The Cubs avoided arbitration with Carlos Zambrano yesterday and they signed him to a one year, $12.4 million deal. If Zambrano does what he’s done the past couple of years, this will be a pretty solid bargain. Of course this still doesn’t address what the Cubs are going to do long term with Zambrano because he’ll be a free agent after the 2007 season if the Cubs don’t ink him to an extension.
PECOTA expects more of the same from Zambrano in 2007. His weighted mean average has him at a 1.29 WHIP with a 3.85 ERA but he has a pretty high collapse rate (38%) which isn’t surprising with Zambrano’s near injury history.
Zambrano is the ace though and if the Cubs are going to make a run in 2007, they need a healthy and effective Zambrano. I’m just excited for now that the Cubs avoided the arbitration table once again.
