(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Going into 2008, Carlos Zambrano was once again labled the Cubs ace. Rich Hill was expected to improve on his solid '07 campaign and Ryan Dempster was a complete mystery after moving from closer to starter.
Rich Hill imploded on to the scene. In his five starts, he walked 18 batters in 19.2 innings of work. It was chalked up to back problems and he never made it back to the team after his demotion.
He was then traded to the Baltimore Orioles, where he is trying to put the pieces of his career back together.
Carlos started the season off strong. For awhile, it looked that he was back to the pitcher he was from 2003-2006. Then, after an injury, it was like he lost everything. He had a very inconsistent second half of the season after making the All-Star team, despite a late season no-hitter.
Zambrano would go on to finish the season with a line of; 14-6, 3.91 ERA, 188.2 innings, with 130 strikeouts in 30 starts. Not what was expected from the Cy Young candidate.
The pleasant surprise was from Ryan Dempster.
After a winter of working hard and getting in shape, Dempster proved all the detractors wrong. He started of the season stellar, yet most critics still expected him to stutter at the end of the year.
He just kept going and going, to a tune of 17-6, 2.96 ERA, 206.2 IP, 187 K, in 33 starts. He ended up finishing fifth among starters in Cy Young voting, and sixth overall.
His season was somewhat diminished with his awful performance in game one of the NLDS. In that game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he walked seven batters in 4.2 innings and gave up four earned runs.
Playoffs aside, Dempster was still the teams ace in 2008, and they paid him like one entering 2009.
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