Big deal for Big Z means a big load

Carlos Zambrano didn't just pick up a paycheck Friday morning.

He picked up an entire pitching staff and put it on his back. It's now his to carry for the next five years and two months.

That's a heavy load and the price you pay for being compensated as the team's ace. Soon enough, we'll get to see if Zambrano is up to the task.

Look, there's never been any question about Zambrano's ability, which is as good as any in baseball. In fact, it says here that he can be the very best starting pitcher in baseball.

Assuming health and fitness, is there any other starter you'd rather have than a 26-year-old Carlos Zambrano, averaging 15 victories and 215 innings the last four years?

The fear is Zambrano will assume he has his health and fitness, but he can't let his weight go again, which has caused back problems in the past, and he can't do something so incredibly stupid as to cause injury to himself and the ballclub.

That's part of the responsibility of signing to be the team's cornerstone. The team has made a commitment to him, and by signing Zambrano has also committed to avoiding fights, suspensions and silly injuries.

You have to wonder if someday Zambrano is going to break a bat over his head and crack his skull, or punch a wall and shatter his pitching hand, or start a brawl with a teammate and cause injury to himself or another -- again.

You also wonder if Zambrano will ever tone down his antics on the field, those emotional outbursts that throw him off his game and sometimes disrespect his opponent.

Sure, when he's winning, his emotion is cheered and embraced. But when he's losing or causing problems, his teammates wonder if he's going to grow up.

What you don't need is for Zambrano to get thrown at -- and hurt -- by an opposing pitcher who's sticking up for an embarrassed teammate.

There's genuine emotion, and then there's overboard, and you can get away with that when you're the No. 3 pitcher behind Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, but not when it's 2007 and Zambrano is the team's unquestioned ace.

What he hasn't been is a leader, a 20-game winner, or a serious Cy Young favorite.

What he hasn't done when the pressure is on -- like it was during this recent contract negotiation, or in April after talks broke off -- is show he can accept it and deliver.

He has an excellent opportunity now to take it all upon him and become a true pro and a No. 1 guy.

The Cubs are fighting for a playoff spot and Zambrano can go a long way toward getting them there by dominating in his last 9 or 10 starts like he has for long stretches this year. That will easily get him past 20 wins and put him on top in the Cy Young voting.

That's what real aces do. They win big games when it matters most, and when the pressure -- whether team-related or individual, whether personal or contractual -- is at its most severe.

He has given the Cubs a hometown discount, even after they mistakenly created a more expensive market last winter before locking up Zambrano. And he's at peace, which means he should throw some extraordinary games the rest of the way.

He is so good and so talented that he's scared of no one, and only one thing can stop him.

Yup, the only thing Carlos Zambrano has to fear is Carlos Zambrano himself.