Zambrano Gonna Zambrano and Other Bullets

rothschild watches zambrano angryI love that I jokingly asked in this section yesterday what “Arthur” is, and within minutes I had ten answers of “aardvark, duh” sent to me via various mediums. The Internet, and you fine folks, are awesome.

(Although it was a joke question, I really didn’t know, so thanks! Anyone know where D.B. Cooper hid the money?)

  • Carlos Zambrano … intermittently, I enjoyed his time with the Cubs, even if he was a supremely unique guy. And he’s still a unique guy, pitching in Venezuela, presumably trying to get back to the big leagues. In a game last night, Zambrano was involved in a benches-clearing brawl (h/t HBT):
  • It’s a little unclear at first (for non-Spanish speakers, at least), but on replays, you get a clear picture of what happened: Zambrano’s teammate gets plunked, at which Zambrano, in the dugout, takes umbrage. While the batter and pitcher are jawing, Big Z makes a beeline straight for the pitcher, who notices only at the last minute, and both men go toppling to the ground. From there, Z gets up swinging (after being swung at, himself), and he’s swinging – hard – at anyone in his general vicinity. I would not like to receive a pop to the face from a Carlos Zambrano right, whether his shoulder is as strong as it once was or not.  In the end, probably not the best moment for Z if he’s still trying to make his way back to the bigs.
  • Mark Gonzales offers something of a profile on new hitting coach Bill Mueller, who has been meeting with Cubs players and/or reviewing film on them to try and diagnose correctable issues.
  • Jeff Sullivan writes that the biggest thing left to happen this offseason – in terms of changing playoff odds – is a David Price trade. But, in terms of an individual team’s decisions, the biggest left might be whether A.J. Burnett returns to the Pirates. I had no idea how much of a bubble team they project to be without Burnett, and the extra two wins he could provide are enormously important.
  • A study in Greg Maddux’s precise command/control. And a mesmerizing GIF.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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