The Trade Deadline passed on Sunday with the Cubs standing pat, but that doesn’t mean general manager Jim Hendry is done doing what he can to improve the team for next year.
“To make a trade today to say we made one and get somebody who we don’t think is the caliber that I’d expect in return, I have no problem not moving the people we didn’t move,” Hendry said.
Hendry did tweak the roster earlier before the Trade Deadline when he sent outfielder Kosuke Fukudome to the Indians for two Minor Leaguers on Thursday. The move was a first step, although not because outfielder Abner Abreu and pitcher Carlton Smith, acquired from the Indians, are close to being Major League ready in 2012. This year was the last of Fukudome’s contract with the Cubs and the team needs to see if outfielder Tyler Colvin is ready to be an everyday player.
“What we wanted to do for sure was to trade Fukudome,” Hendry said Sunday. “We had somebody behind him who needed to play. We tried to stay on top of some things today. We may try to trade some people who might not be back next year.”
It may be hard for fans to stomach inactivity. They see a team that’s 23 games out in the National League Central. Hendry knows that.
“Everybody says ‘Oh, you didn’t do something by 3 o’clock today — this is a disaster, that’s a disaster’ — I don’t put much stock into that,” Hendry said. “The guys we kept are for the most part guys who still have a chance to be involved next year.
“If we do make a trade or two in August, it’s no more or less significant than if we made one today.”
A lot can still happen, but the first priority was to make room in the lineup for Colvin.
He was on the Opening Day roster but scuffled with part-time at-bats, hitting .191 on May 13 when he was optioned to Triple-A Iowa.
The Cubs’ No. 1 pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, Colvin batted .256 at Iowa with seven homers, 12 doubles, six triples and 32 RBIs. The hope is that with regular playing time, he’ll find the power stroke that produced 20 homers last season. He has started two of three games since rejoining the team; Colvin was not in the lineup Sunday.
“We need to find out if he’s an everyday guy or not by the end of this year,” Hendry said. “The outfield situation, just like a few other areas, will have to be addressed in the offseason. Sometimes the development process doesn’t always run the course like you’d like it.”
There was some interest in first baseman Carlos Pena, but the Cubs held onto him. They don’t have anyone in the Minor Leagues ready to step in, and they wanted to make sure the return on their investment was sufficient. In other words, they weren’t going to give him away.
“I try to do what’s best for the organization moving forward,” Hendry said. “I think some people, you wouldn’t get the value back that some people might think you would. If you get a second tier or two prospects back, and you already have equal or better than that in your own system, then you haven’t done anything to help the organization. If you add Minor League players today, that means somebody will be sent backwards in our system or eliminated.”
Looking ahead, the Cubs have a lot of money coming off the books in 2012, and are obligated for about $72.6 million, including $19 million for Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Zambrano and $14 million for Ryan Dempster. Players who are arbitration eligible include Matt Garza, Geovany Soto, Baker, Koyie Hill, Randy Wells and Blake DeWitt.
They will have to make decisions on both Pena and Aramis Ramirez. Do they keep Pena, a solid defensive first baseman who is as advertised — a streaky hitter with power?
What about Ramirez? The list of potential free-agent third basemen whom Hendry can consider includes Wilson Betemit, Casey Blake, Eric Chavez, Mark DeRosa, Greg Dobbs, Edwin Encarnacion, Wes Helms, Melvin Mora, Miguel Tejada and Omar Vizquel. The Cubs’ best move may be to keep Ramirez.
Now that the non-waiver Trade Deadline has passed, deals involving players on the 40-man roster cannot be made unless the players clear waivers. In other words, the player must be offered to the other teams in reverse order of the standings, and if he is claimed by one of the teams, he cannot be traded. The club that placed the player on waivers can either withdraw the request and keep the player, or let the player go to the claiming team, which would then have the rights to the player.
Last year, the Cubs traded both Derrek Lee and Mike Fontenot in August, with Lee going to the Braves and Fontenot to the Giants. There may be a couple moves next month as well.
“We left it with a few people might have some interest in a couple guys in August,” Hendry said. “I never felt like today anything significant was going to happen. We came down to doing Fukudome right away and then if anything was going to be big, it would have to be something that would help us for next year, which would be more significant than a couple A-ball prospects.”