"Consider it adding $15 million to the cost of renovation at Wrigley Field. That is the amount Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts invested to keep his clubhouse free from the contamination of Carlos Zambrano.

Besides hiring Theo Epstein three months ago, the Cubs won't spend money any smarter this offseason.

Not every sports owner is willing to dig so deep to build a new environment. It's easy for a franchise to say it values character but much harder to show it by paying an arrested adolescent like Zambrano a king's ransom to pitch anywhere but here."