Omar Minaya’s hopes of luring Sammy Sosa to Flushing took a fatal blow (thank god) this evening with the news that Baltimore are on the brink of acquiring the corky Cubby in exchange for Jerry Hairston and two prospects.
With the Orioles still smarting from being blown off by Carlos Delgado and Carl Pavano, the addition of Sosa should prove very exciting for any Birds fans who haven’t noticed how Sammy’s body and batting average have shrunk at roughly the same time. Perhaps Albert Belle’s old locker is still available?
Until the ink is dry on the deal … I’d like to reassure O’s fans that CSTB is WAY off base on Sammy. He’s a heckuva player, fun to be around, and still capable of 60 HR’s a year (if given the proper line-up spot — clean-up), and he’s a team leader who will unite the locker room and inspire the kids to drink plenty of Pepsi. He’s the new Ripken! Hey, George Bush says trading Sammy is the only mistake he’s ever made, and God knows, the O’s will want to take advantage of that history lesson and get him while they can. It’s Boston trading ruth all over again!
thanks, Ben. It’s just like Ruth being traded to the Yankees. Except the Red Sox didn’t pay $10 million just to ship the Babe outta town.
$10 million — a bargain, and all necessary to insure Sammy’s expensive stereo equipment and custom made performance bats on the way to Baltimore. All the Babe had were beer bottles and short pants.
But is that story correct that if traded, Sammy’s 2006 contract is still $18 million? The way I read that, the Cubs and O’s split his 2005 money $10/7 million, respectively, but that somehow his 2006 is $18 million? Who pays it?
I read that Sosa is voiding the last year of his contract and the players union is ok with it. This move is hardly going to put the Birds in “At least we could contend in the AL Central” status.
Chuck,
the way I’ve heard it explained, if the O’s don’t sign Sammy to an extension, he’s a free agent in 2006. There’s still a buyout (that the Cubs are on the hook for), but Chicago managed to rid themselves of a big chunk of Sosa’s salary, plus get a serviceable body back in the form of Hairston. A bit of the yack radio coverage today has Dusty telling ownership to get rid of Sammy by any means necessary.
Karl Ravitch interrupted viewing of his son’s soccer game to tell ESPN Radio’s Jason Stark that Sammy will be a solid citizen in the O’s clubhouse —- that playing alongside pals like Javy Lopez, Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada, Mr. Big Skull will be less of a loner and more of a complimentary part of an already potent batting order. And aside from the fact that what the O’s really need is pitching, this isn’t the worst deal for them.
Gerard- True, this could be a win-win deal for both teams. The situation with Sosa in Chicago was mutually irreparable and the O’s are taking only a modest short-term financial risk. Sosa has been in decline for the last 4 years, but he should be good for at least 30+ jacks if he is not completely breaking down physically. You mentioned of the Birds being somewhat hamstrung as far as acquiring starters (which is true) and with the 2006 FA crop looking very slim and that you cant really bank on Javy Lopez to maintain his production at his age, it just doesnt look like the Orioles are going to jump back into Al East contention in the near-future. A good year from Sosa and if Daniel Cabrera and Erik Bedard are on an upward curve plus if Kurt Ainsworth starts delivering on his “potential” the Orioles could at least climb over .500 and possibly win 85-86 games.
I’m sorry to have offered so little encouragement to Orioles fans. I’m there will be plenty of thrilling 12-11, 10-9 games at Camden Yards this year, and the O’s should win at least 40% of them. The future’s shining bright for the Birds, they just need to keep Sir Sidney off the fucking jet ski.
I’m curious to see just how Sammy does. Given how criminally screwed up the Cubs locker room training/rehabing was this year, he could seriously come back for a decent season assuming he wasn’t completely in steroid decline. Dusty’s handling pf the pitching was directly effected by that bogus physical expert, why not Sammy’s back? Is that ink dry? Did his CD collection get to Camden safe?