In an article in today’s Chicago Tribune about Sammy Sosa’s comeback try with the Texas Rangers, Paul Sullivan wrote: "Sosa's average with the Cubs had a steady decline, from .329 in '01, to .288 in '02, to .279 in '03, to .253 in '04 …. He said the departure of hitting coach Jeff Pentland after 2002 factored in …. ‘I did miss Pentland,’ he said." Why did the Cubs ever let Pentland go? He was Sosa’s Freddy Martin.* If you spend as much money as the Cubs did on Sosa, why would you get rid of the coach who helped make him a superstar? Why not spend a little more and keep the coach? In a similar vein, it will be interesting to see how Mark DeRosa does this year. After five-plus years in the majors, DeRosa finally had a breakout year in 2006 under the tutelage of Texas Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. Will DeRosa be able to keep it up this year in a new league with a new hitting coach? We will see. And will Jaramillo be what Sammy needs to regain what he lost when Pentland left? We will see on that, too. ----------------------
* Freddy Martin was the minor league pitching coach who taught Bruce Sutter the split-fingered fastball. When Sutter got to the majors, Martin was there, too, whenever Sutter needed help. And it was worth it to the Cubs for Martin to be there because he kept Sutter the best there was.
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