File this under “wha?”
Several Chicago Cubs have tried to get in touch with Carlos Zambrano since he blew up at them on Friday and was dismissed from the team. None have yet been able. But when Kevin Millar is on the horn, a guy listens. Apparently.
Millar, who was in Spring Training with the Cubs this year, spoke to Zambrano yesterday.
“The main thing he wanted to get across was that at times guys like Carlos, they don’t know how to handle or how to fire up a team,” Millar said. “There wasn’t one play that made him mad, it was just the whole team and the way they’ve been playing made him mad and then he was frustrated, he said, after his inning and came in and was basically trying to pump all the guys up.”
Millar said Zambrano told him last week he wanted Carlos Silva “to do something to the team because he’s doing well and Carlos Zambrano said that he knew he wasn’t the right guy to do this at this time because of his struggles.”
Millar said he told Zambrano: “Straight up, I said… ‘You can’t say the team’s playing like girls … You can’t say that this whole team that’s not clicking for some reason’ or ‘We’re not playing hard’ because he’s a big part of that problem. Chicago Breaking Sports.
So… is that what Zambrano said on his tirade? That his team wasn’t clicking, not playing hard, and was playing like girls? Why else would Millar tell Zambrano he can’t say that stuff unless that’s what he said?
Note that Zambrano is sticking to his story that he was simply trying to pump up his teammates, and it was just misconstrued because of his past history. To that, it seems unlikely given the strong reactions from his teammates who are demanding an apology. You don’t do that kind of thing – especially so publicly – unless you’re certain that the guy has wronged you.