Lot of talk about Cubs looking for veteran clubhouse leadership.
Mentioned couple weeks ago of maybe trading for Russell Martin? Jays actually had Martin manage their final game of the season in 2018. Think Cubs pursued him last free agency a few years ago.
Of course, Martin is now a salary dump for Jays. But, here’s how Jays can trade Martin and, instead of paying down his salary, instead, they can GET MONEY BACK!
Trade him for Chatwood. Chatwood owed $25.5 (two years) and Martin owed $20 (one year). So, Cubs send Jays some money.
Cubs also get rid of Chatwood’s $12.67 luxury tax hit for 2020, while adding only an additional $3.8 AAV in 2019 (Martin 2019 AAV is $16.4 compared to Chatwood 12.67). Heck, Cubs might be close to adding that amount if sign a FA catcher instead.
Of course, this only works if Jays prefer Chatwood over just sending $16 or so cash to somebody to take back Martin and adding a Type C prospect or whatever. Maybe they wouldn’t. The 2020 luxury tax hit with Chatwood is probably irrelevant for Jays—-only the cash parity matters, I would think.