ESPN has been reporting for the past couple days that Sammy Sosa, the Chicago Cubs slugger, is on the verge of being traded to the Baltimore Orioles, pending Bud Selig’s approval and Sosa passing a physical. There was also mention that Sosa has a no-trade clause in his contract, but he was expected to waive that. One other condition was that the Cubs would have to pay $10 million of Sosa’s contract this season. A big reason why the O’s jumped on this trade.So, Baltimore is on the verge of signing home run slugger Sammy Sosa. From my perspective, this is a good thing for two reasons. First of all, I am a huge fan of both these teams. Second, I believe that this trade will help out both teams. Chicago gets rid of a thorn in the team’s side while Baltimore gains another big name star and his big bat.
I have heard that Sosa was unhappy with his situation in Chicago. Especially after his altercation with Jim Hendry after Sosa left the team’s final game of the season 15 minutes after he’d arrived. He was fined $87,000, one day’s salary for leaving. Stemming from that came Sosa’s disgust at being what he thought was the scapegoat for the Cubs’ problems. He placed most of the blame on Dusty Baker, claiming that he was the person responsible for placing the Cubs’ problems on him.
In the months since then, talk has been floating that the Cubs were interested in shopping Sosa around. The entire time we Cub fans never believed that the star of the team, the identity of the team would ever leave. Unfortunately for some of the Cubbie faithful, he is.<P>
Last off season was very productive for the Orioles. The GM combo of Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan proved to be a good one. They were able to sign lucrative free agents Rafael Palmeiro, Javy Lopez, and quite possibly the best acquisition, Miguel Tejada. However, they were unable to sign some decent starting pitchers, one of the team’s downsides this season.
So with this season over, the Oriole faithful expected another productive off season. But, that hasn’t happened. They tried signing Carl Pavano. Oh, he’s going to be a Yankee. So is Jaret Wright. And of course, how can I forget Randy Johnson? Who have the Orioles gotten? Um… let me see… um… Steve Reed… James Baldwin… Where’s the big name pitcher to turn our rotation around? He’s not in Baltimore.<P>
Next up on the pair’s list was Carlos Delgado. With the thoughts that Palmeiro was going to be moved into the DH role where he was expected to have better batting production. Well unfortunately, the O’s lost out on the Delgado sweepstakes. There was talk of Magglio Ordonez, but it was never serious. And then all of a sudden, Sammy Sosa is a huge blip on the O’s radar screen. And without warning, it’s comes out that Sosa is more than likely headed to Baltimore.
With this signing, well almost, this creates an interesting situation in the Oriole outfield. The incumbents are Luis Matos in center, Larry Bigbie in left, and Jay Gibbons taking the other corner. But Sosa is a right fielder, so what do you do? Matos is injury prone and was expected to lose his job to Jerry Hairston, but Hairston, who is a second baseman by trade, was dealt to Chicago in the trade. He played some center towards the end of the season. So what do you do? I think that Bigbie should be moved to center, Gibbons to left, and leave Sosa in right.
Well, what are the Cubbies going to do with a second baseman who might be able to play outfield? Corey Patterson is already the starting centerfielder, there’s no doubt about that. With Sosa leaving, there’s a gap in right as well as in left since Moises Alou is gone. So where do you stick him? I’m thinking left since there wasn’t a clear possibility who was going to start. In addition to Hairston, two minor league prospects that weren’t legitimate O’s prospects were dealt. They probably won’t pan out for the Cubs either.
What can Oriole fans expect from Sosa this season? A 40 homerun 100 RBI season? Maybe not right away. Probably next season after Sosa gets comfortable in Baltimore. And, Oriole Park at Camden Yards is considered a hitter’s park. I think after a couple seasons, Sosa will turn out to be a great addition to the O’s. Hey, the team might actually become an AL East contender – when pigs fly, hell freezes over, George Steinbrenner dies, the Yankees are disbanded, and we get some good starting pitchers – in a couple years. We only finished six games below .500 this season. That is a definitely a great start to a new dynasty team in Baltimore.