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Posted on 01/29/2005 4:09:46 AM PST by IndyTiger
Sammy Sosa is close to taking his home run hop all the way to Baltimore.
The Chicago Cubs are just a few steps away from trading the unhappy slugger to the Orioles, several high-ranking baseball officials told The Associated Press.
Medical tests and approval from commissioner Bud Selig and the players' association remain unresolved, the officials said Friday night, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Cubs would pay a substantial part of Sosa's $17 million salary this season, the executives said. In exchange, Chicago would receive second baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. and at least two prospects.
Sosa has 574 homers, seventh on the career list, and his home run race with Mark McGwire in 1998 made him one of the game's most popular players. With an infectious smile and the hops and heart taps, he became Chicago's favorite athlete after Michael Jordan retired. In all those dark years when the Cubs struggled, Sosa and his jaw-dropping homers often were the lone bright spots.
But Sosa's relations with the Cubs — and the fans — soured in recent years. Hampered by injuries, he's batted just .266 the last two seasons and his homer totals dropped. Last season, Sosa batted only .253 — his lowest average since 1997 — and had 35 homers and 80 RBIs in 126 games, ending his run of 100-RBI seasons at nine.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
Is he taking his corked bats?
Keep him. We need pitching, not cork.
Ted Kennedy's favorite ball player, Sammy Soosa.
I'm sick of the O's shooting for marquee players past their prime. I loved the Tejada signing, and thought it signaled a new approach. Sure, Sosa will add some pop to the lineup, but without a legitimate number one starter, we're still a third place team at best. I'm confident that once he is a Cub, Hairston will become an All Star.
Thr Cubs strategy over the last 40 years,: Get a player, allow him to grow into a star, trade for crap.
They, their agents and lawyers, and pandering, greedy, amoral owners ruined professional sports for me a decade ago.
Leni
I agree this sucks for the O's. Who cares how much salary the Cubs pickup?
This just reinforces that Angelos and gang could care less about competing (getting quality pitching) and just want "names" to fill the stadium.
Baseball sucks...needs a salary cap and I won't be watching until the playoffs start.
you read/posted...
Maybe the Cub's guy behind the trade just wants to be President some day. Trade Sammy Sosa...end up in the White House. You laugh, but it worked for George W Bush...
:o)
I'm expecting them to make a run at Steve Carlton any time now.
Hey, Leni . . . you're gonna have to ship me some of the Go-Go Juice you drink in the morning. This is the second thread in a row I've read where you're making a lotta sense . . . and in my part of the world it ain't even eight o'clock yet!
I'm scraping the crust outta my eyes, gargling the frogs outta my throat, fighting off my kidney-busting mutt, and you hit the ground running. Do me a favor . . . Mix me up a gallon of the Sauce and send it to me via Fed-Ex. I'll wait.
I've never seen a city turn on someone as quickly as Chicago has turned on Sammy Sosa. Unbelievable!
I think Miami turned on Ricky Williams a whole lot quicker, but with ample justification.
South of Madison Street, Sammy Sosa goes by the name of Frank Thomas.
when he left the stadium to skip the game on fan appreciation day, the tide turned quickly.
As a long time Cubs fan, I can tell you that the turn against Sammy is more than justified. This guy walked out on his entire team the final game of last year. Prior to that? The corked bat incident. We don't need primadonnas on the North side. We need a world series ring.
Translation: The Cubs know Sosa has had it, and they have found a sucker to pawn him off.
The Cubbies have two World Series championships. Some teams have none. I don't know if they gave out rings in 1908 though.
The O's do have a knack for picking up high priced players so that they can spend the end of their careers fizzling out in obscurity under the shadow of the Yankees and Red Sox.
The Cubs came pretty close in 1945 (lost a seven-game series to Detroit...the team they beat the two times they won the World Series).
We're still bitter....
Sosa -- off the juice, out of cork, unstable personality -- YEP, he'll fit right in at Baltimore.
Sosa rumor here!
Albert Belle was a great signing, actually. Orioles couldn't have known he'd have a freak career-ending injury two years after they signed him.
The quality of the 2 prospects the Orioles have to give up will determine whether signing Sosa is just horrible, or a disaster of epic proportions.
Thing is from now on the Orioles will blame every failure on the presence of the Nationals.
Salary Cap, Schalary Schmap. I could care less about one.
The teams that consistently suck in baseball right now suck because they're stupid, not because they don't have enough money. Plenty of people buy the propanganda of their local owners, though.
I agree with you 100%! I am also a Cubs fan and now we'll see Jim Hendry shine as he puts the finishing touches on the 2005 Cubs.
Sammy has issues. The cork bat really drove home the fact that he wasn't a natural 60-homer guy. His understanding of baseball management didn't help either. Dusty Baker is one of the top five managers in baseball today...and for Sammy to put out his stupid comments on the management of the team...didn't help matters.
So this is my prediction for Sammy in 2005. He plays barely 130 games (with injuries occurring)...hits 25 home runs...and blames O's management for not getting the job done. For the salary they are paying...this is not a great deal. This is one of the big reasons I am against contract lengths of more than 2 years.
I believe Sammy on the corked bat. MLB took EVERYONE of his bats and examined them andnone of them had cork. He just used that one for batting practice. I give him the benefit of the doubt on that. Some years ago a national leageue team gave up on a slugger who they figured has passed his prime and traded him to the orioles. You remember Frank Robinson!
On behalf of all RATIONAL Cub fans I would like to thank the Baltimore Orioles. If Sammy hits 70 homeruns this year, it will still be a good trade for the Cubs. Sammy had to go. His act had played out.
"I've never seen a city turn on someone as quickly as Chicago has turned on Sammy Sosa. Unbelievable!"
Non-bandwagon Chicago Cub fans 'turned' on Sammy a long time ago (with the exception of a few dozen hardcores in the right field bleachers). Sammy hasn't been popular with Cub fans (non-bandwagon) for a long time.
Frank Robinson was just beginning to enter his prime when the Reds traded him to LA...and the Dodgers really screwed up by trading him over to the O's a year or so later. No arguement on that. But Sammy is questionable...I can't see any more 40-home run seasons...or even 30-home run seasons.
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