Smiling Carlos Zambrano is happy and he knows it

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Marlins pitcher Carlos Zambrano has made believers out of his new owner and teammates. | Jeff Roberson~AP

Updated: March 24, 2012 9:04AM

JUPITER, Fla. — Many of us Chicagoans would resist the suggestion that Carlos Zambrano is anything other than an up-and-down pitcher who can’t control his temper. We would resist it like we would resist anesthesia-free surgery.

We have seen too much. We have seen the dugout explosions, seen the meltdowns on the mound, seen the stitches on the face of a teammate who got on his bad side.

Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria hasn’t seen it yet, which could be why he thinks everybody has it all wrong.

“I believe in people,’’ said Loria, who traded pitcher Chris Volstad to the Cubs for Zambrano and cash. “I’ve done a lot of looking into who he is and what he’s done. Whatever’s happened in the past is the past. He’s an amazing talent, and we’re glad he’s here. But he’s a very interesting guy. You have to get past the things that everybody wants to look at. I can move past those things.

“He’s a really devoted parent, husband, family man. He cares about people. He’s really involved with his church. That says a lot about who people really are.’’

Zambrano was all those things in Chicago, too, and it didn’t seem to make him more stable as a pitcher or teammate. Now the question becomes whether a change of scenery will sand down some of his sharp edges. He did not try to declare himself a changed man Wednesday, thank goodness, but he did acknowledge there could be something life changing about the pending arrival of a new son. He’s in the process of adopting a 21/2-year-old boy, whom he and his wife have named Carlos Caleb.

The process began almost two years ago, and Zambrano and his family spent three months with him in Guatemala in the offseason. He hopes his son will leave the orphanage and arrive in the United States before the All-Star break.

It’s one of the reasons a flawed man couldn’t stop using the word “happy’’ to describe the situation he finds himself in now: away from the Cubs, away from the turmoil, away from his past, away from a large media contingent in Chicago.

Will a son to go with three daughters improve Zambrano’s outlook? That might not be the right question, he said.

“I give him a beautiful opportunity to be in good hands, to have a good family, to have good things in life,’’ he said. “We look forward to giving him much love and many, many things in life.’’

Zambrano spent 10 seasons with the Cubs and was their best pitcher in that span. But there was always the sense hanging over the proceedings that he should have been so much more. There were not enough great performances and too many selfish outbursts.

He would like the good people of Miami to know that his issues with the Cubs had to do with competitive passion. Sometimes that passion did a passable imitation of a psychotic episode.

“I did that for 11 years in Chicago,’’ he said. “I know my passion. I do apologize for all the other things, but in my mind and in my heart, I just wanted to help the Cubs and do good for them, for the fans. They deserve it. They deserve a championship in Chicago. Hopefully, they get it soon. They were outstanding for me.’’

There are limits to Zambrano’s happy expansiveness.

If you ask him why his life as a Marlin is going to be different than his life as a Cub, you will not get much of answer.

“I’m just happy to be here to be in Miami, close to my country [Venezuela] and the Latin community,’’ he said. “I’m excited to be here.’’

If you ask him how he can pitch with emotion without it getting the best of him, you will not get much of an answer.

“Wait to see,’’ he said.

If you ask him if he’s relieved to be away from Chicago, where he sometimes struggled under the intense pressure of Wrigley Field, you will not get much of an answer.

“It’s good to be here,’’ he said.

Then there’s the question of what the 30-year-old Zambrano has left. Lost in much of the noise about his volatility as a human being are his struggles on the mound. Last year, he went 9-7 with a 4.82 earned-run average. He averaged 6.2 strikeouts per nine innings, tied for the lowest of his career. His velocity seemed to drop.

Don’t ask him about that either.

“I look forward to doing many, many things for this team,’’ he said.

Wednesday was the first workout for Marlins’ pitchers and catchers. Everything was new. Everybody was happy. Everybody seemed to think Zambrano was as harmless as a stuffed animal.

“I hug the guy,’’ new Miami closer Heath Bell said. “I think the guy’s awesome. He hasn’t stopped smiling since I’ve been here. I told him I’m going to hug him every day he smiles. He said, ‘Well, every day I’m going to smile.’ It’s a beautiful friendship.’’

We Chicagoans know hugging Big Z can be like hugging a cactus. But let Bell and the others figure that out themselves.