Marlins Trade For Jacque Jones Nearly Dead

UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal says this deal has pretty much died.  I knew $1MM sounded too good to be true for the Cubs.  Scott Miller of CBS Sportsline has more details: the Cubs were set to pay roughly 97% of Jones' remaining salary but the deal unraveled at the Commissioner's Office.  It seems that the Cubs couldn't get approval there because of their impending sale.

PREVIOUS RUMOR:

According to Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Marlins have traded for outfielder Jacque Jones.  Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post says the Cubs are kicking in only $1MM of the $7.1MM remaining on Jones' contract.  The Cubs will get a pitcher from Class A Greensboro, possibly 23 year-old lefty Graham Taylor.

The Cubs' motivation is to free up a roster spot while paying less than half the money still owed to Jones.  Jim Hendry got the best of Larry Beinfest in the Derrek Lee/Hee Seop Choi deal, but Beinfest exacted his revenge two years later by stealing three useful pitchers for Juan Pierre.

If Jones can play a credible center field, the Marlins will come out ahead here.  My guess is that Jones will return to his career offensive levels once out of the Chicago spotlight.  He should still be benched against lefties though.

Comments

[JD]

Hank Goldberg on 560 AM here in South Florida confirmed this report this afternoon.

http://tinyurl.com/3bhf8k

[RotoAuthority]

Did you hear the radio report yourself JD?

[Baseballfan79]

.234 average, 2 HR, 20 RBI

I dont get this one, I hope florida got most of the contract paid for and didnt give up anything too good.

[JD]

Yep, listening at work here in South Florida RotoAuthority.

[RotoAuthority]

Good, then I am not going crazy. Guess he'd be used in CF huh.

[darkstar1661]

Yeah, I thinking this must be a trade like Jones + $6m for AA 1B coach or something... Why else would it make sense for them?

[RotoAuthority]

If the Cubs got away with paying less than $4MM towards the contract then they done good.

[JD]

Most likely. What I'm hearing is we gave up a single A pitcher from Greensboro

[Aduncaroo]

I actually think if Florida gets half the remaining 7 mil or so paid...its a good deal for them. If Jones produces about 75% of how he did last year, he is a major upgrade for them as a CF. I actually think Jones covers a decent amount of ground too. He did a respectable job in Chi when playing Center. Not great, but at least average....

As for the Cubs...well...the roster spot is about all they cared about at this point....

I do think I would have gone after Pagan if I were Florida though...

[Baseballfan79]

<~~ head as well just like JD while on the way home from work

Supposedly folk are saying it is a Greensboro arm not Shawn West.

So if that is all it is gonna cost and they are paying for half or more of the salary I cant complain.

Heck worst to worst he is better then what we have on the bench in borchard and frees up Amezaga to jump around as needed for utility

[JD]

Agreed BF79. If we swung Jones one would think the Cubbies would have to pick up most of his contract.

[darkstar1661]

Hehehe, we'll probably see the details are Jones+5m or so for sngA-scub pitcher with serious back problems and get to watch Jones flurush as a fulltime player with no pressure in Fla where no one comes to the games...

It is the Cubs that traded him afterall...

[RotoAuthority]

Hendry has pretty much never gotten anything useful in a salary dump trade.

[Aduncaroo]

Hey...he did get Fontenot in the Sosa trade....he seems to be doing pretty well so far. That doesn't mean he is a solid major leaguer....but so far, so good

[RotoAuthority]

Actually yeah I retract that comment. And, the Cubs got David Aardsma in the LaTroy Hawkins "forced" type trade and that wasn't too bad.

[Aduncaroo]

yeah...depends on how you look at it. He was supposed to be better than he has been...right now, as far as the cubs go...Aardsma = Cotts.

But, at the time...I agree, thats the only one I can think of that I was happy about the return at the time of the trade.

[Aduncaroo]

670 the score said no Jones trade yet....Dempster expected to go to the DL

[thenockmlb]

Cubs got Farnsworth for Scott Moore and Roberto Novoa, that wasn't too bad either.

[JD]

Sun-Sentinel picked up on this as well...

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-0626marlins,0,5116352.story?coll=sfla-sports-front

[JD]

The deal is believed to be for a player to be named and $1 million cash in exchange for a pitcher from Class A Greensboro.

[touchmymonkey]

With the OF now set ( provided JJ is gone) - and Dempster hurting does this mean Murton might be used to get bullpen help? Gagne? Anyone pick up Hernandez or is he destined to be a cub - you know that the kind of move thye make

[kevybo1]

Who's Hernandez? I'd rather have Otsuka than Gagne.

[WestCoastBias]

Maybe the Padres could match up with the Cubs for Murton.

[Baseballfan79]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/marlins/content/sports/epaper/2007/06/26/0626marlins.html

another local paper

[touchmymonkey]

DIdn't Cleveland just designate Roberto Hernandez last week? He's old, not much left in the tank - Just what Cubs seems to like lol. I would love to get Ring from SD but its gonna cost alot more than Murton - Murton, Cherry and low level prospect - or is that too much. I have to admit my wanting Ring is not so much because of his skill or upside but that fact that if he became the closer cub fans could start " RING OF FIRE" gimmick. ( of course I also wanted to get Boof bonser so wrigley could echo with the word BOOOF for every k )

[Beau Phillips]

The Marlins must think they still have a chance or they want to free up some money for next year...

[ArodSucksAtLife]

"The Marlins must think they still have a chance or they want to free up some money for next year..."

Jacque Jones is now the 4th highest paid player by the Marlins. Not including Carlos Delgado.

[MickS]

Monkey is correct on the Hernandez designation. Actually, I'm a little surprised that no one has traded for him yet. Despite his age, his velocity was good (he just couldn't locate his pitches)and he has a history of success. Given how another Cleveland DFA has panned out (Guthrie) someone should find out if Hernadez's mechanics can be repaired under another pitching coach.

[vegasneedsbaseball]

Problem with this deal?

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6963972

[darkstar1661]

Ok, I'm confused, is it
Jones + 1m for the classA guy? or...
Jones + 1m + PTNL for classA guy?

I mean, 6 mil seems a lot for the Fish to pick up for Jones, esp when they could probably just sign one of the many FAs for prob less than that next year. The extra PTNL would almost make sence in that case...

Also, Hernandez was DFAed and he might be able to help someone as he did ok last year in the NL but he's like 87yo so who knows. Guthrie can not be considered DFAed in that sense though, there was just no room for him on the roster for him at the time...

[H0RAT!0SANZSERIF]

On a different note, this Taylor kid looks good -- insanely good control, though not among BA's top 10 Marlins prospects.

[Thundersticks]

Does this mean that the Marlins think they are still in the race? If so, I guess a Willis trade is out of the question. I was hoping the Braves could get him!! A bit far-fetched, I know, but one can dream, can't he???

This one would definitely cost them Salty!!

[Baseballfan79]

they told the phillies yesterday he isnt for trade so I would say slim to no chance for the braves too

[darkstar1661]

Even if it fell apart, the Fish were atleast willing to take him for a few minutes and that seems amazing! Much closer to a trade then I figured they would be able to pull off...

[MickS]

Sorry to quibble about the technicalities darkstar but irrespective of the reasons the Tribe designated Guthrie for assignment. You can look it up.

[Baseballfan79]

wonder where the fish turn next since no dukes or jones now, or bradley

Do they look at trying to get gathright from KC again? There has to be a few options out there still for them to look at.

[Thundersticks]

The Fish should trade an arm with their cross-state rivals for an OF. It seems like a perfect match. But I guess common sense doesn't come into play in these things, does it???

[Thundersticks]

Gammons just said on BBTN that the Marlins are telling everyone who calls that Willis and Cabrera are not available and will not be available this season. Gammons is probably the most credible of all baseball insiders, so if he says its not happening, then its not happening.

Of course, anything can change at any time.

[darkstar1661]

Do what now Mick? Not sure what I said wrong up there about Guthrie...

I said that the Tribe didn't release him because he sucked like they did with Hernandez, but instead he was DFAed because of roster problems. I remember he had to be cut from the 40man when we signed either DavidD or Trot.

Is that not correct, cause I could have sworn it was...

[RbCubsFan4Life]

I say we just trade Jones for a bag of poo and be done with it. As a Cubs fan, I can proudly say that I hate Jacque Jones with a passion.

[TheWrightStuff]

The Marlins also said the wouldn't trade Delgado........ I don't think they will trade Cabrera but that they might trade Willis........ Does anyone know if the A's will trade Rich Harden?

[darkstar1661]

Oh, NM... I'm tired and I think I read your post too quick the first time but you were actually more trying to say something was wrong with Guthrie and the O's fixed him. Not sure that is really the case either though because he wasn't doing bad in Buffalo at all, he was really just stuck too far down the depth chart to ever have a chance no matter what he did...

But doesn't matter either way :).

[spieldogg]

if they Cubs can't eat any of the salary then there is no way they can trade him. Either they will live with him or possibly DFA him.

[Teetz]

At this point, I don't think Jacque Jones can play at replacement player level as a bench player. The Cubs might as well cut him loose and bring someone up from AAA.

[Teetz]

It's amazing how inept Hendry can be at salary dumps.

[spieldogg]

it's also amazing that he continues to give marginal players bad contracts to begin with. Chances are whoever is gm there in 09 will have problems unloading Marquis and Derosa who will be making a combined 15.5 mil. And again in 2010 when Lilly is making 12 mil(although that one may not be too bad). But in 2014 and at 38 years of age I doubt that Soriano will still have the same legs and bat speed that would warrant the 18 million he will be making.

[Dave]

If the DFA him, won't they still have to pay his salary? If that's the case they still won't be able to do that.

[refx]

The Cubs offered the Padres something similar:

"In talks with the Padres, the Cubs offered to pay the remainder of outfielder Jacque Jones' $4 million salary for this season, plus all of his $5 million salary for 2008 in return for a low-level prospect. Preferring Terrmel Sledge over Jones, the Padres declined, after which the Cubs dealt Jones to the Marlins."

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20070627-9999-1s27padnotes.html

[darkstar1661]

If the Cubs DFAed Jones the league couldn't stop that. They would then have the ability to trade him (but MLB could block the money to the other team part there) or he becomes a FA to where Chi gets no return prospect but still pay the money.

It seems they only didn't DFA him because Hendry can't publicly admitt mistakes. Trying to trade him for a pros (even when paying the contract) they can spin it as though they like the guy they are getting a lot...

[Dave]

That doesn't make sense from a league standpoint, then. If they can allow a player to be DFA'd the team still has to pay them money either way. The league has a problem with the team paying the money, so, in effect, the league would just be screwing the Cubs. I don't think the league had anything to do with this.

[darkstar1661]

Dave,

The league can't say "you have to keep so-and-so on your 40man roster", they can't run things like that and the team will always be able to DFA guys to try and make the club better.

But, the league will step in and say "you are about to sell the team, and you are saying you are willing to pay next years salary for this player even though it will fall to the new owner to actually do so? Uhh, no!". Remember, the league can veto any trade that they do not see fit ~ ie a trade has to atleast somewhat make sense for both clubs. Otherwise teams could just give players away to get rid of contracts or whatever.

In this case its still unknown... We heard it fell apart in the Offices and that the Cubs backed out, so who knows...