There is a disturbing trend in the new Cubs front office. The Dempster for Delgado trade to Atlanta was botched because of a lack of communication. And now, a late night deal to acquire a quality starter fell by the wayside due to apparent communication issues.
The Cubs were going to trade closer Carlos Marmol to the Angels for starter Dan Haren. The deadline was midnight for the Angels to exercise Haren's $15.5 million option for 2013. The plan was to exercise the option and trade Haren for a player. Otherwise, the Angels would decline the option, pay the $3.5 million buyout and let Haren become a free agent.
Haren was one of the potential targets for the Cubs in the free agent market. The Cubs are in desperate need for rotation help, and if Haren stays healthy, he could be flipped at the July, 2013 deadline for more prospects.
Marmol would make $9.8 million in 2013. Reports indicate that Marmol did not object to the trade.
Initial reports stated that the Cubs were "confused" over the Haren buy-out contract language.
Why would the Cubs be confused with a buy-out clause when it is standard practice in player contracts? And why would the Cubs care about the buy-out because it would be moot if the player option was exercised for 2013, which had to be a condition of the trade?
If that was the reason, then that is pretty dumb.
However, ESPN's Bruce Levine reported on the radio this morning that the hang-up over the deal was money.
The true reason may have been about equalizing salaries. Haren would have made $15.5 million. Marmol will make $9.8 million. That is a $5.7 million difference. If the Cubs were looking for the Angels to trade Haren with $5 million in cash for Marmol, that would have been a deal killer. And that would also have been a dumb move.
It is a hard sell to pay a new closer, who you will only have for 2013 season, the equivalent of $14.8 million. So the Angels would have balked at such a deal.
But from a Cub prospective, Marmol's $9.8 million is dead money. The Cubs are projected for another 100 loss season, so an expensive closer is a payroll burden. If the Cubs would have off-loaded Marmol's salary, that would have been a financial plus in the payroll budget because the Cubs still had to sign several starters this off season. To get Haren today, it will cost the Cubs at least $15 million plus Marmol's contract which is still on the books. At the very least, a straight up deal would have given the Cubs the flexibility to use Marmol's $9.8 salary slot to sign another free agent starting pitcher. So trying to get cash from the Angels was a dumb move.
The Cubs could have immediately upgraded the rotation with the Haren deal. He would be the #1 or #2 starter for 2013. Now, if the Cubs want Haren, it will cost the team MORE money than what was involved in the Angels deal.
This is another strange trade tale. It is also a clear signal that the Cubs are money conscious. Despite a horrible season, the team refused to really reduce any of the season ticket package prices. Instead, shifting any discounts to increases in single game ticket prices. In addition, the team is attempting to crack down on season ticket re-sellers which makes little sense since there was no viable secondary ticket market for a bad Cubs team in 2012.
