Carlos "The Ace" Zambrano

[RichHillIsABeast]

3 quality starts (5/15, 4/28, 4/7) in 10 games started this season. Nice job, ace.

 

* And before anyone brings up 6.0 IP and 3 ER equating to a 4.50 ERA, that's a rare event. From 1984 to 1991, the ERA for MLB in quality starts was 1.91.

 

You're approaching 2006 Jason Marquis territory, Carlos. Right the ship, buddy.

[C.C.]

He has to be hurt. He doesn't look like the same pitcher. At all!

[JeffH]

Either his arm's cooked or he's a nut.

 

Let's hope we can get a few good starts out of him and trade him in early July.

[hardcorecubfan]

It is a ploy by "Z" to insure a higher contract return. I know this because I saw his plans on the X_Files.

 

First he balloons his ERA up and has a couple of losses, then in Late june he starts looking really good and ends up with a 15 game win streak. he then can ask for a 100 million dollar contract.

Either that or he is having a really bad year.

 

that's what you get though when you predict the CY for yourself

[Soul]

His fastball seems a bit slower. I always thought it was around 96. Today it was usually in the 93'ish range. Not a huge drop, but I'm struggling here to find a reason for Z's suckage.

 

I'm not totally on the injury wagon, but I'm getting close to climbing on board. Something's wrong beyond just forgetting how to throw a baseball. He's been doing that forever.

[dbeider]

Certainly I'm being absurd but I get this weird feeling the are more reasons that extension has not been signed outside of Trib being bought. Already this year Z has said he would win the Cy Young, the Cubs would win the WS and the Brewers are much worse than the Reds (which who knows by the end of the year they may be). But to date the Cubs are sub .500, Zambrano would be lucky to win a 5th starter of the year award and the Brewers are 6 games ahead of the Cubs.

 

Is it possible him being a headcase has gotten to them and they just aren't into the quirky fun they used to enjoy? Maybe because they got Marquis and Lilly, who don't have equal stuff, but throw innings and have gotten off to great starts they think that they can let him walk or trade him later this year and benefit long term with more starters like the others.

 

Maybe they think it's ok, whoever buys the Cubs will be in at such a high basis that they could not afford to have one seat vacant and will load up such a huge payroll a la Yankees/Red Sox that they can afford to let him go, he'll be replaced by another high priced free agent who is not crazy.

 

Or maybe I'm just ultra frustrated and looking for reasons to justify the garbage we are seeing again, when a thrown together rotation kicks @ss outside of the self proclaimed Cy Young winning ace, and he loses 6 run leads and games to some guy making his ML starting debut.

 

Put me in my place.

[Fred Hornkohl]

3 quality starts (5/15, 4/28, 4/7) in 10 games started this season. Nice job, ace.

 

* And before anyone brings up 6.0 IP and 3 ER equating to a 4.50 ERA, that's a rare event. From 1984 to 1991, the ERA for MLB in quality starts was 1.91.

 

You're approaching 2006 Jason Marquis territory, Carlos. Right the ship, buddy.

 

To further illustrate this point..... the CUBS are 16-6 in 22 games where the pitcher gets a quality start with a combined starters' ERA of 1.69 while they are 4-15 in the 19 games where they didn't get a quality start and their starters had a combined ERA of 6.91.

[cubsfan5150]

I personally think that Z's got to be hurt and won't tell anyone. That's why he was so willing to sign the contract before the season started. If he tells anyone he's hurt now, the money is gone.

 

I also think that if he isn't hurt, then his ego has finally gotten the best of him, and he's not listening to Rothchild any what so ever. He doesn't look anything like he has in years past whenever he releases the ball.

[cubbieblue12]

3 quality starts (5/15, 4/28, 4/7) in 10 games started this season. Nice job, ace.

 

* And before anyone brings up 6.0 IP and 3 ER equating to a 4.50 ERA, that's a rare event. From 1984 to 1991, the ERA for MLB in quality starts was 1.91.

 

You're approaching 2006 Jason Marquis territory, Carlos. Right the ship, buddy.

 

If he's not hurt, we gotta trade him now while he is still worth something, and if he is hurt we need to get him healthy.

[B]

Maybe they think it's ok, whoever buys the Cubs will be in at such a high basis that they could not afford to have one seat vacant and will load up such a huge payroll a la Yankees/Red Sox that they can afford to let him go, he'll be replaced by another high priced free agent who is not crazy.

 

Put me in my place.

 

that made me laugh.

[abuck1220]

 

* And before anyone brings up 6.0 IP and 3 ER equating to a 4.50 ERA, that's a rare event. From 1984 to 1991, the ERA for MLB in quality starts was 1.91.

 

 

that seems impossible.

[Mephistopheles]

* And before anyone brings up 6.0 IP and 3 ER equating to a 4.50 ERA, that's a rare event. From 1984 to 1991, the ERA for MLB in quality starts was 1.91.

 

Useless information. Basically you're saying let's throw out all the bad starts, and average starts and see how well guys pitch.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Well, I feel not so crazy for my million rants on why Z's best long term value to us would be as trade bait.

[tfarks]

* And before anyone brings up 6.0 IP and 3 ER equating to a 4.50 ERA, that's a rare event. From 1984 to 1991, the ERA for MLB in quality starts was 1.91.

 

Useless information. Basically you're saying let's throw out all the bad starts, and average starts and see how well guys pitch.

 

What are you talking about? The only starts in question are quality starts, which factors in average starts and of course no bad starts. His comment is simple, a quality start is usually cast aside as a worthwhile stat because pitching to a 4.5 ERA would still allow your pitching to be 'quality', however, as he pointed out this is rarely the case. All the other starts that do not qualify are cast aside in this particular instance. Quality starts correlate to a higher winning percentage as Fred showed the Cubs are doing this year because the average ERA of a quality start is much lower then its quantitative minimum.

[badger1679666666]

His fastball seems a bit slower. I always thought it was around 96. Today it was usually in the 93'ish range. Not a huge drop, but I'm struggling here to find a reason for Z's suckage.

 

I'm not totally on the injury wagon, but I'm getting close to climbing on board. Something's wrong beyond just forgetting how to throw a baseball. He's been doing that forever.

 

96 was when he was amped up, and his fastball would go straight, no movement at all. It's much more effective in the 91-93 range.

[soccer10k]

Either his arm's cooked or he's a nut.

 

Let's hope we can get a few good starts out of him and trade him in early July.

 

Couldn't he be both?

[frostwyrm]

* And before anyone brings up 6.0 IP and 3 ER equating to a 4.50 ERA, that's a rare event. From 1984 to 1991, the ERA for MLB in quality starts was 1.91.

 

 

If that's true then that's even more reason why 6 IP and 3 ER ought to be dumped as the standard for a quality start.

[Backtobanks]

Personally, I think it mostly in his head. After someone hits a HR, he cranks his fastball up to 95-96 on the next batter. Also, I'm wondering if his ego is allowing him to listen to Rothschild about correcting his mechanics.

[USSoccer]

I'm leaning less and less toward "hurt" and more and more towards "needs to get his head straight and listen to his pitching coaches.

[badger1679666666]

I really hope the fans show class and don't throw him under the bus while he's struggling. I think it might be wishing for too much though.

[CardsFanInChiTown]

A pretty good article...

 

Carlos Zambrano’s Lower Arm Slot: cause for concern?

[JGalt73]

A pretty good article...

 

Carlos Zambrano’s Lower Arm Slot: cause for concern?

 

Thanks... that is horribly confirming analysis of what we've been seeing in real time... this will not end well for the Cubs.

[killthegoat06]

A pretty good article...

 

Carlos Zambrano’s Lower Arm Slot: cause for concern?

 

Thanks... that is horribly confirming analysis of what we've been seeing in real time... this will not end well for the Cubs.

 

Does it ever?

[JGalt73]

A pretty good article...

 

Carlos Zambrano’s Lower Arm Slot: cause for concern?

 

Thanks... that is horribly confirming analysis of what we've been seeing in real time... this will not end well for the Cubs.

 

Does it ever?

 

Good point.

[Sammy Sofa]

Injured or not, I'm sick of him acting like he NEEDS to get a strikeout when a big situation comes up instead of just attempting to get the out any way he can.