Carlos Zambrano is Becoming a Headache

Are the Cubs and Carlos Zambrano on their way to an acrimonious divorce?  It would certainly seem so, given the accumulation of Zambrano transgressions, and the team’s evident mounting irritation with same:

"Five days after receiving a six-game suspension for “violent and inappropriate” conduct, Carlos Zambrano found himself in hot water again on Tuesday.But this time Zambrano is in trouble with Cubs management and his teammates rather than Major League Baseball because he blew off the team flight to Atlanta on Monday without permission. It was not known what his reason was for missing the departure.Zambrano arrived at the ballpark Tuesday afternoon and was summoned into manager Lou Piniella‘s office before the game for a meeting that lasted about five minutes. He wasn’t in the clubhouse after the game as he is serving his six-game suspensionPiniella didn’t say what the meeting was about and assistant general manager Randy Bush had no comment. General manager Jim Hendry is preparing for next week’s amateur draft and is not with the team."

The Cubs are expected to fine Z and ask him to apologize to his teammates.  Don’t be surprised if they’re quietly bringing his name up in trade talks too.  He may be a hot-head, and may be owed a huge salary, but don’t think there aren’t teams out there that wouldn’t be willing to take that on, given his stuff and his relative youth.