Carlos Zambrano said this weekend his comeback effort as a player is over.
So what’s next for the former Cubs pitching ace and most unpredictable personality?
“I want to be a manager, to be honest,” said Zambrano, 38, who said he enjoyed his time with the independent Chicago Dogs last summer in a final try to work his way back to the majors as a reliever – seven years after his last big-league game.
“I don’t just want to coach,” he said. “I want to be a manager.”
He’s serious, he said. He’s also more realistic than to consider himself a candidate anytime soon.
“Maybe in the future,” said Zambrano, whose next step is to work with young players in his hometown in Venezuela. “You’ve got to go through experience. First you go through the minor leagues and learn how to coach – because that was basically what I did last year. I coached most of those kids [with the Dogs]; I mentored them. I was like a teacher for them. I liked it.”
Zambrano, whose 11 seasons with the Cubs included three All-Star selections and three playoff runs, said he actually finished up his summer in Chicago last year as a designated hitter.
“Like four games,” he said. “After I went 0-for-4 and 0-for-3, the manager said no more. But the first game as good – 3-for-4, two RBIs.”
Often mercurial on the field during his career, Zambrano seems more at peace since his North Side playing days, a lot of his activities these days involving work through his church.
He even finished a conversation with a few reporters who covered him as a Cub by taking a selfie with his favorite, long-haired scribe.
One and done?
After Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney proudly touted his tentative lineup for Marquee Sports Network, one fan asked him about the lack of female representation.
Of the 13 on-air hires showcased Saturday only one female was hired.
”That’s a good point, I was thinking the same thing when I was looking at the talent there,” Kenney said. “We were really going as heavy as we could with former players. So if you saw every single person we introduced, except for Chris Myers, [they] wore a Cubs uniform at some point. Lou Piniella is our manager, so for that panel, our focus was: how many of our former players can we — or former managers can we — put on the field? And you need to integrate baseball to put some women in our uniforms, I guess.”
Kenney said he hopes to have “adequate” representation in the future.
Notes:
- The Cubs plan to replace retired Gary Pressy to continue the tradition of organ music at the ballpark but have not completed the hiring process yet.
- Fan line of the day Saturday (to big-bearded new coach Mike Napoli): “That beard is glorious. That’s the kind of beard that would lead troops to battle in the Civil War.”
- New coach Andy Green, the former Padres manager, said he became a Cubs fan as a kid when his family drove from Lexington, Ky., for games at Wrigley Field, a big reason he welcomed the chance to join the staff. Another: “I just spent four years in a rebuild. I want to win. I want to win bad.”
- New manager David Ross got two standing ovations during his panel Saturday morning, first when he walked on stage and again when he was formally introduced.
- Ross said he’ll continue some of predecessor Joe Maddon’s practices, including: “We’ll have all the pajama parties you want if we throw some W’s up.” He said he also has a lot of new ideas, including a ramped up intensity for live batting practice during spring training – sans cage and to include umpires.
