Baseball America Online - Starting All Over Again

Around The Horn

Top 10 Time
How can you not eat up the annual Top 10 lists? They're back starting today. While much of the baseball world seems to be focused on contraction and labor problems and who's spending too much on free agents, Baseball America would rather take a look at the brighter side of the game.
We kick off our Organizational Top 10 Prospects lists with the Atlanta Braves, an organization known for producing pitching. Though that list is for subscribers only, we'll be offering non-subscribers a taste of the action by letting you view the top-ranked player's profile for each team: Story Link

Cream of the Crop
A look at the top players who signed during the college early signing period:
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Hold Your Contraction Horses
Six sports economists think Major League Baseball cannot eliminate two teams by the beginning of next season, writes the St. Paul Pioneer Press. According to the paper, labor negotiations, litigation and a Congressional look at antitrust exemption will put contraction on hold for at least another year, the economists said. Here's a slap-in-the-face quote from one of them: "The owners really don't have a revenue problem," said Stephen Walters, a professor at Loyola College in Baltimore. "They have a stupidity problem."
For more contraction news and background, check out our HQ page:
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An Offer He Can't Refuse?
The New York Post reports today that the Yankees plan to make free agent Jason Giambi an offer of seven years for $119 million. New York owner George Steinbrenner and his staff are meeting today in Tampa.
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Life Of Riley
Pitching prospect Matt Riley hopes to emerge as a dark horse candidate for the Orioles' rotation in 2002, writes Roch Kubatko in The Baltimore Sun. After throwing in instructional league, Riley said he's ready to go next year. He had Tommy John surgery on his left elbow in September 2000. "A year has passed since he appeared in a game that counted. Riley doesn't intend to let his next opportunity get away."
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To Bid Or Not To Bid
Birmingham, Ala., attorney and investment banker Donald V. Watkins told the St. Paul Pioneer Press he submitted an offer to buy the Rays. Well that's wrong, says Tampa Bay, according to the St. Petersburg Times. The Rays deny that report. Watkins has expressed interest in the Twins. If he does buy a team, Watkins would be the first black owner in the sport.

Huh?

Everyone knows all baseball owners have their ducks in a row when it comes to this contraction thing, the sale of teams, etc., right?

OK, never mind.

In the Miami Herald Nov. 23 Commissioner Bud Selig was asked about the reported sale of the Marlins. He said: "I don't know anything about it. At this point in time, there is no sale. There is no sale at all in progress."

Robert DuPuy, the league's chief legal counsel said, "There's no agreement to sell the team. We fully expect John Henry to own the team next season."

According to today's South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Marlins sale is still full steam ahead, and has been for some time. The aforementioned Watkins told the Sun-Sentinal Nov. 25 that he knew about the Marlins/Expos connection a while back.

"I heard it about 10 days ago," Watkins told the paper, "and I got it from what I call very reliable sources within the ownership circle."

Maybe the commissioner's office has read about the news by now, maybe they really didn't know, maybe they knew and said they didn't or maybe they just adore coordinated chaos.
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Catch Padres Fever
Last week, the San Diego city council all but guaranteed the Padres will move into their downtown home for the 2004 season. The team is rebuilding and would like to be beating the daylights out of the rest of the league by then. Meanwhile, it may take until 2004 to even sign Matt Harrington. The team just pulled a $500,000 deal off the table, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
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Huh?, Part II
Remember when Commissioner Selig said in his post-contraction news conference a few weeks ago that financing new stadiums for struggling teams was not an option? It took one day for the San Diego Union-Tribune to report that's exactly what owners might do for the Padres. For some reason this slipped under the media radar screens, but we'd like to make sure you know. Baseball will contribute up to $48 million, in case the team can't come up with the last chunk of money for a new ballpark.
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Omaha Hires Bucky Dent
The 1978 World Series MVP spent the past seven seasons as the Rangers' dugout coach and infield instructor. Now he'll manage the Triple-A Omaha Royals.
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The Kooky World Of Realignment
Who knows what's going to happen this offseason, but if there is contraction Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News reports about a new, league switch-a-roo:

McCoy writes:

"To get 14 teams in each league after contraction, it was thought Arizona would be moved from the National League to the American League. But there are indications that the Florida Marlins would agree to switch from the National to the American and the new alignment would look like this:
NL East: Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia
NL Central: Colorado, Chicago, St. Louis, Houston, Milwaukee
NL West: Arizona, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco
AL East: New York, Boston, Baltimore, Florida, Tampa Bay
AL Central: Cleveland, Toronto, Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit
AL West: Anaheim, Oakland, Seattle, Texas"
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Ode To Bo
Los Angeles Times Hall of Fame writer Ross Newhan wrote a nice story about Bo Belinsky, who died Nov. 23. Belinsky pitched a no-hitter as a rookie for the Los Angeles Angels against the Orioles at Dodger Stadium in 1962, the first major league no-hitter on the West Coast.
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Where Did The Fans Go?
The Twins were the first American League team to draw three million fans in 1988, but does anyone there care any more about the team?
A recent poll determined 78 percent of Minneapolis voters and 68 percent of St. Paul voters did not want a publicly financed new ballpark. Also, 11 percent of Minneapolis voters and 13 percent of St. Paul voters thought losing the Twins would be "disastrous." Almost one-third of Minneapolis voters said they don't care whether the team is eliminated.

Expansion Team Track Record
So baseball wants to axe a couple of lousy franchises? In the history of expansion, the Twins and Expos don't have such a bad track record.

Winning percentages
1. Arizona (1998) .528
2. Kansas City (1969) .502
3. Toronto (1977) .496
4. Houston (1962) .495
5. Minnesota (1961) .493
6. Montreal (1969) .484
6. Texas Rangers (1972) .484
8. Anaheim (1961) .483
9. Colorado (1993) .478
10. Milwaukee (1969, includes Seattle Pilots) .477
11. New York Mets (1962) .476
12. Seattle (1977) .466
13. San Diego (1969) .459
14. Florida (1993) .451
15. Washington Senators (1961-71) .418
16. Tampa Bay (1998) .406

Grab A 40
Want the 40-man rosters for everyone? Click below:
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