Tag: Chicago Cubs (Page 5 of 23)

      Zambrano to receive counseling, won’t return until after the All-Star break

      June 29, 2010 /

      According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs’ starter Carlos Zambrano will undergo counseling to help him control his emotional outbursts, much like the one that occurred last Friday when he went bonkers in the dugout in a game against the White Sox. He’s not expected to return to the club until sometime after the All-Star break.

      Whether treatment will fix everything in the future is a question Hendry couldn’t answer Monday.

      ”My sense is that after a few days [since Friday], he feels quite remorseful,” Hendry said after their first talk since Friday. ”We all make mistakes. He’s probably made a few more in the last few years than we’d like.

      ”I think we all agree it’s time he got help and then address the apologies later. It’s not time for words a few days after the fact, but some action. Hopefully he goes and gets the help he needs and can rectify some of his actions with his teammates and move forward after the break.”

      Zambrano will go to New York on Wednesday to meet with two doctors approved by all parties. They will prescribe a course of treatment.

      ”He certainly understands the situation, and he and his representative signed off on it,” Hendry said.

      Zambrano hadn’t spoken to his teammates since the incident. Several tried unsuccessfully to contact him over the weekend.

      Hopefully Big Z does get some help and the situation will get resolved. It doesn’t do him, his teammates or the Cubs organization any good if he comes back from treatment and throws another tantrum sometime down the line.

      Of course, whether or not he fixes his on-field issues is another question.

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

      Ozzie Guillen, Carlos Zambrano and the pursuit of happiness

      June 27, 2010 /

      Following his dugout tirade on Friday that led to a suspension, Cubs’ starter Carlos Zambrano went to dinner with White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who apparently gave the pitcher some sage advice on how to handle the situation.

      From the Chicago Sun-Times:

      ”I asked what happened,” Guillen said. ”He told me exactly what happened. … He was upset with a lot of the team. That was it. I told him what to do, to wait a couple of days. He will do what I tell him to do. Face it like a man. Don’t turn [his] back on this problem. … Go out, put your face on it and move on.

      ”What are they going to do to him? Trade, release or suspend him? At least when you face it like a man and admit you were wrong, everyone moves on. He didn’t kill anyone. He just made one mistake. We can’t criticize the kid for that. That’s the way he is. … We’ve got to respect people’s ways, and that’s the intensity this kid brings.”

      ”What are they going to do to him? Trade, release or suspend him?”

      Well, yeah. This isn’t the first time Zambrano has flown off the reservation and chances are, it wasn’t the last either. He could be a great person off the field, but he still has to take responsibility for his actions on it. And he doesn’t get a free pass just because he’s an intense guy.

      The other problem, of course, is that he has been awful on the mound this year. Whether he has pitched every fifth day or come out of the pen, Zambrano hasn’t gotten the job done. So when you throw a situation like the other night into the mix, where he’s berating teammates and not acting professional, it compounds the situation.

      It’s great that Guillen is standing up for a player (albeit, a player on an opposing team), but the Cubs had every right to take action by suspending Zambrano and whatever they do with him from here on out will likely be justified. Considering how much they’re paying him, they should be getting better on-field production or at the very least, someone that can control is temper.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

      The self-implosion of Carlos Zambrano continues

      June 26, 2010 /

      Carlos Zambrano, who may or may not be certifiably nuts, was suspended indefinitely by the Cubs following his outburst in a game against the White Sox on Friday night.

      Here’s what happened (via the Chicago Sun-Times):

      Zambrano stormed up and down the dugout, turning on several of his teammates, including first baseman Derrek Lee. Zambrano accused his teammates of failing to dive for ground balls that went for hits.

      Piniella, pitching coach Larry Rothschild and other coaches interceded as Zambrano appeared ready for a physical confrontation. He was held back and sent to the clubhouse before the Cubs took the field in the bottom of the second.

      Big Crazy also apparently went into a tirade with some cameramen on his way out of the stadium last night, which should be really, really fun to watch whenever it reaches the light of day.

      Roughly $45 million is still owed to Zambrano, but it might be time for the Cubs to cut him like a dead limb and move on. He’s been nothing short of an absolute disaster both on and off the field the last two seasons and this latest outburst may have bought him a one-way ticket out of town – Milton Bradley style. I’m not sure if the Cubs could get anything in a trade for him (at least not without paying most of his salary), but if I’m Jim Hendry I’m on the phone right now figuring out which GMs didn’t see the outburst last night.

      “Hey Jon, it’s Jim. I was just wondering if you caught SportsCenter last night or early this morning? No? Great…I’d like to talk about Carlos Zambrano and what he’d look like in a Rangers uniform…”


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

      Top 10 active pitchers who keep it in the yard

      June 5, 2010 /

      Some pitchers give up 1-2 home runs or more per game, while some of them are masters at keeping the ball in the park. We did a gopher ball list last year, so here is the opposite…the pitchers who give up the fewest home runs per nine innings, and therefore the guys you want in the game when the game is on the line:

      1. Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees (0.4953)—Amazingly, Rivera gave up 11 home runs his rookie year (1995) and since then, only 50. That’s 50 home runs in like 15 years, or about 3 per season. That’s just sick. No wonder the guy has so many career saves (538).

      2. Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves (0.7141)—If only Hudson was able to stay healthy for any length of time, he’d be a lock for the Hall of Fame.

      3. Derek Lowe, Atlanta Braves (0.7221)—When you have a ball that drops like six feet before it reaches home plate, you’re not going to have a lot of hitters get under your pitches. What you’ll get are lots of ground balls.

      4. Aaron Cook, Colorado Rockies (0.7384)—If you’re a pitcher in Colorado, it’s sort of like being a meatball sandwich in a pizza joint. You’ll get noticed, but only when they run out of pizza…or in this case, when the Rockies aren’t hitting. Still, when you think about Cook and how he’s spent his entire career in Denver, being fourth on this list is quite an accomplishment.

      5. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies (0.7385)—A perfect game only added to Halladay’s Hall of Fame resume.

      6. Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs (0.7445)—He’s always angry but always has nasty stuff, and, like Cook, he pitches in a hitter-friendly park.

      7. Andy Pettitte, New York Yankees (0.7671)—Lucky for the Yankees, Pettitte’s career high of 27 home runs allowed was when he was with the Astros in 2006.

      8. Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros (0.7729)—He has an impeccable nose for the strike zone, but puts enough on his pitches to keep hitters guessing and in the park.

      9. Jake Westbrook, Cleveland Indians (0.7999)—He hasn’t pitched much in the last three years, but when he does, Jake Westbrook is very good at keeping the ball in the yard.

      10. AJ Burnett, New York Yankees (0.8213)—As if the Yankees needed another guy like this in their rotation.

      Source: Baseball Reference

      External Sports, MLB

      Albert Pujols takes shots at Wrigley Field

      May 31, 2010 /

      Based on his comments about Wrigley Field over the weekend, it doesn’t sound as if the Cubs will be on the list of teams that Albert Pujols puts together if/when he becomes a free agent after the 2011 season.

      From the Chicago Tribune:

      “The history and the field is all good,” he said. “I always look forward to play (here) because it’s a great rivalry. (But) the playing field and all that, it’s not in the best condition you know. You’re glad you don’t have to play here for the whole year.”

      The field is freaking 96 years old, so it makes sense that it doesn’t offer the best playing surface (especially when compared to some of the newer stadiums around the league). But I wonder what Pujols means specifically. Is the grass to slow or too fast? Does the dirt not hold together? Is the field unkempt? I wonder if more players share Pujols’ opinion of Wrigley, or if this isn’t a case of a St. Louis player having fun while taking a shot at something Chicago is proud of.

      From a fan’s point of view, Wrigley will always be a historic landmark. It’s become a tourist attraction to most hardcore baseball fans and it’s always fun to catch a game in the middle of the day while drinking with the rest of the bleacher bums. The place is old, but it’s hard to argue against its place in baseball history.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

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