Baltimore Orioles: Ten Trades We Wish Were April Fools’ Jokes

One day, the Baltimore Orioles will come out on top of a trade with the Chicago Cubs.

The Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs have been frequent trade partners over the years, with the Cubs typically coming out on top in the long run (see Jake Arrieta trade). Trading for veteran outfielder Sammy Sosa could have been a disaster, but it ended up being fairly harmless for both sides. It’s more about why this trade was even made in the first place.

Say what you will now about Sammy Sosa, however, as a kid growing up in the 1990s, Sosa was one of the more entertaining baseball players of my childhood, thanks to his 609 career home runs, juice and all.

In each of his final four seasons with the Cubs, Sosa saw a drop in his batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. It was becoming clear that the 35-year-old outfielder was losing everything in the tank wasn’t going to be much help to any new franchise he played for.

In February of 2005, the Cubs sent Sosa to the Baltimore Orioles for infielders Jerry Hairston and Mike Fontenot and pitcher Dave Crouthers.

Hairston played for nine more seasons with various teams as a utility infielder, but outproduced Sammy Sosa in 2005. Sosa was worth -1.0 bWAR (.221 average, 14 home runs, .295 OBP), while Hairston was worth 0.7 bWAR. We’re talking very small numbers here, but still relevant.

Fontenot also saw early success with the Cubs, hitting .305 with a .395 OBP in his first full season before the production dipped and he bounced between the Giants and Phillies to end his career.