Cubs' moves well worth the trouble
Rick Morrissey
February 11, 2005

Some people seem mystified as to how the Cubs could have divested themselves of such wonderful human beings as Sammy Sosa, Moises Alou, Kyle Farnsworth and Kent Mercker.

And I am mystified right back at them, mystified that people can't see these players for what they are, mystified that some fans believe the Cubs would be better off with Sosa et al still on the roster.

So in my ongoing efforts to educate the public and calm the masses about the 2005 Cubs, I give you a report from the Baltimore Sun that provides another peek into what one of those players is all about. Consider it a "jumping-off point" for a discussion about some of the scoundrels from last year's team.

It seems that when it was time for Sosa to take his physical for the Orioles last week, a team employee arrived in a personal vehicle to transport Sosa to the facility.

Sosa didn't offer a heart tap or even blow a kiss. He wagged a disapproving index finger. He said he doesn't do personal vehicles. He would require a limousine. The limo arrived about an hour later, delaying the physical and the ensuing news conference.

Sun columnist Peter Schmuck referred to it as an apparent "diva moment" by Sosa. Some of us here in Chicago would refer to it as bigness as usual for His Samminess.

It was the essence of Sosa, a player who cares about himself so much that he walked out on his team at the end of last season. But it wasn't only him. This was a team with a left fielder (Alou) who was preoccupied with the TV broadcasters and the umpires. This was a team with a reliever (Mercker) who found time during a game to call the press box to complain about the TV broadcasters.

This was a team with another reliever (Farnsworth) who hurt his knee when he kicked an electric fan in air-headed anger. (You are correct: The twit did hit the fan.)

That was your 2004 Cubs in a nuthouse.

But now, by the grace of general manager Jim Hendry, they're gone, all of them. It's a 180-degree turn for an organization that protested mightily that the media were misrepresenting the character of the ballclub. The team wasn't made up of bad apples, manager Dusty Baker had insisted. We had it all wrong, Hendry had said.

Four months after the season ended, it's obvious the Cubs' brass saw it the way many of us did. There is no comfort in that. There is no comfort in knowing Baker backed up players who didn't deserve backing. There is no comfort in knowing the Cubs either wouldn't or couldn't keep their players in line.

But there is comfort in knowing the Cubs are headed into a season with a roster that is both talented and reportedly likeable. The two elements aren't mutually exclusive. The fear the Cubs are without big boppers Alou and Sosa is misdirected. The team will scare up enough offense to go with a dominating pitching staff.

The fear is they don't have a proven closer. Be very afraid of that.

But be relieved the circus has left town. There will be distractions this season, because there are distractions every season, and because LaTroy Hawkins is still on the roster. But it's hard to believe those distractions will be as destructive as last year's sideshows, which helped bring down a club that had World Series aspirations.

There is a school of thought that says it doesn't matter if you have a team of convicted felons as long as it wins. This would be the same school that says the Cubs aren't in any position to be choosy, having gone 0 for the last 95 World Series championships.

Well, amazingly, they can be choosy.

We know this because they were able to trade Sosa to Baltimore without a public uprising in Chicago. Think about that for a second. The only player ever to have three seasons of 60 or more home runs was basically run out of town, and there isn't hell to pay for it.

It means the Cubs are fairly sure Sosa isn't the reason Wrigley Field is filled day after day.

There's a certain haughtiness to that thinking, and there will be intense pressure on the Cubs and Baker to produce this year. But mostly the organization seems to have a keen understanding of the market. Chicagoans, for the most part, aren't big on prima donnas. They don't like complainers or excuse-makers.

They like winners, but they absolutely hate whiners.