Zambrano still can be all he's supposed to be

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was on TV providing an update on the Carlos Zambrano predicament Monday afternoon.

I was on the recliner wearing a T-shirt from the Walgreens collection.

(Yes, I buy some clothes at a drugstore and some others from a hardware store. You got a problem with that?)

Anyway, the message on this particular shirt says, "Chi-town Aces." Emblazoned are pictures of Zambrano, Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Greg Maddux and Matt Clement.

That 2004 rotation was supposed to pitch the Cubs to their first World Series since 1945 and perhaps their first World Series championship since 1908.

Didn't happen, of course, but no big whoops.

Prior, Wood and Zambrano surely would comprise a successful core for at least another decade the way Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz did in Atlanta.

Wood should have a couple Cy Young Awards by now. Prior should be on the way to 300 victories. Zambrano should be the best No. 3 starter in baseball history.

Didn't happen, of course, and that is a big oops.

Wood is only 32 years old today but struggling as a closer in Cleveland after years of arm trouble. Prior is only 29 but out of baseball with injuries of his own. Zambrano is only 28 and still with the Cubs but a troubled young man.

Call it a curse, call it bad luck, or just call it what keeps a team from winning a World Series for 102 years.

Hendry announced before the Cubs-Pirates game that Zambrano would be transferred from the suspended list to the restricted list Tuesday.

This is the consequence of Zambrano's temper tantrum in the Cubs' dugout last week, the latest in a series of periodic transgressions.

The man long referred to as Big Z has been reduced to having doctors evaluate his state of mind later this week and recommend treatment for whatever ails him.

The earliest Zambrano can be back pitching for the Cubs is after the July 13 All-Star Game and possibly not until much later.

Congratulations to Zambrano for conceding that he needs help. Congratulations to his representatives, the Cubs, the players union and Major League Baseball for cooperating to see that he gets it.

Hendry said it's time for Zambrano "to get help." Some would say it's not just time, it's about time. But that would be quibbling.

Zambrano's troubles had to go into overtime before they came to a head, so to speak, and the Cubs can only hope that he comes back, as Hendry put it, "a better man."

Gone is any chance of Wood, Prior or both returning to help the Cubs, but Zambrano still might fulfill his potential.

"He certainly understands the situation," Hendry said. "He and his representatives obviously signed off on it."

Big Z will have to take counseling seriously if that's the prescribed treatment. Then he'll have to get back to taking pitching seriously.

After signing a five-year, $91.5 million contract that runs through 2012, Zambrano lost his focus, lost his commitment, lost his fastball and occasionally like last week lost his mind.

Zambrano owes it to the Cubs and to himself to regain all of them and become everything he is supposed to be.

You know, everything that injuries prevented Wood and Prior from becoming.

mimrem@dailyherald.com