Carlos Zambrano
The Miami Marlins may be on the verge of making one move too many.
According to multiple sources, the Fish are on the verge of completing a trade that would net them RHP Carlos Zambrano in exchange for RHP Chris Volstad.
With this move, owner Jeffrey Loria and Baseball Ops President Larry Beinfest are taking a major and unnecessary risk. They will introduce an element into the clubhouse that would threaten to undermine all the good work they did this offseason from the inside out.
This trade is akin to a non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Take a set of chemical substances (Ozzie Guillen, Hanley Ramirez, Heath Bell, and Jose Reyes). Then introduce a form of energy, like light, heat, or electricity (Zambrano encompasses all of the above). The existing chemical substances then turn into another set of chemical substances.
So, take two unstable elements, Guillen and a pouting Ramirez, drop in a Zambrano, and watch the Marlins clubhouse light up like thermite. In Reyes and Bell, you have two big personalities who are mostly known for fun-loving antics, like tossing up a claw or sliding into a pitchers mound. But when you introduce the new form of energy, who knows what shape those chemic…er…personalities will take.
Loria and Beinfest are on the cusp of taking an already good team, capable of making a run at the Phillies in 2012, and introducing instability. And why?
Zambrano is 30 years old, and several seasons removed from his dominant prime. Chris Volstad is 25, and is almost, but not quite as mediocre, as Zambrano. Last year, Volstad put up a 1.43 WHIP and 0.1 WAR. Zambrano had a 1.44 WHIP and a 0.7 WAR. Volstad struck out 6.4 batters per nine innings, while Zambrano averaged 6.2.
In Zambrano, the Marlins are getting essentially the same pitcher they are willing to surrender, except Volstad is 5 years younger, and, oh yeah, not a clubhouse cancer.
If the Marlins do pull the trigger on this deal, it’s good news for the rest of the NL East. It would turn a talented team in to a wad of C4 that could blow at any minute. I just hope our old friend, Jose Reyes, is fast enough to avoid the shock wave.
10 comments
TRS86
1/5/2012-1:56am at 1:56 am (UTC -4)
Crazy
Mr North Jersey
1/5/2012-2:10am at 2:10 am (UTC -4)
I just said this on MMO but it’s worth repeating here.
Marlins on paper are looking real good. If they play as well as they
look on paper should be a good year of many peaks and few valleys for
the fish though what will be of interest is how the team and Ozzie
handles things when and if those valleys do occur.
Anonymous
1/5/2012-2:35am at 2:35 am (UTC -4)
well, Met fans know all too well how “on paper” can work out!
could this be 1993 all over again?
Metsfan27
1/5/2012-3:34am at 3:34 am (UTC -4)
One can only hope
Anonymous
1/5/2012-4:28am at 4:28 am (UTC -4)
Naked man: They still have no pitching. Johnson’s a question mark. …You don’t recover from those rotator cuffs so fast.
Jerry: I’m not worried about their best pitching. They got pitching. …They got no hitting.
Naked man: No hitting? They got hitting! Stanton, Hanley. …They got no defense.
Jerry: Defense? Please. …They need speed.
Naked man: Speed? They got Reyes. …They need a bullpen.
Jerry: Bell’s no good? …They got no team leaders.
Naked man: They got Bell! …What they need is a front office.
Jerry: But you gotta like their chances.
Naked man: I LOVE their chances.
Jerry: Tell you what. If they win the pennant I’ll sit naked with you at the World Series.
Naked man: It’s a deal!
Anonymous
1/5/2012-1:40pm at 1:40 pm (UTC -4)
awesome.
Darknova306
1/5/2012-11:35am at 11:35 am (UTC -4)
The thermite reaction was the best part of high school chemistry.
Anonymous
1/5/2012-1:42pm at 1:42 pm (UTC -4)
They certainly are going full bore to sell out that new stadium, that’s for sure. I’m not sure just how much better it makes them or not, but I look forward to the late August dugout confrontations and the first time Hanley dogs a play while Big Z is pitching. Insert mushroom cloud picture here.
MetsFan4Decades
1/5/2012-2:47pm at 2:47 pm (UTC -4)
Maybe it’s just my thinking but I see this as nothing more than Loria trying to raise the value of that team in one fell swoop. Back load some contracts, sell out the stadium and in a couple of years, he sells making a huge profit.
That and what happens after it’s likely to crumble will be someone else’s problem.
Dirtysanchez
1/5/2012-2:50pm at 2:50 pm (UTC -4)
ill give it two years and then everyones favorite time of year…
MARLINS FIRESALE