SATURDAY, 8:40am: The Cubs rejected an offer of Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo for Zambrano, tweets SI's Jon Heyman. Zambrano has $17.83MM more remaining on his contract than they do, so I'm assuming the Mets wanted cash in the deal. Heyman says the Cubs did not want to take Castillo.
FRIDAY, 5:39pm: Carlos Zambrano told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times that he would accept a trade if the Cubs approach him with one (Twitter link). Despite Zambrano's willingness to waive his no-trade clause, there's no reason to expect a deal. Zambrano says he wants to stay in Chicago and the Cubs don't believe they will be able to trade him this season, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Twitter link).
Big Z earns $6.4MM between now and the end of the season, plus $17.9MM next year, $18MM in 2012 and possibly $19.25MM in 2013. That's a lot of money for a pitcher who just came off the restricted list and has a 5.66 ERA. The 29-year-old is walking (4.0 BB/9) and striking out (8.6 K/9) lots of batters, as usual.
Doesn’t a team have to want him first?
zambrano’s a loser!!
Hmm, High priced and underperforming…
What number do you guys think he will have on the Mets?
Z for rowand!!
Rowand is cheaper…
Less garbage for garbage
that would be pointless unless the cubs throw in Soriano.. Byrd/Colvin and Fukudome need to be the main OFers.. I’d have Sam Fuld over Dome’ personally
Don’t know if your serious but if you are that’s ridiculous. You don’t like Soriano because of how much money he makes because there’s absolutely no reason to choose Fuld or Fukudome over him, he’s much more productive their either. He’s better at baseball, regardless of how much money he makes. If those are the type of decisions you make then I wish I was a GM and your were a GM, I’d trade with you every chance I got.
no one is going to pick up that salary i dont even see how they can trade him in the offseason unless the yanks or sox want him
Well, if the Cubs absorb all of his salary, maybe..
nevermind! just read what hes earning. cubs would still have to eat a lot, if not all of zambrano’s contract.
Carlos Zambrano and $13 million (to be paid out over each of the next two years) for Oliver Perez.
So Zambrano would accept a trade.. well that’s ONE approving party. This scenario takes 3 to tango. Nah gonna happen.
I have a feeling Z is going to need to work on his outfield skills if he wants to stay in the league….. I read in the Sun Times a few weeks back that a scout defined Z’s stuff/role as “middle relief at best” As long as he can still swing a decent stick he may have a shot to be of some value. Or maybe I am crazy.
Cubs want Perez or Castillo?
no they have a good 2nd baseman already.. and although they won’t do it they have Darwin Barney who should switch to 2nd when he gets called up trade The Riot to a contender
What would the Cubs want for Zambrano? I can see him being a good fit for a team like the Orioles, a rebuilding team in need of a veteran pitcher to pitch some innings and mentor a you crop of arms, who might want a chance to re-establish himself. The Os and Cubs also tend to have a lot of recent trading history thru the MacPhail connection. The Os have taken am lot of recent Cubs castoffs for cheap (Hill, CPat, late-stage Sosa, etc)
HAHAHa the Orioles is perfect they are the Cubs minor league team.. then again the Cubs are pretty much a minor league team.. the Cubs won’t get much for him so the only thing to do it to give him his remaining 5.6mil and dont let him come back next yr.. I say to the Yankees or Mets for a XL Cheese NY Style Pizza.. straight up
Well, the Os have taken on a lot of Cubs castoffs, but the Cubs have gotten none of the Orioles top prospects. The Cubs look more like the Os minorleague team, considering that they got onetime Cubs top prospects Corey Patterson, Pie, and Hill, albeit all saw their value slide a ton by the time they were traded. The Cubs have never received a top prospect from the Os. Fontenot might have been the best of the bunch, but he was never thought very highly from the Os side.
If the Mets took the rest of Zambrano’s contract, Oliver Perez and Castillo might not be such a bad idea.
“One factor might be that Zambrano has $17.83MM more on his contract than they do.”
That doesn’t make sense–the fact that Z has more remaining on his contract than the other players ought to make the Cubs more likely to make the deal. More likely explanations are that Z doesn’t suck as bad as Ollie and that the Cubs don’t need Castillo given their depth in the middle infield.
I couldn’t figure that one out, either.
I can gaureente the Mets asked the Cubs to pay for part of Zambrano’s salary too.
Agreed and well they should. As bad as Ollie and Castillo are they are only under contract for one more year and 18 total. Zambrano has at least another year after that and maybe two.
With no money changing hands the Mets get Zambrano for 2/18. When Kyle Lohse is making $24 mil over the same time frame, that’s not horrible. If the Cubs don’t want Castillo then just release him. Same as sending $6 mil cash to Mets. If some team signs him to the minimum Cubs even save $400K…
Would Zambrano accept anger management?
hmmm, trade 1 waste of a roster spot for 2… gee, how could the Cubs say no?
Perez and Castillo combined are probably 2 people more worthless than zambrano. Ollie is of no use period and Castillo has been slipping for a couple years and at least Z has decent stuff if someone will shove enough ‘ludes down his throat to calm him down.
Money or not, might be the only smart offer on Hendry’s part to dump that egotistical time bomb of his.
Mets should have offered Perez and K-Rod instead.
I think Castillo could do better out of New York.