Cubs' Zambrano perplexingly calling it quits

Carloz Zambrano has reportedly picked a bad time to do something that would otherwise be respectable: retire. (AP Photo/Dave Tulis)

Carlos Zambrano, the Chicago Cubs fiery and enigmatic right-hander who has been known for his tantrums and his contract rather than his play, has reportedly decided to retire.

As the Chicago Sun-Times writes, ”By the time the media were ­allowed into the clubhouse, not even the nameplate above his locker remained, and Zambrano was said to have told clubhouse personnel he intends to retire.”

He said in 2010 that his current contract would be his last. He said he wanted to spend time with his family, and he knew baseball wasn’t everything. That I can respect. Yet, he picked a very bad time to hang up his spikes. And the way he went about it didn’t help.

‘He walked out on 24 guys that are battling their ass off for him,’’ Cubs manager Mike Quade said after the 10-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves that included five home runs off Zambrano and his ejection.

‘‘I don’t know where he’s gone or what he’s doing,” he continued, as documented in the aforementioned Sun-Times article. “I heard he’s talking about retiring. I can’t have a guy walking out on 24 guys, that’s for damn sure.”

Chicago isn’t going anywhere this year, which is nothing new, but for Zambrano to decide to retire in-season is incredibly bad form. It’s one thing if he is an aging player and knows he has nothing left to give; but he isn’t. He isn’t a 40-year-old, .220 hitting Ken Griffey Jr.. And it isn’t like he hasn’t produced. After all, he hadn’t pitched poorly for a month up until giving up eight runs against the Braves in what could now be his final start.

Earlier this season, he called the Cubs “embarrassing.” He hasn’t enjoyed himself in Chicago blue for a while. Maybe this poor outing, during which he gave up the CC Sabathia-esque five homers, was an excuse to get away, to go home, to be a 30-year-old father instead of a 30-year-old travelling ballplayer.

This is why I respect his decision to retire–the decision, not the way he did it. His not waiting until the offseason is irksome, given the state of the team and the position he puts the 24 other players in, but his leaving in the supposed prime of a player’s career just shows that adding to his millions and playing until the jersey is torn off his back isn’t important to him. He has $24 million left on his current deal, and his age, though not his effectiveness, sometimes leads to eight-year contracts.  Melissa Isaacson of ESPN Chicago called his decision to leave $24 million on the table “foolish”. I find it to be admirable.

Columnists and his manager aren’t the only ones criticizing his decision. Players have chimed in.

“I’ve never seen that before, never seen anybody just pack their stuff and leave and retire, and I’ve been around for a while,” third-baseman Aramis Ramirez said. “Even for him. Players don’t do that.’’

Zambrano has had an eventful career. He has predominately pitched well, as his 120 wins and 3.57 ERA suggest, but when he doesn’t the floodgates of anger have the potential to open. He has had his fair share of tantrums, alienating potential suitors and proving to be a distraction to his own team. He has gone to anger management, and had calmed thereafter. But he couldn’t keep his emotions in check for long, and repeated outbursts have led to this unfortunate end.

If this indeed is the last the baseball world sees of Zambrano, I will miss him. I enjoyed him when he was at his best, and shook my head at the many times he was out of line. One of the more passionate players of the generation, he had a John Rocker feel, a strange likability about his strange personality.

He is being ripped by so many, and some of his teammates have said he wouldn’t be welcomed back. But outfielder Marlon Byrd appeared to be sympathetic, a rare feeling in light of this shocking development.

‘‘He probably just wasn’t happy with the way he pitched,” said Byrd, who, according to the Sun-Times’, planned to reach out to Zambrano on Friday night. ” And there’s a lot of things that happen in people’s lives that we don’t know about. Hopefully, the rumors about retirement aren’t true, and he’ll be back tomorrow, and then we can talk about it. Until then we don’t know. . . . I’ve been around him long enough to know he’s a sensitive guy. Maybe tonight was just too much for him.’’

Just over two weeks ago, on July 28th, Zambrano said the team needed a “change”. It turned out he did.