Chicago Cubs pitcher/teen heart-throb Carlos Zambrano has (successfully?) completed anger management therapy. I guess he’s not angry anymore – the anger sharks are no longer swimming.
Far more importantly, he’s back on the mound. He’s getting his arm back in pitching shape at the team’s spring training complex in Mesa, Arizona.
Zambrano threw 25 pitches in his first bullpen rehab session Thursday. The Cubs haven’t said when or where he will begin a minor-league rehab stint or when he will return to the Cubs. But it doesn’t sound like they’re eager to get him back anytime soon.
“We’re just going to put him in the bullpen to start with,” manager Lou Piniella said. “But look, he’s a ways away yet.”
Could the Cubs eventually move him back into the rotation?
“We could do anything, really,” he said. “But right now our plans are to put him in the bullpen.” Chicago Breaking Sports.
Presumably, if Zambrano pitches even remotely well in the pen, and then a rotation spot opens up at the trade deadline (Lilly? Gorzelanny? Silva?), he’ll go back in the rotation. The Cubs are likely to still want to trade Zambrano in the offseason, and if he’s going to rehabilitate his trade value, it’s going to come in the rotation.