Miami trading for Carlos Zambrano this offseason involved little risk, as the Cubs covered all but $3 million of his $18 million salary and the Marlins only had to part with Chris Volstad in the swap.
Unfortunately that low-risk move hasn’t paid off, as Zambrano went 5-9 with a 4.54 ERA and 83/67 K/BB ratio in 115 innings spread over 20 starts. And today the Marlins demoted him to the bullpen, filling his rotation spot with Wade LeBlanc.
Zambrano actually got off to a strong start, sporting a 2.81 ERA as recently as early June, but since then he’s 1-6 with a 7.62 ERA and more walks (38) than strikeouts (27) in 41 innings while allowing opponents to hit .290.
He’s mostly been a model citizen in Miami, which is certainly a change from his Chicago days, but of course that doesn’t seem quite as important when you can’t throw the ball over the plate. And dating back to the beginning of last season Zambrano now has a 4.70 ERA and 123 walks in 261 innings while managing just 6.2 strikeouts per nine frames.