Zambrano

Carlos Zambrano returned to the rotation last night and pitched well enough. I rather regard this outing as part of an extended rehab assignment. Actually, if you look at the whole season for the whole team in that light, things do not look nearly so bleak.

But anyway, I thought he showed some good signs. He pitched five innings and left with a 3-2 lead against a contending team. He walked seven or eight guys, but he really didn't have good command, nor did he seem able to find a consistent release point. He was only throwing in the high eighties, but the point is that he pitched. I mean he really pitched and managed his innings well rather than just throwing. He had to pitch, really pitch, to escape allowing so many baserunners and only two runs.

One of the more curious things about coverage of the Cubs is the consistently low quality of commentary available from the news media. Witness Gordon Wittenmeyer's article from the Sun-Times which advances the curious and convoluted argument that it is important to rehabilitate Zambrano to something close to the pitcher he once was so that you can trade him away and pay most of his salary and go out and get a free agent stopper who will likely cost twice as much money as Z. Duh! Is this guy just parroting some idiotic mantra he got from a front-office underling or is he seriously challenged on the subject of logical thought?

Here's the deal. If Z were to return to form and pitch well, why wouldn't you keep him as he is a cheaper and more durable investment than anything you could get in return? And if he fails, he is your problem anyway and no one will want him without a hefty subsidy.

On the subject of the rest of his article, though, it makes sense to think the Cubs need a left-handed first baseman. I'm not absolutely sure it is Adam Dunn. Dunn has good numbers, but the last time I saw him play he was with Cincinnati and he either struck out, walked, or hit a home run and he couldn't catch anything. In short he played some sort of game that only vaguely resembled baseball. I think we have a guy like that playing left field now every day, except this guy doesn't walk.

On the topic of getting a pitcher in free agency, I guess this makes some sense if the pitcher is Cliff Lee. The Cubs are going to save around $25 million next season by not having to pay Ted Lilly, Derrick Lee, and Xavier Nady, so don't swallow this poor mouth baloney about not being able to afford a serious move on that front. $25 million is more than enough to get Cliff Lee.