DOUBLE BUST

MLTR reports  that the Red Sox will designate Marlon Byrd for assignment tomorrow, reports MLB.com's Ian Browne. The move will clear a roster spot for Daisuke Matsuzaka who will be coming off the disabled list to start on Saturday.

Byrd, 34, was traded from the Cubs for RP Michael Bowden and P Hunter Cervenka  as the Red Sox were trying to contain the damage following Jacob Ellsbury's April shoulder injury back in April. Byrd hit .273/.288/.333 in 105 plate appearances for Boston. Chicago is paying all but $400K of Byrd's $6.5MM this season, so the move doesn't hurt the Red Sox's bottom line. Bowden was DFA'd by the Cubs last week.

This is an example of the extremely rare DOUBLE BUST!!!

So the centerpiece of the deal was Nothing for Nothing (except the Red Sox did get more production out of Byrd than the Cubs did with Bowden).

The Cubs were playing bad and their bullpen was in a mess before the Byrd deal. Byrd was blocking AAA prospect Brett Jackson's promotion.

The Red Sox were in serious need of a major league OF. The conditions were perfect for an early Cub season trade: to fill a glaring need of an opponent in exchange for moving salary and start rebuilding with young talent.

But that is not what happened. 

A) The Cubs continue to pay most of Byrd's salary.

B) Epstein should have been aware that Bowden was a classic AAAA pitcher.

C) The Cubs did not promote Jackson; instead decided to triple platoon with pinch runner Campana, journeyman Mather and end of career Johnson in center.

This event does not bode well for how new Cub management fixes problems. Epstein critics point out that in Boston, he buried many of his problems with cash because the Red Sox were a revenue generating monster. The Cubs are a different operation; Ricketts painted himself into a financial corner by overpaying for the team, overpaying for duplicate management positions and has a quickening attendance fall-off for his bad baseball product. The Cubs may play in a big city, but they have the financial balance sheet of a small market club struggling to get by.

Since the Cubs will hold a fire sale of existing 40 man roster talent before the trade deadline in July, fans should not be comforted by the Byrd deal. It could get worse. Management may decide to bring back Byrd  - - - you can hear the thuds of Cub fan jaws gaping at that prospect. The rationale: we are still paying Byrd, so he should play for us. That is not a rebuilding move but a backward progression toward team stagnation.

BYRD FLIES THE COOP

It was not surprising that Marlon Byrd was traded by the Cubs. What was surprising that any team would want a .071 hitter. More shocking, that team was the Boston Red Sox, who had a long, drawn out soap drama on Theo Epstein's compensation package.

Apparently, Byrd was the only starting outfielder in the majors available to quell the Red Sox problems. Boston gets Byrd, but only has to pay the major league minimum (Cubs pay the rest). In essence, the Red Sox hope that Byrd gets back to his "baseball card" average numbers in the second half of the season to hit around .270.  Except, Byrd's rapid decline could be attributed to being hit in the face by a pitch by his now new Boston teammate. Significant facial and head hits can make some baseball players gun shy at the plate, and any fraction of a second hesitation causes less contact in the hitting zone.

Byrd is a nice guy, a professional player. But he goes into a hornet' nest of bad feelings in Boston. New manager Bobby Valentine's approach to the players has met with one of the worst starts in team history. Getting blown away by the Yankees on national television does not help the clubhouse chemistry either.

The Cubs get a 25 year old reliever, Michael Bowden, and a player to be named later.

Bowden has been in the minors 7 years. Last season in AAA, he went 3-3, 2.73 ERA, 16 saves and 1.158 WHIP. It is hard to imagine why the Red Sox, in need of a closer, did not give Bowden more of an opportunity at the major league level.  He may be one of those AAAA players.

At the very least, the Cubs could use him as Kerry Wood's replacement in the set-up position.

The move of Byrd did not open up the center field spot for Brett Jackson. Instead, the Cubs called up Tony Campana, who misplayed two fly balls in his first game. Campana, who really comes down to a pinch runner-base stealer, is not an everyday center fielder. Joe Mather and Reed Johnson are bench players which will now platoon in center because there is no reason to start the arbitration clock on any player in Iowa. Campana, Mather and Johnson are the three-header $7.5 million outfield corps for the rest of this lost season.

The Cubs will keep Jackson and 1B prospect Anthony Rizzo in Iowa all year so they can pile up huge numbers. Then, the Cubs marketing gurus will use those numbers this off season to campaign for season ticket renewals under the guise that the "kids are ready to play!"