Z to the Pen

[BT]

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->I'm pretty good at reading between the lines (ok, well maybe not Lou's lines because everything out of his mouth is Buddha Spanish) and I never heard a word about the reason for this was to fix something wrong with Z. Never...not once.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Ok, then don't bother reading between the lines, read the actual lines:

Hendry on Zambrano


<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"It's not much of a secret the last year or year and a half, that he's not throwing as hard as a starter as he used to," general manager Jim Hendry said. "And we thought short-term, that would pick up his velocity and when he did go back to the rotation, he'd have a build-up in that velocity and some confidence in it."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

or this:

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"We're going to stretch him out to get back in the rotation and we'll see exactly when he's ready," Piniella said. "We took a chance that we needed to take. We thought his velocity would increase, and it hasn't.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

It doesn't take a mind reader to infer the Cubs thought there was something wrong with Zambrano, and that putting him in the pen may help fix it.