Sosa sues Illinois

[nyy26wc]

1) Sammy Sosa is suing the state of Illinois, to try to recover $45,000 in state income taxes he paid in 1998. Sosa claims he is entitled to a credit for taxes he was charged in other states, from road games. According to a lawyer from the union, Illinois could be the only state "that would not allow a resident to claim credit for income taxes paid elsewhere."

After 73 RCAA/1.040 OPS and 114 RCAA/1.174 OPS seasons, Sosa hit .594 SLG, .399 OBA, .993 OPS, 58 RCAA in 150 games in 2002. He has a .894 career OPS, compared to his league average of .760, and 323 RCAA in 1875 games.

Sosa is 2nd on the Cubs modern day career RCAA list--

RCAA 
1    Billy Williams              436   
2    Sammy Sosa                  363   
3    Frank Chance                349   
4    Stan Hack                   315   
5    Hack Wilson                 310   
6    Bill Nicholson              287   
7    Mark Grace                  274   
8    Ron Santo                   272   
9    Gabby Hartnett              251   
10   Phil Cavarretta             222   

Including the 19th century, Cap Anson is the leader, with 730.

2) According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Padres are interested in Rangers P Brandon Villafuerte.

3) The Devil Rays are trying 2B Marlon Anderson out in CF and will give Aubrey Huff a tryout in LF.

Anderson's .380 SLG, .315 OBA, .696 OPS, -10 RCAA in 145 games with the Phillies was his 3rd double digit negative RCAA in his 4 year career. He has a .696 career OPS, compared to his league average of .780, and -54 RCAA in 479 games.

4) The Indians re-signed 1B Ben Broussard, INFs Brandon Phillips and Jhonny Peralta, OFs Milton Bradley, Alex Escobar, Jody Gerut and Ryan Church, Cs Josh Bard and Victor Martinez and Ps Fernando Cabrera, Jason Davis, Ricardo Rodriguez, Francisco Cruceta, Aaron Myette, Jerrod Riggan, Alex Herrera, Carl Sadler and Brian Tallet to 1 year contracts.

After starting his career with -12 RCAA/.613 OPS and -20 RCAA/.620 OPS seasons, Bradley hit .406 SLG, .317 OBA, .723 OPS, -9 RCAA in 98 games.

The Indians may have Broussard and Travis Hafner share the 1B job 50-50.

5) The Redsox are giving Jim Leyritz a tryout, but aren't expected to sign him. He's also had a tryout with the Dodgers and is hoping to be given a chance by other teams, if the Redsox don't sign him.

Leyritz has a .777 career OPS, compared to his league average of .763, and 17 RCAA in 903 games. He played for 6 teams from 1990-2000, with the majority of his time spent with the Yankees.

6) Angels P Jarrod Washburn suffered a mildly sprained shoulder, while trying to avoid a collision during fielding practice. He's expected to be sidelined for a week to 10 days and says he'll be ready for Opening Day.

After 3.74 ERA/12 RSAA and 3.77 ERA/22 RSAA season, Washburn had a 3.15 ERA/27 RSAA in 32 starts. He has a 3.81 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.60, and 58 RSAA in 107 games.

Washburn ranks 7th in the AL in RSAA over the past 3 years--

RSAA
1    Pedro Martinez              152   
2    Barry Zito                   88   
3    Tim Hudson                   81   
4    Derek Lowe                   78   
T5   Mike Mussina                 65   
T5   Mark Buehrle                 65   
7    Jarrod Washburn              61   
8    Bartolo Colon                60   
9    Keith Foulke                 58   
10   Roger Clemens                56   

7) Orioles P Beau Hale will have arthroscopic shoulder surgery and may miss the entire season. He was the Orioles 1st round pick in 2000

8) The Orioles re-signed SS Brian Roberts, C Geronimo Gil and Ps Rodrigo Lopez, Rick Bauer and John Stephens to 1 year contracts and renewed the contracts of Ps Jorge Julio and Willis Roberts.

Gil hit .363 SLG, .270 OBA, .632 OPS, -26 RCAA in 125 games as a 26 year old rookie in 2002.

Lopez is a 27 year old journeyman, who after having a 8.76 ERA/-12 RSAA with the 2000 Padres, had a likely career year in 2002, with a 3.57 ERA/18 RSAA in 33 games (28 starts).

Bauer had a 3.98 ERA/4 RSAA in 56 games as a 25 year old rookie in 2002.

After starting his career with a 3.80 ERA/1 RSAA in 18 games in 2001, Julio had a 1.99 ERA/18 RSAA in 67 games as a 23 year old rookie in 2002.

After having a 4.91 ERA/-11 RSAA as a 26 year old rookie in 2001, Roberts had a 3.36 ERA/8 RSAA in 66 games in 2002.

9) Devil Rays minor league OF Jonny Gomes said he had a heart attack right before Christmas. The 22 year has been cleared by the doctors to resume his career.

10) The Whitesox re-signed 3B Joe Crede, OFs Joe Borchard and Aaron Rowand, OF-2B Willie Harris, INFs D'Angelo Jimenez and Tim Hummel, Cs Miguel Olivo, Josh Paul and Ps Jon Garland, Jon Adkins, Edwin Almonte, Felix Diaz, Matt Ginter, Gary Glover, Corwin Malone, Damaso Marte, Arnaldo Munoz, Mike Porzio, Jon Rauch, David Sanders, Josh Stewart, Brian West, Dan Wright to 1 year contracts.

Crede hit .515 SLG, .311 OBA, .826 OPS, 3 RCAA in 53 games as a 24 year old rookie in 2002 and is expected to take over the starting 3B job this year.

Assuming he's fully recovered from an offseason bike accident, Rowand (who hit .394 SLG, .298 OBA, .692 OPS, -13 RCAA in 126 games in his first year as a starter) is expected to retain his starting CF job. But, it may only be a matter of time before Borchard (their top pick in the 2000 draft, who had a .847 OPS in AAA in 2002) takes the job away from him.

11) The Rangers re-signed P Colby Lewis to a 1 year contract.

12) Giants 3B Pedro Feliz admitted to lying about his age, after he had problems getting out of the Dominican Republic, due to a false birth certificate. Instead of being born on April 25, 1977, he was really born on that day in 1975.

13) According to the Seattle Times, the Mariners may be interested in getting a veteran to back up SS Carlos Guillen.

14) The Pirates cut Cs Yohanny Valera, Brad King and Travis Chapman and Ps Bryan Bullington, Melqui Torres and Shawn Camp. They sent them to the minors.

15) The Padres re-signed SS Ramon Vazquez, 3B Sean Burroughs, OF Brian Buchanan, C Mike Rivera and Ps Adam Eaton, Luther Hackman, Michael Nicolas, Jake Peavy, Dennis Tankersley and Oliver Perez to 1 year contracts and renewed the contract of SS Donaldo Mendez.

Burroughs hit a disappointing .323 SLG, .317 OBA, .640 OPS, -6 RCAA in 63 games as a 21 year old rookie in 2002.

Eaton, Peavy and Perez are 3/5 of the starting rotation, while it's likely to only be a matter of time before Tankersley joins them.

16) The Reds re-signed INF Felipe Lopez and OFs Austin Kearns and Reggie Taylor to 1 year contracts.

After starting his career with a .722 OPS/-6 RCAA in 49 games as a 21 year old rookie in 2001, Lopez hit .387 SLG, .287 OBA, .673 OPS, -11 RCAA in 85 games in 2002. He was acquired from the BlueJays as part of the 4 team trade, the highlight of which sent Erubiel Durazo to the A's. Lopez may be competing for a utilityman job in spring training, or the team might decide to send him to AAA so he can play everyday. He's projected to be Barry Larkin's replacement in 2004, but if Larkin plays like he did last year, the Reds might make a switch earlier.

Kearns hit .500 SLG, .407 OBA, .907 OPS, 21 RCAA in his first 107 games, as a 22 year old rookie in 2002. He also had a very good minor league track record to go along with that.

17) Diamondbacks 1B Mark Grace suffered a strained right calf and is expected to be out for at least 10 days.

After 22 RCAA/.824 OPS and 17 RCAA/.852 OPS seasons, Grace fell to .386 SLG, .351 OBA, .736 OPS, -4 RCAA in 124 games. He has a .829 career OPS, compared to his league average of .749, and 287 RCAA in 2179 games.

18) The Brewers re-signed Ps Ben Sheets and Francisco Campos to 1 year contracts.

After a 4.76 ERA/-6 RSAA season as a 22 year old rookie in 2001, Sheets had a 4.15 ERA/-5 RSAA in 34 starts in 2002.

19) The Pirates re-signed 1B Carlos Rivera, SS Jack Wilson, OFs Rob Mackowiak and Craig Wilson and Ps Joe Beimel, Josh Fogg, Salomon Torres, Kip Wells to 1 year contracts and renewed the contracts for C Humberto Cota and P Mike Lincoln.

After a -35 RCAA/.550 OPS as a 23 year old rookie in 2001, Wilson had another excellent year in unproductivity, hitting .332 SLG, .306 OBA, .638 OPS, -28 RCAA in 147 games in 2002.

After a .730 OPS/-5 RCAA as a 25 year old rookie in 2001, Mackowiak hit .426 SLG, .328 OBA, .754 OPS, -2 RCAA in 136 games in 2002.

After a 5.23 ERA/-11 RSAA as a 24 year old rookie in 2001, Beimel had a 4.64 ERA/-3 RSAA in 53 games (8 starts) in 2002.

Fogg had a 4.35 ERA/0 RSAA in 33 starts as a 25 year old rookie in 2002, after having a 2.02 ERA/4 RSAA in 11 games with the 2001 Whitesox.

After 6.02 ERA/-9 RSAA and 4.79 ERA/-3 RSAA seasons with the Whitesox, Wells had a 3.58 ERA/17 RSAA in 33 starts. He has a 4.48 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.45, and 8 RSAA in 100 games.

Correction from yesterday--The Giants re-signed INF Cody Ransom, not Cody Random. Apparently, a random letter generator held my spelling abilities for ransom.

[KCBOOMER]

Originally posted by nyy26wc
1) Sammy Sosa is suing the state of Illinois, to try to recover $45,000 in state income taxes he paid in 1998. Sosa claims he is entitled to a credit for taxes he was charged in other states, from road games. According to a lawyer from the union, Illinois could be the only state "that would not allow a resident to claim credit for income taxes paid elsewhere."

Suing a state because the laws of the state don't coincide with other states? While agreeing that Illinois should allow such credits I can't see any basis for such a law suit.

[nyy26wc]

Originally posted by KCBOOMER
Suing a state because the laws of the state don't coincide with other states? While agreeing that Illinois should allow such credits I can't see any basis for such a law suit.

I know nothing about Illinois tax law to be able to comment on the merits of Sosa's case.

However, I will point out that other states do it this way, so we should to, is considered a valid legal argument. But, that is also presuming that there is nothing specific in that state's laws that prohibit taking the approach advocated by that party.

In other words, if there is any ambiguity, any opening in the statute, what other states do can be considered very valid. Of course, getting the right judge on the right day is a factor whose importance can never be underestimated.

[clemente21]

Originally posted by KCBOOMER
Suing a state because the laws of the state don't coincide with other states? While agreeing that Illinois should allow such credits I can't see any basis for such a law suit.

I was listening to Sosa' tax attorney on the radio on Monday as I was driving to the airport. The arguement is one of inconsistency as well double taxation:

1. Illinois only taxes a road team ballplayer for the specific games they play in IL, but they tax a home-team ballplayer for all 162 games because they work for a company operating in IL.

2. Paying tax on the same income in two different states is being argued as unconstitutional.

This is actually a very serious case for Illinois residents that travel a lot for work as well as the businesses that employ them.

[Max Power]

I don't know squat taxes - - other than the fact that I know I pay a lot of them.

But, I also know that when I lived in NJ and worked in NY, I paid both NJ and NY taxes. And, I never worked a day in NJ (when I worked in NY) and I never lived a day in NY (when I lived in NJ).

Is this not almost the same as what Sammy is bitching about.

BTW, congrats to any ballplayer who is willing to have his taxes out there on the table for someone and anyone to see.

Baseball players are famous for taxing cheating left and right - - bogus foundations, unreported income from events, lying about living FT in FLA, etc.

If Sammy wants to piss off the tax collectors, he better make sure he has all his ducks lined up in a row. He will become the tax collector's prime target if he's not careful.

[gyb13]

Originally posted by nyy26wc
2) According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Padres are interested in Rangers P Brandon Villafuerte.

either you or the Star-Telegram deserves a stupidity award since the Pads acquired him from texas last year...