Carlos Zambrano has created a bad situation in Chicago, no doubt.  On Friday, after giving up 4 runs, he came into the dugout spewing hateful words, that in his mind according to Kevin Millar who he spoke to over the weekend, was supposed to pump the team up and get them into playing hard.  Its hard to be the voice of reason when you just gave up 4 runs- including a home run- in one inning of play.

Millar makes several good points.  Many times both the team, the player and the teammates confuse the size of the contract with leadership qualities.  And while many an agent spends time telling a team that if you pay a player extra- or x amount- you will get a “leader in the clubhouse.”  That isn’t true.  And perhaps, if a team wants that they need to require the player go through extra leadership and media training prior to being put in that role instead of after something has gone wrong.

So Zambrano is going to anger-management training.  And while we can all raise our eyebrows at that move, it is the first step to resolving this.  While writers like Rick Tellander may raise doubts with how some sort of counseling can teach a player its wrong to go to dinner with the opposing manager, long term counseling might be able to help some of the decision making that goes on.

Zambrano probably will not be able to return to the Cubs.  Perhaps he can create a big enough apology to win them back, but most likely not.  Even if Ozzie Guillien is Zambrano’s closest friend, he certainly thumbed his nose at his teammates when he went out in public with the opposing manager.  But if the what he told Kevin Millar is correct, and Zambrano wants to be a leader, some long-term training and counseling could make a big impact on his future and that of whatever team takes him next.  It may calm him on the mound, making him a more effective pitcher, and it may give him a wiser voice in the clubhouse (and not the dugout).

This therapy cannot be a short-term answer.  It needs Zambrano’s commitment for the long-term.  It can’t be just a way to appease the Player’s Union to get the 25th man back on the team.  There has to be commitment to a plan for a long-time if it is really going to be beneficial to the player, and to the team.   Baseball moves fast, with another game every day.  Who remembers last week.  When July 15 rolls around, and Zambrano returns, will we remember what he did?  Will we remember why he was gone?  And most importantly will anyone care?

We want players to be able to forget their on-field slumps.  But the ones off the field are the ones they can’t forget, or they are destined to return to them.  Let’s hope Zambrano doesn’t forget this one.