If You Love Someone Set Them Free (Or Renegotiate Their Contract)

By: Guido

Happy Carlos Zambrano Day! Yeah yeah I know I'm two days late on that but I'm sure ol' Carlos didn't notice. You see, due to his "fiery personality" (which I've always liked) and his mediocre pitching thus far in 09 (poor run support mostly), Zambrano may be on his way out of the Cubs organization.

Yesterday, the report out of Chicago was the Zambrano would not waive his no trade clause. That's fine by me but here is what Zambrano and the Cubs should do: restructure Big Z's contract!

Look, that asshole Pujols did it in St. Louis and apparently that makes him look good. As if he's doing it for the love of the game and his team mates. Yeah right. It just makes him more marketable by compainies who want to endorse a star athlete. Pujols is still an ass, but now he's labeled as a player who does it for the "love of the game". Just another reason for Cardinal fans to walk around with their noses in the air, thinking their bird shit don't stink. We will get to that later.

So if Zambrano would just redo his contract, that could possibly free up alot of cash. Why not make it an incentive laden contract? All you have to say is, "Hey Carlos! I betcha can't have an era lower than 2.50 this season. I'll give you $750K if you do...but you probably can't do it". Trust me. He's do it just to prove you wrong.

The Cubs organization needs to show their fan base that they are dedicated to winning. I feel they are trying to show that by spending a ton of cash but that's not the only way to win. I felt the 2009 season start to go downhill when I read that we had signed Aaron Miles. I figured that he would back up DeRosa and Fontenot would be headed else where. Nope. A few hours later, Derosa was traded to Cleveland for a 12pk of Schlitz and a couple of gas station hot dogs. And ever since then, the Cubs offense hasn't been consistent. No team identity. No team leader. No charisma. The only characteristics the Cubs of embodied this year would be the quietness of D.Lee and the Zambrano-Gatorade-smashing-fieriness.

Ill assess what the Cubs and Cardinals should do in the offseason a little later on.