Cubs: Carlos Zambrano brought a little bit of everything to the table

Chicago Cubs: The beginning of the end for Carlos Zambrano

In 2009, we all remember what he did to that ill-fated Gatorade cooler. He was solid, but unspectacular on the mound that year – and in 2010, Zambrano pitched just 129 2/3 innings. The highlight was probably making yet another Opening Day start (his sixth-straight, something no other Cubs pitcher had ever accomplished).

The 2011 campaign marked the end of the road for Zambrano. He’d always brought a certain level of, how should I say this, eccentricity to the yard every day – but when he packed up his gear after a brutal late-season showing on the road and went home, the Cubs suspended him and wound up trading him that winter – ending his time in the Windy City.

While it was an unceremonious ending to his Cubs career, it shouldn’t take away from what he did during his decade with the club. He played an integral role on the 2003, 2007 and 2008 postseason teams, really became the face of the ‘pitchers who rake’ movement and helped snap a decades-long streak during which the team hadn’t thrown a no-hitter.

He irked baseball traditionalists and was certainly unconventional at times, but Carlos Zambrano is definitely one of the most important players to put up a Cubs cap in this century.