The Cubs Wednesday announced that — with the return of Ted Lilly to the starting rotation –former ace Carlos Zambrano is their sixth-best starting pitcher and will be relegated to the bullpen starting Friday.
Going into the season just a few weeks ago, the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation were in doubt with Zambrano as the ace. Now Carlos Silva and Tom Gorzelanny have surpassed Zambrano in value in the rotation, leaving Big Z as the team’s sixth-best starting pitcher.
Zambrano also makes nearly $18 million, which makes him the highest paid setup man in the history of baseball. It’s a long way down from his preseason Cy Young prediction a few seasons back.
