CHICAGO -- So, I was talking to Carlos the other day in the Cubs' clubhouse, and the subject was culture.

At the trade deadline, he had talked about how the team needed to change its culture, so I thought it was something worth following up.

What did he mean exactly? Culture is kind of an amorphous buzzword, isn't it? Should they fire everyone, or just change the yogurt machine?

"It's our attitude, the way we view ourselves, our identity, what our mission is, what we're trying to accomplish," Carlos said. "Our mentality, that's what I'm talking about."

Even Carlos Zambrano's teammates have grown tired of his antics. Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images

Wow, that's pretty deep. It doesn't sound like erstwhile retiree Carlos "We stinks" Zambrano, does it?

Well, that's because it was Carlos Pena, the good Carlos, not the one who calls his team a "Triple-A" squad and criticizes the closer for blowing his lead. Not the Carlos who has blown up his career with his own petulance. Not the guy who cramps up, punches his catcher, etc., yadda yadda yadda.

"We talk about not having the season we envisioned," Pena said. "I take it as an opportunity to have something change. And when this team does win, that victory is going to be unbelievable."

Bad Carlos, the elephant in the clubhouse, won't be a part of that renaissance, and maybe that's part of what Pena, who saw a 180 happen in Tampa Bay, was getting at. It's time to clear the clubhouse of bad vibes, starting with Small Z. Looks like the Cubs are getting a head start on 2012.

To paraphrase Michael Ray Richardson's famous line, Zambrano's ship be stinking.

And the Cubs' ship continues to take on water. Is it October yet?

I'll say this for Zambrano: He's the most charitable athlete to ever get banned from his team two straight years.

An orphan-adopting, church-building mensch off the field, Zambrano has devolved into a menace in a Cubs uniform, torpedoing all the talent in his right arm with all the demons in his head.

Listen, it takes a lot to get suspended from a professional sports team, especially with a union as powerful as the Major League Baseball Players Association (which will fight this Monday).

Zambrano has done the trick in back-to-back seasons.

Zambrano's Cubs career might have reached its nadir in Atlanta after he was ejected from Friday night's start for throwing at, though missing, Chipper Jones. He had already given up five home runs and hit Dan Uggla. He was out of control, by every definition of the word.

After getting thumbed by umpire Tim Timmons, Zambrano packed up whatever was in his visiting locker and told some clubhouse staff he was retiring. No one believes that to be true. It was just another temper tantrum. But everyone's tired of his sideshow, most of all his teammates, some of whom were angry he was throwing at the Braves for no reason.

"I never saw anybody pack his stuff and leave and retire," Aramis Ramirez told reporters Friday night. "I've been around for a while, but I've never seen something like that."

General manager Jim Hendry has had to suspend Milton Bradley and Zambrano twice in the past three seasons. For a team that hasn't won a World Series in 103 years and counting, three suspensions in three seasons is an impressive streak.

Hendry, already beset by a lousy team and job insecurity, was frank Friday night when reporters contacted him, saying if Zambrano wanted to retire the Cubs would honor his wishes.

By Saturday, Hendry was more forceful. He put Zambrano on the 30-day disqualified list, a no-pay ban from the team that might not stand up when the MLBPA gets involved. But in any event, this isn't about money. The Cubs and Zambrano are getting divorced.

"His actions last night were totally intolerable," Hendry told reporters in Atlanta. "This was the most stringent penalty we could enforce without a release."

Zambrano's agent, Barry Praver, told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney that the Cubs were told within two hours after Friday's game that Zambrano "definitely" wasn't retiring. Praver said Zambrano made private emotional remarks to club staff and returned his things to his locker late Friday night.