then he needs to be traded, to let him get to FA without getting anything for him besides a draft pick would be stupid.

I happen to like the Jerry Reinsdorf philosophy of never extending a pitcher contact beyond 3 years.  Obviously, Carlos Zambrano isn't going to accept those terms.  That being said, maybe it is the best thing to let him go.  There are very few pitchers I'm comfortably dishing out $90 million plus to.  And Zambrano ain't one of them.  

I was a firm believer that Z has to be extended because all the money spent last off-season without extending the anchor of your staff who happens to be just 26 at the time of FA

and maybe i'll wane again if Carlos goes back to his form, but there's so many red lights flashing right now when it comes to big Z that elicit MAJOR concerns

1. His arm angle has changed considerably and Baseball Tonight did an excellent job pointing this out a few weeks back. His back issues in the past appear to have limited his ability to drive through to the plate and instead is throwing more across his body now than ever before. He used to come through the ball with his back bending lower, now he's more upright and slinging the ball. His 2 seamer used to have sink to it and good tilt, now its tailing and rising more
2. This change in mechanics has lead to a change in his ability to generate fly balls, he's become increasingly more dependent on K's and fly balls over the last two years, a major concern for a pitcher pitching in our stadium
3. he's also lost any semblance of control he used to have, sure he was never a maddux type but Z wasnt a contender for leading the league in walks until the last year or two and his erratic control is leading to more pitches, more wear and tear, and less statistically appealing numbers
4. this year his K rate has dropped significantly and he's already allowed 9 HR'S, this is terrifying and while yes its early... its a MAJOR concern

I love Z probably as much as anyone and its hard to think of the Cubs without him right now, but I think they have to entertain the idea of moving him at the deadline. Obviously this depends on 2 things: 1) if we're in it and 2) if he's pitching well. If we're in it and he's still pitching like this... well its going to be tough to get something for him and converesly if he's pitching great and we're in it, it's going to be tough to deal him.

I've changed my stance wholeheartedly on this one and its not because of the long-term committment associated with Z as much as the trend in his numbers, increased fly balls and increased BB's with decreased K's is a really really bad trend

now the K's are just a short lived phenomenon but the other two are going over a year now and look to be more than just a short-term trend

I hate to say it because I love Z so much, but I think we might be better off in the long run if we could get something significant in return this year for Z. If his mechanics returned and he became more of the groundball pitcher we saw in the past, I'd feel a lot better about things

I don't want to be fickle about this cause its easy to want to get rid of Big Z when he's pitching like this and I hope things change, but my stance has changed considerably.

I thought this team HAD to have an elite starter to contend with the aging high priced position talent we have eating away at the budget, and i still think that but I'm starting to operate under the belief we may be better off taking a shot on some younger prospects through a trade and hoping they develop quickly

A. The impending sale of the Cubs to a new owner.

B. The likely short-term nature of Jim Hendry's employment.  

This thing with Zambrano is going to drag out until the point of him filing for free agency.  And Hendry could care less because he needs to win right now.    

We may be stuck with Hendry for another offseason regardless of this year's outcome.  Depending on when teh sales closes and is approved by MLB ownership, I can easily see us stuck with Hendry until new owner's take charge in December / January.  At that point, we would have Hendry's decision-making combined with no budget to carry through the offseason.