Why do the Cubs want to get rid of Sammy Sosa?
Simple. He's overweight, he can't run very well anymore, he's a liability in the field, he doesn't get along with the manager, and he wants $15-20 million a season.
The Cubs see no reason to pay Sosa so much money when he's in the decline period of his career. If they can get some good young players to rebuild their team, I don't see how they can turn down a reasonable offer.
Why would the Yankees want Sosa when they need pitching, not hitting?
Because Mount Steinbrenner is ready to erupt, that's why.
After the three-game sweep (at home!) by the White Sox last weekend, culminating in a 17-4 blowout, Steinbrenner is probably throwing furniture through the windows. He may make a grand gesture to get Sosa and take the public's mind off the disappointing play of the team. It would also improve the team's relations with New York City's fastest-growing ethnic group, the Dominican community, and raise the local TV ratings through the roof.
Do the Yanks need Sosa? No. Would they get him for all the above-mentioned off-the-field reasons? Don't bet against it.
What's wrong with Ken Griffey Jr.?
It's taken him longer than expected to adjust to the National League. He's seeing all new pitchers, figuring out the strike zones of new umpires, and traveling to different cities. Also, pitchers were challenging Griffey more, especially early in the season when Dante Bichette was struggling behind Griffey and not giving him much protection.
However, he'll make it. He was batting .209 a few weeks ago, but now he's up to .231 and climbing. He also has 20 homers, which puts him on a pace to hit his usual 45-50 this year.
Once and for all - will Mark McGwire catch Hank Aaron?
Since this is the most common E-mail question I get, I'll deal with it right now.
At the beginning of the 2000 season, McGwire had 522 career homers, leaving him 233 behind Aaron's total of 755. McGwire was 69 percent of the way to the record. The question is, can McGwire hit the other 31 percent of the homers necessary at this late date in his career?
I say "late date" because McGwire is 36 years old. He'll turn 37 on October 1. Is it reasonable to assume that McGwire's career is only about two-thirds over?
Let's look at it this way. McGwire hit 522 homers in 1,688 games, a rate of one every 3.23 games. If he hits homers at the same rate for the rest of his career, it will take him 753 more games to hit 233 home runs (233 homers X 3.23 games/homer). He's hitting them at a faster rate now, but he should slow down as age catches up to him.
He can't play the whole 162-game schedule anymore because of his recurring back problems, which caused him to miss 12 games this year already. If McGwire plays 140 games a season, and doesn't appreciably slow down his home-run pace, he'll need six more seasons to break the record (753 games / 140 = 5.38 seasons). That means that McGwire will have to play until he's 42 years old to pass Aaron. I personally don't think he'll stay healthy enough for long enough, and I can't see McGwire lasting all the way till 2005. He'll pass the 600 mark, perhaps even 650, but I don't think he'll get to 700.