I just read a thread that says we are approximately $21 million under the cap after trading JT. My question is will this trade help our cap situation in 2009 and if so how?? I remember all the talk of the cap space we freed up after trading Chambers, releasing Zach and now trading JT was supposed to add up to approximately $30 million so I wonder what happened?? Anyway, we all have to understand that while we love JT and wanted him to stay, we had to trade him now because we are definately rebuilding and in order to do that we have to free up money so we can sign younger impact players. So my last question is, what young free agents might be available in 2009???
Well JTs salary is off the books for 2009, so yes, it will help. However, whatever of his signing bonus that is amortized over future years is going to count against the cap immediately. I'm not sure how much of that bonus is amortized over future years, but the trade certainly clears up about $8M for 2009s cap.
Under new rules, trading a player after June 1st is applied just like a release. Previously, all remaining proration would be applied to the year of the trade. Since JT had only 2 yrs remaining on his deal, his proration for 2008 and 2009 will still count on both those years. He likely rec'd his $500,000 roster bonus this year, so that also count on 2008. Miami saves his respective salaries of $7.5 million in 2008 and $8 million in 2009.