Yeah, but, like, who cares? He isn't helping the Cubs this year - no one is - and his $18 million next year could almost certainly be put to better use. Unless you believe he's going to reverse course next year (which is not inconceivable given how dominant he was in the second half last year), I just can't be too upset about losing Z's hypothetical production for 2012. Except that the Cubs aren't likely to free up all of that $18 million unless they take back essentially nothing for him. And his salary wouldn't almost certainly be put to better use since the pitching FA class isn't nearly as good as the offensive one. Sure, they could theoretically pick up another impact bat if they were willing to take the hit return-wise and free up all of his salary...but then they leave a gaping hole in the pitching rotation that they likely can't fill with anyone as good as Zambrano. Trading him just to free up money simply isn't very realistic right now and causes more problems than it solves even if it could be done.