Goodbye Sammy Sosa ...

Sammy Sosa has officially entered the Latrell Sprewell phase of his career. Both players were stars in their respective primes and were compensated richly for their services (Sprewell ~ $100 million; Sosa ~ $125 million).

However, Sprewell and Sosa are no longer productive players. Their skills and statistics have diminished to the point that there are few – if any – teams interested in their services. Toss in the fact that both are high maintenance and tend to be disruptive influences and it's easy to see why neither is in high demand. Yet both players still feel as if they should be treated like royalty.

Despite making more money than either of them will ever need, Sprewell and Sosa have made one thing crystal clear: They're only in it for the money.

Last year, Sprewell turned down a 3-year, $27 million contract extension from the Minnesota Timberwolves saying "Why would I want to help them win a title? They're not doing anything for me. I've got a lot at risk here. I've got my family to feed". Sprewell is now where he belongs -- out of basketball (and any GM that is still considering offering him a contract should be fired on the spot). Good riddance Latrell.

Similarly, Sosa is reportedly "considering retirement" a more attractive option than the one-year, non-guaranteed offer of $500,000 he has received from the Washington Nationals. Sosa "feels that the lack of interest in his services this winter constitutes a humiliation". In other words, "If I don't get paid more than I’m worth, then I'd rather not play at all".

If you're still wondering why only one team is even marginally interested in Sosa's services, consider the following: In 2005, a total of 223 major league players had 400 or more plate appearances. Of these, 205 were more productive than Sammy Sosa (based on OPS, or on-base percentage plus slugging percentage). That's right, only 17 hitters in all of baseball were worse than Sosa last season. Think it was just an off year? Consider this trend:

Year 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005	HR 64 49 40 35 14	RBI 160 108 103 80 45	BA .328 .288 .279 .253 .221	OBP .437 .399 .358 .332 .295	SLG .737 .594 .553 .517 .376

Sosa is 37. You don't have to be a sabremetrician to see where this is headed ...

If Sammy Sosa truly believed he had anything left in the tank (or really cared about getting the 12 homers he needs to get to 600), then he'd be looking for nothing more than an invitation to training camp with the promise of a fair shot to earn a starting job. Since he's made it perfectly clear that he's looking for guaranteed cash rather than an opportunity to prove himself, the Washington Nationals should pull their offer off the table. Goodbye Sammy ...

The next time we talk about Sammy Sosa should be in five years when we're debating how to judge his Hall of Fame statistics against the collective taint of corking his bat, allegedly using performance enhancing drugs and conveniently forgetting how to speak English during the Congressional hearings on steroids.