Carlos Zambrano’s four inning shutout pronounces his return to form – MLB News
Carlos Zambrano seems to have announced his return with the four shutout innings he pitched this Wednesday. Playing for the Caribes de Anzoategui in the Venezuelan Winter League, his four inning spell put gigantic pressure on Tigres de Aragua.
Of the 13 batters that Carlos Zambrano, the Chicago Cubs’ starter, faced, he had eighth of them groundouts, establishing glaring evidence of his excellence as a starter.
In effect, this game may in the long run prove to be a harbinger of his return in the Cubs as he has lately been in trouble due to the incident in August when he gave up five homers. Frustrated as he was, he was eventually ejected from the game against the
Atalnta Braves after he threw inside twice against Chipper Jones.
With the ejection that he was faced with, he cleared out the locker and announced his retirement after leaving the stadium. This brought a sense of disappointment and seething anger in the camp which forced the then team manager Mike Quade to say the club
was considering to call it quits with him.
“He walked out on 24 guys that are battling their (butts) off for him. I don't know where he's gone or what he's doing. I heard he has retired, or talking about retiring. I can't have a guy walking out on 24 guys, that's for d**n sure."
But Zambrano later said it was due to sheer anger that he said this, implying he never meant to tender resignation or announcement retirement. As the new management took charge of the Cubs, there have been a lot of talks in this regard.
Importantly, the club’s president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, the general manager Jed Hoyer and the new manager Dale Sveum are looking into it closely. When any final say comes is something that cannot be said with certainty now.
For now, his entire focus is to mentally and physically prepare himself for the next season, something he is impatiently awaiting. With complete preparation that he makes and the matter to his return sorted out, Zambrano will be a threat to many hitters
in the League.
Tags: