Zambrano: I Would Sign for Five Years
Submitted by cubsnet on Thu, 2007-02-15 23:24.
Some excellent news out of spring training today: MLB.com reports that the Cubs have made an opening offer to Carlos Zambrano, and that the offer is for five years. Even better, while Zambrano said that what the Giants gave Barry Zito would be a fair deal for him, he also said, "I would sign for five years, and they offered five years, so we're on the same page in negotiations."
Five years for a pitcher is, of course, much better than seven. Now that Zambrano has said that he will sign for five, a la Roy Oswalt and Chris Carpenter, instead of demanding Zito's seven, there would seem to be few obstacles (money's not one, right?) to getting this deal done.
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Prediction
I will go out on a limb and predict they sign the Big Z to a contract by the end of next week, prior to the announcement of the arbitrator's decision. They may even decide to push for a signing by Tuesday. I think the Cubs have to know they would likely be on the losing side of the arbitrator's decision, and that the better part of valor would be to get a five year deal with incentives, with the base initial year price somewhat below Z's demand of 15.5 million, but with escalators. With this player, managing his ego so that he stays focused is very important. I read him as being very loyal and determined. As he gets older, and with Piniella's maturity to counsel him, I think he will get better at handling himself and the job of throwing strikes.
Respectfully,
FEARLESS BEAR