Ask Baseball America By James Bailey
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July 14, 2000Once again we got off schedule with Ask BA this week. I was busy up north, first attending my cousin's wedding, then the Triple-A all-star game in Rochester. It was nice to get away for a few days, but nice to be back as well. I was the natural choice to cover the all-star game for us because my father lives up in Rochester and that meant I could visit my family and get some work done at the same time. My father has lived up there for 20 years now and I've been there nearly a hundred times, but I think I gained a new appreciation for the city of Rochester this week. They did a first-class job hosting the game and I can't imagine how much better things could be at a major league event. Tuesday, the day before the game, they held the skills competitions at Frontier Field and allowed fans a great opportunity to get autographs and allow the media access to the players and coaches. As nice as that was, however, the most impressive part of the whole trip for me was the All-Star Gala held that evening at the George Eastman House. For those not familiar with Eastman, he was the founder of Kodak and a renowned philanthropist for whom several things in Rochester are named. I had never been to the Eastman House before, but I am quite sure I will go back. It's huge, it's stocked with early 1900s furnishings to be authentic to the era in which it was built, and it's surrounded by beautiful gardens. Throughout the house are numerous museum displays on photography as well as Eastman and the early days of the Kodak company. The next time you visit Rochester for that hot Red Wings-Mudhens matchup, make time to go check it out some afternoon. The other big highlight for me as far as the game went, was just meeting various people up there. That's always one of the best things about these kind of events, especially when you can put a face with a name that you've been dealing with already. In the spirit of the all-star game, let's start off our questions today with one on an International League all-star. What do you think about Danny Peoples? He has had a good first half putting up some pretty good numbers. Do you think the Indians will bring him up for the pennant chase? Is there a place for him in Cleveland? Thanks, Matt Jahn Milwaukee, WI Peoples is looking this year like the kind of prospect the Indians envisioned when they drafted him in 1996. And he's probably better than many others envisioned when the Indians took him. At the time Peoples was regarded as a signability pick. The Tribe had had difficulty signing its previous two first-rounders (David Miller and Jaret Wright) and worked out a predraft deal with Peoples for $400,000 as the No. 28 pick in the draft. The Indians immediately moved Peoples from first to third base, the opposite direction that most young position-switchers move. They later tried him in the outfield for a couple of seasons before returning him to first base, which is where he has played all year this year. There are two signs that to me indicate Peoples will get a shot in the big leagues, most likely next spring. One is the fact that he's found consistency and cut down on his strikeouts. He's batting .296 with 15 homers and 52 RBIs for Buffalo and has drawn 39 walks against 66 strikeouts. The other sign was the Dave Justice trade. Obviously that didn't impact Peoples' situation immediately, but I think it will prove to be the first of a chain of moves that will result in some younger players landing in Jacobs Field. I think Peoples with either be one of the young players to get a shot there, or he'll be included in one of the upcoming deals. Will his name be added to the list of Indians trade regrets that includes Jeromy Burnitz, Sean Casey and Brian Giles? It's possible, but if Cleveland decides it needs to deal to make a postseason run, that might be a chance they take. I had the opportunity to talk with Peoples up in Rochester and he said he was surprised when Justice was traded, but it's not really his nature to pay too much attention to what's going on in Cleveland when he needs to focus on what's happening in Buffalo. He's got the maturity a team would hope for in a younger player (25) and a great attitude about baseball. I expect he will become the next solid young hitter to emerge from the Indians system. If you want to read more about him, check out the Triple-A All-Star Notebook. I keep hearing the high Class A Florida State League will go from 14 to 12 teams, and two teams will be added to the South Atlantic League in an attempt to keep a balance of High A and Low A teams. I understand it's supposed to happen after the 2000 season. So who's moving? I hear Vero Beach, but they have so much tradition at Dodgertown. And I keep hearing Kissimmee, the Houston affiliate--but they took the league title in '99. I also hear rumblings that one of the two may entice St. Pete to leave because two teams must go to keep things even. Everything's still up in the air, but can you shed any light on what's going on? Jaxen11@aol.com The strongest contenders still appear to be Kissimmee and either Vero Beach or St. Petersburg. There might be a lot of tradition in Vero Beach, but it's for the major league spring training much moreso than the FSL club. And if the Dodgers can look past that and consider moving their spring training facility west then their FSL affiliate is hardly sacred. And I hate to break it to you, but Kissimmee's league title means nothing as far as all of this is concerned. They may have finished first on the field, but they were dead last at the gate, drawing 33,789 fans in 1999. Of course, if you added all of those fans to the gate count up the road in Orlando, the Rays would just have edged out Knoxville, playing in its final season at Smokies Park last year to escape the attendance cellar in the Double-A Southern League. That's not much of a market for minor league baseball and title or no title, that's one of the easier choices the leagues face. Of course, I'm not a fan of the 16-team look in the South Atlantic League. Had John Henry Moss asked me (maybe he did during his speech at the Sally League all-star game, but like everyone else I fell asleep) I'd have strongly suggested dividing the Midwest and South Atlantic leagues into three 10 team circuits. What is the point of having a league so large that you don't play half of the teams? That's what they are likely to do next year in the Sally League, with teams only playing against others in their division. We did a big story a few years ago on how the minor leagues would stack up if it were up to us, and it's almost time to dust that off and tinker around with it a little. There's just no way that it makes sense to have teams from New Jersey and Kentucky joining what is no longer the "South Atlantic" League. Their answer to the Savannah to Lakewood, N.J., road trip is to save it for the playoffs, if necessary. Mine would be more along the lines of reclassifying teams from certain leagues to create better geographical fits. Ever notice how every minor league--with the exception of the International and Pioneer leagues--is named for a geographical region? There's are a couple of reasons for that, the chief ones being time and money. Next time you see a minor leaguer, ask him if he prefers a four-hour bus ride or a 12-hour bus ride. His answer should coincide with that of any minor league GM, because the longer trips cost more money. I'm not one to call for a shakeup just for the sake of change, but it's time for Minor League Baseball to take a good hard look at the way their leagues are set up and think about a reorg. And if it's tradition some people are trying to hold onto, I think you could make a strong argument that traditional minor league baseball would involve less sprawl and more evenly matched markets. That seems to be precisely what we are getting away from. I'm a longtime Pirate fan but I was asleep at the switch for this one. I seem to recall that in the early-90s Pittsburgh lost two top prospects (Wes Chamberlain and someone else) because they were accidentally put on waivers and claimed by the Phillies. If one of the players was Chamberlain, who was the other ? And what exactly happened ? I haven't been able to find out the specifics anywhere. I hope you can help. Sincerely, D.Harrel At the end of August in 1990, the Pirates made a mistake that looked at the time like it would prove costly for a long while. General manager Larry Doughty asked waivers on outfielder Wes Chamberlain and Julio Peguero, intending to withdraw them if the players were claimed. As you may know, after the July 31 trading deadline, any player who is dealt must first clear waivers. It is common for teams to place nearly their entire roster on waivers, simply pulling back the players who are claimed by other teams. The problem for Doughty was that the waivers he asked on his top two outfield prospects happened to be irrevocable, meaning he was unable to pull them back. Once the Pirates realized their mistake, they tried to make the best of it. Doughty worked out a deal with the Phillies, where Chamberlain and Peguero were sent to Philadelphia for outfielder Carmelo Martinez. The Pirates were in first place at the time, and Martinez was a handy bat to add to their roster. Still, it wasn't a deal Doughty would have made under normal circumstances. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, one now would wonder why all the fuss over two outfielders who never did much in the big leagues, but at the time they were highly rated young players. In Baseball America's [Early] Draft Preview, James Jurries is listed as ranked 47th among the possible college draft picks. He was drafted in 1998 by the Cleveland Indians in the 34th round. He played second base for Tulane and was a second-team All-American [in 1999]. How come he did not get drafted or did I just overlook him in the draft? tmack76@hotmail.com That preview was done before the season started, and Jurries had such a struggle this year that his stock dropped significantly this spring. He didn't get his offense going until the tail end of the season, and he had enough troubles defensively that he was moved to the outfield. With him draft-eligible as a sophomore I think most teams probably figured he was likely to return to school for a third season and just didn't bother spending a pick on him. One would have to expect he will be a different player next spring, because he's certainly capable of more than he showed this year. By the way, we now have available a search feature for this year's draft list, so you can look up anyone you're curious about if you didn't see where they went. (And don't ask about the search feature for the stats. That's still a sore subject. We hope to someday bring that back, but no promises on how soon that will happen.) Directory: mlb mlb -> By Ken Gurnick mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> 2010 – What’s the name of the umpire whose errant call cost the Tigers’ Armando Galarraga a perfect game in 2010? 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