The Trib. has allocated the highest payroll in the NL for the Cubs. Blame the Cubs for lowering Sosa's trade value, video tapes of him leaving early, making the info. public, and then basically letting the other 29 teams know that the Cubs have to trade Sosa, so he can he had at your asking price. Whatever minute trade value Sosa had before the Cubs got involved in the slander campaign was ruined b/c the Cubs wanted to get in a war or words... To compound that, they weren't going to sign another OF'er until they traded Sosa, which made it difficult when nobody wanted Sosa. Hendry did not put the Cubs in a position to win this year, injuries and bad luck can't mask the problems surrounding this team.