For Now, Cubs Wait, Grin and Bear It

The Sammy Sosa Saga is not likely to end quickly. The Chicago Cubs currently have scouts Ken Kravec and Keith Champion touring the New York Yankee and Boston Red Sox farm systems for a potential package of prospects in what would probably be a four-for-one trade--unless Ismael Valdes also went to the Yankees in a Sosa deal.

Ultimately, the Cubs have three choices:

Accept the fan hit and trade Sosa; keep him with the intention of making him baseball’s top-salaried player through a contract extension; keep him and let him leave as a free agent when his contract expires after the 2001 season, although there is a mutual option for 2002.

“The first preference for Team Sosa is to receive an extension and remain with the Cubs,” agent Adam Katz said. “The second is for the Cubs to reach a decision and move as quickly as possible.”

The situation is complicated by Sosa’s approval rights (as a 10-year major leaguer, five with the same team) and his almost certain demand for an extension if traded.

The Cubs could wait and trade Sosa next year, but dealing a star player who holds approval rights under the pressure of imminent free agency leads to a similar situation the Seattle Mariners were in when forced to deal Ken Griffey Jr.

Now is the time if they are going to trade Sosa, and that would seem to be the Cubs’ decision given that extension talks have gone nowhere and that to keep Sosa would risk another blowup with Manager Don Baylor, who has the Cubs’ backing with a four-year contract and has said enough in different ways to make it clear that he considers Sosa a defensive liability.

“This will ultimately come down to a baseball decision by the Cubs,” Katz said. “It’s not something Sammy has orchestrated and has nothing to do with his relationship with Baylor. Baylor is an aggressive and assertive manager who simply made some mistakes in things he has said about Sammy, but this is not a grand scheme by Sammy to create chaos. That would be foolish. Sammy can play for Baylor, and Baylor can manage Sammy. The Cubs simply have to decide if they want to move forward with Sammy as their centerpiece, and we are trying to be as collaborative and conciliatory as possible.”

Superstars have been traded as far back as Babe Ruth. The current economics, however, take a majority of teams out of the market, and the system has spawned a process known as accelerated free agency, where clubs--unable to meet contract demands--are almost forced to trade their top free agents a year before their actual eligibility in an attempt to get a better return.

Sosa is a tough one, however.

What’s the equitable exchange for a player who has hit 129 home runs and driven in 299 runs over the last two years? A souvenir shop near Wrigley Field is finding out, already advertising a sale on Sosa items. It’s the Cubs’ decision, but also the Red Sox’s and Yankees’.

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The inability of Montreal owners to resolve their financial squabbles and reach an agreement with the city on stadium financing has again raised the possibility that the Expos will have to be moved to Northern Virginia, leading many owners to cite that as another reason to delay realignment. Concerns with attendance in Minnesota, Oakland, Miami and Tampa Bay play into that.

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It was a tough week for Atlanta Brave rookie shortstop Rafael Furcal, who was jailed on a charge of driving under the influence, went on the disabled list because of a strained hamstring and was accused on the HBO show “Real Sports” of being 22 and not 19. Is it possible? An inaccurate birth certificate from the Dominican Republic? What a development.