Z CONTRACT: On Hold Due to Trib Sale

[Ding Dong Johnson]

"I don't say that the Milwaukee Brewers are nothing, but I think the offense of the Cincinnati Reds (is) better," Zambrano said. "There's no making mistakes when pitching against Cincinnati. When you make a mistake against them, you pay for it. When you make a mistake against Milwaukee, sometimes they miss it and that's good."

 

Cubbie Swagger?

 

truth talking

[RichHillIsABeast]

"I don't say that the Milwaukee Brewers are nothing, but I think the offense of the Cincinnati Reds (is) better," Zambrano said. "There's no making mistakes when pitching against Cincinnati. When you make a mistake against them, you pay for it. When you make a mistake against Milwaukee, sometimes they miss it and that's good."

 

Cubbie Swagger?

 

truth talking

 

Running your mouth after DLee saved your hiney with a GG double play?

[Wheelimus]

"I don't say that the Milwaukee Brewers are nothing, but I think the offense of the Cincinnati Reds (is) better," Zambrano said. "There's no making mistakes when pitching against Cincinnati. When you make a mistake against them, you pay for it. When you make a mistake against Milwaukee, sometimes they miss it and that's good."

 

Cubbie Swagger?

 

truth talking

 

Running your mouth after DLee saved your hiney with a GG double play?

 

All of the above?

[E.J.]

Fox Sports[/url]"]Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry is still optimistic the team will sign right-hander Carlos Zambrano to a long-term contract extension.

Hendry said he hadn't talked with Zambrano's agent, Barry Praver, since the Cubs were in Cincinnati last week to open the season.

"I'm sure I'll be speaking to him in the next couple of days. And hopefully we'll be able to get something done here in the near future," Hendry said.

 

"I'm not worried about it because as I said last week - and it's getting to be an old quote - but when somebody wants to stay here that bad and we want to keep him that bad, there is usually a pretty good chance of it getting done."

[weitliz]

Found this little nugget on ESPN...

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2834324&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

 

Zambrano Rumblings

Now that Cubs GM Jim Hendry has signaled that the Carlos Zambrano negotiations will resume one of these days, you might as well scratch Zambrano off your list of 2007 free agents. Indications are that the two sides have all but agreed to a deal that will pay Zambrano between $80-85 million over the next five years. Bet you didn't know that only two starting pitchers this close to free agency ever have gotten five-year contracts (or longer) without actually filing -- Roy Oswalt in 2006 (5 years, $73 million) and Pedro Martinez in 1998 (6 years, $75 million).

 

and

 

One AL front-office man on Zambano: "To me, he's not a very stable guy to commit to. But if the Cubs don't do it, I guarantee you the Mets will pay him $25-30 million more than the Cubs are willing to pay. Omar [Minaya] loves that guy."

 

Not really new news, but things still sound promising.

[jersey cubs fan]

One AL front-office man on Zambano: "To me, he's not a very stable guy to commit to. But if the Cubs don't do it, I guarantee you the Mets will pay him $25-30 million more than the Cubs are willing to pay. Omar [Minaya] loves that guy."

 

Not really new news, but things still sound promising.

 

Zambrano's "instability" is completely overblown. He's emotional, big deal. But he's as stable of a pitcher, and baseball player as you're going to find. He's not a crime risk, he takes the mound every turn. He doesn't have Roy Oswalt's groin or Pedro's shoulder. I can't think of many more stable pitchers out there. Ideally you wouldn't have to commit to 5 years to any of these guys, and you could put them on a series of 1 year deals with a team option. But that's not realistic.

[98navigator]

I'm becoming increasingly skeptical about the Cubs signing Zambrano. Steve Stone keeps inferring that they aren't going to do it ( Today he said that the Cubs will over work Zambrano this year to get as much out of their investment as possible--about 36 starts). Zell, in his own sarcastic way, is also causing doubt.

 

I hope I'm wrong.

 

Zell

 

In other news, Zambrano is no longer talking to Tribune writers or Comcast SportsNet because he claims they misinterpreted/misquoted his words about the Brewers vs Reds...

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Sullivan getting shut out by Z is pretty funny though.

[brinoch]

Sullivan getting shut out by Z is pretty funny though.

 

When is the Trib finally going to put a different reporter on the Cubs beat? They used to rotate them regularly, but we've been saddled with him for a heck of a long time.

[CubinNY]

Sullivan getting shut out by Z is pretty funny though.

 

When is the Trib finally going to put a different reporter on the Cubs beat? They used to rotate them regularly, but we've been saddled with him for a heck of a long time.

I know. I miss the days of Teddy Greenstein. I guess he was too good.

[Pushfrog98]

Found this little nugget on ESPN...

One AL front-office man on Zambano: "To me, he's not a very stable guy to commit to. But if the Cubs don't do it, I guarantee you the Mets will pay him $25-30 million more than the Cubs are willing to pay. Omar [Minaya] loves that guy."

 

Not really new news, but things still sound promising.

 

It makes sense... Carlos IS in fact Hispanic.

[98navigator]

Sullivan getting shut out by Z is pretty funny though.

 

When is the Trib finally going to put a different reporter on the Cubs beat? They used to rotate them regularly, but we've been saddled with him for a heck of a long time.

 

Sullivan was off the beat for a short time last season. He was never removed, I think, to quiet the idea that the Cubs didn't like him. Last season, there was a big brouhaha about MacPhail cornering Sullivan to confront him about some of his stories on the Cubs. Dan McGrath, Sullivan's editor, also got into the feud.

 

Obviously, MacPhail was foolish to tell him what to write about but I suppose the team would have been within its rights to ask for a new writer.

 

Michael Sneed of the Sun-Times wrote that MacPhail and Hendry "berated Chicago Tribune sports editor Dan McGrath and Cubs beat writer Paul Sullivan over what they felt was the paper's unfairly critical coverage of the team. The expletive-laced tongue-lashing supposedly took place at Wrigley Field."

 

Link

 

Since that time, I'm convinced that Sullivan takes great joy in writing nasty stories about the team.

[Laura]

I'm becoming increasingly skeptical about the Cubs signing Zambrano. Steve Stone keeps inferring that they aren't going to do it ( Today he said that the Cubs will over work Zambrano this year to get as much out of their investment as possible--about 36 starts). Zell, in his own sarcastic way, is also causing doubt.

 

I'm getting skeptical, too. If it were up to Hendry, the deal would have been done. Someone somewhere doesn't want it to happen.

[RichHillIsABeast]

It sucks that we may lose our ace, but it may be a blessing in disguise.

 

I waffle on bringing Z back. Great pitcher in the past, but he may go the Prior/Wood route in the near future. Increasing BB/9 and ridiculous PAP numbers scare me.

[mdwilla]

Wow Hendry and MacPhail were way out of line going after the Trib guys, it's not wonder those two sided with Kent Mercker.

[98navigator]

I don't blame Hendry nearly as much as I do MacPhail for the issues with Paul Sullivan. In his position, Hendry had to feel obligated to go along with his boss/president of the team. The larger conflict was MacPhail confronting Sullivan; and he said as much on the radio... It was an obvious conflict of interest because they were all employed under the Tribune Company umbrella. However, MacPhail had no jurisdiction over Sullivan (which is why Dan McGrath, his boss, was brought into the feud).

[NCCubFan]

Zell, in his own sarcastic way, is also causing doubt.

I took that comment as a joke, not a statement on what Zell really thinks. And Zell has nothing to say about it anyway, since the Cubs will be sold before he takes over ownership of the Trib.

[98navigator]

Zell, in his own sarcastic way, is also causing doubt.

I took that comment as a joke, not a statement on what Zell really thinks. And Zell has nothing to say about it anyway, since the Cubs will be sold before he takes over ownership of the Trib.

 

The Cubs will not officially be sold until after the season. Zell can certainly prevent the Cubs from signing Zambrano, at an in-season discount, if he so choses. If he reaches free agency all bets are off.

[brinoch]

I don't blame Hendry nearly as much as I do MacPhail for the issues with Paul Sullivan. In his position, Hendry had to feel obligated to go along with his boss/president of the team. The larger conflict was MacPhail confronting Sullivan; and he said as much on the radio... It was an obvious conflict of interest because they were all employed under the Tribune Company umbrella. However, MacPhail had no jurisdiction over Sullivan (which is why Dan McGrath, his boss, was brought into the feud).

 

MacPhail was wrong to do that, in my opinion. Sullivan's stories both before and after have really been pretty bad. I think the Cubs media relations folks could have made a case for removing him.

 

I have to tell you, from a professional perspective, MacPhail and Hendry should never be interfacing with a reporter or editor in such a fashion. That's why you have a media relations staff. I don't know Sharon Panazzo, of course, but that's who should be dealing with such a situation. If there's a problem from the Cubs' perspective on how Sullivan covers the Cubs, it's perfectly acceptable for her to sit down and talk with McGrath about it.

[nolanwood]

I don't understand the rationale of letting Z walk. He has no history of injuries. The argument that he's logged alot of innings and would more than likely not hold up in the future is B.S. There's been lots of pitchers that threw hard and racked up alot of innings injury-free. Why would we let our ace walk? Why would you give up one of the top three pitchers in the NL the last three years? I, for one, don't want to watch this rotation without Z.

[RichHillIsABeast]

I don't understand the rationale of letting Z walk. He has no history of injuries. The argument that he's logged alot of innings and would more than likely not hold up in the future is B.S. There's been lots of pitchers that threw hard and racked up alot of innings injury-free. Why would we let our ace walk? Why would you give up one of the top three pitchers in the NL the last three years? I, for one, don't want to watch this rotation without Z.

 

Have you seen his walk rate? That's not a good sign of continuing health.

[nolanwood]

I don't understand the rationale of letting Z walk. He has no history of injuries. The argument that he's logged alot of innings and would more than likely not hold up in the future is B.S. There's been lots of pitchers that threw hard and racked up alot of innings injury-free. Why would we let our ace walk? Why would you give up one of the top three pitchers in the NL the last three years? I, for one, don't want to watch this rotation without Z.

 

Have you seen his walk rate? That's not a good sign of continuing health.

 

It's always something, isn't it? He's not perfect, but you're gonna let Z walk because he's been the epitome of an ace throughout his career, he's young, and doesn't have a history of injuries?

 

You wanna take a gander at what this rotation would look like without Z?

[Jazz]

If i'm the cubs, and I can't resign Z, or don't think I will, I trade him asap for a-rod/bundle of blue chippers

[nolanwood]

If i'm the cubs, and I can't resign Z, or don't think I will, I trade him asap for a-rod/bundle of blue chippers

 

Exactly. You don't let a pitcher that good walk, and leave you with a rotation full of question marks. I DO, however, think Rich Hill will be the man for years to come - but he needs somebody of equal caliber to compliment him on this rotation.

[Sammy Sofa]

If i'm the cubs, and I can't resign Z, or don't think I will, I trade him asap for a-rod/bundle of blue chippers

 

Exactly. You don't let a pitcher that good walk, and leave you with a rotation full of question marks. I DO, however, think Rich Hill will be the man for years to come - but he needs somebody of equal caliber to compliment him on this rotation.

 

That's the problem. Guzman can be inserted, but he's obviously not gonna replace Z. I was really hoping for Prior to be pitching in some capacity, but that's pretty much dashed. That said, I think Z can net the Cubs someone like ARod or Cabrerra, and I think that can't be ignored.