Z to the Pen

[Scarey]

<!--quoteo(post=96747:date=May 18 2010, 12:21 PM:name=Coldneck)-->QUOTE (Coldneck @ May 18 2010, 12:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=96741:date=May 18 2010, 01:14 PM:name=Scarey)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Scarey @ May 18 2010, 01:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=96738:date=May 18 2010, 12:08 PM:name=Coldneck)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Coldneck @ May 18 2010, 12:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=96735:date=May 18 2010, 01:01 PM:name=Scarey)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Scarey @ May 18 2010, 01:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=96732:date=May 18 2010, 11:55 AM:name=Coldneck)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Coldneck @ May 18 2010, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=96731:date=May 18 2010, 12:52 PM:name=ruby23)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ruby23 @ May 18 2010, 12:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->And?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And I was just noting that all of you called me crazy for wanting to rid ourselves of Z's contract. You argued that many teams would take it off our hands but it would be a mistake to do so. Now some of you are saying that nobody would take him off our hands without the Cubs eating a portion of his salary, which is exactly what I was saying then. That's all.
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This is an entirely different scenario compared to last year. However, I still argue personally that there are plenty of teams that would claim Zambrano off of waivers outright. He's still young and I think he has it in him to throw 200 innings at a sub 3.50 ERA. What exactly are your expectations for him if he would have stayed in the rotation all year?
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If you are correct we should trade Z for whatever we can get. Use the salary savings on an impact player for 2011.
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The way they have handled Z at this point, I don't think they would get an impact player at all. That's the point. Plus, if I'm right it would be exremely hard to match the value of a player that can give you 200 innings and a 3.50 ERA for the next three years. I understand that the Cubs have a financial hole work around, but it's going to be extremely hard to fill. The only manageable way I see is to let some contracts expire. I forget what the figures were, but I believe we have something like 25 million coming off the books next year and something like 32 million in 2012. <b>The Cubs just need to make a conscious effort to utilize their money in a better way in the future.</b>
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This has been my central argument for years. By releasing some of the bad contracts to other clubs we can accelerate this process. The problem is that JH is still in place and would probably just replace them with more bad ones.
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Zambrano is not one of those bad contracts though. Is it a great deal for the Cubs? No. Is it overpaying slightly for a pitcher that has historically shown he's a top of the rotation pitcher and will be tied to the Cubs through his prime years? Yep.

As far as Hendry bunching up the Cubs payroll in the future, I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen for three reasons.

1. He may not even be the Cubs GM after this season.
2. If he was staying as the Cubs GM, I think the league as a whole has finally come to the conclusion that players 33 and older are losing affectiveness without the help of steroids. Maybe Hendry didn't get the memo, but league wide GMs have stopped making that mistake.
3. He finally has stable ownership and will not be pressured to make ridiculous short term solutions to improve the value of the team for an impending sale like the Tribune company did when Soriano, Lilly, and Marquis was signed and like Sam Zell when he had Fukudome and Bradley signed.