Ask Baseball America By James Bailey
Download 1 Mb.
|
| Anyway, it's time to focus on the pennant races, not football. Here's a letter from someone who has enjoyed quite a few of them in the last 10 years, but it's hard to tell exactly what he wants from his favorite team at this point.
As a lifelong Braves fan, I have enjoyed the past decade of excellence. Success has been built on pitching and allowing young players to struggle and mature. Didn't a young Tom Glavine lose 17 games in his first full season? I find it a little frustrating that they did not have the same patience with Bruce Chen who has been superb in Philadelphia. And wouldn't Jermaine Dye look great in right field. Time will tell how outstanding of a pitcher Luis Rivera will be for the Orioles. It seems that sometimes a team can be so concerned with slipping backward that it loses sight of how it got there in the first place (I recognize the contributions of Maddux, Pendleton, McGriff, et al). There is an old expression of one step back and two forward. Winning now is fun but building for the future is more enjoyable. Mike Wakefield Chadds Ford, Pa. The Braves have done as good a job as any team in recent memory at building a winner and sustaining it over the past decade. The sacrifices they made in the late 1980s laid the groundwork for a lot of that success. In 1988 when Glavine lost 17 games, the Braves went 54-106. They've come a long way since then, but as a result of that, they're not in a position to train starting pitchers on the job like that any more. To say you'd rather have them building, like they were in the late 80s, than have them winning like they are now puts you in a small minority. I'm going to twist your own phrase around and say that a team can be so concerned with building for the future that it loses sight of what its primary goal is. What's the end goal of building a powerhouse team? Winning a championship. The Braves were arguably the most successful team of the 90s, but they won only one World Series. That somehow casts them in a light as the Buffalo Bills of the major leagues. That's not how they want to be remembered, however. The Braves are not a team that has shown an inclination to forsake the future for a one-year run. But they do have to realize that the core of their rotation is getting a little on the old side and the window of opportunity to win with the Maddux and Glavine-led rotation is closing. Thus they have pulled the trigger on a deal or two that sacrifices future value for present. I think there is still enough talent in the pipeline (mostly on the mound) that the Braves aren't in jeopardy of a significant slip any time soon. With Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Rafael Furcal and Javy Lopez to build around, the Braves have a solid young nucleus to build around offensively. Over the past 10 years the Braves have had a knack for unloading the "right" pitchers, never giving up an ace. Perhaps the Chen deal will come back to haunt them, but they obviously felt that Andy Ashby gave them a better shot at this year's Series than Chen did. Jermaine Dye would be nice, but he really didn't put it together until two years after the Braves traded him. Not every trade works out, but the Braves have done better in dealing over the past decade than most teams. Although he's a less than average third basemen defensively and has a bad/injured throwing arm, Tony Torcato looks very promising because of his bat. Torcato is 20 and was promoted to Double-A Shreveport, where he injured his throwing arm two games after arriving. Tony is one of three promising third base prospects in the organization (Pedro Feliz, Triple-A Fresno; Lance Niekro, drafted this year). What will the Giants do with Tony? He will not be a third basemen because of his defense and the competition, so will he be moved to another position, traded, etc? Jeff San Francisco Feliz is closer to the big leagues now than Torcato, but if the Giants aren't ready to give up on Torcato as a third baseman, Feliz won't stand in his way. Feliz showed significant power this year, hitting 33 home runs at Fresno, but Torcato projects as a better all-around hitter. The organization isn't deep in first basemen, with Sean McGowan, who is at the same level as Torcato, being the top dog on that depth chart. If Torcato doesn't stick at third, first base is the logical move for him. Unless the Giants really don't think Torcato can handle third, I suspect his future position might boil down to whether the Giants like McGowan or Feliz better. It will probably wind up with the three of them lining up for shots at the first and third base jobs in San Francisco, and Torcato will get one of them. Torcato is the top prospect in the system among position players, so the Giants are unlikely to trade him away just to alleviate a perceived logjam at third base. The A's just traded Jorge Velandia to the Mets for Nelson Cruz who plays for in Dominican Republic. I can not find stats on the Dominican teams. Can you help? Rick DiViesti Cruz led the Dominican Summer League with 15 homers and 80 RBIs this summer and finished fifth in the league with a .351 average. I don't have a scouting report on him, but those numbers, at least, are quite impressive. It's a long road from the DSL to the major leagues, but considering the A's weren't going to use Velandia, they did well to turn him into a young player to keep an eye on. If I have the story right, in the spring of 1999 the Reds spent about $2 million to acquire Alejandro Diaz from a Japanese team. Baseball America listed him as the Reds' No. 9 prospect last year, but his offensive numbers at Double-A Chattanooga in 2000 don't show any progress, and now I've seen reports that he may be 24 years old instead of 22 as reported. Would you still consider him a good prospect, or should the Reds be regretting the deal? Jeff Darnell Cincinnati The Reds did pay nearly $2 million to sign Diaz, not all of which went to him. They bid $400,001 when Japan's Hiroshima Carp put him up for auction in January 1999. That only won them the right to negotiate with Diaz. He got a bonus of $1.175 million when he signed with Cincinnati. Diaz has a long ways to go to reach Cincinnati. He hit .267 with 13 homers and 66 RBIs this year and somehow managed just 14 walks while striking out 77 times in 491 at-bats. That's not an unreasonable amount of strikeouts by any means, but the 14 walks is a tough one. You've almost got to be trying not to walk to walk just 14 times all year. Another rough spot in Diaz' game is basestealing. He swiped 18 bags this season, but was nailed 20 times. He's got the speed to be a much better baserunner than that, but he's got to learn how to steal bases. The Reds have added a lot of talent to the organization this year and Diaz is likely to slip out of the Top 10 when that list is compiled over the winter. He was regarded as the top center fielder in the system, though with the addition of Jackson Melian he doesn't even really have that going for him any more. Of course, with Ken Griffey in Cincinnati, it doesn't matter what either Diaz or Melian can do in center. He's realistically going to be competing for a corner job with Melian, Ben Broussard, Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns. And right now he probably ranks fifth in that group. We haven't heard about the alleged difference in age on Diaz, but he'd hardly be the first one where that's come up. Two years isn't a tremendous difference, but you would normally expect a bit more from a 24-year-old in Double-A than what Diaz provided this summer. Next year will be a big season for him, because he'll either be in his third season at Double-A (he spent half of the '99 season there) or his first at Triple-A, and he's going to need to be more productive either way. August 31, 2000 Did you happen to notice whom the Cubs called up yesterday? None other than Ross Gload, one of the subjects of Tuesday's column. Can't beat that for timing. Gload was summoned when the Cubs designated Brant Brown for assignment and should get a little bit of playing time over the next month. In fact, he's in the lineup today, making his major league debut in left field against the Padres. We've got yet another Rule 5 comment to start things off today. Seems like we can't get away from them. But this one was actually kind of clever, so here it is. Regarding the Rule 5 Draft, a simple way to redistribute talent AND not harm the drafted player would be to permit a drafting team to option a Rule 5 draftee to the minor leagues, just as with any other player on the 40-man roster. Phil Stenholm Tempe, AZ That just makes way too much sense to ever happen. I have not seen Sean Burroughs' name in the Mobile boxscores for over a week. Is he injured? Travis Dawkins is still playing for Chattanooga, so Sean is not likely to be with the Olympic team yet, or is he? Thanks. Terry Graham New Albany, Indiana Burroughs returned to San Diego to have his sore ankle checked out by the Padres' doctors. Assuming everything checks out okay, he'll rest for a couple of days then get to work with Team USA in preparation for the Olympics. Incidentally, Burroughs ended up hitting .291 with 29 doubles and two homers for Mobile this year. The power still isn't coming through yet, but that's not a bad year for a guy playing in Double-A in his second pro season. We got a lot of mail all summer that ran along the lines of "what's wrong with Sean Burroughs." I believe we ran at least one of them in this space. I still say there's nothing wrong with what he's done this year. That being said, he's still not the guy I'd have chosen to play third base on the Olympic team. I thought all along that they would choose Scott McClain, who's playing for Triple-A Colorado Springs this year. McClain is hitting .276 with 25 homers and 87 RBIs. I think his experience would have been valuable on Team USA. But believe it or not, they never actually called and asked for my input. Will there be a California Fall League or something similar this year? dob2c@mediaone.net The Arizona Fall League will be the only developmental league running this year. The CFL ran into too many problems last season and they decided to shelve it in the spring. The league has moved from Hawaii to Maryland to California over the past three years, with no success anywhere. The problem for the league is that unlike the AFL, the CFL was not operated by Major League Baseball. The California League teams that ran the fall clubs wanted more funding from MLB to avoid losing money on the deal, but didn't get it. Without significant financial support from MLB, a fall league simply won't work. It's a great idea to have a developmental league for Class A players who aren't ready for the AFL. But it won't draw fans, or at least not enough to be viable from a business standpoint. Unless MLB changes its stance on the league, it could be gone for good. But it's definitely gone for this year. Why is David Eckstein, the infielder for the Boston Red Sox' Triple-A club (Pawtucket) now shown with an X next to his statistics? I checked the minor league transactions, and he wasn't promoted or demoted, so why are his stats shown as being for someone who is no longer on the team? Robert Goldberg Lyndhurst, New Jersey The Angels claimed Eckstein on waivers on August 16 and assigned him to Triple-A Edmonton. Sometimes transactions, especially ones like waiver claims, don't show up in the reports we get, so they aren't included when we post the minor league transactions each Friday. I noticed that Octavio Martinez was recently named Appalachian League player of the year and then promoted to Frederick. His offense obviously looks promising and his defense is reputed to be excellent. Is he on the road to passing Jayson Werth as the O's catcher of the future? What can you tell me about him? Thanks, David Ward Mansfield, MA
San Jose, CA Williams is definitely for real. A supplemental first-round pick out of Waipahu High in Hawaii last year, he has pitched well ever since signing with the Giants. His manager at San Jose, Keith Comstock, compares Williams to a young Doc Gooden, but don't expect him to jump from Class A to the big leagues next year. Williams throws in the low 90s now, but the Giants expect he'll turn that up to the mid-90s by the time he reaches the big leagues. The reason we hear more about Ainsworth than Williams is that he was drafted ahead of him and is closer to the big leagues. But that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be better long-term than Williams. The two of them are definitely the core of the Giants farm system at this point. After Scott Heard's putrid numbers this year in high school, the last thing I expected in his pro debut would be his offensive outburst. Has he made major adjustments or were his high school numbers just fluke? Brad Heard's offense was a bit of an unknown entering this spring because he had missed much of his junior season due to a wrist injury. But he had been expected to hit, especially adding some weight and strength. I suspect that a lot of his struggles can be chalked up to the expectations that go with being in the spotlight like he was all spring. It can't be easy to hit knowing that everyone is whispering about your sub-.300 average, etc. Once he fell to No. 25 in the draft, he was no longer the guy in the spotlight. He's been able to relax a little this summer, and as a result, he's hitting .351 with 16 doubles in 111 at-bats. In case you missed the Daily Highlights yesterday, Heard had five doubles in Sunday night's game. He's probably not a .351 hitter down the road, but I'd guess he won't be a defense-only guy. I'm sure this guy doesn't fall into your "Legit Prospect" category, but he's such a statistical freak that I have to ask about him. What's the scoop on Esix Snead? 100-plus steals, in any league, should be enough to impress Ray Knight and Peter Gammons. Sure, you'd like to see another skill somewhere in his tool box, but can he play? If nothing else, it's fun to say "Esix Snead." Will Carroll Snead is an intriguing player because of his speed, and he's come a long ways in his three seasons in the Cardinals organization. But he's got a long ways to go before you can picture him topping off the order in St. Louis. With 108 stolen bases for Potomac this year, he's got nearly as many steals as hits. Even though he's walking at a good pace, his on-base average is just .344 because his batting average is sitting at .235. Since Sneed provides no extra-base punch whatsoever, he'll need an on-base percentage around .400 to be a useful guy in the lineup. Can he do that? Well, he's made a lot of progress, basically by completely rebuilding his swing. He's definitely a hard worker and the Cardinals have put in a lot of time working with him to improve. I think he'll continue to get better, but I'm not sure he's ever going to get on base enough to justify the lack of pop. Still, he plays a great center field and I think at worst he'll be a fine fourth or fifth outfielder who can shake things up with some speed and defense late in the game. When the Cubs dumped underperforming/overpaid Henry Rodriguez at the deadline, my understanding was that both outfielder Ross Gload and lefthander David Noyce were minor league roster-fill, unlikely to ever play a major league game. But after a promotion to Triple-A Iowa Gload has gone nuts. His history has always shown high average and good plate discipline, but suddenly he's also a 30-HR guy besides. What can you say about him? Is he a Glenallen Hill defensively, or something? Did the Cubs get lucky for a change, and could he develop into a John Vander Wal type player, or perhaps even better? Craig Jasperse Fargo, North Dakota Gload is destroying the Pacific Coast League. In 98 at-bats he's batting .408 with 13 homers and 36 RBIs. I know it's less than 100 at-bats, but it's fun to look at a .939 slugging percentage. In 100 games for Double-A Portland before the trade, Gload hit .284 with 16 homers and 65 RBIs and drew 29 walks against 53 strikeouts. A 13th-round pick in 1997 out of South Florida, Gload had 25 home runs in three seasons entering 2000. He's already got 29 this year alone. Has he suddenly developed into a power threat? Well, he's on a heck of a tear, but it's hard to call a guy a power hitter based on one great month in the PCL. Considering that the Cubs were probably willing to just give Rodriguez away, they probably did okay for themselves with this deal. Gload could become an option in left field or at first base and if he can string together a month like he's having right now in spring training, he just might find himself some playing time in Chicago next season. What chance does Andres Galarraga have of making The Hall of Fame? He should finish with over 400 home runs, is already well over 1,200 RBIs and is a career .291 hitter. In three more seasons, he should pass Mickey Mantle's RBI total. He's a one-time MVP, and a probable comeback player of the year this year. What do you think? Thank you, Michael Marinaro Galarraga's had some nice years and a solid career, but he's not a Hall of Famer in my book. If not for a four-year slide when he should have been in the prime of his career, that might be a different story. From 1989-92, when he was 28-31, Galarraga hit .246 with 64 home runs and 244 RBIs. That averages out to 16 homers and 61 RBIs a year. If Galarraga could have just posted numbers closer to what he's done the rest of his career, he'd be a strong candidate for the Hall. But a four-year slump in your prime really hurts. As for Mantle's RBI total of 1,509, Galarraga is 253 behind him right now and he's already 39. I wouldn't project him to even be playing three years from now. Galarraga's offense seemed to come alive when offense throughout baseball exploded. Playing in Colorado for a few years didn't hurt, but he kept producing after moving to Atlanta, so you can't write him off as a Coors Field wonder. Still, when you look around baseball, there are several other first basemen that slot in ahead of Galarraga if you want to make comparisons to his contemporaries. Jeff Bagwell, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Frank Thomas have had better careers, while Fred McGriff has posted basically the same numbers, in a more consistent manner. Tino Martinez is seven years younger than Galarraga and trails him by just 383 RBIs. Several other younger players, like Jim Thome and Carlos Delgado, are on pace to do more than he's done, assuming they don't hit four-year slumps of their own. So there isn't much case for Galarraga making the Hall. If you believe in Total Baseball's Total Player rankings, the Big Cat had a -4.2 career mark coming into this season. I don't think that's a true indication of his career value, but it's one way of breaking things down. August 24, 2000 I have to start off today with a couple of notes on Tuesday's column. First, it has been pointed out that Lance Berkman is not eligible for NL Rookie of the Year due to his service time. I mistakenly added him to the list of candidates for that award, because he is eligible for ours. We base our award on at-bats/innings and don't factor major league splinter time into the equation. Berkman had 80 days of service last year, but got only 93 at-bats. Per the standard 130 at-bat cutoff, he's a rookie in our eyes. But take his name off the NL list. Next comes the Rafael Furcal age controversy. It has been reported that the Brave's Furcal is actually 22 or 23, not 19. Still a good young player, but not as huge a prospect as he would be if he were really 19. David Schock Philadelphia Furcal and the Braves both deny the report that says he's 22-23. So until someone actually substantiates that, we're sticking with his "official" age. Furcal had a strong incentive to change his story earlier this year, when he was cited for underage drinking. It would have been easy enough for him at that point to try to get around that by revealing that he was actually older than 21. He did not. That doesn't necessarily prove that he's not older than 19, but we need more than the HBO special to go by. Maybe we could give Furcal some Lesli Brea truth serum and find out he's actually 26. I went to the Norfolk Tides Website and it said that Mark Johnson made the Olympic team, but then I checked your site and he didn't make the team. Was he ever on the team? Dracula513@aol.com Johnson could go down in history as the phantom Team USA member. There were others who received strong consideration and didn't make the club, but he was the only one included on the roster that USA Baseball sent out. They apparently are trying to play it off like the Tides and the International League released inaccurate information, but the bottom line is, they were the source for it. If you want to read more on the Johnson situation, check out the Virginian-Pilot. I am a long time Pittsburgh Pirates fan. My question is, is the Pirates farm system as bad as it seems to look on paper? There seems to be not much talent on the major league roster as well to contend anytime in the near future. From witnessing as many games on TV as I can with the Pirates, I have noticed that almost every rookie brought up never pans out to a quality productive major leaguer. In the last ten years I can only name a few who are at least productive such as Kris Benson, Tony Womack and Jason Kendall. Most of the players currently on the roster have come from trades with other organizations. Is there anything to look forward to other than the new ballpark with the prospects the Pirates currently have? Marc Simmons Elkins, WV While there isn't much at the upper levels of the Pirates system, there is talent in the pipeline. Low Class A Hickory has been lauded this season as one of the best collections of talent on one roster in the minor leagues. The Hickory shine hasn't been quite so bright since righthander Bobby Bradley went down with elbow trouble earlier this year, but he wasn't the only guy there worth getting excited about. Catcher J.R. House is leading the South Atlantic League in hitting with a .340 average and ranks second in homers with 20. Outfielder Tony Alvarez has had a strong season. And lefthander Dave Williams and righthander Justin Reid have both done quite well. Righthander Luis Torres hasn't had a lot of success this year, but he's just 20 and the Pirates like him. Righthander Jeff Bennett and shortstop Jose Castillo are also worth keeping an eye on. 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:
|