Sosa and Cubs reach deal

[iFroggy]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2001/0315/1155787.html

After all the stuff that he was unhappy, they we unhappy, they were going to trade him, he wanted to be traded and on and on, he stays in Chicago. I didn't think that would happen the way it was going.

[Marc]

I'm just glad this thing got finally completed, so I don't have to hear the Sosa rumors anymore. I don't see the Cubs being contenders anytime soon, but Sosa is always fun to watch and maybe they can build on that. You never know.

[Wedge231]

Yes. He seems like a nice guy and he's been in Chicago for his whole career I think. It's nice to see him staying there a little longer.

[iFroggy]

I know he was a White Sox early on.

[Brandon]

Just a little tidbit, he did play in Texas for a bit. I don't know if he played somewhere else. Kind of ironic that another great slugger in Texas, Rafael Palmerio started out in the Cubs orginazation.

I agree that it's a good thing that Sosa will stay in Chicago his whole career. Too bad that he probably won't win a World Series there though.

[Dre2g]

Well, he still thinks that 18 mill per year is not enough.:(

[MedicTJ]

Obviously, I disagree on the notion that Sammy won't win a World Series with the Cubs. I'm a Cubs fan after all so it's easy to say that. But many people are misinformed.

The Cubs, according to Baseball America, have the #2 farm system in the entire Major Leagues. Corey Patterson is considered one of the top 3 prospects in all of baseball. They have Hee Seop Choi who will be bashing with the best at first base in 2002. They have Bobby Hill, who the Sox couldn't sign, and is projected to be an impact, Jeff Kent type player at second. They have Luiz Montanez who is already being compared to A-Rod at short. And they're going to draft Mark Teixeira with the 2nd overall pick this summer to fill in the hot corner.

In the pitching department, Carlos Zambrano will stay with the club in the bullpen and can hit triple digits on the radar gun with accuracy. They have Courtney Duncan who has a wicked slider and nearly the same velocity. They're both in the top 40 prospects in all of baseball.

And they have THREE 3rd basemen who are going to wind up in the bigs somewhere. David Kelton, Eric Hinske, and Ryan Gripp. All can hit for power and average. Andy McPhail has done a remarkable job with this club's farm guys.

And Patterson will turn into another Andruw Jones in center. He may not make the club after spring this season, but he's sure to be a mainstay in 2002.

With that kind of talent coming up, saying that Sosa has no chance to be with a World Series team is something I disagree with.

[Wedge231]

Good points but I wouldn't put too much confidence in the farm system. I keep hearing of all these great prospects every year who do not live up to expectations. They had very high expectations for Andruw Jones but it took several years for him to get where he is now. Also, JD Drew had high hopes too. I also remember when my team, the Mets, thought they would get the Wild Card in 1996 with Jason Isringhausen, Paul Wilson, and Bill Pulsipher. Well, as you know, they didn't turn out well at all.

[lmanchur.]

Originally posted by iFroggy
After all the stuff that he was unhappy, they we unhappy, they were going to trade him, he wanted to be traded and on and on, he stays in Chicago.

...I guess the Cubs gave Sosa 72,000,000 reasons to be happy! :D

[Nate]

It's nice to see them finally reach an agreement. Hopefully everyone is happy now.

[Peck]

Nice points Medic TJ but look at the teams in hockey(for example) look at the panthers prospects.......loads and good but their like losing 20 straight in the beggining in the year and not to mention tampa bay ;)........

[MedicTJ]

I agree totally. But I believe that the Cubs finally have a foundation with which to start with. And I'm not necessarily meaning that every single one of these kids are going to make the leap to the parent club and then be wearing an All-Star jersey. That would be ridiculous and more than wishful thinking.

But having a strong farm system does two things. And after I say this, you're going to say, "Well look at Montreal. It didn't get them anywhere."...Which is true, but Montreal's problems are revenue based....which I will get to in a moment.

As I mentioned, the Cubs have 3 solid prospects at 3rd base. Hinske, Kelton, and Gripp. And they're going to have another one when they draft Teixeira. Teixeira will stay with the club and be groomed accordingly. But what about the other guys? Trade bait. And that's exactly what the Cubs organization hasn't had in recent memory.

It's nice to be able to trade for some decent free agents once in a while, but if you don't have anything to trade with, it doesn't really get you very far.

The White Sox have the number one farm system in baseball. Right ahead of the Cubs. And they proved the point I've made in this post yesterday by acquiring Osuna from the Dodgers. Is Osuna the greatest pitcher ever? No. But he'll help to shore up that bullpen and the Sox made that trade with prospects only. They saw a hole that needed to be filled and they had the surplus downstairs to take care of it.

Now, admittedly, the Sox are in a much different position than the Cubs are in that they're jostling for position to make a playoff run. That's their goal. But they were still able to grab up a solid bullpen guy with prospects and still not hurt their future. Smart move.

The Cubs have built the foundation. Now it's time to cultivate and groom some players to the parent club.