CARACAS -- After an up-and-down winter season in the Venezuelan baseball league, Carlos Zambrano will leave his team in the middle of the playoffs on the wishes of Miami Marlins management.

Zambrano returned to his home country to play for Los Caribes de Anzoatigui after the Chicago Cubs placed him on the restricted list for walking out on the team during an Aug. 12 game.

Theo Epstein, Cubs’ president of baseball operations, told Zambrano in November that he could earn his way back onto the roster by throwing well in Venezuela. “El Toro” made five starts for Los Caribes, finishing 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA. He last pitched Dec. 27, giving up one run over 4 1/3 innings.

But with the trade to Miami, officials from the Venezuelan league said they understood his season was done. The Marlins organization has always been hesitant to let its players — especially pitchers — participate in the league for fear of injury.

“The Marlins don’t like important players to play in Venezuela,” said Samuel Moscatel, Caribes general manager. “The Marlins prohibited José Alvarez from playing, they haven’t let Omar Infante play, and with Carlos they’ll do the same.”

The Marlins have good reason to be concerned. Zambrano sat out several weeks after being hit in the face with a line drive Nov. 18, and missed his last planned start because of another injury — in a pickup game with members of his church on New Year’s Eve, a baseball struck his left leg, his pastor said.

Even with the chance of injury, the benefits outweigh the risks in Venezuela, said José Grasso Vecchio, president of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.

“We think that it’s better to have the players active and playing than to have the players idle,” he said. “We’ll see if with [Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen] there’s going to be a change.”

Los Caribes are currently leading the 16-game semifinal round of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League playoffs, but the team recently suffered another loss to its rotation when former Marlins pitcher Renyel Pinto left to play in the Japanese league earlier this week.

Caribes outfielder Gorkys Hernández said that although the rotation is still strong, Zambrano will be missed.

“We need Carlos Zambrano,” he said. “Everybody needs Carlos Zambrano. He’s a pitcher with experience. If he would have come back to pitch for the team, it would have helped us a lot.”

Grasso Vecchio said that each year it’s becoming more difficult to keep major-league players on Venezuelan rosters, and he’s hoping teams — especially the Marlins — will reconsider the benefits of playing in the league.

“There are some major-league teams that are more restrictive than others,” Grasso Vecchio said, “and the experience we’ve had in the past with the Marlins has been very hard in that sense.”