The word came down in the middle of this past week that Sammy Sosa would reject the $500,000 non-guaranteed contract offer from the Nationals. His agent, Adam Katz, indicated that he was fairly certain that this development signaled the end to a career of one of the game's most celebrated, albeit controversial, sluggers.

And just 12 home runs shy of 600 home runs. Twelve blasts into the outfield seats puts Sosa just that much further up in the history of the game. Five hundred plus is nice, but there are 15 other members of that club.

Nevermind that the five tools once seen out of Sosa had significantly deteriorated over the years. He had nine consecutive seasons with 13 or more stolen bases ahead of his monstrous 1998 campaign. You remember the season, the dueling HR battle with Mark McGwire, where Sosa became a superstar on the strength of 66 HR and 158 RBI. Sosa even won the NL MVP over McGwire that season. After reaching that rarified air of 60+ homers in the season, Sosa stopped running. He stole 17 bases over the last seven seasons combined.

Nobody ever questioned Sosa's arm strength in the mid-90's, either. His decision-making and accuracy in hitting cutoff men or throwing to the right base might have been up for debate, but never his arm strength. From 1993 until 1998 (save the shortened '94 season), Sosa had averaged 15 outfield assists per year. After the glorious 1998 season, he's averaged just over five assists per season.

12 HR shy of 600

That's the number that needs to stay at the forefront. His Batting Average, On-Base Percentage,and Slugging Percentage have dropped each year since 2002. Of course, so have his Runs Scored, walks, RBI, and, you guessed it, his homers. Sosa has also seen his number of games played drop each season as well, down to 102 last season.

The only number that hasn't dropped for the hop, skip, and a jump slugger has been Sosa's strikeout rate. Throughout his illustrious career, Sosa has maintained a strikeout rate of one per four at-bats. Entering 2006, he stands 403 whiffs short of Reggie Jackson's all-time mark (2,597).

12 HR shy of 600

 Sosa's agent mentioned that his client "didn't want to put himself through the possibility of going through something like that again," referring to the injury-shortened and performance-deflated '05 season in Baltimore. It marked Sosa's lowest HR total since 1992, in which he played only 67 games.

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But think about it. Baseball is a sport where you're designated a huge success by hitting safely in three of every 10 at-bats. Sosa has been a classic power hitter in every sense of the word throughout his career. One-third of his at-bats have ended in a home run or strikeout. And that's where he is now.

 Anyone who's seen him swing a bat in the last two years recognizes that his bat speed is down dramatically. And, of course, his image has been forever tarnished by the corked bat incident and his inability to speak in front of Congress.

 This strikes me as the perfect opportunity to win back the detractors and his once massive army of fans.

 Play healthy. Exhibit the love for the game that had become the trademark. Smile. Blow some kisses. Sprint to right field and wave.

Show some heart. Show that you want to rebuild and put the darker parts of the past behind. Hey, It worked for Jason Giambi.

RFK isn't the best place to slam homers, we know that. It's not a place to reclaim the spotlight with a 45-HR barrage. But, it's a big league gig, and general managers aren't exactly lining up.

 The remaining bit of business on this annoucement came from Katz as well. No official retirement papers have been filed on Sosa's behalf.

And I can think of 12 reasons why.