2014

Carlos Zambrano was released after seven minor-league starts, so this might be farewell to a pitcher who could roll out of bed and hit .238.

2013

The Marlins reeled "Big Z" in from the Cubs for Chris Volstad in January 2012, hoping that a change of scenery pairing him with his friend Ozzie Guillen would keep Zambrano’s emotions in check. Zambrano did stay on his best behavior for much of the year, but he posted his highest walk rate since 2002 and was moved to the bullpen in late July. The righty now becomes a free agent for the first time in his career, at the usually still-ripe age of 31, but with nearly 2,000 innings on his right shoulder, he may not have much left.

2012

There really isn't anything offensive Zambrano has done that hasn't been done by numerous ballplayers throughout the history of the game. But he's alienated enough of the wrong people that incidents as harmless as showing the wrong body language when being pulled from a game get interpreted as more evidence of what a “whack job” he is. Teammates, media, and fans tolerated his antics much more readily when he was making hitters look stupid with his heavy two-seam fastballs that sat around 93 mph supported by four-seamers reaching the upper 90s. Influenced by Carlos Silva during the junkballer's brief time on the Cubs, Zambrano has begun throwing all varieties of slop on occasion to compensate for the fact that his fastball is lucky to touch 95 mph once on a good day out of the bullpen. Hoping for him to avoid alienating anyone else, and also accepting a role as a back-of-rotation starter, seems like sheer optimism at this point.\r\n

2011

If ever you wanted an example of the increasing insanity of relief-related obsessions, consider the Cubs' lurch into hauling Zambrano out of the rotation four spins through. As a win-now move, would you really pull Zambrano and leave your starting staff with a converted catcher, a Pirates castoff, and a broken-down tubbo who'd allowed seven runs per nine over the last two years? After a month of that nonsense had done little to advance the Cubs' cause in any particular direction and they moved Z back into the rotation, could you blame him when he subsequently blew his stack an inning into a bad start? The entire situation was ludicrous, and Zambrano's outrage might have been the closest thing to reason involved. For this, he was suspended for a month, an overreaction almost as petty as the Bradley suspension the year before. Once Zambrano finally entered the rotation to stay in August, he delivered eight quality starts in 11—you know, the stuff he's paid to do—at which point the Cubs magically remembered that this guy was still their best starter. There are a few ways to handle a staff ace—perhaps especially a temperamental one—but the Cubs' method ranks somewhere very low on the list.

2010

You can’t accuse Big Z of being a snooze. When the Cubs win, Zambrano’s shtick (which involves mound petulance, hairstyle experiments, batting-practice power displays, and unending chatter) is usually viewed as entertaining. When they lose, his antics are viewed as selfish, distracting, and detrimental to the ballclub. Whether he’s a savvy self-promoter or a cotton-headed muggins is beside the point; mostly, he’s a very good starter being paid like an ace who can’t keep his ample posterior on the mound. This year it wasn’t a dead arm that cost him innings, but back spasms blamed on poor conditioning, and a hamstring injury suffered, in true Z fashion, while beating out a bunt single. When healthy he was effective, trading a few fastballs for splitters, which led to more walks and more strikeouts, while a random drop in his home-run rate helped lower his ERA. To this point, and against seemingly high odds, Zambrano’s arm has remained firmly attached to his body, but if he expects to keep this up into his thirties and through the end of his contract in 2013, Zambrano will need to take things a little more seriously.

2009

Big Z isn\'t quite the workhorse he\'d been in years past. While some of it was a matter of the club\'s taking precautions as they eased their way down the stretch, Zambrano started wrestling with shoulder pain in June, and was complaining of a dead arm by the end of August. Especially troubling was his stretch-drive kick, which alternated exceptional and execrable outings (and a few too many of the latter) with very little in between. The question is whether or not there\'s a ticking time bomb in his right arm, if it\'s in his elbow or shoulder, and how soon it blows up. On a lighter note, he\'s had 221 PAs since his last walk as a hitter, but he\'s hit 11 homers in that span; it\'s like Shawon Dunston never left, except now he pitches.

2008

Zambrano had been outpitching his peripheral statistics for several seasons, so the main cause of the uptick in his ERA last year was simple regression to the mean. That said, both his velocity and strikeout rate were off a bit as well. There were clearly times when Zambrano seemed flustered last season, most notably his much-publicized dugout fight with Michael Barrett, so there was some hope that his performance would improve after being granted piece of mind by the contract extension he signed in August, but his strikeout rate was incrementally worse down the stretch. Maybe Zambrano's a guy who's better when he's pitching a little angry. Either way, he's a pitcher of legendary durability, but is probably closer to a number two than a true ace in most other respects.

2007

Zambrano has seemingly been the model of consistency for the Cubs, delivering high-value innings for 30-plus starts a year, pumping in fastball after fastball. Unfortunately, there were a couple of worrisome notes in 2006--his walk rate jumped up to an unhealthy level, and his groundball-flyball ratio took a sharp downward turn. It might be nothing, but it could be the first warning sign that his years of hard pitching at tender ages are catching up to him.

2006

As noted in the essay, Zambrano really has been this good for this long, and his three-year arc is the best of any Cubs starter over more than 30 years. Nevertheless, worries about his elbow haven`t gone away, but when he`s the one reliable commodity among the big three, and with Prior and Wood-watches becoming Wrigleyville`s Kremlinology, Cubs Nation is justifiably nervous for Zambrano`s well-being. The big Venezuelan is a genuine pleasure to watch as he grinds his opponents to powder, keeping his infielders busy and overpowering hitters, and rarely hiding how he feels about it when he`s on.

2005

Big Z is one of the more underutilized nicknames in baseball, and Zambrano proved that he had a Bigger Z than Barry Zito by outdueling his arch-nemesis during the Cubs' interleague victory on June 20. Zambrano was also one of the best pitchers in the league, and when his nasty sinking fastball and hard slider were working together, he was absolutely unhittable. He can be wild at times, but because he generates a lot of double plays and rarely yields extra-base hits, those walks don't harm him as much as they might another pitcher.

Still, one sometimes gets the feeling that Zambrano is a Ming vase teetering on the brink of an unsteady shelf. He has the tendency to overthrow in jams or when he's getting fatigued, sending his mechanics out of whack. While not out of shape, he carries a lot of weight on his frame. He's extremely and demonstrably competitive, so he's about the last guy in the league who is going to beg himself out of a game voluntarily. In spite of all of that, he's been worked more heavily than just about anyone: Zambrano, Jason Schmidt and Livan Hernandez were the only three starters who averaged more than 110 pitches per start last season, and Big Z was the youngest of that group by six years. We're trying not to be Pitch Count Nazis, but if there's one pitcher who deserves a petition for clemency, it's Zambrano, who is simply too good and too exciting to let go to waste.

2004

The heavy workload is even more of a concern for Zambrano than it is for Prior or Wood. Carlos struggled notably down the stretch, and he relies on a pitch, the power sinker, that is tougher on a pitcher's mechanics than the usual assortment of fastballs and curves. Zambrano's ERA was a bit lower last year than you'd posit from his peripheral numbers, but that's a pattern common to extreme groundball pitchers; he saved himself from big innings by inducing 27 double plays last year. Power groundballers are a rare breed, and Zambrano-a big, goofy-looking guy who is fiery and animated on the mound-is a fun pitcher to watch. But in the near-term, he's a good candidate for a down season.

2003

There are some comments that are just hopelessly generic, but Zambrano’s yet another flamethrower who could use a sharper breaking pitch, in this case, his slider. Where the Cubs plan to use him is still a bit up in the air: he could be the fifth starter, or he could wind up in the bullpen in long relief if Benes or Smyth sneak past him. He should be the favorite, however. In his half-season in the rotation (essentially replacing Bere), he logged nine quality starts (one subsequently blown) in 16 starts.

2002

The Cubs are done flirting with making Zambrano a closer, at least for now. He throws two-seam and four-seam heat from a couple of arm slots with great movement, and his breaking stuff, when it shows up, can be excellent. That’s the rub, and the reason why he may yet return to the pen. Since his age is in doubt, he could end up doing almost anything; a long-relief role in the big-league pen would be a good way to get him acclimated.

2001

Carlos Zambrano owns a mid-90s fastball that runs in on right-handers, plus a slider that flirts with being unhittable and a functional curve. He moved from starting at Double-A to closing at Iowa. The Cubs are saying they’ll make a determination which direction they want to go with him before the end of camp.