Big Apple could feed three teams

Sporting News, The, May 5, 2003 by Ken Rosenthal

The current plan to derail the Yankees sure isn't working.

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M@IL BONDING

KEN ROSENTHAL ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS

Can the Royals win the A.L. Central? Adam Kincaid, Kansas City

Adam: None of the baseball people I speak with regularly think the Royals are anything more than a .500 club. But they play in the game's weakest division, and if the Twins don't reverse their baffling early-season slide, the Royals' chances of contention will improve. I'm still not convinced the White Sox are anything more than an 85-win team.

My concern with the Royals is their pitching staff is too young. The struggling Darrell May is their only veteran starter, and Albie Lopez and Jason Grimsley are their only veteran relievers. At some point, the young pitchers will struggle, and there will be no one to stabilize the staff.

The other issue with the Royals is they still must shed payroll, and general manager Allard Baird credits his higher-paid veterans with aiding in the development of the team's youngsters. Trading such players would be demoralizing to both the clubhouse and community, and that's the last thing the Royals need.

SPEED READS

* Major League Baseball should make its amateur draft more like the NFL's. The way to jazz it up is to select high school players in June, then college players at the All-Star Game, live on ESPN. The owners need to promote the game rather than worry about agents using the publicity to their benefit. Owners also should allow clubs to trade draft picks.

* Only the hypersensitive Red Sox would call a closed-door meeting to discuss media concerns. Two of the Sox's stars, Manny Ramirez and Pedro Martinez, no longer are speaking to reporters, A third, Nomar Garciaparra, frequently complains about coverage. The media scrutiny in Boston is intense, but players shouldn't let It distract them.

* Manager Jim Tracy needs to lay off third baseman Adrian Beltre. For all of his inconsistency, Beltre is an above-average defender, is coming off a 21-homer, 75-RBI season and still is only 24. The Dodgers should be patient with Beltre rather than scapegoat him with repeated benchings.

INSIDE DISH

By KEN ROSENTHAL

High school slugger Ryan Harvey could be a natural for the Devil Rays, who hold the first pick of the June amateur draft. Harvey, a 6-5, 215-pound outfielder, attends Dunedin High near Tampa, and one major league executive was blown away by his power, rating it an 80 on the scouts' 20-to-80 scale. "If Tampa Bay doesn't take him, they're nuts," the executive says.... Slumping Diamondbacks SS Tony Womack is at a crossroads. Even if he salvages his season, he is unlikely to re-sign with the team as a free agent and will be squeezed in a market that is expected to include Miguel Tejada, Kazuo Matsui and Rich Aurilia. It might be necessary for Womack to return to second base or the outfield.... Yankees RHP Roger Clemens is mixing in his curveball more often. "He had gotten away from it, throwing splitters and fastballs," one scout says. "Now he's using all of his pitches, and he looks as good as he did a couple of years ago." ... Orioles RHP Jason Johnson is throwing an improved curveball, and a rival general manager says it's no fluke that the team won both times he started against Pedro Martinez and a third time when Johnson faced Bartolo Colon. Johnson changes hitters' eye levels with his pitches, and umpires' calling the high strike and narrowing the strike zone favor pitchers who work vertically rather than horizontally.... Braves RF Gary Sheffield again is talking gibberish. "I love where I am, but I'm not comfortable," Sheffield recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "When you're comfortable, you don't have to worry about where you're going to be next year." Sheff forgets that he is a potential free agent only because the Braves honored his request to eliminate an $11 million club option for 2004.... The Pirates are baffled by Pokey Reese's defensive lapses at second. Reese committed six errors in his first 19 games after making only eight last season. Seven N.L. clubs had fewer errors than Reese and Pirates 3B Aramis Ramirez, who had 15 combined.... Cubs fans should not be alarmed that RHPs Kerry Wood and Mark Prior rank among the N.L. leaders in pitches per start. "Power pitchers are going to throw a lot of pitches," one executive explains. "Instead of everything being in play, balls will be fouled back or missed." Padres G.M. Kevin Towers says, "This is one of the best Cubs clubs I've seen." ... Mariners RHP Gil Meche is fully recovered from shoulder surgery and might be the most impressive young pitcher in the A.L. "I'm fairly confident he's going to stay healthy," Mariners G.M. Pat Gillick says. "I don't see any alteration in his delivery or arm action. Both look identical to what they were before he had surgery." ... LHP Damian Moss might always struggle with his command, but the Giants believe he could be similar to the pitcher they traded him for, Braves RHP Russ Ortiz. Despite ranking fifth in the N.L. in pitches thrown per batter last season, Ortiz won 14 games.... A's RF Jermaine Dye was in decline even before he twisted his right knee and was lost for three to five weeks. "I think he really has slowed down," one executive says. "He's having problems with balls from the middle of the plate in. He's not turning on them."