To Z or Not To Z

One thing that appears to becoming clearer and clearer with the Cubs staff outside of Zambrano leading the charge is that Carlos Zambrano will probably hit the market this off-season. What is also clear is that he is going to get paid regardless of his performance this year. The hub-bub is that a lot of people are not exactly enthralled with the idea of their team bending over and signing this guy. Me? If I was OK with signing Zito to a five year contract worth $75-$85 million I would have to certainly be OK with signing Zambrano to a similar contract.

From 2002 through 2006, Zambrano posted a .235 BAA, .239 BAA, .225 BAA, .212 BAA, and a .208 BAA and did not allow a slugging percentage higher than .351. While his pitch counts could be an area of concern, there does not seem to be anything to suggest that Carlos Zambrano is injured as he has maintained his velocity. Well, , almost nothing.

As for Zambrano, this video analysis by Carlos Gomez makes it clear that Zambrano's arm slot today is much lower than it was in 2005. And it's something of a truism in baseball that when a pitcher drops his arm, he's doing it to avoid pain. So I'll say this right now: Zambrano might not be healthy, and if he's not healthy, the Cubs are finished. Because Marquis and Ted Lilly can't carry the team.

That is certainly interesting. I have never heard this before, but Rob Neyer is certainly more in the know than I am. I guess it is entirely possibly that him dropping his arm angle has to do with being injured, but I would assume his velocity would be down as well. It seems that this Zambrano thing is going to be one hot issue and a whole lot of guessing as to what the root of his pitching problems are. It will be a toss up as to whether he is going to be more like Jason Schmidt and show up throwing in the high 80's or if he is going to be more like Jason Marquis and show up to camp and pitch like an ace for his new team.

I would not be surprised if someone leaks out some misinformation to try and screw up the market to snatch up a guy who can be a legitimate ace for some team.

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Also from the above link...

One thing I've noticed about blogging -- both as a reader and now as a producer of them -- is that when you're writing multiples times each day, you tend to hit the same themes over and over again. There's a fine line between exploration and repetition, I suppose, but the blog naturally becomes a sort of ongoing discussion, which (I think) means it's OK to return to familiar subjects every so often.

This is something I happen to think about. I definitely think twice about writing about certain things because it feels like I talk about them everyday. But then, I always come to the same conclusion and these crappy blogs are about inciting some discussion about the Mets and then I give myself the OK to be as redundant as I want.

If you were looking towards Delgado for some answers, you might want to check elsewhere.

“It’s been 45 days in a row,” Delgado said. “It’s frustrating when you’ve been doing this your whole life and then, hey, it’s not working anymore.”

Wow. Not very encouraging.

“One thing about power — if you don’t drive the ball, stay behind it, then you’re not going to hit home runs,” Delgado said. “And I’m not driving the ball now. I’m jumping at it. I’m not concerned about losing power. I feel great in B.P. when I hit the ball 500 feet. It’s just that I can’t carry it over into games.”

The mind is a scary thing and it could really shut you down.

There are two good things in this link.

"Things with Pedro are moving forward very nicely," Minaya told the Associated Press during a visit to the Dominican Republic. "We are hoping for his return in August, but the most important thing is that he recovers from his injury."

Gammo says Pedro is going to start throwing off of a mound next week.

The other tidbit was about the Mets breaking ground on a facility in the Dominican Republic.

Minaya and Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon were in the Dominican Republic to break ground a $7.5 million baseball academy. The team also announced it will play three exhibition games in the country next spring.

What's even better is that they will also play three exhibition games there next season. If they want to extend into the Dominican and create a huge footprint, sending their entire big league team down there will certainly go a long way to doing that.

The complex will feature three regulation-size fields, including one with the dimensions and wall height of Citi Field, where the Mets will open in 2009.

The academy will include a half field (for infield drills); bunting field; four batting tunnels; five covered pitching mounds and weight and training rooms.

The complex will have housing accommodations for 60 and a dining hall.

Pimped.

Giambi is being vilified for telling the truth? The Yankees want to void his contract for saying he's sorry he did 'stuff' as if they had no idea this 'stuff' existed before. They certainly didn't care when he was hitting. Now? They care again. Giambi will be silenced, but he'll tell the story at some point.

All of sudden Lastings seems to be the odd man out. I still am behind the kid though and think he can be a stud.

Cole Hamels is frighteningly good.

I love how there was plenty of ink about the Yankees turning it around with two wins over two good teams. Well, they lost on Tuesday. It's a long season and the Yankees have not shown all that much. How about we all wait until they show everyone over a ten or fifteen game span they have awoke from their funk before everyone gets excited.

I hate Kyle Davies and the Braves.