Chicago Cubs: Trades that went our way

Mar 31, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; MLB practice baseballs sit on the field before the opening day baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Chicago Cubs trade George Bell to the Chicago White Sox for Sammy Sosa and Ken Patterson

George Bell signed with the Chicago Cubs in 1991 who was with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Bell, a former MVP while with Toronto was known for his power.  Bell was coming off a couple of down season but was a bat that the Cubs thought they could use.  In Bell’s first (only) season with the Cubs, Bell posted a stat line of .285 batting average, 25 home runs, and 86 runs batted in.  Not a bad payoff for your investment.

Now why Cubs new general manager Larry Himes wanted to trade Bell, that I do not know.  Maybe he knew something the rest of us didn’t.  One thing Himes did know from his days with the other Chicago team, the White Sox was they had a player he traded for before and wanted again.  While Himes was the general manager with the White Sox, he had traded with the Texas Rangers for a young outfielder by the name of Sammy Sosa.

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The Cubs and White Sox came to an agreement on a trade, George Bell for Sammy Sosa and Ken Patterson.  Bell would go on and play two more season’s with the White Sox  having a combined stat line of a .240 batting average, 38  home runs, and 176 runs batted in.  The White Sox ending up benching Bell while the team was in the 1993 ALCS.  Bell would retire after the season.

We know how Sosa’s career went.  Slamming Sammy was one of the most popular and polarizing players to ever wear a Cubs uniform.  Hitting 545 home runs while in a Cubs uniform, he was set for a place in Cooperstown and to have his number retired for sure.  But scandals would tarnish all of that.  Between the corked bat and the steroid allegations, Sosa would be all but erased from the Cubs organization.

I was as big of a Sosa fan as any – and I wish all of this didn’t happen but it did and we cannot forget that.  With the scandals aside, Sosa did deliver more than Bell did.  And considering the White Sox never were able to do much with Bell as a main piece of their team, the winner has to be the Cubs in this trade.  Maybe not by as much as it should have been – but still, a clear win for the North side of Chicago.

Next: Stealing gold from the Bucs