He's been traded to Miami.
A month ago I said that he would likely stay on the team until the trade deadline in July.
Nothing really changed on the surface.
So what happened?
This is what I think happened....
When Theo Epstein took over this team a few months ago, he looked at the statistics, he looked at the current roster, he looked at Z contract and I believe he thought, "Let's give this kid one more chance."
He talked to Z and his agent, gave him some guidelines that would allow him to come back and everything was set.
So why was he traded for practically nothing?
Was it the media?
No.
Was it the fans?
No.
It was the rest of the team.
Over the last few months we've heard from players like Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood that if Z were to come back, he would have to do a lot of work for the rest of the clubhouse to accept him. This team has put up with a lot from Z over the last few years, and these guys really didn't want him back.
Theo Epstein basically leaked the fact that Z was going to be gone soon during his WGN interview today...
"The Carlos Zambrano of 2011 and years previous can’t fit into the culture that we have here"
That should have been the warning sign that something was about to happen.
I think Jed and Theo talked to members of the roster and came to the conclusion that, despite what they had said a few months earlier, Zambrano could not return to the Cubs.
It's too bad it ended this way, and it's too bad that the Cubs are probably going to be paying $17 million this season for Chris Volstad to get shelled every 5th game.
It's Z's fault that things got to this point, but I think it's the players' fault that he didn't get one last chance.
