09-01-2009, 11:49 PM
Carlos Silva got 4/48 after being basically a #4. Ryan Dempster got 4/52 because of one great year, and rumors were teams such as the Yankees would've given him even more than that. A.J. Burnett got 5/82.5 after pitching three full or close to full seasons in 11 years, winning over 12 only last year.
Carlos Zambrano is just 28, has a career record of 103-67, has a career 3.52 ERA, has made over 30 starts the previous six years, winning at least 13 games all of those years. He's the only pitcher in the NL to win at least 13 games from 03-08. He's had an ERA under 4 every season for the last eight years(including this year). He's been arguably the most consistent pitcher in the game over this decade.
Maybe he'll never be a legitimate "ace", but you can usually mark him down for 15 wins and an ERA under 4. Every team will take that in a heartbeat.
I think the Cubs rushed him back and his numbers right now don't look as good as they should. 11 hits in 3.1 to an AAA Mets team at home. He'd only allowed that many hits in a game once in the last two years. 8 earned runs at home against the worst team in baseball, the Washington Nationals. 8 runs... something he'd done also just once in the last two years. Something isn't right there. They got desperate to make a playoff run, he was "good enough" to go, but clearly not 100%. We saw the same thing in Dempster's first start back from injury.
However, it doesn't appear to be a serious back issue, and he's NEVER had a serious injury, so it's something that shouldn't scare teams off. Because of how hard he plays, how he doesn't drink enough water, lots of things, he'll surely get more little injuries here and there, but it hasn't prevented him from making 30+ starts the six years before this.
Carlos Zambrano is just 28, has a career record of 103-67, has a career 3.52 ERA, has made over 30 starts the previous six years, winning at least 13 games all of those years. He's the only pitcher in the NL to win at least 13 games from 03-08. He's had an ERA under 4 every season for the last eight years(including this year). He's been arguably the most consistent pitcher in the game over this decade.
Maybe he'll never be a legitimate "ace", but you can usually mark him down for 15 wins and an ERA under 4. Every team will take that in a heartbeat.
I think the Cubs rushed him back and his numbers right now don't look as good as they should. 11 hits in 3.1 to an AAA Mets team at home. He'd only allowed that many hits in a game once in the last two years. 8 earned runs at home against the worst team in baseball, the Washington Nationals. 8 runs... something he'd done also just once in the last two years. Something isn't right there. They got desperate to make a playoff run, he was "good enough" to go, but clearly not 100%. We saw the same thing in Dempster's first start back from injury.
However, it doesn't appear to be a serious back issue, and he's NEVER had a serious injury, so it's something that shouldn't scare teams off. Because of how hard he plays, how he doesn't drink enough water, lots of things, he'll surely get more little injuries here and there, but it hasn't prevented him from making 30+ starts the six years before this.
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