The culture change continues for the Chicago Cubs. They are accepting offers for pitcher Matt Garza. Now, to be clear I do not think Matt Garza is a problem in the clubhouse, but I think this signals a change in philosophy in the Chicago Cubs front office. Gone are the days when the Chicago Cubs organization will just say a player is not available under any circumstances and immediately lose any leverage over that player.
When Theo Epstein proclaimed a couple of weeks ago that he would listen to offers on any player, he did not finish the statement using the word “except”. Theo made it known that for the right price he would move any player on the roster.
I believe that this is a good move. He may trade Garza and he may not, but the key is no one really knows and offers will be coming left and right. If the right offer comes along then you move Garza and if it does not then you stand pat and see what happens during the season, but you have some knowledge of his worth if the time comes during the season if you have to explore trading him again.
When you start stating that you will not move a player under any circumstances, then you are inviting big trouble. You really do not know what you could get for the player and you may miss out on a huge deal because you never listened to anyone on the player.
The Cubs have 12 teams interested in Matt Garza, which is 12 different player packages to consider. Each team knows it will have to put the best package together to complete the deal and beat out the other 11 teams. This creates a win-win market for the Cubs.
If he was not offered at all, then you would have one or two teams giving you a token call and making weak offers because they have no competition to beat. Theo would never know what Matt Garza is really worth and the Cubs would be worse off for it.
Theo has created a market and can move Garza if the right deal comes along. The Cubs need a lot of talent in a lot of areas and Garza is one of the guys that can net them a lot of top prospects.
This is new the way of doing business and whether Garza goes or stays, I like what Theo is doing.