My thoughts exactly. Mine as well. You don't give up one of the top pitchers in baseball for propects coming to an organization whose player development is sketchy at best. I haven't heard a single prospect trade idea that makes sense and improves the Cubs more than keeping Z. If you're talking about swapping him for A-rod or another equal value bat, it's a different story. Trading Zambrano for a ML ready SS that can and will hit, and will be under our control for a long time makes all kinds of sense. Brandon Wood? Sign me up. Is it a little bit of a gamble? Sure, there is no such thing as a "can't miss prospect" but its also a gamble to go into negotiations with a player in an open market with a bunch of teams that are desperate for starting pitching. Id rather have years of offensive production and a guy at SS that looks like he's going to be an all-star than lose Zambrano for nothing. Which is more likely to happen Wood becoming great or Zambrano signing with someone else? My money is on Wood. Interesting you mention Wood, as I was considering throwing in a dig on Wood in my prior post. I can't logically come to a conclusion that the addition of Brandon Wood at SS and the removal of Z in our rotation is going to make this team any better - also add the fact that Z will be replaced by someone significantly worse and we likely won't see an ace in our staff again for awhile. "Wood is still struggling at Triple-A Salt Lake, hitting .225/.324/.396 with 55 strikeouts in 182 at-bats." If it appears Z is gonna hit free agency, then you HAVE to deal him. However, I'd prefer to lock him up. I'm torn on it. But right now, it looks as if the Cubs simply won't resign him due to the upcoming sale. If that's really true, then I think they have to deal him for as much as they can get.