Who will start Opening Day on April sixth? For the past four seasons, it has been The Baby Bull who has trounced his way onto the bump to jump start the Cubs' season. However, after an inconsistent 08' campaign, going 14-6 with a 3.91 ERA and failing to notch 200+ innings, Pinella isn't so quick to hand the ball over to Big Z. He is leaving it up to a spring competition between Ryan Dempster, who had a great regular season in 2008, going 17-6 with a 2.96 ERA.
"I've been the Opening Day starter," Zambrano said. "Dempster had a good year last year and he deserves it."
What do you think:Is it time to pass the reins onto Dempster? Or do you think Big Z deserves to continue the tradition for the fifth straight season?
I say let Big Z take the ball again. Sure Zambrano says Dempster should start opening day, but I think he'd actually be a tad hurt if that were to happen. Besides, Zambrano's been with the Cubs for several years and has been a heck of a pitcher for many years now. Dempster really just had one good season. Not that it really makes a huge difference, but Zambrano deserves it based on seniority, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Although Big Z hasn't had the best of luck on opening day in recent history, I still think this is his team. As far as the pitching staff goes. Also, I don't think it would be a great idea to mess with Z's ego/emotions this early in the season. Lets let Demptser prove he can do it in back-to-back seasons before we bump him above Zambrano.
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