Zambrano to Retire…In a Few Years
Posted by Seth Walder | Posted in MLB | Posted: June 7, 2009 at 11:50 am
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Two nights ago, Cubs starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano won his 100th game. After the game, he announced that at the end of his current contract, he’s going to throw in the towel and retire. Zambrano, who just turned 28 last week, has a contract with the Cubs that runs through the 2012 season with a vesting option for the 2013 season that is based on his performance in the 2011 or 2012 season.
You know what’s important about all of this? Nothing. Carlos, why would you honestly think I would care about your pre-pre-pre-retirement announcement? This is just Carlos Zambrano being Carlos Zambrano. He’s actually worse than a first grader who talks while the teacher is talking just so he can get yelled at. Zambrano is a hot-headed attention seeker who happens to throw some nice pitches when he is taking his bat to a gatorade cooler.
Do you know how many players are going to be retiring in three or four years? A lot. And a lot are going to be retiring sooner than that, they just aren’t declaring their retirements right now.
So Carlos, I’ve got a crazy idea. Why don’t you focus a little more on the 1.40 WHIP you’re carrying around, or at least the fact that you’re pitching on a fourth place team for a second and realize you have more important things to worry about than when you are 31 and tired of being a professional athlete.
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At least, we know Zambrano is one athlete who will never suffer form Brett Favre or Roger Clemens syndrome
You act as though no other pro athlete ever says anything unimportant.
Did it ever occur to you that he may have said this just so he could share his plans for the future with his organization? It’s better to inform the team and fan base ahead of time, then just suddenly retire a la Michael Jordan in 1993. This way, the Cubs are prepared for the offseason when his contract expires and don’t muck about and waste time trying to sign him.
And your comment about him needing to focus on his WHIP and pitching in general shows how poorly informed you are about Zambrano. He is easily the most competitive player on the team and always gives his best each start. He is so eager and prepared on the days of his starts that the Cubs have actually had to tell him to take it down a notch, not bring his focus up. His “taking his bat to a gatorade cooler” occurs when he feels he hasn’t pitched as well as he could, and as a result, has let the team down. Its not a cry for attention, its a fucking sign of frustration and anger that his team may lose as a result of his poor day on the hill.
Finally, in pointing out his WHIP, you are COMPLETELY ignoring he has A). dealt with injuries this year, B). has a 3.72 ERA, C). has an excellent K/9 rate and a VERY unlucky BABIP, and perhaps most importantly, D). he hasnt put up an ERA over 4 since his rookie season in 2001 and has easily been one of the most durable and dominant pitchers in baseball for the past 7 years, yet has always had the same antics. What you call a “lack of focus” and “cries for attention” hasn’t affected his game in the least.
[...] sports blog written by two of my friends from high school, when I came across this article: http://www.downswinging.com/wordpress/2009/06/zambrano-to-retirein-a-few-years/, which, paired with articles like this and this have caused me to reach the breaking point. I am [...]
It’s very useful for pitchers to have bloggers out there telling them to focus on the important things. Gosh, baseball players would probably never even drive to work if there weren’t outraged bloggers like you whining about throw-away things they say during press conferences. Lord knows we must dissect their every word as if they were politicians. Go to hell.
Oog, thanks for the comment, but I don’t think Zambrano, or other MLB players, read our blog. He may, but I haven’t heard; honestly, if they do, please let us know, so we can concentrate our content towards sporting professionals. The funny thing to me is that, if you think the blog is shit, how shit must you be if you write a comment on it? Haha, I guess sarcasm is the lowest form of wit..
Steve, I think that oog dude was more concerned about how people are totally overblowing Zambrano’s remarks. I agree that this retirement talk was a a throw-away comment that people like Seth are totally over-analyzing. The man has to give SOMETHING to the media since lord knows they won’t leave him alone.
And btw, brah…maybe its just my reading of your response, but didn’t you kinda zingyourself with the whole sarcasm is the lowest form of wit thing, since just like oog, you used sarcasm at the beginning of your post?