The season-ending injury to Jake Peavy left the White Sox with a solid-but-not-spectacular starting rotation from top to bottom. Questions linger.
Freddy Garcia has been solid thus far this year, but can he be relied on as the team’s fourth starter? I’m not ready to write off Daniel Hudson this year just yet, but he failed to make it through five innings against the Royals in his only start of the year.
The Sox have been rumored to be interested in acquiring a starting pitcher with the trade deadline approaching. Which to pursue? The man White Sox fans love to hate the most— Carlos Zambrano.
I know what you’re thinking: No way should this ticking time bomb lunatic of a pitcher come to the South Side with his short temper and fat contract. Before shutting the door on this idea, let’s have an open mind.
In addition to a history of tirades and pouting, the volatile Venezuelan pitcher has a track record as a dominant starter who eats innings and racks up strikeouts. Big Z has never had an ERA over 4.00 for a season as a starter in his career, posting a career ERA of 3.58. He has also surpassed 200 strikeouts in a season twice.
Zambrano has had an embarrassing 2010 season with the Cubs, but the guy wants to win. His competitiveness may get the better of him sometimes, but when you consider all of the frustrating times he’s had with the Cubs, his displays of displeasure with the organization as a whole become more understandable.
Remember, on the night of his infamous dugout tirade against the Sox earlier this year, Zambrano and Ozzie Guillen went out to dinner. It remains to be seen whether any Major League manager could tame the big 6’5″ righty. If I had to choose one, my money is on Ozzie.
Having fellow strong-willed catcher A.J. Pierzynski in the fold would also help keep the top from blowing off Mt. Zambrano yet again.
Ozzie and Kenny have been running a “BS Free” ship for years now, Zambrano’s antics definitely wouldn’t fly here. That said; the Sox should give the Zambrano experiment a chance.
The Sox would likely only have to swallow roughly $10-15 million of the $45 million left on his contract, and his value will never be lower than right now so the Sox wouldn’t be giving up a whole heck of a lot in return.
As long as he could regain any semblance to his old-self, Zambrano would be nestled into the Sox rotation in the fourth starter slot. He would be a huge boost to the playoff push, and a four-man rotation of Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd, John Danks, and Zambrano would be extremely formidable in the post-season.
Say the experiment does work this year; that would leave the Sox with a projected 2011 starting staff of Buehrle, Peavy, Danks, Floyd, and Zambrano
Now we’re getting ahead of ourselves, but the reality is that trading for Zambrano now is a low-risk high-reward option. Think about it.
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