Cubs Will Pay Part Of Dempster’s Salary In A Trade

June 15, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

While the Chicago Cubs record has made the team irrelevant on the baseball, there is still relevancy to what the Cubs do off the field. To provide an example for what the 2012 season means for the Cubs, lets go back to what broadcaster Bob Brenly said during a game earlier this season.

Picture this current Cubs team as an old condominium. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are the new owners of the old condominiums and have the hopes of building a new condominium. The first thing that has to be done in that process is the destruction of the old condominium. This means eliminating any and all excess waste to the point where there is nothing. From there, the foundation for the new condominium will be made from the ground up.

During the 2012 season, Epstein and Hoyer are tearing down the old condominium. This means ridding the organization of the players that have aged and grown to the point where there flaws are greater than their production. Though, those flaws could simply be not fitting in the long-term future of the Cubs because of their age. For players like Ryan Dempster and Alfonso Soriano, that would appear to be the case.

Whereas for players like Matt Garza, Geovany Soto and Carlos Marmol, the Cubs may be trying to secure as many talented prospects as they can in the trades that they make prior to the July 31 trade deadline. The goal for the Cubs in their preparation for the trades to be made before the trade deadline is to acquire talented prospects regardless of the case. The Cubs front office is not concerned about stepping on toes or paying too much in trades. The front office is focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is to get talented prospects.

That is why for players like Dempster, the Cubs are willing to pay a portion of the $14 million owed to the veteran starting pitcher in order to receive top-level prospects. This is a standard procedure in Major League Baseball. In fact, the Cubs have already used this procedure a couple of times in 2012. When the Cubs traded Carlos Zambrano, the Cubs absorbed the $18 million that Zambrano was owed this season and that allowed the team receive Chris Volstad as part of that trade. Also when the Cubs traded Marlon Byrd earlier this season, the Cubs elected to pay the $6.5 million owed to Byrd this season in order receive Michael Bowden from the Boston Red Sox.

Now the prospects the Cubs receive for Dempster if and when they trade Dempster will be significantly better than both Volstad and Bowden. Especially if the Cubs eat the majority of the $14 million owed to Dempster this season. There was a good chance that Dempster would have been traded by now to a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, Dempster was placed on the disabled list one week ago which, of course, nixed any trade for the moment.

The Dodgers, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and Baltimore Orioles have all expressed interest in Dempster. Dempster, who is willing to waive his no trade rights, is certainly going to be traded before the July 31 trade deadline.