Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer knows the drill.
White Sox general manager Chris Getz is getting his first taste.
The upcoming July 30 trade deadline can be exhilarating, explosive and exhausting, especially for executives with as much at stake as our two Chicago honchos.
Hoyer must decide whether the Cubs’ disappointing first half is an anomaly or a trend, then act accordingly. Three years ago Hoyer executed the biggest trade-deadline sell-off in Cubs history, so he’s not afraid of criticism, no matter which direction he goes.
Getz has two of the biggest names on the market in All-Star pitcher Garrett Crochet and center fielder Luis Robert Jr. The first-year GM needs to determine whether one or both are expendable in the Sox rebuild. With the worst team in baseball, no one is considered untouchable.
They’re not alone. Twenty-eight other executives atop their respective food chains are in similar positions.
Major League Baseball’s trade-deadline industrial complex has grown steadily over the last two decades, from a few weeks of rumors on the internet to a virtual cottage industry.
The arrival of the website mlbtraderumors.com in 2005 was the first salvo in the Rumor Revolution, followed in 2009 by the launch of MLB Network, which MLB owns and devotes hour upon hour of trade speculation leading up to the deadline.
Twitter, the social media platform since renamed X, amplified almost every rumor and created a real-time sounding board for fans, letting executives get a feel for how fans would react to a proposed trade or acquisition. And with the addition of a third wild-card team in each league in 2022, the number of would-be contenders has only increased, making the debate about whether a club should be sellers or buyers a trending topic in all but a handful of locales.
Media coverage has always fueled the speculation, but The Athletic, a website that debuted in 2016 and features beat reporters covering most of the 30 teams (excluding the White Sox), has taken it to another level. The Athletic has a recurring MLB “trade deadline watch,” and a national writer — former GM Jim Bowden — who specializes in the rumor mill.
This season, Bowden began the fun well before Memorial Day, projecting six “definite” sellers some 70 days before the deadline: the White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals.
Oops. The Cardinals went 28-16 from the time Bowden’s article was posted on May 20 through Tuesday and held the second National League wild-card spot. Barring a prolonged losing streak, it’s unlikely Cardinals President John Mozeliak would be a seller and upset his fan base.
But hey, no harm, no foul. All part of the game.
Managers and players contend they pay little attention to trade-deadline talk, citing two main reasons: “You can only control what you control” and “It is what it is.”
Cubs manager Craig Counsell confirmed last week that he talks with Hoyer daily but only about the present. This would suggest an inability to multitask and think about the present and the future at the same time, one of Counsell’s strengths as manager. But he sees no upside in talking about their deadline options, so it is what it is.
Some executives leak information on who is available to favored outlets, if only to create the illusion of a growing market for their trade bait. It’s also part of the game. Picture Brad Pitt as A’s GM Billy Beane in “Moneyball,” playing GMs off each other on separate phone lines to get a deal for Ricardo Rincón.
We don’t know what executives say to each other in text messages. But assuredly it’s nothing like what late A’s owner Charlie Finley said in a phone call to Detroit Tigers GM Jim Campbell before the 1976 trade deadline:
“Charlie called me on Monday night, June 14th. He said, ‘I’ve got meat for sale. I’m selling my ballplayers who are playing out their options.’ ”
Campbell was testifying in a lawsuit Finley had filed against Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for voiding trade-deadline sales of A’s stars Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox for $1 million each and Vida Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million.
Trying to get something in return for players who will ultimately leave via free agency has become an accepted part of the baseball landscape. Calling them “meat” is still not preferred, though players should know that’s how some GMs look at them.
A personal favorite trade deadline occurred 20 years ago, when the 2004 Cubs were looking for a shortstop to replace Alex Gonzalez.
“It happens every year, like clockwork,” former Cubs manager Dusty Baker told the media of trade rumors. “There’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t worry about what might happen. If it doesn’t happen, you waste a lot of time (worrying); if it does happen, then there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Baker was trying to downplay a rumored deal of starter Matt Clement to the Boston Red Sox for shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. Cubs executive Gary Hughes had to pull Clement aside to inform him the rumor was just that. Still, more than a dozen reporters crowded around Clement’s locker to get his reaction.
“As far as I know, there’s nothing to (the rumor),” Clement said. “Until I do, I’m not going to worry about it.”
Two days later, general manager Jim Hendry took part in a four-team blockbuster, sending Class A left-hander Justin Jones to the Minnesota Twins for first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, then dealing Mientkiewicz, Gonzalez and Triple-A players Francis Beltrán and Brendan Harris to the Red Sox for Garciaparra and Class A outfielder Matt Murton, a first-round draft pick in 2003.
Red Sox GM Theo Epstein dealt Gonzalez, Beltrán and Harris to the Montreal Expos for shortstop Orlando Cabrera, completing the complicated trade.
The North Side rejoiced. The Cubs had added a superstar without giving up any of their stars.
“When I got out of the car this morning at about 7, I was prepared for it to be a real big day for the Cubs,” Hendry said afterward. “Or else I’d be in here hanging my head a little bit.”
Boston was in shock, and Garciaparra, a Red Sox icon, was bittersweet about the deal.
“I’m going to a phenomenal city with great tradition as well, phenomenal fans, great organization,” Garciaparra said. “Hopefully we’ll see (Boston) in the World Series.”
Spoiler alert: Despite the addition of Garciaparra to a star-laden team, the 2004 Cubs complained and collapsed down the stretch in spectacular fashion, wasting all the good will they had built up with fans during the 2003 season. Epstein’s ’04 Red Sox ended an 86-year championship drought, making him a made man in Boston … at least until he left in 2011 to try to end another famous curse in Chicago.
Epstein and Hoyer, then the Cubs GM, managed to do that in five memorable seasons. But a failure to replicate 2016 led to Epstein’s decision to step down after 2020 and Hoyer’s ascension to the throne.
Now the former sidekick is under the spotlight with a Cubs team that’s under .500 and on the fringe of a bunched-up NL wild-card race. Across town, Getz is busy trying to fast-forward the Sox rebuild with the possibility of a major fire sale.
However it turns outs, one thing is certain:
It is what it is.
