Cubs Cut Payroll; Give Up Jake Fox in the Process

Update: It turns out that the Cubs also sent $1 million to the A's. So in total, the Cubs got $1.7 million dollars in savings. I dunno if that makes this deal worth it from their perspective unless they really like the prospects they got.

And with that, the Aaron Miles experiment in Chicago is over. Finally:

"The Chicago Cubs traded Aaron Miles and Jake Fox to the Oakland A's for right-handed pitcher Jeff Gray and two minor-leaguers, according to ESPNChicago.com reporter Bruce Levine.

Gray pitched in five games for the A's in 2008 and 24 games last season, when he had a 3.76 ERA.

Fox was a versatile player who hit .259 with 11 home runs and 44 RBI in 2009.

Miles was a disappointment for the Cubs last season, hitting just .185 in 74 games."

While the Cubs have to be thrilled to get rid of Miles and the $2.7 million owed to him in 2010, it has to be somewhat bittersweet to part with Fox in the deal because even though he had no position, he demonstrated that he can hit for power.

The Athletics were willing to take on $2.7 million in Miles's salary for the opportunity to give Jake Fox a look and see if he can be an everyday DH. We'll see if the acquisition of Fox means the end for Jack Cust in Oakland, but this trade seems like a worthwhile gamble for Oakland especially if they can get some production out of Miles.

As for the Cubs, they now have a tad bit of payroll flexibility to work with, but this trade will be impossible to evaluate from their perspective until we know exactly who they got, how they use the money, and how good Jake Fox becomes.