Following his 100th career victory on Friday night, Cubs' starter Carlos Zambrano dropped a bombshell during the post-game news conference.  He announced that once his current contract expires (following the 2012 season) he is going to retire from baseball.

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It's difficult to predict what will happen four years from now, but you gotta figure that this is just "Carlos being Carlos" again.  Zambrano will only be 32 when his contract expires, and at a time when many baseball experts are debating if there will ever be another 300 game winner he would be a guy who would have a legitimate shot if he played into his early 40's and stayed healthy.  I know Carlos is not the type of guy to care about stats milestones and baseball history, but the money alone will have to be a huge factor.  I'm sure in the off-season of 2012 an ace starting pitcher will be worth $25-$30 million per season...tough to walk away from $1 million per start.

The thing about Zambrano is he doesn't think before he opens his mouth (some will argue that he doesn't think period...ever) and he usually has to back-track from his comments a couple of days later.  I'm sure his agent and the Cubs' publicist are in his ear right now trying to get him to have another presser this weekend to "clarify" his comments.

I love watching Carlos pitch.  He's highly entertaining and he can simply mash at the plate, but shit like this just keeps happening with this guy.  It just might be time for the Cubs to deal the Z-Man and get someone to play second base (Roberts?...lol) and some bullpen help.  They could then fill his rotation spot by pulling the trigger on the Peavy deal with the Padres.  Talk about a massive shake-up.

He genuinely sounds serious about this retirement idea, and I think the Cubbies will be best served to move on and be done with the Zambrano drama for good.  JUST SHUT UP AND PITCH!

BTW...the shitty Cubs are available at +1000 to win the World Series, +450 to win the Nation League pennant, and they are still the favorite at +105 to win the NL Central at Sports Interaction.