Orioles Won't Bring Back Palmeiro, Sosa

Orioles Won't Bring Back Palmeiro, Sosa


BALTIMORE - The Baltimore Orioles have bid farewell to Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa.

Both players struggled through troubling seasons this year, a big reason Orioles executive vice president Mike Flanagan says the team won't ask either slugger to return in 2006.

The 41-year-old Palmeiro, who reached the 3,000-hit milestone this year, has indicated he would like to play next season. But after a season in which he was suspended for using steroids before implicating teammate Miguel Tejada, the Orioles no longer want him around.

Palmeiro contended that Tejada gave him vitamin B-12 and suggested that the vial might have been tainted. Palmeiro continues to deny he intentionally took steroids, but he has offered no proof why stanozolol was found in his system during a May drug test.

The 37-year-old Sosa came to the Orioles in a Feb. 2 trade with the Chicago Cubs for second baseman Jerry Hairston and two minor leaguers. Sosa was expected to provide the Orioles with a powerful bat in the cleanup spot, but ended up hitting only .221 with 14 homers and 45 RBIs in 102 games during an injury-shortened season.

"At this point, we are heading in a different direction," Flanagan told The (Baltimore) Sun for a story Sunday.