Two tweets from Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi tell the story of the 2011 future of Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano:

This likely ends Zambrano’s Cubs career, as team chairman Tom Ricketts stated during an interview on ESPN’s Sunday night Cubs/Cardinals telecast on Aug. 21 that he “couldn’t imagine” Big Z pitching for the Cubs again. It means that either interim GM Randy Bush, or whoever gets hired as Cubs GM to replace Jim Hendry, will do his best to trade Zambrano somewhere before the 2012 season begins, most likely eating a large portion of the $18 million remaining on his deal (there’s an option for 2013, but Zambrano has not met the qualifications for vesting).

Zambrano was the Cubs’ most consistent starter until 2009, when he began to suffer various injuries. His behavior also got him off the team twice in the last two years, including time spent on the restricted list in 2010, when he was also sent to anger management counseling. He has a 125-81 career record with a 3.60 ERA in ten Cubs seasons and will be 31 years old in 2012; some team will likely think they can “fix” him and take a chance by trading for him.