Zambrano Speaks
By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 16, 2011 2:30PM
Carlos Zambrano broke his silence yesterday to Comcast Sports Net's David Kaplan. To no one's surprise, Big Z backtracked on his Friday threat to retire and told Kaplan he wanted to be a "Cubbie for life."
If Zambrano thought he found a sympathetic ear in Kaplan, he may have been mistaken. Kaplan later wrote Zambrano's suspension could be the just what the Cubs need to change their clubhouse culture.
No more can the Cubs allow a player to set his own agenda and get away with it. They enabled Sammy Sosa and then ran him out of town when his productivity decreased. They complained openly about Sosa and his behavior but did absolutely nothing to control it. Then, after Sammy was traded to Baltimore the Cubs handled Zambrano in exactly the same manner.
Chalk Sun-Times Cubs beat reporter Gordon Wittenmyer as another who thinks Zambrano has cried wolf one time too many.
But to try to say his comments about wanting to retire were private and that the media were somehow to blame for publicizing them is even more absurd, especially after Quade mentioned it and after Zambrano texted messages afterward to team personnel saying similar goodbyes — not to mention the middle finger of an empty locker (sans nameplate, no less) he left for all to see when the clubhouse was opened to the media.
Cubs television analyst Bob Brenly told WSCR-AM's Dan McNeil and Matt Spiegel zambrano's tenure with the Cubs, for all intents, is done.
"Obviously, he has never learned from his mistakes and I think it’s probably time to part ways, and let him be somebody else’s problem," Brenly said.