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| Monday, July 17 | |||||
| Midseason report: Chicago Cubs ESPN.com | |||||
The Chicago Cubs find themselves in turmoil at the All-Star break. Through most of the first 83 games, superstar Sammy Sosa
has been in the headlines. Not for his crushing home runs. Not for his outrageous amount of fan support. But for his jagged relationship with manager Don Baylor. With that in mind, let's take a look inside the Cubs' first half.
First-half MVP: Sosa has caused commotion with his trade rumors, his complaining mouth and his unhappiness with Baylor. But the Dominican slugger continues to produce at the plate. He's hitting .305 with 21 home runs and 69 RBI through July 7. He has scored 56 runs, ripped 19 doubles and has .563 slugging percentage. Those are All-Star numbers. Now imagine if he were happy with his contract and at peace with what uniform he wore?Biggest disappointment: These days, pitchers are bouncing back from Tommy John surgery stronger than ever. Then what's happened to the Cubs' 20-strikeouts-in-a-game whiz kid Kerry Wood? At 3-6 with a below-average 5.62 ERA, Wood has just 63 strikeouts in 65 2/3 innings pitched. He has failed to complete a game in 11 starts. After such an amazing rookie year in 1998 (13-6, 3.40 ERA, 233 K's), the 23-year-old Texas native was being compared to Roger Clemens. This year it would be better off comparing him to the Pirates' Jason Schmidt, as in big disappointment.
Biggest surprise: He's primarily known for his solid defense and speed on the base paths. But Eric Young
has shown a different side of his game this year: offensive consistency. He leads the team in batting (.310), hits (103), doubles (26) and -- surprise, surprise -- steals (26). Add in 55 runs, five homers and 28 RBI and you wonder why L.A. manager Davey Johnson was so eager to trade him in the offseason to Chicago (who cares about his $4.5 million salary anyway)?
Second-half goals: Trade Sammy! Trade Sammy! Trade Sammy! The Cubs are going nowhere and Baylor's rapport with Sosa isn't getting better any time soon. The best thing for this franchise to do is trade Sosa for some young prospects and start from scratch. Grade:  -- Nobody thought the Cubs would compete and they haven't. The only thing interesting about the Cubs this year has been counting how many cameras surround Sammy before each game.
(Scale: 1 to 4 baseballs; 1 = worst, 4 = best) | ALSO SEE Midseason Feedback: Cubs MLB midseason reports ESPN.com's All-Star Game coverage Kurkjian: Stories of the first half Ten second-half questions for the AL Ten second-half questions for the NL | ||||