Zambrano’s Fate With the Cubs

In today’s episode (download – mp3), Sheps and I discussed Friday’s dugout incident between Carlos Zambrano and Derrek Lee in detail. It was a lot of fun to work through a few of the angles, because this Cubs season has been such a letdown so far. This is a huge developing story that we’re going to continue to focus on it all week, and probably well into the foreseeable future, too.

One of the focuses of our discussion was on the Cubs’ reaction to Zambrano’s bad behavior, which was to suspend him indefinitely. It’s not a surprising response and I definitely see the merit of it, but I don’t buy that it’s only a team discipline issue. Clearly the Cubs are fed up with Carlos, and this like other incidents in recent Cubs past gives the team a chance to dismiss/trade a highly-paid player with personality issues.

In my opinion it’s yet another instance of a player being punished for stating exactly what’s on his mind, in an era when that’s no longer accepted. Bob Brenly’s immediate reaction echoed my thoughts, that essentially this was a chance for the Cubs to build on a “can’t take it anymore” emotion and moment. Yes, Derrek Lee got called out by Zambrano for something stupid, but was that enough reason to suspend the player that did the calling out? Not by a long stretch. What if Derrek Lee had called out Zambrano for giving up a 3-run dong that same 1st inning?

Zambrano’s delivery was poor (also, literally), but no one that has watched the Cubs shorten their season with a variety of miscues and errors can stomach much more. I saw Zambrano’s tirade as a needed catalyst, the “finally” sort of outburst that gets the team on the same page and readies them to turn a corner. Apparently that corner is going to be turned, but without Carlos Zambrano. It’s a real shame. He’s not a Cy Young pitcher anymore, but leave it to the Cubs to take a guy’s passion and reward it time and again with penalty minutes.

Without Zambrano in the mix, this team’s emotional makeup is even scarier to me. Where will the passion come from? I haven’t seen much from the other 24 guys, who are pretty busy making sure it’s known that they didn’t appreciate Z’s critique of their defensive play. If I was D-Lee I’m sure I wouldn’t have appreciated it either at the time, but if another month passes and the Cubs continue to struggle, I’ll continue to wonder if the self-policing clubhouse of past eras being replaced with this new public outrage model has been as big a reason as any that this team continues to flounder.