- Christian Petersen/Getty Images
- Alfonso Soriano, after fanning last night against the Diamondbacks. Soon he could be homering for the Yankees.
Ah, midsummer—a great time to follow two baseball teams, what with the pennant races heating up. If you’d like to do that, just pick teams in some other towns.
As for Chicago, here are the baseball headlines in today’s Sun-Times: “Theo, Sori discuss options”; “Gregg another Cub who’s likely to go”; “Sox can’t wait to showcase reliever Crain”.
In other words, the Cubs and Sox are very much in the race—to trade their players. It’s the most thrilling week in baseball here this season, because the trade deadline is only seven days away.
“Sori” is Cubs’ outfielder Alfonso Soriano, not a misspelled apology from our baseball teams to the fans.
Soriano told a reporter yesterday: “They always make the playoffs, no matter what team they have, no matter what pitching they got. They find a way. It’s one of the best organizations in baseball.”
He didn’t mean his present team, but his past and quite possibly future club, the Yankees. The 37-year-old would like to play postseason ball again before he retires, so you can understand why he wouldn’t mind a trade. The Yanks and Cubs are in fourth place in their respective divisions, but the Yanks are seven games out, the Cubs 16-1/2. The Yankees are desperate for a capable right-handed hitter, what with Derek Jeter on the disabled list with a strained quad, and Alex Rodriguez probably out for the year, and maybe for good. The Yanks got A-Rod from the Texas Rangers in 2004 for a player to be named later plus a 28-year-old outfielder—Soriano.