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Cashing in Sosa deal could free up money for big-name free agent
Posted: Wednesday June 14, 2000 12:04 PM
The Cubs haven't even exchanged names with any club just yet, but they are so serious about trading Sammy Sosa that they've dispatched scouts to look at prospects from the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and what one source called "two surprise teams." The Cubs want players who can produce immediately in the big leagues, which gives the Yankees an edge. One NL GM said Chicago can get at least three players from the Yankees who can start for them next year: outfielder Ricky Ledee, infielder D'Angelo Jimenez and Alfonso Soriano, an infielder who is likely to wind up in the outfield. The Cubs then would have enough money to dip into a star-studded free agent market, which could include Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, Juan Gonzalez and Manny Ramirez. This GM called a Sosa trade to the Yankees "a win-win situation" for the Cubs: They can add young talent while freeing up money to replace Sosa with another star.
SoCal sluggersMo Vaughn and Gary Sheffield both are on pace to set career highs in home runs, and that's no accident. Vaughn could exceed his personal best of 44 homers because he is driving inside pitches out of the park to rightfield for the first time in his career. Raised in Boston's Fenway Park, with its deep gap in right-center, Vaughn used to flip those pitches off the Green Monster in leftfield for doubles. In Anaheim, where the ball jumps better to rightfield, Vaughn has become a dead-pull power hitter. All but one of his 19 home runs this year have been hit to the right of centerfield.Sheffield has also made an adjustment for more power. He said he's learned how to hit the ball with underspin, which gives fly balls more carry, by watching power hitters such as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa take batting practice. Sheffield said as a younger player, he used a line-drive stroke to take advantage of his speed. Now he said he's lofting the ball more. And with 18 dingers, he's on his way past his career high of 42. Vaughn and Sheffield have a chance to join the 50-homer club this season, not to mention Barry Bonds, Carlos Delgado and your second cousin Elmo. These days it seems like everybody's turning 50. Until 1990, only 10 players hit 50 homers in a season. In the past 10 seasons, seven have done so, including three who did it more than once (McGwire, Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr.). Here is a list, by decade, of 50-home run seasons.
1920s: 4
David's demise?The biggest reason why Yankees righthander David Cone is getting hit is that he's lost the snap to his slider, which used to be one of the nastiest pitches in the game. Cone used to dominate righthanded hitters with that slider. But now they are hitting .326 against him with six home runs, as many as he gave up all of last season. Even more alarming, Cone has struck out only 21 righthanded batters in his 12 starts this year. There is one bright spot for Cone: he did show an excellent slider Sunday night in a game against the Mets before it was rained out.
Height of contentionAre major league owners the least bit interested in out-of-control offense in the game? Finally, the answer is yes. Responding to the home run explosion in April and May, owners have given the go-ahead for a controlled experiment in which some Rookie League pitching mounds will be raised from the standard 10 inches to 13 inches. A committee of major league general managers will monitor the impact on offense of the higher mound, and study high-speed, slow-motion film of the same set of pitchers using the two different mound heights. The experiment will be used in the fall Instructional League if the program isn't ready for the start of the Rookie Leagues next week. Any rules changes to major league mounds would not take effect until 2002.
Cornering the marketColorado third baseman Jeff Cirillo has the right to demand a trade after this season, but the Rockies are so happy with him they hope to get him signed to a contract extension soon. And the way Cirillo has hit in Colorado, why would he leave? He's batted .382 at Coors Field this year, but only .264 on the road. The Rockies' payroll plans call for Cirillo to be their fourth-highest paid player, behind Larry Walker, Todd Helton and a player to be added through trade or free agency.Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers baseball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his mailbag.
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