Carlos Zambrano Sent Home for Rest of Season

With the end of Carlos Zambrano’s 30 day suspension approaching, the Chicago Cubs have made it official that Big Z will not be with the club for the rest of the season.

Chicago announced their decision Friday, in which they said that Zambrano will be sent home for the remainder of the 2011 season.  The Cubs will start paying him after his stint on the disqualified list ends, but want Zambrano to stay away from the team.  Chicago owes Zambrano another $1.7 in salary for the rest of the year.

All of this began back on August 12 when, after surrendering a career-high 5 home runs to the Atlanta Braves, Zambrano was ejected for throwing up and in twice to Chipper Jones.  The volatile starter erupted after leaving the field, cleaning out his locker and telling teammates he was going to retire.

Two days later, the Cubs placed Zambrano on the 30 day disqualified list.  Chicago said that, after consulting with Major League Baseball, the move was the harshest penalty they could offer without actually cutting Zambrano.  The disciplinary action meant that Zambrano had to be away from the team for 30 days without pay.

As he usually does after his tirades, Zambrano came out days later to apologize.  He said that Chicago was where he wanted to be and that the whole event was just the result of him being frustrated.

But the Cubs organization didn’t see it that way.  Several of his teammates said they were fed up with Zambrano.  Alfonso Soriano called Zambrano mentally weak, and Ryan Dempster said he didn’t expect Big Z to ever pitch for the Cubs again.

The front office also seems to have drawn the line with Zambrano and his antics.  A week after the Zambrano blow up, Cubs owner Tom Ricketts was asked if he expected the temperamental right-hander to pitch again for the club.  Ricketts thought about it for a second and then replied that he would “have a hard time imagining that”.

This response led to speculation that Zambrano could be done in the Windy City.  While the Cubs have confirmed that he’s finished for the season, manager Mike Quade did at least mention that Zambrano has something left to offer.

Zambrano has one year and $18 million remaining on the megadeal he signed before the 2008 season.  This and his reduced production in 2011 have caused teams to shy away from Zambrano when the Cubs dangled him on the trade market this deadline.

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