MLB: Sammy Sosa & The Art Of The Deal... Er, Deadline

All of us in this world have dreams – stuff that makes the idle nanoseconds between the time the copier starts and the first paper jam happens bearable. For some of us, those dreams involve our bosses and a group of hungry cannibals; for others, it may be a desert island inhabited by women who flunked the Baywatch IQ test (for women readers, please substitute “men” and “Chippendales” in the proper places). For Minnesota Twins’ fans, it’s a four-game winning streak…

Sorry, Twins’ fans…

As for me, my dream is playing poker against Chicago Cubs’ generalissimo Andy MacPhail. All it would take is just one night and I’d have it made for life…

I was reminded of my dream the other day when MacPhail set an Armistice Day deadline (what wits these baseball people are…) for contract extension talks with Sammy Sosa, the Cubs’ resident superstar and cuddly good guy.

Yes, I know it sounds kind of weird already, but let’s sort out the details:

1. Sosa, a 32-year-old world-class home run hitter who does a decent job of impersonating a right fielder every now and then, has decided that it is time to secure his future. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Sosa likes his future real secure… to the tune of $100 million or so over the next six years.

2. MacPhail, on the other hand, is struggling with a roster full of guys who are either past their prime or hoping that they will eventually have one. He knows in his heart of hearts that Sosa and his marketable charisma may be the only thing the Cubs will have going for them until about 2004: it’s just… well, the principle of the thing that gets to him.

Clearly, MacPhail has not forgotten the chain of events that led to Ed Lynch’s demise earlier this year, and thus has decided to use Sosa’s contract talks as a object example of what talking out of turn will get you. In the wake of Carlos Delgado’s successful attempt to escalate Canada’s balance of trade deficit Sosa’s demands actually seem almost reasonable in comparison - but Sammy is under contract for another year and MacPhail isn’t in the mood to do anything he doesn’t have to.

Thus MacPhail plays his gambit last Saturday: sign a “market value” contract within 15 days or we’ll go out into the free agent market and spend the money we were more than willing to pay you on someone else. There’s an obvious undertone here, a not-so-subtle “if you don’t sign we’ll do something that will make you REALLY SORRY” message that was apparently supposed to make Sosa and his agent, Adam Katz, break down Tribune Company’s doors in their haste to negotiate a new agreement at any costs.

All right – suppose Sosa refused to come to terms by MacPhail’s deadline. Let’s see… the Cub GM could:

- Trade Sosa: Hmmm – a guy who’s not particularly underpriced as it stands now and is a lead pipe cinch to blow whatever town he’s traded to for free agent riches the moment the filing date arrives. How much do you think that’s worth… maybe a couple of good prospects? Perhaps some slumping older guy and a hotshot youngster? After MacPhail trades Sosa and leaves himself with a power core of Rondell White, Shane Andrews, and Corey Patterson or Willie Greene or whoever he can pick up in the free agent market, then what? I guess he just quietly sits by, watches the Cubs lose 100 games, and then drops his keys to the executive washroom on the desk as he leaves after the final out of game #162…

- Try to sign him later on: Swell idea – let’s wait until some other owner inevitably re-enacts the Blue Jays’ temporary insanity with Delgado and thus makes Sammy’s $100 million over six years look like nothing. Juan Gonzalez is an excellent example of what could go wrong: suppose he cons somebody into looking at his two MVP awards rather than his so-so plate discipline, attitude, and ho-hum 2000 season and gets $15 million per. Does MacPhail REALLY want to argue that Sosa is only a million and change a season better than Gonzo is? What if A-Rod actually gets something closer to $25 million a season rather than $20 million? What if Manny Ramirez hits the jackpot?

MacPhail may have already lost the opportunity to sign Sosa for “only” $16.6 million a year. If he waits much longer and does anything else to tick Sammy off, heck… he may not even be allowed the honor of paying him $18 million a season…

- Take his 2001 season and then let him leave via free agency: Basically the same as trading him except substitute “a couple of draft picks who will want $2 million plus and have a 50-50 chance of becoming the next Pat Meares” for “a couple of good prospects”. From a professional point of view, roughly akin to pouring a gallon of high test over your head and then striking a match to see if the extra octane makes you burn up any faster.

As for Sosa – well, the worst thing that could happen to him is that he is forced to play in 2001 for a lousy $12 million and then gets his $100 million plus from some other team whose fans will welcome him and his clubhouse entourage with open arms. Wow, what a horrible fate - that would sure teach him not to take GM’s and their deadlines seriously.

In short, MacPhail pulled the negotiating equivalent of betting the pot limit after drawing four cards to a poker hand. That Sosa and Katz possessed the necessary brain cells to see this move for what it was is not surprising, nor should we be amazed that MacPhail stumbled all over himself 72 hours later to eat his words, suggesting subtly that he might have been misquoted all the way along…

Ah, let me ask you something – if you had been misquoted on the negotiation status of your franchise player, would YOU wait three days to clarify your position?

Just one night at the poker table, just one, and I’d be as rich as Croesus – or if I was REALLY lucky, as rich as a utility infielder.