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Thursday, June 8 | |||||||||||||
Baylor denies slamming Sosa | |||||||||||||
CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs manager Don Baylor said he will meet
with Sammy Sosa to try to resolve a dispute between the two over
what the outfielder thinks is negative criticism.
"We'll talk. That's all I'm going to say," Baylor said after
the Cubs completed a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 9-4 victory
Wednesday. "It's silly. We'll try to get it resolved. We'll talk
about it like men, not like children."
"From the first day he got here, he has been saying some negative things about me for no reason," Sosa said in Wednesday's editions of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. "He hasn't really treated me the way I'm supposed to be treated. And that's what I'm saying. He has got no class." Sosa said Baylor suggested he try to become a more "complete player" and return to his 30-30 form when he stole 30 bases in 1993 and '95. "You don't criticize a player who comes here every day and plays hard," Sosa said. "I'm still trying to find the answer why (Baylor criticized him)." Baylor denied he made any of the comments. "He got some things off his chest," the manager said of Sosa. "I never said those things." Although Sosa homered in the Cubs' victory, he also committed a fielding error in the seventh that led to a Diamondbacks run. It was Sosa's third error in four games. Sosa spoke out after a column in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, titled "Swapping Sosa would kick-start Cubs rebuilding." In the article, a Cubs source identified as someone "other than Baylor" criticized Sosa's defensive abilities, saying, "Sammy might drive in 150 runs, but he might let in 45." Cubs general manager Ed Lynch said the relationship between Baylor and Sosa is strong. "I'm dealing with two guys who are a little frustrated now," he said. Sosa was asked if there was a misunderstanding between himself and his manager. "Not on my side," Sosa said. "From Day One, I am the target. I play hard every day. I don't know what else Sammy Sosa can do. I'm never hurt. Why me? I'm innocent." Baylor said he believes in challenging players to motivate them. "That's me. I'm always pushing players to become better," he said. Sosa's teammates would also like to see the matter settled. "Every manager's different," Cubs first baseman Mark Grace said. "I broke in with Don Zimmer who was an in-your-face guy. Sammy's our main guy on the team. Don's our manager. They're both grown men. They need to get on the same page and get on with business. "It's like a couple of big ol' bulls fighting over territory," Grace said. Over the weekend, Baylor said the team would have to consider a trade if the Cubs fell further out of contention. "Of course, with any possible trade," he said, "you'd want to hear what you could get in return." Sosa declined to respond when asked if he believes he might not be with the Cubs for much longer. As a player with 10 years in the major leagues and five with the same team, Sosa has the right to refuse a trade. "I don't know what's going to happen," Sosa said. "I really want to stay here in Chicago." Sosa is concerned the negative comments might harm his relationship with the fans. "I come here to play hard for my fans, the people who love me out there," he said. "I don't want those negative comments to get to the people who really love me and care about me, have them turn against me." | ALSO SEE Neyer: Ship out Baylor -- and Sosa Fans speak out on Sosa-Baylor feud Seething Sosa clouts 500-foot HR in Cubs' 9-4 win AUDIO/VIDEO Sammy Sosa believes he's the scapegoat for the Cubs' problems. wav: 222 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Don Baylor doesn't want Sosa's comments to effect the team. wav: 66 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Sammy Sosa wants to put the incident behind him. wav: 94 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Mark Grace dismisses the severity of the incident. wav: 473 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 There's more than smoke in Chicago according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark wav: 316 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 |