Sammy, Say It Ain't SOSA!

Since I cancelled my Washington Post subscription this month, I tend to get out of touch with the world on the weekends. So I was shocked to learn Monday that a deal to send Sammy Sosa from the Cubs to the Orioles was all but done. At first I was stunned. It kills me to see teams casting off future Hall of Famers, Jerry Rice and Emmit Smith come to mind. But then I took myself out of a fans perspective and looked at what Sosa had become to the Cubs, and I say this. This is the best thing the Cubs could have done.
Sammy put together the best four season stretch in baseball history from 1998-2001, batting .310, drove in 597 RBI's and hit an incredible 243 homers. Some great players haven't put up numbers like that in a career! In his career he's .277, 574 hr and 1530 rbi. He's had seven 40 homer seasons, nine 100 rbi years, and hit over .300 4 times. He's the Cubs only 30-30 man (30 hrs and 30 stolen bases in the same season) and he did that twice! His incredible 1998 home run chase with Mark McGuire captured the nation's heart and some would argue Sammy came out with a better rep then Big Mac, even though he came up short in actual homers. His "hop" after he crushed one, his "blowing numerous kisses to the camera in the dugout," his sprint around right field to open every home game: these are what we loved about Sammy. All these accomplishments means Great Player, what it doesn't equate is Team Player.
First off, his numbers have been in decline since 2001. Every year since then he's declined in average, homers and rbi's. I'm convinced Sammy was hitting the roids big time in the late nineties when he went from Chris Rock-size to Incredible Hulk-size. It showed in his speed. His last 30-30 was in 1995 and after averaging 23 sb a season in his first 9 years as a starter, he's swiped 16 since 1999. And only 2 in the last 4 years. That's Cecil Fielder-esque! When heat started to come down on baseball players about steroid use, Sammy became visibly smaller and resorted to corking his bat, which he never really admitted was wrong. He also started to get some freak injuries, like a sneeze that injured his back and sidelined him for 3 weeks. Not to mention he's topped 130 strikeouts 10 years straight, 12 times in his 15 years as a starter.
In the clubhouse, he began to put himself above all others, most notably when he declared he would control the boombox (his favorites were Salsa music and Whitney Houston) in the clubhouse before games, a privledge once reserved by the days starting pitcher. Last season he arrived to Wriggly Field and found a bat in the remains of his pummeled stereo. There was a game when he hit an apparent homer, did his "hop" and then when the ball hit the wall and stayed in play, couldn't stretch it into a double. When asked by a reporter is his hop was costing the Cubs some possible runs, he replied "That's me, man. That's what I do." He can't get along with Dusty Baker, the ultimate "player's manager" and the guy that kept Barry Bonds in line. And, after the Cubs collapsed late last year, he didn't bother to play in the last game of the season.
He's already one of the highest paid players in baseball and will be a fee agent next year. Now's the perfect time to move him, when the Cubs can get someone for him. I admit, Jerry Harriston Jr. And 2 minor leaguers are not much, and the cubs are still gonna pay $10 million of Sammy's salary this year, but they would've lost him next year for nothing. And now new players (maybe Aramis Ramirez, Todd Walker or Nomar) can step up and assume leadership of this team.
In this period of self analysis, I've discovered the only thing left that I loved about the Cubs is Wrigley Field. When I first fell in love with the Cubs, it was about Sandberg and Grace, Dawson and Dunston, Sutcliff and Zimmer, and most importantly, Harry Carry. All of those are gone now, and while I still root for Maddux and Wood and Walker, I don't schedule my time around cubs games, or even check the web for the score. With the trading of Sosa (I won't call him Sammy anymore) and Maddux only hanging on for a few more years, my Cubs are all but gone. Thankfully, my thirst for baseball will be sated. In the immortal words of Harry Carry, "Sosa spelled backwards is.....ASOS!"
(...Takes off Cubs cap, puts on Washington Nationals cap...)
GO NATS!