Sosa Wants the Cubs to Decide

With trade rumors still swirling Sunday and talks with the Chicago Cubs apparently going nowhere, it appears Sammy Sosa just wants someone to want him.

Sosa said if the Cubs fail to offer him a contract extension, it’s a sign they don’t want him around.

“If they don’t show me a contract, it’s telling me I’m not going to be here,” Sosa said. “It’s as simple as that. It hurts my feelings because I think I deserve a little bit more than that. But this is business, and I understand that. I just got to sit back, relax and wait.”

A trade between the Cubs and Yankees involving Sosa fell apart last week. Now, Sosa said, it’s time for the Cubs to come to him.

“My people were looking for [an offer]. We haven’t had an answer yet,” he said. “They know that they can talk to me. They know I’m here. It’s up to them to come talk to me.”

Sosa is under contract through 2001 at $11 million a season. Most think he is seeking a four-year extension, worth at least $17 million a season.

The Cubs still could trade him before the July 31 deadline, but Sosa said he is not willing to accept a trade without a contract extension from the new team. There are only a handful of teams with the financial wherewithal to pay Sosa the money he seeks, and most of those teams aren’t interested.

“I don’t want to come into next year thinking about it,” Sosa said. “Wherever I am next year, I want to come and not go through all the [garbage]--that I got to do more because I’m going into free agency. Take care of me now, let me play my game.”

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Ken Griffey Jr. was back in the Cincinnati lineup Sunday, less than 24 hours after a dugout dispute with his father and twisting his right knee.

“He told me I was coming out [of the game] and I said I wasn’t,” Griffey said of Saturday’s dispute. “He said we were down by six, and half-pushed me toward the locker room. I don’t like coming out of games unless we’re blowing somebody out or being blown out.

“In those cases it’s good because it gives other guys a chance to get some at-bats. But except for that, I hate coming out.”

Said Griffey Sr.: “I don’t talk about family arguments. Cameras just happen to be nosy.”

Red catcher Benito Santiago, who separated the Griffeys during the spat, said, “I don’t like to be in the middle of controversies but that’s over. They’re father and son and they’ll be OK.”

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Montreal Expo closer Ugueth Urbina will have elbow surgery Thursday in Birmingham, Ala, ending his season. The surgery, the second on Urbina’s right elbow in six weeks, will remove a bone fragment. . . . Ollie Vanek, a baseball scout who discovered St. Louis Cardinal Hall of Famer Stan Musial, has died. He was 91. . . . Catcher Eli Marrero, who injured his left thumb stealing second base, was put on the 15-day disabled list by the Cardinals, who recalled Keith McDonald from triple-A Memphis. The Cardinals also transferred left-handed reliever Scott Radinsky from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list. . . . The Braves put left-handed reliever Mike Remlinger on the disabled list, retroactive to June 23, because of a strained left elbow, and designated right-handed reliever Don Wengert for assignment. Right-hander Dave Stevens and Ismael Villegas were called up from triple-A Richmond.