Cubs-Marlins deal involving OF Jones on rocks for now
A deal that would have sent Chicago Cubs outfielder Jacque Jones to the Florida Marlins appeared on life-support Tuesday evening.
A source close to Jones said 30 minutes before Tuesday night's Cubs-Rockies game that he was told the deal had "fallen through."
The two clubs had agreed to a trade that would have sent Jones to the Marlins for a low-level, left-handed minor-league pitcher, according to sources with knowledge of the talks.
In addition, the sources said that the Cubs had agreed to pay almost the entirety of both the remainder of Jones' $4 million salary this year and the $5 million he's owed in 2007.
The Marlins, under terms of the deal, would have been responsible only for the pro-rated major-league minimum portion of Jones' salary this year and for the major league minimum portion of his salary in 2008. The major league minimum is $380,000 this season and $390,000 in '08.
The trade was pending the approval of the Commissioner's Office -- as is the case in any trade involving $1 million or more in cash -- and it is believed that the deal unraveled at that juncture, possibly for reasons having to do with the pending sale of the Cubs.
The Marlins earlier this season acquired closer Armando Benitez from San Francisco in a deal in which the Giants agreed to pay a hefty portion of Benitez's salary.
The Cubs have had Jones on the trading block for months. Chicago fans have been exceptionally hard on him because he hasn't lived up to their expectations, and Jones in turn has grown increasingly unhappy in Chicago. In recent days, his playing time under Lou Piniella has seriously diminished.
Florida, trying to stay in the NL East race, wants an established major league hitter and thought it had acquired one in Jones. The Marlins planned to used Jones in all three outfield positions and were hopeful that a change of scenery would help return Jones to the player he was in Minnesota.
When the Cubs signed Jones as a free agent before the 2006 season, his lifetime batting average was .279 and he had hit 47 home runs in his final two seasons with the Twins.
He batted .285 with 27 home runs with the Cubs last season, but in sporadic playing time this year has struggled, batting only .234 with a career-worst .295 on-base percentage.
