Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez told the media back on July 18 that he would not waive his no-trade clause this month because he didn’t want to relocate his family, specifically his two young sons.
It appears that stance has changed.
According to Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago, Ramirez said Thursday that he hasn’t been approached by the Cubs’ front office about a trade and would be open to going somewhere else if the club decides that it wants to begin rebuilding.“Nobody has come forward from the team, [and said] ‘We want to trade you,’'' Ramirez told Levine. “That’s only in the media. [GM] Jim [Hendry] hasn’t said anything about trading me. Or what’s the other guy, [team president Crane] Kenney? Nobody has asked me to waive my no-trade clause. Hey, nobody wants me. They want good players. If they come to me with a trade, we’ll see. But nobody has talked to me about it.”
“That’s not a secret, everybody knows [I want to stay]. But if they’re looking to rebuild, I can’t fit in, so we’ll see.”
The Cubs would likely have to eat a significant portion of Ramirez’s remaining salary in order to pull off a trade, but they should have options. The Angels were known to have some level of interest earlier this month.
Ramirez, 33, is batting .293/.334/.510 this season with 19 home runs and 63 RBI through 99 games played. He’s earning $14.6 million this year via a player option and has a $16 million club option for 2012.