% chance of winning when Zambrano took the mound. I lost that feeling mid-2008 or so. I now feel much more confident when Randy Wells is slated to start.

I feel oddly stimulated by this. It’s kind of like watching Officer Foley arguing with Mary Hartman when I was a teenager.

It’s too much work to rec all of CalCalendar’s posts. Can we just have an auto-rec feature?

I’ve just decided to treat Worf like one of the adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon…
All I hear is…

WAH WAH… WAH WAH WAH WAH…

Z has to take responsibility for his actions – for once.

He will not win thirty more games as a Cub mark it down this guy is through and I spit on this fan post

of his era. Nearly every stat backs him up- be it “nerd” stats or even wins.

If you want to say that Z could be a better pitcher if he controlled himself and that his actions are offense to some, thats fine because I find that just as valid as his stats.

The fact is Zambrano is one of the elite pitchers in baseball right now, he might not act like Roy Halladay, but he’s just as good a pitcher statistically. He also makes his starts virtually every time out, something that a number of the “aces” people talk about don’t do.

We are lucky to have Z on this team, something that some might no realize until he is gone.

But if you were referring to Big Z, not sure why?

He’s a good hitter “for a pitcher” and he’s a far better hitter than some of the people inserted in to the daily lineup under the Dusty regime, but I digress…

Yes, it’s frustrating that one of the best pitchers works so hard at something that is not his comparative advantage—even to the point of injury. But I think he’d find another way to channel that competitiveness, whether it’s screaming at guys who just went yard on him (after he previously dusted or drilled them), or obliterating inanimate objects. It doesn’t matter. Yes, it’s frustrating, very frustrating but it’s old news.

I applaud Big Z, to a degree, for taking his hitting seriously, and I think he can continue to do so but perhaps with some better training in mind? However, when you invest so much in a pitcher the club itself doesn’t really care if he gets a hit all season. They want a return in the form of pitching. In this sense hitting for a pitcher in the NL is almost like some other dangerous activity that is prohibited under contract.

to knock the cover off the ball every AB.

But when it interferes with the 91,500,000 reasons the Cubs have him in their rotation, then I object.

He has to get his head in the game and stop being so damned selfish.