Zambrano

[rok]

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/ne...id=5411325
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"It was a moment of frustration," Zambrano said Monday in an interview with ESPN. "I was trying to fire up the team. Lee told me to shut up, and I got more excited. I apologize from the bottom of my heart. The last person I would be mad at is D. Lee; he's a Gold Glover. I was just mad at myself."

Zambrano said he has already apologized to Lee.

"I texted Lee two days after it happened, and we talked after that," Zambrano said. "I apologized to him, and he responded well. He's a professional. He's one of the best teammates you can have."

Zambrano will apologize to the rest of his teammates when he rejoins the Cubs on Friday in Denver against the Colorado Rockies. He hopes he and the Cubs can move on after the apology.

"If I play better and do the right things, everything will be fine in Chicago," Zambrano said. "I love the fans and the city. I do not want to leave Chicago. I came on a mission, and I want that ring."

Undergoing anger management therapy is part of his road back to the major leagues, and Zambrano said the sessions have made a difference.

"A lot of people have told me I need to change if I want to be successful," Zambrano said. "Thank God the Cubs have sent me to the doctor for anger management. I've had three sessions already ... doing exercises. I have to write down every time I get mad."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5411274
Z looks really shifty-eyed in this clip. Not really believing any of this.

[BT]

<!--quoteo(post=107960:date=Jul 26 2010, 12:39 PM:name=veryzer)-->QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 26 2010, 12:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=107949:date=Jul 26 2010, 11:35 AM:name=vitaminB)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vitaminB @ Jul 26 2010, 11:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=107572:date=Jul 23 2010, 03:26 PM:name=veryzer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 23 2010, 03:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->1. Zambrano struggled early in the season and was banished to the bullpen despite the fact that he's been a solid pitcher his entire career.

2. Gorzallaney has not been a solid pitcher his entire career, Silva was coming off back to back terrible seasons, Wells was in his second year. They stayed in the rotation.

3. Zambrano has a history of volitility.

4. Despite the fact Zambrano has gotten progressively worse thoughout his career, he's still been one of the best pitchers in the NL.

Synopsis: Zambrano earned the right, through quality and quantity of work, to be able to work his problems out early in the season. Couple that with the fact he's completely insane, and you have to wonder what the fuck was going through Lou and Hendry's minds when they made the retarded decision to put him in the bullpen. Hendry and Lou took a bad situation and blew it to hell.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Here are the ERAs of the five starters at the time Lilly came back: 2.49 2.60 2.40 0.95 and <b>7.45</b>.

What kind of message does that send to the rest of the team? It doesn't matter if you perform well. If you make more money, we're going to stick with you? Which is essentially the way things usually work, and we all complain about it. See Fuk getting starts over Colvin, etc.

Once again, at the time we had been through about 3 or 4 8th inning guys IIRC. Throw in the fact that Zambrano's stuff was best suited for relief work and it made sense to me at the time. That's all I'm saying.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


What are the career ERA's? What were the ERA's of those same pitchers the year before? When did Lily come back, May? Was that enough time to shitcan their best pitcher over the last 6 years?

What kind of message did the Cubs send the team? That even though you've been an all star multiple times, the opening day starter multiple times, just thrown a no-hitter less than two years ago, and been one of the top 5 pitchers in the National League, we're gonna demote you if you don't get off to a good start? Is that the kind of message we need to send?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

The main problem with your argument is that you are ignoring Zambrano's actual performance over the last 2 years. Hendry wasn't. He has addressed your concerns when he said:

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->“He really hasn’t been up to the standards that he was before for two seasons,” Hendry said. “If you look at his last 50 starts, he probably ranks in the bottom third of the National League of overall performance, and I’m not saying that critically. That’s not something that I’m tying in with today, but that’s part of the decision that was criticized at the time, like we were taking our ace out of the rotation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Hendry was taking the LONG view, not the short view, when they moved Zambrano to the pen. Now you can argue with Hendry's evaluation of Zambrano's last 50 starts, but (and I can't find this right now) I think I saw something at BP or on ESPN that essentially said the same thing.

To make a long story longer, you keep complaining because you feel that they yanked Zambrano after 4 bad starts, but that is pretty much the antithesis of what the Cubs did.

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo(post=108062:date=Jul 26 2010, 03:50 PM:name=vitaminB)-->QUOTE (vitaminB @ Jul 26 2010, 03:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=107960:date=Jul 26 2010, 01:39 PM:name=veryzer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 26 2010, 01:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=107949:date=Jul 26 2010, 11:35 AM:name=vitaminB)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vitaminB @ Jul 26 2010, 11:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=107572:date=Jul 23 2010, 03:26 PM:name=veryzer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 23 2010, 03:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->1. Zambrano struggled early in the season and was banished to the bullpen despite the fact that he's been a solid pitcher his entire career.

2. Gorzallaney has not been a solid pitcher his entire career, Silva was coming off back to back terrible seasons, Wells was in his second year. They stayed in the rotation.

3. Zambrano has a history of volitility.

4. Despite the fact Zambrano has gotten progressively worse thoughout his career, he's still been one of the best pitchers in the NL.

Synopsis: Zambrano earned the right, through quality and quantity of work, to be able to work his problems out early in the season. Couple that with the fact he's completely insane, and you have to wonder what the fuck was going through Lou and Hendry's minds when they made the retarded decision to put him in the bullpen. Hendry and Lou took a bad situation and blew it to hell.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Here are the ERAs of the five starters at the time Lilly came back: 2.49 2.60 2.40 0.95 and <b>7.45</b>.

What kind of message does that send to the rest of the team? It doesn't matter if you perform well. If you make more money, we're going to stick with you? Which is essentially the way things usually work, and we all complain about it. See Fuk getting starts over Colvin, etc.

Once again, at the time we had been through about 3 or 4 8th inning guys IIRC. Throw in the fact that Zambrano's stuff was best suited for relief work and it made sense to me at the time. That's all I'm saying.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


What are the career ERA's? What were the ERA's of those same pitchers the year before? When did Lily come back, May? Was that enough time to shitcan their best pitcher over the last 6 years?

What kind of message did the Cubs send the team? That even though you've been an all star multiple times, the opening day starter multiple times, just thrown a no-hitter less than two years ago, and been one of the top 5 pitchers in the National League, we're gonna demote you if you don't get off to a good start? Is that the kind of message we need to send?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Honestly, you think Zambrano is/was untouchable? That his track record elevates him to the status of a superstar somehow? I understand he's being paid like one. But that contract was about potential, and he has not lived up to that potential. It's questionable that he ever will.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It isn't that he is/was untouchable. It's about the probability of longer term success. Zambrano has shown year after year that he will put up solid numbers. He's earned the benefit of the doubt and he's earned a little breathing room if he starts the season out slowly. You don't just yank a guy like Zambrano from the rotation because he had a couple of bad starts in April. Especially when you have:
- Silva -- who was literally the *worst* pitcher in baseball the previous two seasons (2008 ERA: 6.46, 2009 ERA: 8.60)
- Gorz, who hasn't proven shit (2008 ERA: 6.66, 2009 ERA: 5.55), and
- Wells -- who put up good numbers in his rookie season in the rotation (170 major league innings).

You let Zambrano (ERAs from 2002 until 2009: 3.66, 3.11, 2.75, 3.26, 3.41, 3.95, 3.91, 3.77) ride it out and you assume that his numbers will improve to his career averages. You assume Gorz and Silva will begin to regress to their career averages as well. And Wells doesn't have a long enough track record to project very far out.

And for all the talk of him regressing, take another look at his numbers. His stats in 2007, 2008, and 2009 are very similar -- other than IP. And he somehow managed to win 18 games and get 5th in the Cy Young voting in 2007.

If I were Zambrano, and I had been the Cubs' most consistent starter for the past seven years, I'd be pretty fucking pissed if I got thrown into the bullpen for a bad start to the season. Any other starter with his track record would have been allowed to work through it.

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Now you can argue with Hendry's evaluation of Zambrano's last 50 starts...To make a long story longer, you keep complaining because you feel that they yanked Zambrano after 4 bad starts, but that is pretty much the antithesis of what the Cubs did.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If we're talking long view and we're really looking at last 50 starts, then you have to evaluate Zambrano's last 50 starts compared to Silva and Gorz's last 50 starts.

[willis]

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.

[rok]

<!--quoteo(post=108076:date=Jul 26 2010, 04:21 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Jul 26 2010, 04:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->Now you can argue with Hendry's evaluation of Zambrano's last 50 starts...To make a long story longer, you keep complaining because you feel that they yanked Zambrano after 4 bad starts, but that is pretty much the antithesis of what the Cubs did.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If we're talking long view and we're really looking at last 50 starts, then you have to evaluate Zambrano's last 50 starts compared to Silva and Gorz's last 50 starts.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Not to mention, for all this talk about Z's last 50 starts, do people even remember that on August 1, 2009, he was 7-4 with a 3.35 era before getting injured again? His 2008 saw a similar trend where he broke down late in the season after being in CY contention for most of the year (12-4 with a 2.76 era on August 3, 2008).

So I get a little tired of people talking about Z as though he's shown a steady decline since 2007. Look at the numbers and the <b>actual</b> trends in sequence, not what is perceived and what the likes of Sully would have everyone believe. It paints a different picture altogether.

I am still not ready to give up on him, sorry.

[BT]

<!--quoteo(post=108076:date=Jul 26 2010, 04:21 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Jul 26 2010, 04:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->Now you can argue with Hendry's evaluation of Zambrano's last 50 starts...To make a long story longer, you keep complaining because you feel that they yanked Zambrano after 4 bad starts, but that is pretty much the antithesis of what the Cubs did.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If we're talking long view and we're really looking at last 50 starts, then you have to evaluate Zambrano's last 50 starts compared to Silva and Gorz's last 50 starts.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

No, you don't. Your complaint, the only reason why it's so insane that they took Zambrano out of the rotation, was because they only looked at the last 4 starts. They weren't looking at his history. That is not what they did. They very explicitly took his recent history into account. Therefore, if you complain that they shouldn't only be looking at the last 4 games, they weren't. If you are arguing they didn't take history into account, they did.

Now, the idea that, since the Cubs were prudent enough to take Zambrano's entire body of work over the last 2 years into account when they made this decision (which is, by the way, EXACTLY what you asked them to do), that they now have to take EVERYONE'S body of work over the last 2 years into account, is silly. Of course they don't. If Zambrano had been out of his head for the last 4 starts, the other 46 starts wouldn't have made a difference. Those average to bad 4 starts, IN ADDITION to mediocre to below average production over the last 2 years, is the reason they picked Zambrano. This was also combined with the fact that the other 4 pitchers were pitching MILES better than Zambrano at the time.

The only reason to NOT take Zambrano out of the rotation would be if his body of recent work showed he was good enough to ignore his slow start to 2010. According to the Cubs, it didn't.

[BT]

<!--quoteo(post=108079:date=Jul 26 2010, 04:40 PM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Jul 26 2010, 04:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=108076:date=Jul 26 2010, 04:21 PM:name=Butcher)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Butcher @ Jul 26 2010, 04:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->Now you can argue with Hendry's evaluation of Zambrano's last 50 starts...To make a long story longer, you keep complaining because you feel that they yanked Zambrano after 4 bad starts, but that is pretty much the antithesis of what the Cubs did.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If we're talking long view and we're really looking at last 50 starts, then you have to evaluate Zambrano's last 50 starts compared to Silva and Gorz's last 50 starts.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Not to mention, for all this talk about Z's last 50 starts, do people even remember that on August 1, 2009, he was 7-4 with a 3.35 era before getting injured again? His 2008 saw a similar trend where he broke down late in the season after being in CY contention for most of the year (12-4 with a 2.76 era on August 3, 2008).

So I get a little tired of people talking about Z as though he's shown a steady decline since 2007. Look at the numbers and the <b>actual</b> trends in sequence, not what is perceived and what the likes of Sully would have everyone believe. It paints a different picture altogether.

I am still not ready to give up on him, sorry.
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Rok, injuries are not exculpatory. The reason a lot of people think Zambrano is steadily getting worse is because he has a ton of miles on his arm. More and more frequent breakdowns would back this theory up. So even if his numbers are down totally due to injury, that doesn't mean we can expect everything to turn around, because it's very likely that every pitch he throws is contributing to those injuries. In theory, they should just get worse as he gets older.

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->They very explicitly took his recent history into account.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Then they looked at the wrong stat sheet. Maybe Hendry mixed up the two Carloses.

Let's pretend we could go back in time to May of 2010. Given Z's, Gorz's, Wells' and Silva's careers -- yes, including 2008 and 2009 -- who, of these three pitchers, would be the most likely to have the most success over 32 starts?

A. Z

B. Silva

C. Gorz

D. Wells

[dk123]

<!--quoteo(post=108106:date=Jul 26 2010, 11:07 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Jul 26 2010, 11:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->They very explicitly took his recent history into account.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Then they looked at the wrong stat sheet. Maybe Hendry mixed up the two Carloses.

Let's pretend we could go back in time to May of 2010. Given Z's, Gorz's, Wells' and Silva's careers -- yes, including 2008 and 2009 -- who, of these three pitchers, would be the most likely to have the most success over 32 starts?

A. Z

B. Silva

C. Gorz

D. Wells
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You really would have put Silva second on that list?

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo(post=108107:date=Jul 26 2010, 11:10 PM:name=dk123)-->QUOTE (dk123 @ Jul 26 2010, 11:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=108106:date=Jul 26 2010, 11:07 PM:name=Butcher)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Butcher @ Jul 26 2010, 11:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->They very explicitly took his recent history into account.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Then they looked at the wrong stat sheet. Maybe Hendry mixed up the two Carloses.

Let's pretend we could go back in time to May of 2010. Given Z's, Gorz's, Wells' and Silva's careers -- yes, including 2008 and 2009 -- who, of these three pitchers, would be the most likely to have the most success over 32 starts?

A. Z

B. Silva

C. Gorz

D. Wells
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You really would have put Silva second on that list?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
No. It's a multiple choice question. It isn't in order of who I think would be most effective.

[dk123]

<!--quoteo(post=108109:date=Jul 26 2010, 11:12 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Jul 26 2010, 11:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=108107:date=Jul 26 2010, 11:10 PM:name=dk123)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dk123 @ Jul 26 2010, 11:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=108106:date=Jul 26 2010, 11:07 PM:name=Butcher)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Butcher @ Jul 26 2010, 11:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->They very explicitly took his recent history into account.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Then they looked at the wrong stat sheet. Maybe Hendry mixed up the two Carloses.

Let's pretend we could go back in time to May of 2010. Given Z's, Gorz's, Wells' and Silva's careers -- yes, including 2008 and 2009 -- who, of these three pitchers, would be the most likely to have the most success over 32 starts?

A. Z

B. Silva

C. Gorz

D. Wells
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You really would have put Silva second on that list?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
No. It's a multiple choice question. It isn't in order of who I think would be most effective.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oops.

[Butcher]

So, I just looked this up.

The Z to the bullpen move happened on April 21.

April 21!

You know how many starts Gorz and Silva had under their belts at that point in the season? 2. It's worse than I even remembered.

[veryzer]

<!--quoteo(post=108069:date=Jul 26 2010, 04:02 PM:name=BT)-->QUOTE (BT @ Jul 26 2010, 04:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=107960:date=Jul 26 2010, 12:39 PM:name=veryzer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 26 2010, 12:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=107949:date=Jul 26 2010, 11:35 AM:name=vitaminB)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vitaminB @ Jul 26 2010, 11:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=107572:date=Jul 23 2010, 03:26 PM:name=veryzer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 23 2010, 03:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->1. Zambrano struggled early in the season and was banished to the bullpen despite the fact that he's been a solid pitcher his entire career.

2. Gorzallaney has not been a solid pitcher his entire career, Silva was coming off back to back terrible seasons, Wells was in his second year. They stayed in the rotation.

3. Zambrano has a history of volitility.

4. Despite the fact Zambrano has gotten progressively worse thoughout his career, he's still been one of the best pitchers in the NL.

Synopsis: Zambrano earned the right, through quality and quantity of work, to be able to work his problems out early in the season. Couple that with the fact he's completely insane, and you have to wonder what the fuck was going through Lou and Hendry's minds when they made the retarded decision to put him in the bullpen. Hendry and Lou took a bad situation and blew it to hell.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Here are the ERAs of the five starters at the time Lilly came back: 2.49 2.60 2.40 0.95 and <b>7.45</b>.

What kind of message does that send to the rest of the team? It doesn't matter if you perform well. If you make more money, we're going to stick with you? Which is essentially the way things usually work, and we all complain about it. See Fuk getting starts over Colvin, etc.

Once again, at the time we had been through about 3 or 4 8th inning guys IIRC. Throw in the fact that Zambrano's stuff was best suited for relief work and it made sense to me at the time. That's all I'm saying.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


What are the career ERA's? What were the ERA's of those same pitchers the year before? When did Lily come back, May? Was that enough time to shitcan their best pitcher over the last 6 years?

What kind of message did the Cubs send the team? That even though you've been an all star multiple times, the opening day starter multiple times, just thrown a no-hitter less than two years ago, and been one of the top 5 pitchers in the National League, we're gonna demote you if you don't get off to a good start? Is that the kind of message we need to send?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

The main problem with your argument is that you are ignoring Zambrano's actual performance over the last 2 years. Hendry wasn't. He has addressed your concerns when he said:

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->“He really hasn’t been up to the standards that he was before for two seasons,” Hendry said. “If you look at his last 50 starts, he probably ranks in the bottom third of the National League of overall performance, and I’m not saying that critically. That’s not something that I’m tying in with today, but that’s part of the decision that was criticized at the time, like we were taking our ace out of the rotation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Hendry was taking the LONG view, not the short view, when they moved Zambrano to the pen. Now you can argue with Hendry's evaluation of Zambrano's last 50 starts, but (and I can't find this right now) I think I saw something at BP or on ESPN that essentially said the same thing.

To make a long story longer, you keep complaining because you feel that they yanked Zambrano after 4 bad starts, but that is pretty much the antithesis of what the Cubs did.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

How was Silva's performance over those same two years? How about Gorzallanney's?

I agree that Zambrano has been in decline, but when I look at his stats last year, I see a 3.77 ERA and 10 home runs given up in 169 innings. So tell me, was that a bad year? Especially coupled with the fact that he was hurt?

I keep complaining about the fact that even though he was pretty good last year, as good as anyone else in the rotation, he gets the demotion even though everyone in the world knows he's batshit crazy.

It was a stupid move, and even your powers of persuasion won't change my mind. And how did it turn out in the end? Did it work?

[jstraw]

It wasn't just stupid. I swear...they were gaslighting him.