07-26-2010, 05:36 PM
At the time it was a lose-lose for the team. The worst performing SP was Zambrano, yet he had been the longest tenured. The best fit for a 7th and 8th inning type set up man out of who was available was Zambrano...other than maybe Dempster. BUT...as the argument goes, he has been a cog in the rotation for 8 years. So, what to do what to do? And oh yeah, if memory strikes me, they needed a righty more than a lefty at that point wouldn't you say?
He isn't the same pitcher he was in the middle 2000s, and at times looks not even close to who he was last year. His velocity has dipped, his movement isn't as crisp and he surely isn't intimidating anyone anymore. I may be in the minority, but it got to the point where I cringed in games he started, just waiting for that one meltdown that put the team in a 4-5 run hole in about 3 seconds. I didn't use to feel that way. I do now.
If you live in the past too much, the present will kill you. Z has done dick this year to earn a thing. Now, I agree his rope should be a little longer than maybe it was....but he wasn't doing the club any favors with his performances. Part of last year and this spring and start to the season, dude blew goats. You can't argue that. Even if you took out the opening day shit piss he still wasn't doing his job like we all expect and like the organization expects out of an 18 million dollar player. The problem with the rotation is that no one in it has an "electric" arm...the closest thing is Z's arm. And as a setup man in this league, to be effective in most cases you need an electric arm. Currently Marshall is proving that theory isn't 100% accurate, but most teams in contention have that in their setup man. If anything else, I think Hendry, Lou and Rothschild were looking for lightening in a bottle with Z...it didn't work. Nothing has worked this year.
Fuck this is long, anyway, I guess my point is that ya'll can argue up and down and all around about past in present, I don't think there is a right answer here. It was a shitty situation that has gotten worse. Hindsight is a bitch. In hindsight, you put Cashner on the team from the jump and maybe none of this happens.
He isn't the same pitcher he was in the middle 2000s, and at times looks not even close to who he was last year. His velocity has dipped, his movement isn't as crisp and he surely isn't intimidating anyone anymore. I may be in the minority, but it got to the point where I cringed in games he started, just waiting for that one meltdown that put the team in a 4-5 run hole in about 3 seconds. I didn't use to feel that way. I do now.
If you live in the past too much, the present will kill you. Z has done dick this year to earn a thing. Now, I agree his rope should be a little longer than maybe it was....but he wasn't doing the club any favors with his performances. Part of last year and this spring and start to the season, dude blew goats. You can't argue that. Even if you took out the opening day shit piss he still wasn't doing his job like we all expect and like the organization expects out of an 18 million dollar player. The problem with the rotation is that no one in it has an "electric" arm...the closest thing is Z's arm. And as a setup man in this league, to be effective in most cases you need an electric arm. Currently Marshall is proving that theory isn't 100% accurate, but most teams in contention have that in their setup man. If anything else, I think Hendry, Lou and Rothschild were looking for lightening in a bottle with Z...it didn't work. Nothing has worked this year.
Fuck this is long, anyway, I guess my point is that ya'll can argue up and down and all around about past in present, I don't think there is a right answer here. It was a shitty situation that has gotten worse. Hindsight is a bitch. In hindsight, you put Cashner on the team from the jump and maybe none of this happens.
Dylan McKay is my hero