Remember when Carlos Zambrano signed with the independent Long Island Ducks? Well, it turns out that he only kinda-sorta signed with them, but never actually showed up. Danny Knobler reported yesterday that Zambrano had agreed to terms with Long Island, but hadn’t signed a contract.

Why the wait on finalizing things? Well, it could be because some big league teams still had interest, and reports out of Venezuela this morning say that Zambrano has indeed signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

If true, that would be swell for no other reason than it preserves the possibility of getting to see Zambrano face the Cubs this year. How could anyone be against that? Sure, it’s not quite the lulz that we would have gotten from the Cubs signing Zambrano to pitch out of the pen, but it’s a close second.

UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal jumps in, and says it’s a minor league deal, which was to be expected. Zambrano will work on his arm strength a bit, and perhaps even hone his skills as a reliever in the minors. I’d imagine there’s a modest expectation that he will make the Phillies at some point this year. We can all hope, anyway.