Posted by Travis Rodgers on Jun 28, 2010

Bad Teammates Win Weekend #MLB

The division races in MLB may be close, but it is nothing like the race between Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano and Rays' outfielder BJ Upton to determine who is the worst teammate in the sport. Kobe Bryant should be the judge.

Competitor Number 1, Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano who has made a career of being a talented, if completely unbalanced nutcase, may have finally ended his career in Chicago. After getting lit up in the first inning on Friday against the White Sox and giving up four runs, Z went Z and came raging into the dugout in full bloom, screaming, gesturing and acting like the jackass he is. Derek Lee said something back, Zambrano wanted to fight, and manager Lou Piniella sent the moron home on indefinite suspension. Zambrano then attended a dinner with Sox manager Ozzie Guillen later that night. Very smart, assuming you are trying to make a horrible situation even worse.

Zambrano is in the middle of a five-year, $91 million contract and will be pitching out of the pen when, (if?) he returns. Perfect. Hard to put a finger on why the Cubs are working on more than a century of sucking. Zambrano has to be dealt, the Cubs will almost certainly have to eat a large percentage of the contract and in the meantime, his teammates hate him and he is a middling relief pitcher. Perfect. Milton Bradley wouldn’t want to be teammates with Zambrano.

Competitor Number 2, BJ Upton. Upton, like Zambrano, is familiar with a lack of professionalism. On more than one occasion he has been singled out by teammates and management for not hustling, for not trying, for not being a professional. Guess what? He did it again. On a ball that was hit to the left-center gap, Upton, playing centerfield, lightly jogged after the ball. Hanley Ramirez thought he dogged it. Just a nice easy jog to get the ball while the runner got to third base easily.

When Upton got to the bench after the inning ended, third baseman Evan Longoria confronted Upton for being a dog and Upton snapped and wanted to fight. Sort of. He got angrier once he made sure there wouldn’t be an actual fight. Manager Joe Maddon essentially took Longoria’s side, saying that this wasn’t the first time Upton dogged it and that often times, teammates don’t like his effort.

Fact of the matter is, the race is too close to call. Both are equally bad teammates and both have a history of being dogs. The Cubs are essentially dead in the water, and the Rays have followed a 32-12 start with a 12-18 run and gotten no-hit twice.

Major League baseball needs to step in and declare a winner. And by winner I mean biggest loser in baseball.