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.
