General

Carlos Zambrano’s Latest Tirade Lands Him In Baseball’s Version Of A Padded Room

Jun 29, 2010, 2:00 PM UTC

â†µCarlos Zambrano's situation after his tirade in the Cubs dugout has gone from bad to worse, as the hot-tempered pitcher has been placed on the restricted list and will not be welcomed back to the Cubs until after the All-Star break.â†µ

â†µâ†µThat news comes with a huge caveat, however. Zambrano reportedly needs more than just some time away from his team. The ace turned reliever turned clubhouse monster must undergo a “treatment program” and will only be allowed back with the team after “mutually agreed upon doctors” sign off on his ability to control his anger.â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“The doctors will evaluate him in their level of expertise. I am certainly not anywhere close in that level of expertise,” [Cubs GM Jim] Hendry said. “He will be evaluated, then directed on areas to address some of his deficiencies and he will be required by MLB and the Players’ Association to follow the directions of the doctor.” â†µâ†µWe had a report this weekend that indicated Big Z’s tirade was just an effort to pump up his teammates, and the situation didn’t become inflamed until Derrek Lee told him to “shut the (expletive) up.” That report clearly felt like PR spin, and seemed a bit incongruent with the news that Big Z accepted a trip to anger management sessions. But a Chicago Tribune report from late Monday night (via Yahoo) indicated that Zambrano told Kevin Millar – who was in spring training with the Cubs but is now retired – that he was just trying to pump the team up and that he knows, now, that he shouldn’t have tried to do it because, “[t]he main thing he wanted to get across was that at times guys like Carlos, they don’t know how to handle or how to fire up a team.” â†µâ†µMaybe Zambrano doesn’t need anger management. Maybe he needs motivational speaking classes. â†µ

â†µ

â†µWhen asked if Zambrano indicated any remorse or willingness to fix the situation, Millar – now an analyst for MLB Network after spending just seven weeks in the Cubs system this spring – said:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“I think he wants to heal the situation, whether he remains a Chicago Cub or not,” Millar said. “Who knows if the wounds are too deep? Who knows? That’s Jim Hendry’s job.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“But see this is the problem: We give huge contracts to players and now we think ‘Oh, that equals leadership,’ or, ‘If a guy’s doing well, that equals leadership.’ That’s not the case. You create these monsters through organizations and Carlos Zambrano’s Carlos Zambrano.”â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µ

See, it’s not Zambrano’s fault he’s a monster. Jim Hendry created him by throwing buckets and buckets of money at him and then, according to Millar, expecting him to be a leader.â†µâ†µIt’s actually Hendry – not Lou Pinella, by the way – who seems to be catching much of the blame for this situation. Hendry opened himself up for scrutiny when he defended Zambrano’s 2007 contract extension to reporters:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“There was nothing wrong with the investment,” Hendry said. “This guy was an outstanding pitcher in the National League, in the game, for the four or five years before that. And there’s no question that the deal was a solid one in the industry. He certainly would have been one of the hotter tickets on the street if that thing went to the end of the season.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“He certainly pitched well enough to earn that contract, whether it was here or somewhere else,” Hendry said. “Unfortunately in our game, every now and then, it doesn’t work out the way it did before the contract. He certainly hasn’t been the same pitcher since then. And that speaks for itself.”â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µFangraphs did a fantastic breakdown, albeit retroactively, of Zambrano’s huge contract extension to determine if Hendry should have seen the writing on the wall:â†µâ†µâ‡¥Certainly, the case that we see right now with Zambrano is among the worst-case scenarios, but there wasn’t much reason to believe that Carlos Zambrano would produce that well, especially for five years after the contract was signed. It seems to me that Hendry saw too much of the 2004-2005 Zambrano when he offered this contract and not enough of the 2006-2007 version.â†µâ†µOf course, that’s all based on pitching performance, and as terrible as Zambrano has been on the mound this year, he’s been sent to the baseball equivalent of a padded cell until after the All-Star break because of his temper, not his fastball. â†µSun Times columnist Rick Telander is in sky-is-falling mode, blaming Zambrano’s behavior on his size – “If his nickname were Little Z or Wee-Z, maybe things would be different,” – and intimating that Hendry could be fired and Piniella “likely will not survive this insanity” and retire.â†µ

â†µMaybe those close to the situation know something the rest of us don't, but isn't it the manager's job to keep his players together, working toward the same goal? There's so much ire toward Hendry for giving Zambrano the deal, but sympathy for Piniella having to deal with the aftermath. In fact, in another Sun Times story yesterday, Gordon Wittenmyer quotes the hot-tempered manager in saying he's so sick about what's happened, he wasn't able to go to dinner with his family who was in town. Yet none of his tiny-violin soundtracked lamenting comes close to this line:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“I’ve gotten frustrated,” he said Sunday. “But I bounce back. ... The losing isn’t easy for me. I’m not used to losing.”â†µâ†µPiniella has a career .521 winning percentage, a World Series title and six divisional crowns, but he does remember that his last stop before coming to Chicago was in Tampa, right? You know, the place he won 200 games in three seasons, combined? And in his three seasons in Chicago, including two division titles, he’s yet to notch a playoff win. Not win a series…his teams haven’t yet won a game in the playoffs since he’s been in Chicago. â†µâ†µIs sitting 10 games under .500 Piniella’s fault this season or is it Hendry’s? Or, could it actually be Zambrano’s? One thing’s for sure, Piniella can’t be used to players needing to deal with their problems by lying on a couch. It will be fascinating to see how the clubhouse handles Zambrano if, and when, he’s allowed out of his cell.â†µ

â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

See More: