The Sammy Sosa trade will ripple across the Tribune Co.'s financial reports later this spring.
To trade Sosa, the Cubs agreed to cover about $16 million of his salary and severance from the team.
Because the team paid Sosa money as he was leaving, instead of during the season when such expenses are usually accounted for, the company's first-quarter net income will be reduced by nearly 3 cents per share, the Chicago Tribune reported in Thursday's editions.
"As you know, Sammy Sosa is now a Baltimore Oriole," Tribune Chairman, President and Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons said at a conference this week.
"While this trade will not impact our full-year results," he said, "there is a timing impact."
The company had been contracted to pay Sosa before the trade, so the second and third quarter should make up for the first-quarter decrease.