TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -Carlos Zambrano shook off the question as if it were a catcher’s signal.
Any predictions?
“No,” he said. “Next question.”
Actually, he did make one prediction for Monday’s season opener against Milwaukee at home.
“I will wear long sleeves,” he said.
Otherwise, there were no big boasts from Big Z on Wednesday following his final spring training start. No grand guarantees from the man who predicted the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series last year.
If Zambrano seems just a little different heading into this season, well, there’s a reason. He wants to grab headlines because of his arm, not his mouth.
“This year, he’s just quietly going about his business and has a strong self-assurance,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said.
Zambrano is known for pumping his fist after an out and even spinning off the mound, but along with that enthusiasm, he tends to let his emotions get the best of him. He fought with then-teammate Michael Barrett in the dugout and clubhouse during a game against Atlanta in early June, when the season appeared to be slipping away from the Cubs. He also had to apologize to fans for criticizing them after he got booed.
His performance swung as wildly as his moods.
He went 9-2 with a 1.43 ERA from June 6 to August 3 and finished with a career-high 18 wins. He was locked in a duel with Arizona’s Brandon Webb in the first game of the NL division series before being lifted after six innings and 85 pitches in a tie game. The Cubs lost and got swept out of the playoffs.
The bad?
He went 0-5 in a six-outing stretch that began in early September and continued a trend of slow starts, going 5-4 with a 5.28 ERA through May.
“I was struggling,” Zambrano said. “This is a new year. That’s it. You can’t have control of what happened. You can have control of what will happen.”
Rothschild thought the 2006 World Baseball Classic threw off Zambrano’s schedule, leading to a difficult start that year. But he couldn’t explain the early struggles last season.
In fact, Rothschild thought Zambrano “looked as good” as he’s seen during a throwing session before opening day, only to see him allow five runs in five innings against Cincinnati. He’s 0-1 with an 8.16 ERA in the past three openers, yet he’ll get the call again on Monday.
“He’s going to start the season like he’s capable of,” veteran catcher Henry Blanco said. “We want him to step up the first game of the season. He’s going to set the tone for everybody.”
Big Z showed up this spring not quite as big, after slimming down, and with a clear mind after signing a long-term contract last season following an eventful, somewhat drawn out, negotiation.
He agreed to a one-year, $12.4 million deal just before his scheduled arbitration hearing last spring and extended his deadline for a multiyear deal past opening day. With the Cubs up for sale, he finally agreed to a five-year, $91.5 million contract in August, and manager Lou Piniella noticed a difference.
“He’s been confident all spring – quietly confident, which is good,” he said. “The contract situation is behind him so he can relax, and he threw the ball better this spring than he did last year.”
That’s one reason the Cubs expect a strong start.
“I feel there’s less pressure,” Zambrano said. “I feel free. I feel that I don’t have to worry about anything else, just pitch and do my job. That’s what they pay me for.”
Along with a clear mind, there’s another difference.
Zambrano tends to throw from a lower angle like Kevin Brown, a pitcher he admired, during games and that leads to trouble.
“Carlos is different from that, and I think now, he knows where he needs to be,” said Rothschild, who coached Brown with the Florida Marlins in the mid-1990s. “He’s seen it on tape. We’ve talked about it, he’s been able to do it on the side, but I think now he has a real good understanding of when he does get too low what he needs to do to get right back on it. It’s not always an overnight process.
“You look at what he’s done over the course of his career, and it’s a whole lot of wins for the Cubs. You can dissect things all you want, but the bottom line is he’s been very successful.”
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