So that's how the Carlos Zambrano era ends in Chicago -- not with a bang, but with a waiver.

Chris Volstad, who was acquired by the Cubs in exchange for Zambrano last winter, was waived by the Cubs; Friday, he was claimed by the Kansas City Royals.

He won't be missed. He was awful in 2012; there was, I suppose, some hope he could get better, but Theo and Jed apparently didn't want to wait around to see.

The Cubs made several other moves off the 40-man roster Friday, absolutely none of which should surprise you:

Mather, Corpas, Germano, Parker outrighted to Triple-A Iowa, off #Cubs 40-man roster.

— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) October 26, 2012

We were talking about this the other day when the Cubs made room on the 40-man roster with other outright assignments to Iowa; Joe Mather and Justin Germano were... well, they wore Cubs uniforms in 2012. The only memorable thing from either of them was the scoreless inning Mather pitched against the Brewers in a 15-4 loss August 27 at Wrigley Field.

Parker, no surprise either; he was injured much of the year and it seemed as if his major-league time was simply a reward for being a good organizational guy for six years.

Manuel Corpas was, at times, a useful relief pitcher; at other times he was pretty bad. Corpas won't be back, either:

And Corpas has elected free agency. Most memorable moment: Getting ejected during bench-clearing (almost) brawl against Nats in DC.

— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) October 26, 2012

By my count -- since Parker was on the 60-day DL -- this removes four players from the 40-man roster (Germano, Mather, Corpas and Volstad), and leaves the 40-man at 33 players. Matt Garza will be added back after the World Series to make 34.