We know it had to come. His place at the Cubs had become untenable at the end of the 2004 season. But the trade came rapidly this week. Sammy Sosa is now a Baltimore Oriole.

Never mind his brief stints with the Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox, Sammy was one of the greatest Cubs of all. He has hit 574 home runs, 541 of those for the Cubs. (Here are his stats from Baseball Reference)

Baseball America analyses the complex trade deal. Check out the discussion of the Sosa deal on the blogosphere.

Media coverage at the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.

I've heard it said this week that Sammy Sosa was bigger in Chicago than Michael Jordan. Dead right in my opinion, Sosa is a much better baseball player than MJ ever was.