the effects

roster move you’re not think about: I’ve demoted David Kelton to Iowa squad, with Hairston taking his place. I bet he knows all the best restaurants in Des Moines.

21: In my ideal world, today or the first day of Spring Training, the Cubs announce they’re unofficially retiring 21, hanging it now and waiting till whenever Sammy is ready to do an official retirement/Sosa day. (And if Sammy wants to do it in the middle of December rather than during the season, fair enough.)

Realistically, I expect it to take a decade of wounds healing before the number is set to a foul pole, but no one will wear it between now and then.

Then again, I thought they were doing that with 17, and this list reminds me Bobby Hill and the immortal Calvin Murray have worn it since. I guess it’ll be up to Yosh.

Shell Games: Even though the 25 and 40 man totals have dropped, the saving in Sosa’s contract isn’t this season

Before: $17 million to Sosa
After: $16.15 million to O’s for Sosa

The discount comes in next season’s ledger; in the process of this trade, they’re moving $8 million in commitments (3.5 severance, 4.5 buyout) from ’06 to ’05.

This also means Cubs management has increased it’s payroll budget for ’05 by 3.7 to afford Burnitz. I think this is the rare occasion where fans wish the team did not find more money.

Hidden Costs: Crouthers and Fotenot were both listed on the O’s 40 man roster, and so they’ll have to be on the Cubs 40 man roster – but that can’t be correct unless there’s another move coming, because one space has to go to Burnitz. I think Crouthers might not actually be on the 40 man, but I’ve got no proof. (I’ll list him as an NRI-M till we figure it out.)

One bone of contention this off season was Jim Hendry’s roster management before the Rule 5 draft. Despite having one (I think – might have been two) open spots on the 40 man roster, he didn’t protect Andy Sisco or Luke Hagerty. Sisco, drafted by the Royals, was no surprise to be drafted (Hagerty, drafted by the O’s and traded to the Marlins, is coming off a major arm injury), so the reasoning for leaving him off the roster seemed a bit lacking. Until now, when those roster spots became necessary and filled.

I don’t think Jim Hendry went into his Rule 5 draft preparations thinking “I’ve got to leave some roster room in case I get some scrubs from the O’s”, but I do think he weighed the value of securing Sisco and Hagerty versus the cost of having to release/waive someone to pull off a multi player for Sosa deal before the season or not get all the players he wanted because of roster room. And it looks like he made a bad gamble.

It’s unfair to Hendry to describe the deal as “Sosa, Haggerty and Sisco for Hariston, Burnitz, Fotenot and Crouthers”, because that’s not the deal Hendry made Friday and Sisco and Haggerty could end up back with the team, maybe as soon as the end of Spring Training. However, in current roster terms, that is what has been done with the club, and it’s hard to think of it as a net positive.

(At first look, I’d much rather they would’ve gotten a low minor leaguer who could turn out to be something and could not, than these two. Hope they make me eat those words.)