Carlos Zambrano's long wait paid off. The Chicago Cubs' talented and emotional ace agreed Friday to a five-year, $91.5 million contract extension that features a vesting option for a sixth season.The deal was first reported by FOXSports.com.
Zambrano skipped a shot at free agency and its lucrative payday to stay with the only club he's ever known.
"Not everything is about money, you know," Zambrano said. "I know if I got to free agency there were a lot of things that would come to me and offer me. I feel comfortable here. I feel good here and my family feels good here."
The 26-year-old righty is 14-9 with a 3.86 ERA this season. The two-time All-Star is 78-51 lifetime.
Zambrano had hoped to have a new deal in place by opening day. He extended that deadline but contract talks stalled after Tribune Co., which owns the team, announced in April that it was selling itself for $8.2 billion to Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell. The Cubs are expected to go on the auction block at the end of the season............Cubs extend Zambrano for 5 years, $91.5M
Based on his tenure with the MLB, Carlos was eligible for arbitration at the end of the 2007 season. Originally, Zambrano indicated he needed to have a new contract signed before the start of the season, but it appeared that a deal was almost in place, so his agent extended the deadline to go into the season. Zambrano signed a five-year, US$ 91.5 million dollar contract on August 17, 2007.
After his last start of the 2006 season where the Cubs dropped to 30 games below .500, Carlos identified the need for quality pitching to be added before the next season. The Cubs management added Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis in the offseason as part of a $300 millon spending spree. After the acquisitions, Carlos speculated on the fortunes for the 2007 season, declaring that he was to win the Cy Young Award and the Cubs would win the World Series.
Zambrano and the Cubs start to the season was anything but predicted. In Zambrano's first five starts, only one was a quality start with Carlos posting a 6.91 ERA with 19 walks and 7 home runs allowed in just 28.1 innings. The Cubs did not fare much better, posting a 10-14 record in April. After a difficult game in Cincinnati where they blew a big early lead, Cubs manager Lou Piniella began to show a little frustration on the inconsistency being shown early in the season by Big-Z and the team.
One of the causes for his statistics being less than in previous years is Carlos' difficulties in the first inning. After giving up three first-inning runs in a loss on May 10th, Zambrano described the challenge as being related to bad luck and control.
Zambrano made some changes in his delivery with Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild and turned in a stellar performance in New York yielding only one run while providing eight strong innings.
“ The best I felt as far as command and throwing the ball anywhere. I’ve been working in the bullpen with Larry. Hopefully, this can be the start of a good streak.”
In his next start, Zambrano faced the cross-town rival White Sox at Wrigley. Carlos didn't get much support as Alfonso Soriano misplayed a foul ball in the second inning, extending the inning by an out which cost two runs, and Neal Cotts in the bullpen gave up a grand-slam in the seventh inning with two outs which charged back three addition runs. The official statistics looked poor as he was charged with seven earned runs, however it wasn't as poor of an outing as the box score recorded.
Zambrano continued to improve his performance in his following performance in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. He indicated his control issues were improving, and got ahead of hitters early in the count.
“ I was feeling good. I was able to throw strikes and that was the key. I threw a lot of first-pitch strikes and that helped me a lot. When you make your pitches and attack the strike zone, you're going to win games.”
On June 1, 2007, Barrett and Cubs pitcher Zambrano got into an altercation in the Cubs dugout. The dispute stemmed from a passed ball and errant throw (on the same play) by Barrett in the previous half inning that allowed a run to score and contributed to the unraveling of Zambrano who ended up allowing six earned runs on thirteen hits in five innings. Shortly after the controversy, he went on to win his next two starts. Zambrano came close to pitching a no hitter on June 16. However, he fell short of his goal in the eighth inning, when he failed to catch a ball that resulted in a single. Zambrano would later lose the game 1-0 on a solo home run by Padres lf-3b Russell Branyan.
He finished July with a leading 5-1 record, which led the National League. Zambrano, who was also the first pitcher to win 14 games in 2007, was named the "National League Pitcher of the Month" in July.
Zambrano recorded his 1000th strikeout On August 8, in a game against the Houston Astros.
