i dont care how much money you’ll save.
winning the world series is not about saving money.
winning the world series is about having the best team on the field.
sammy sosa had his worst year last year in a very long time.
he hit 35 home runs in 126 games (20-30 fewer games than the other members of the hr leaders).
35 home runs made him #11 in the national league.
nobody has hit more homers than sammy in the last decade.
sammy is arguably the cubs greatest player ever.
in 2001 he hit 64 hrs, the third year in his career that he had over 60 homers. he also hit .328.
jerry hairston jr. was hurt last year and only played 86 games.
the year before that he was hurt and only played 58 games.
cub manager dusty baker allegedly says that he wants more speed on the cubs.
hairston’s best year was in 2001 when he stole 29 bases. sadly he only hit .233 that year. since then he swiped 21, 14 and 13 bases (’02, ’03, ’04).
he was hurt recently because of a broken foot.
the cubs want more speed so they trade sammy sosa for a guy with a broken foot?
fuck jerry hairston jr.
the cubs will also pay the orioles $10 million to cover most of sammy’s $17 mil contract. saving chicago $7 mil, which they will prossibly use to trade for and sign tampa bay’s aubry huff who will make about $6 mil this year.
aubry huff is a decent player. hes 28. last year he turned in his third consecutive good year (29, 104, .297). in 2003 he had his best year at 34, 107, .311
but the cubs arent trading for aubry huff. theyre trading for jerry hairston jr and two minor leaguers.
the cub reporter speculates that the cubs will trade either one of those prospects and some of their own to tampa bay for huff.
all i know is sammy is the best cub player ever, and if youre going to send him away, you get something back.
ernie and billy and ryno were all great, but sammy was a monster for over 10 years straight.
he was never busted for steriods despite the whispers
and although the corked bat incident was probably the most embarrassing moment ive ever seen, the likelihood that it truly was an accident remains good.
yes he was booed near the end of the season last year and showed up late for the last game, didnt play, and left the game early.
i’ll excuse that for a guy who hit 547 homers for me, and 574 in his career.
sure-bet hall of famers and their pride, and all that.
me, i blame dusty baker, who has been given solid teams and the best pitching in baseball and hasnt given me a world series.
i refuse to believe that managing barry bonds’ ego was less difficult than sammy sosas.
i know its blasphemy for anyone to ever criticize dusty baker, but wheres his ring as a manager?
didnt he have 4 guys with over 30 hrs on his team last year, and a lead-off hitter who nailed 25?
didnt he have proir and wood and only one game to win versus the fish two years ago to get to the world series?
and now am i to believe that now he’s going to recommend that the cubs trade away the cubs greatest player for jr. and maybe aubry huff?
fuck dusty baker.
fuck jerry hairston jr.
fuck the tribune corp who owns the cubs and is behind all of this tragedy.
when will there be manditory drug tests for owners
andy dolan + aaron’s baseball blog + a view from the bleachers