Ask Baseball America By James Bailey
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March 8, 2000For no good reason at all we've got a handful of Cubs questions for you today. Cubs fans throughout the nation have had a busy week of sending in their questions. And it's only Wednesday. Take the rest of the week off, Cub fans. My fellow Cub fans have been arguing about whether finances/free agency will impact Corey Patterson's odds of making the team, and also when Kerry Wood will become a free agent. Let me focus the questions. Normally a player becomes arbitration-eligible after 3 years, and free-agent eligible after 6. But 1/6 of the 2-year guys become arbitration eligible before completing 3 full years. Thus, by sending Kerry Wood to Iowa for the first 3 weeks of '98 the Cubs did not set back his arbitration clock. The same should apply if Patterson gets farmed but comes up after a few weeks. But will a few weeks in the minors set back Kerry and Corey's free agency, or not? In other words, does the same 1/6 exception apply for free agency as for arbitration? And if not, is it then possible that Wood could go through arbitration 4 times rather than the normal 3 times prior to free agency? Thanks in advance! Craig Jasperse Fargo, North Dakota
Harrisburg, PA The Cubs are one of the first teams to play this year, with their season opening on March 29 against the Mets in Tokyo. They've also got two exhibition games scheduled before that against Japanese teams on the 27th and 28th. They need to finalize their roster nearly a week before most other teams, and that gives them less time to look over guys who are obviously not in the plans for Opening Day, like Christensen. I wouldn't read anything into him being sent to minor league camp already. Most other first-rounders from last year will be assigned to minor league camp within the next week. In fact, the White Sox sent two of them out yesterday, with righthanders Rob Purvis and Stumm (and second-rounder Danny Wright) being reassigned to minor league camp. The Cubs just had to take care of business earlier than everyone else, because they play earlier than everyone else. Hi, your list of this years draft order had the Cubs picking third and the Royals picking fourth. Why are the Cubs picking earlier even though they won more games last year (67 to 64)? Thanks, Jeff McGuire The draft alternates between AL and NL teams, with the NL team with the worst record picking first in even numbered years. That puts the Marlins No. 1 and the Cubs No. 3, as the two teams with the worst records in the NL last year. Hey there. I thought I'd throw some closer questions at ya. First, any thoughts on who's going to get the job with the Twins? Who do you think will get the lion's share of the 15 to 20 save opportunities the Twins actually generate this year. Second, Francisco Cordero of the Rangers. Do you think he's going to start out the year in Triple-A? OK, I lied. I have a non-closer question for you. Calvin Pickering. Is his weight the only problem, or is there something else the Orioles don't like about him? It seems that, in having Clark for another year and re-signing both Baines and Conine in the offseason, they were determined to make sure there was no opening for him with the team this spring. Thanks Dan
I'm not saying that Ayala is a world-beater, but he has pitched well at times during his career, and has closed before. And the Twins pool isn't exactly brimming with other top candidates. Ayala has been bit by the long ball throughout his career and the Heftydome isn't exactly the best place for a gopherball artist to work. But if anyone can afford a couple of blown saves, it's probably the Twins. I wouldn't be shocked to see Cordero start the season at Triple-A Oklahoma. He hasn't ever pitched at Triple-A before and the experience might be valuable for him. He did have some control problems in Detroit last fall, walking 18 hitters in 19 innings. If he does open at Oklahoma, I wouldn't expect him to be down there long, though. And if he pitches well in spring training, he has a legitimate shot at breaking camp with the big league team. Pickering isn't the only young player the Orioles seem to have buried. It's really kind of funny that they want to put off signing Charles Johnson to an extension because they don't want to block Jayson Werth after they've given no thought whatsoever to blocking prospects over the past couple of years. Jerry Hairston still isn't assured of winning the second base job this year, though he can run circles around Delino DeShields (and still hit and field better at the same time). Burying young players is kind of their M.O. lately, and I don't think it's anything about Pickering in particular. Pickering's numbers at Triple-A Rochester really weren't that bad last year, though everyone seems to overlook him as a prospect these days. Sure it was a step down from his 1998 performance at Double-A Bowie, but some of that can probably be chalked up to the lack of motivation brought on by seeing that he had no chance to crack the Orioles lineup regardless of what he did. I'm not condoning the let-up, but Pickering was hardly the first guy to sulk through a season in the minor leagues. And he rebounded with a solid showing in the Arizona Fall League. I'd say Pickering deserves a shot to see what he can do, but that's not going to happen unless Will Clark gets hurt. And what are the odds of that happening? They must be about 1-in-1 or so. Hmmm . . . chalk Big Cal up for a couple of hundred at-bats this summer. 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? (Jim Joyce) gabp mlb -> Wednesday, September 23, 2015 headlines: Verrett stumbles in the fifth as Mets lose to Braves 6-2 mlb -> All-Star History In what city was the first All-Game played? (Chicago, 1933) Baseball & Pop Culture mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> The Impact of Television Revenue on Major League Baseball mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips Download 1 Mb. Share with your friends:
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