Zambrano Likely to Get Oswalt Money
The Chicago Cubs are likely to seek to sign Carlos Zambrano to a contract extension during the offseason, to avoid him becoming a free agent after the 2007 season. For that reason, the Houston Astros' recent signing of Roy Oswalt to a 5-year, $73M extension has much relevance, not only for Barry Zito and Jason Schmidt, as The Sporting News' Mike Berardino notes, but also for Zambrano and the Cubs.
Here are Zambrano's and Oswalt's numbers from July 1, 2002 (when Zambrano entered the Cubs' rotation) through September 3, 2006:
| W | L | ERA | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | K/BB | HR/9 | |
| Oswalt | 72 | 39 | 3.11 | 907 | 7.3 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 0.7 |
| Zambrano | 61 | 38 | 3.17 | 932 | 8.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 0.7 |
Oswalt clearly has better control; Zambrano strikes out a few more batters. But the rest of the numbers are fairly similar. Zambrano has the advantage of being almost four years younger than Oswalt.
Zambrano's extension is almost certain to look like Oswalt's, which would be a 125% increase from his $6.5M salary this season. Given that Kerry Wood, if he returns to Chicago, will do so at a reduced rate ($12M this year) and that Mark Prior should not be entitled to more than he is making this year ($3.7M), there will be plenty of room in the budget for the Cubs' most consistent pitcher.
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Zambrano's Worth The Money
If the Cubs let Zambrano go, they might as well declare non interest in every gettiing to the World Series.
1. He has been a soldifying force for several years on a fluid pitching staff - reward deserved.
2. He has a "want to wiin" attitude that is desperately needed on this team.
3. If not over-used, he should have some excellent years ahead.
4. He shows signs of maturing, which could prove to be helpful to younger pitchers.
The question is the Cubs will pay that kind of bill, knowing that if they don't, they will still fill Wrigley.