Orioles-Sosa Trade Closely Follows the Angelos-Belle Curve

Baltimore is close to trading for Sammy Sosa, the Cubs' unhappy slugger, in a move many believe was put into motion by Orioles owner Peter Angelos. (2002 Photo Ted S. Warren -- AP)

In November 1998, the Baltimore Orioles' top executives gathered around new general manager Frank Wren to evaluate potential free agent targets when, according to people present at the time, they were interrupted by owner Peter Angelos, who asked: "What do you guys think about Albert Belle?"

Belle, the powerful but surly free agent slugger, had not been among the targets Wren's brain trust had discussed. Wren told Angelos that Belle had pluses (his production) and minuses (his personality), but Angelos waved him off. "What if I told you we already got him?" Angelos asked, and it became clear what had occurred. Wren ultimately lasted only a year on the job.

The Orioles' acquisition of star slugger Sammy Sosa smacks of another Angelos move. For months, the Orioles' co-GMs, Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan, have laughed off rumors regarding their team and Sosa, the 36-year-old icon of the Chicago Cubs. They had no interest in Sosa. Not even a little.

It is certainly possible that the constant denials from Beattie and Flanagan were a smokescreen that masked their true interest -- interest that ballooned after they failed in their attempt to land free agent first baseman Carlos Delgado, their latest fire-and-miss in a highly discouraging offseason. Less than three weeks from the opening of spring training camps, the Orioles, with the exception of a couple of bullpen arms, were on the verge of going 0-for-the-winter.

However, it is at least equally likely that the trigger on the Sosa move was squeezed by Angelos, who has a history of such things.

Angelos would like to have everyone believe he is uninvolved in baseball operations -- "I'm just a lawyer," he is fond of saying -- and for the most part, he stays out of the way. Day-to-day operations go on without his involvement. He doesn't hand out spring training invites or scout college players.

But sometimes, it seems, Angelos can't help himself.

Is it possible that the Sosa trade was the work of an embattled owner of a once-proud franchise that is under assault from all sides -- a fan base grown restless from seven straight losing seasons, a new team planted 35 miles away in Washington, a group of fellow owners who don't understand why he won't settle his territorial dispute with MLB?

Anyone who knows Angelos knows it is more than possible -- it is likely.

"There's no way something as big as this didn't have his fingerprints all over it," said one former Orioles executive.

Most Orioles insiders trace Angelos's boldness to his 1996 veto of a trade proposal by then-GM Pat Gillick that would have sent pitcher David Wells and outfielder Bobby Bonilla to Seattle for prospects. Angelos shot down the deal, and the Orioles wound up making the playoffs and advancing to the ALCS.

Angelos had been right, by gosh -- proof that he was smarter than his so-called "baseball professionals." There would be no holding him back now.

However, most of Angelos's other bold strokes have been misfires, beginning with the signing of Belle to a five-year, $65 million deal -- a deal he struck with Belle's agent, Arn Tellem. It was a contract that crippled the club for years after Belle was forced to retire only two years into the deal because of a degenerative hip ailment.

And there were others. In 2000, Angelos vetoed Syd Thrift's signing of pitcher Aaron Sele to a four-year deal because Angelos had concerns about Sele's shoulder that Thrift and the doctors did not. Gillick, who by then had moved on to Seattle, swooped in and signed Sele to a two-year deal -- during which Sele won 32 games.

More recently, according to multiple team sources, Angelos vetoed the front office's choice for the top pick in last June's draft. Then-farm director Tony DeMacio and his staff were set to take a high school shortstop, but Angelos, perhaps forgetting that Cal Ripken, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were drafted as high school shortstops, ordered the team to take a college pitcher instead.

Last May, Angelos was in attendance at Camden Yards when pitching prospect Denny Bautista, whom Beattie and Flanagan had unwisely called up to plug a shortage of right-handed bullpen arms, made his major league debut against the New York Yankees.

Instead of a talented young arm with loads of potential, there was a skinny kid who looked scared and lost on the mound. According to team sources, Angelos ordered his lieutenants to trade Bautista, which they did less than a month later -- giving up a 23-year-old power arm for a 38-year-old reliever, Jason Grimsley, who has since broken down.

Sosa could wind up being exactly what the Orioles need, both in the cleanup spot and at the box office. With apologies to Miguel Tejada, who was probably the best player in the American League last season, the Orioles have not had a superstar of Sosa's stature since the night Ripken waved goodbye in October 2001.

And because Sosa does not have a five-year contract, there is virtually no way this deal can be the unmitigated disaster that the Belle signing was. The worst that can happen is that Sosa in 2005 continues his steep decline in the post-steroids era -- and with the Cubs paying the bulk of his salary, what's the big deal?

On the other hand, to think of a rejuvenated Sosa sprinting out to right field below that huge scoreboard at Camden Yards, anchoring a remarkably potent lineup, bashing 500-foot homers, putting rear ends in the seats, moving the dial, forcing people in Washington to pay attention to the Orioles, is to believe in this franchise again.

And if all that occurs, there may be no holding Angelos back.