Mark Hale at the Post reports than an MLB executive said the Mets would be interested if the Cubs were looking to shop Carlos Zambrano to a location that isn't Wrigley. Zambrano is 5-5 with a 5.62 ERA, and most recently got into fisticuffs in the dugout.

I tend to question the accuracy of this rumor.  The Omar regime at Shea tends to be very hush hush keeping it on the downlow. The vast majority of trades and such that have happened seemed to have come out of nowhere, and most of the things that were rumored (Zito) never ended up happening. So when I see that its coming from an MLB executive, I assume its coming from a Cubs executive. So perhaps its true, or perhaps someone in the Cubs wants Zambrano gone and dropping a team name is a ploy to make someone out there make an offer. Its the Cubs way of saying 'please someone, anyone, take Zambrano off our hands. Our budget is out of control, nobody wants to own us, our manager is crazy, and even the other NL Central teams think we're a joke.”  Of course, I could be drawing too much out of this.

Regardless, as much as there was some Zambrano to NY buzz in the offseason, I don't see this as something happening. I think Omar if anything waits till the offseason before going after any top of the rotation guys, and sticks with Maine and Ollie in the middle, and probably a series of interchangable fifth starters. Sosa has proven more than effective, and we still have a stockpile of other guys we haven't seen (Williams, Humber) or seen just a peak at (Vargas) and even guys who still have another chance coming their way (Pelf).  So short of El Duque or Glav going down with a season ending injury, I can't see a Zambrano level move going down.  And all this, isn't taking into account any personality factors. Would Omar bring a guy who gets in dugout scuffles with teammates to a team he seems to have molded into a more 'team first, everyone has their part' group?