Don Baylor has seen enough. He’s officially open to making major moves–no more Band-Aids–and wants to be more involved in and responsible for personnel moves. Any Cub you wouldn’t trade, Don?
“No,” he said, “I’m wide open.”
So Sammy Sosa could be dealt? Baylor carefully weighed his answer to the most difficult and important question facing this franchise ahead of the July 31 trading deadline.
“Probably not,” he said. “Of course, with any possible trade, you’d want to hear what you could get in return. But to even think about a Sosa deal–that would have a dramatic impact in the clubhouse and around town. And it puts so much pressure to perform on the player [or players] you get for a star player.”
Still, after hearing Baylor’s restless assessment of the team’s many holes and few nearly ready minor-leaguers, this conclusion is inescapable: Trading Sosa to an AL team could be the quickest way for Baylor to rebuild his type of tough, fast, smart, winning-is-everything team.
Of course, this would first require Sosa to swallow his machismo and accept that his pumped-up slugger’s physique and love affair with the long ball helped turn him into a defensive liability. Sammy now looks like more of a Sam Sosa. At 31, he must admit to himself that he’ll be most valuable as an AL designated hitter.
“But pride won’t let a lot of guys,” Baylor said.
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Sosa’s pride spoke loudly recently when he revealed the four teams to which he would approve a trade if the Cubs opt not to make him a $15-million-a-year player. All four are National League teams: Houston, San Francisco, Arizona and Colorado. It’s doubtful any of the four would pay Sosa’s asking price to play him in right field.
As a Cubs source other than Baylor said: “Sammy might drive in 150 runs, but he might let in 45.”
Baylor can’t rebuild a contending team around Sosa, whose added bulk keeps him from running down balls once within his range. His mind too often wanders to his next at-bat, and he misplays routine chances. He seems more preoccupied with making cute hand signals to fans than improving the accuracy of his throws. As Tony La Russa once said of Jose Canseco, Sosa has become more performer than ballplayer.
Baylor would have said “definitely not” to trading Sosa if Sosa hadn’t also let him down at the plate. When Baylor needed him most, before Kerry Wood’s return and during Mark Grace’s stint on the disabled list, Sosa repeatedly failed in game-turning at-bats. Sosa has become the master of the meaningless home run and RBI. He has an amazingly quiet and ineffective 17 homers and 53 RBIs for a team 12 games under .500.
Baylor has considered moving Sosa to left, where a weak outfielder can be better hidden. But again, pride could be an obstacle for a player whose idol was one of the great right-fielders, Roberto Clemente. For Baylor’s sake, the best move for Sosa would be to another team.
Whether the Cubs could draw fans as consistently without Sammy Sideshow would hinge in part on what they received in return for him and for perhaps several other marketable vets–Grace, Henry Rodriguez and Kevin Tapani. Some fans, believe it or not, would be more interested in the Cubs if Baylor were managing a hot new team built around Wood. Other fans act as if one star is even bigger than Sammy: Wrigley Field itself.
No, the Cubs would survive–perhaps even thrive–without Sosa. For the right deal, management wouldn’t shy from trading a one-dimensional slugger who will soon want $15 million of the budget.
Baylor is perfectly comfortable with the $64 million payroll. He’s just not satisfied with how it was spent. Getting fired in Colorado taught him that “if I’m going to get fired, I want more say-so (in player acquisitions).” Making a free-agent run at the Braves’ Chipper Jones, who was the MVP last year under Baylor’s guidance as hitting coach, becomes much more realistic without Sosa.
In Sosa’s locker hangs a story about the Yankees headlined, “Winning Is Everything.” Is this a PR counterattack at teammates and reporters who believe winning the home-run title is everything to Sosa? Or is it a subtle message that he’s interested in becoming a Yankee?
He’d be a perfect fit. They could use his voltage at DH, on TV, in the headlines and at the gate. New York’s Dominican population would worship him. But how much would the Yankees give up for him?
Baylor would at least listen.