Well, it’s official: Carlos Zambrano is returning to the rotation this week, and it is all but certain to be in Wednesday’s series finale against the Pirates.
“We’ll put him in the rotation I would think at the tail end of the Pittsburgh series,” Piniella said.
Piniella and pitching coach Larry Rothschild will go over the rotation on Sunday and make official announcement regarding the rotation. Muskat Ramblings.
Still no word on whom Zambrano will replace, but the two primary suspects are Tom Gorzelanny and Randy Wells – each of whom is/was expected to pitch in the Pittsburgh series, with Gorzelanny going on Monday and Wells going on Wednesday.
Wells’ short, terrible outing this week throws a wrench into things, as he could go earlier if necessary. Even if Gorzelanny throws on Monday, that doesn’t mean his rotation spot is safe – he could go on Monday, and then immediately move to the pen, with Z taking Wells’ turn on Wednesday, and Wells being available out of the pen until his next scheduled turn. Or Wells could go early, and bump everyone back a day.
Either way, it seems relatively certain that, short of a trade, it’s one of these two guys who’ll get the short end of the starting stick. Despite all the pundits saying the mover will be Gorzelanny, based on Lou’s comments last week that Wells and Zambrano were the two originally considered for the move, I’m still saying it will be Wells.