Ask Baseball America By James Bailey

May 4, 2000

The big topic of conversation around the office today hasn't been the ridiculous Pedro suspension or Pete Rose's even more ridiculous "baseball treats me like a leper" rant. We're all talking about the big "I Love You" e-mail virus here today. We haven't actually been hit by it directly, but it sure is making life on the Internet slow, and forget about e-mail. It's faster to use the post office today.

Sun Prairie, WI

Laurens
Johnson was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day DL last week. He's not recovering as quickly as the Yankees had hoped, but he still could be back soon. He's on the major league DL, so when he's ready to come back he can go to a minor league team on a rehab assignment, probably at Triple-A Columbus. When that's done, he'll likely be optioned to Columbus.

Scott
The Mark Johnson that is tearing it up for Triple-A Norfolk this year is the guy who played in the major leagues with the Pirates and Angels from 1995-98. In 294 major league games, he batted .236 with 30 homers and 104 RBIs. He's 32 years old, which makes him two years younger than Zeile.

Brian Bayer

Dallas, PA
Morgan was designated for assignment to get catcher Bobby Hughes onto the major league roster. Hughes was brought up from Buffalo to serve as Einar Diaz' backup after Sandy Alomar went on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. The Indians must have known they were likely to lose Morgan, but they needed the 40-man roster spot and had to make a tough decision. It's often difficult to trade a player in a situation like that because you have no leverage. The Indians surely must have checked around and learned they could get little or nothing in return. So they let him go to the Angels for the $20,000 waiver claim price.
Montreal is bringing up Felipe Lira so I clicked on his numbers to see how he is doing in Triple-A to justify bringing him up. What I saw is, not much, because he is 0-3 after four starts with more hits allowed than innings pitched. General managers must look for something other than numbers when they decide to bring up a veteran like Lira from the minor leagues. If so, what?
Thanks,

Tom McCullough,

York, PA
There are a lot of times when a team needs a spot start or two and they don't want to disturb the progress of their top prospects who might not be quite ready. So they reach down and grab a Felipe Lira and hope he can give them five good innings.
Lira is not a good major league pitcher, but at least he's been there before and he's not going to panic in a big league stadium. And in his defense, he has walked just three batters in 20 innings this year, so his 0-3 record and 4.95 ERA don't tell the whole story.
Still, you know what you're getting when you run a guy like Lira out there, and if you're lucky maybe you'll score 10 runs that day and squeak out a win. If you're not lucky, you lose the game.
But letting Felipe Lira take a loss for your team isn't really the worst thing that can happen. Sometimes you have to take a forest for the trees look at things, especially if your other option is bringing up a young pitcher who might have a much brighter future but isn't quite ready now.
Can you tell me where Jerry Gil -- the No. 11 prospect for the Arizona Diamondbacks according to your [Top 10] list -- is playing these days? I can't seem to find him anywhere.
Mike G.
Gil, 17, is in extended spring training right now. Over the winter the Diamondbacks said they thought he would begin his career at Class A South Bend, but that didn't happen. I'd guess he'll make his pro debut with Rookie-level Missoula this summer.
Gil, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound Dominican, signed with the Diamondbacks last November for $767,500. Arizona loves his power, arm and speed.
I would like to have your opinion of Eric Johnson playing for the Columbus Red Stixx in the Indians farm system. I had to do a double take when I saw his stolen base numbers. Does he really have 24 stolen bases at this point in the season? I know he's 22 years old, but last year was his first professional season. Does he project as a quality prospect in the long run?
Erik (with a "k") Johnson
Johnson is 24-for-27 in the stolen base department this season. Last year he swiped a combined total of 25 at Rookie-level Burlington and short-season Mahoning Valley. A third-round pick last year, Johnson played both football and baseball at Western Carolina. He was a Division I-AA all-America safety on the football team and some speculated he'd opt for a career in the NFL, especially because he didn't play baseball full-time until last spring.
He's making quick adjustments and has the athleticism to become a real good player. Johnson is hitting .273-2-10 at Columbus and has drawn a team-best 17 walks.