Sosa Redux

This is something I wrote about Sammy Sosa back in January:

Take a look at Sammy Sosa's numbers from the past four years:

HR: 64, 49, 40, 35
BA: .328, .288, .279, .253
OBP: .437, .399, .358, .332
SLG: .737, .594, .553, .517
TB: 425, 330, 286, 247
OPS+: 201, 160, 135, 110

Do see any positive trends there? I see a players who has gone from hitting at historic levels to being Rob Deer. Now I know that in this deal the Cubs will be paying about $10 million of Sosa's $16 million salary but that still means that the Orioles will be picking up $6 million of the tab and giving up some quality trading chips in the process. All that for the Dominican Rob Deer.

People like Peter Gammons see this as a win-win for both teams. They will argue that the Cubs are happy to be rid of Sosa and the Orioles get a big name star for what they see as a minimal cost. The Orioles think this deal will help them sell tickets.

I see this as a bad deal for the Orioles. Sure Sosa may sell some tickets now but he will drive away an equal amount of fans in the summer months if he continues his downward trends.

Not to pick on Gammons but I wonder if he still sees this as a win-win for both teams? The Cubs were able to replace Sosa's production with Jeromy Burnitz at a reduced rate, they got Mike Fontenot a 25-year old former 1st rounder who had 30 doubles and 10 triples last year at AAA levels and Jerry Hairston, Jr who has been hurt but OK when healthy.

Oriole fans were excited at first but now at mid-season they have definitely turned . I have to say - I told you so(sa).