The Chicago Cubs enacted the little-used Disqualified List for embattled ace Carlos Zambrano on Saturday, placing him in a kind of roster limbo that leaves him without pay for a month and unable to play until September 11. Zambrano threatened to retire after a bizarre loss to the Atlanta Braves in which, following two home runs against Dan Uggla, he appeared to get himself thrown out of the game by firing fastballs at Chipper Jones.
His suicide-by-umpire and subsequent locker-cleanout was the last straw for Mike Quade and his teammates, among them the usually soft-spoken Alfonso Soriano, who delivered a scathing indictment of Zambrano for the Tribune.
The bad news for the Cubs—and the good news for the Cardinals, who look to keep Albert Pujols off the radar of as many teams as they can manage—is that they're still on the hook for the entirety of his 2012 contract according to Zambrano's agent, who suggests he won't retire after all. Zambrano is owed $18 million on the last year of a contract he signed back before the 2008 season. Since then Zambrano's gone 43-26 with an ERA of 3.96, but as the Cubs fell further out of contention Zambrano seemed to come further off the hinges.