MLB's Expansion Draft for the Devil Rays and
Diamondbacks will be held today in Phoenix. Over the
weekend, MLB GMs submitted changes to the league's
postseason format for "expected approval" by the Executive
Council. Among the changes: playoff pairings and home-field
advantage will be determined by winning percentage; the
Division Series will be expanded to best-of-seven, from
best-of-five and the game format would change to 2-3-2. If
the Division Series is not changed to seven games, it would
change to allow the team with the better record to host
games one, two and five (Rod Beaton, USA TODAY, 11/17).
DIAMONDS ARE A MIDDLE INFIELDER'S BEST FRIEND: The
D'Backs dropped the "first bombshell" yesterday when they
signed 31-year-old SS Jay Bell to a five-year, $34M contract
(Larry Whiteside, BOSTON GLOBE, 11/18). In N.Y., Bill
Madden: "It might as well have been an atomic bomb
detonating in the middle of the desert." One NL GM: "I
can't believe this. This is absolutely insane. ... When is
it going to stop?" One NL Owner: "This is just crazy.
Absolutely irresponsible. ... You have to think the bubble
is about to burst on this game" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/18).
Yankees GM Bob Watson, upon hearing the deal: "You're
kidding" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/18). Also in N.Y., Tom Keegan:
"Just when you think a baseball player has signed a contract
so preposterous it never will be topped, someone comes along
and tops it" (N.Y. POST, 11/18). In Baltimore, Peter
Schmuck writes that "the way [D'Backs Managing General
Partner Jerry Colangelo] has stepped up to the plate --
financially speaking -- has raised some eyebrows" (Baltimore
SUN, 11/18). In Toronto, Richard Griffin writes the
"outrageous terms" of the Bell deal "send shivers down the
spines of major-league [GMs] everywhere" (TORONTO STAR,
11/18). In Chicago, Jerome Holtzman: "Several owners already
have advised Colangelo not to open his purse too wide. The
more he pays, the more they will be expected to pay"
(CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 11/18). Colangelo, on negative feedback
from other clubs: "[E]veryone ought to look in the mirror
before anyone casts stones, because ... we have a game plan,
and we plan to stick to it. And whatever we do is not going
to be something that has to be torn down and sold. So we're
going to try to do this the appropriate way. We'll decide
how we spend and how much we spend, but I just find it
interesting when I see the payrolls out there and people
worrying about what we're going to do. We'll go about our
business and we won't question what they do" (THE DAILY).
CNN/SI's Tim Kurkjian: "The Diamondbacks have a huge
financial advantage over the Devil Rays. Arizona is
expected to be among baseball's top five revenue teams in
1998 thanks to the sale of 34,000 season tickets for the new
Bank One Ballpark, and $400 million in committed advertising
revenue. Arizona expects that only 10-15 players from the
draft will be on its 25 man roster" ("CNN/SI," 11/17).
SELF-PROTECTION: ESPN's Bob Ley: "Baseball, which
desperately needs a national buzz among all its fans, has
all sorts of draconian rules around this expansion draft.
Real smart -- secret protected lists, no trade
announcements" ("SportsCenter," 11/17). In Toronto, Richard
Griffin, on MLB not disclosing teams' protected lists and
the threat of a $250,000 fine to anyone who leaks a list:
"Baseball had a chance to make this Tuesday's expansion
draft as big a television event as the annual NFL draft, but
no." Rockies Assistant GM Tony Siegle: "We felt in the long
run it was best in our future dealings with the players that
they not know how the club felt about them" (TORONTO STAR,
11/16). Tigers GM Randy Smith: "I wish we could talk about
who we protected and who we didn't, but we can't" (DETROIT
NEWS, 11/16). One Devil Rays exec: "We've been killed by
this idiotic gag order. Baseball is nuts. We each paid
$130 million with the understanding that the lists would be
made public, because if the lists were public, then every
other team would know who is out there and would come to
us." MLB COO Paul Beeston: "Look, I understand it would be
good for the game because we'd have everyone talking about
baseball. But..." In Boston, Peter Gammons: "It's going to
take time for Beeston to get baseball to realize that the
reason TV dollars are shrinking compared with the NFL, NBA,
and NHL, and the reason drastic cutbacks in postseason
coverage are being considered is that major league baseball
does everything it can to spit on the people who want to get
people talking about the game" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/16).
MARKET FORCES: Gammons: "For years we've said, 'Well,
sometime there's gonna be a market revision,' and each time
there's been national TV contracts or something's happened
so that baseball salaries keep escalating. ... Now we have
finally seen a point where the revenues and salaries have
come to a point where we're seeing a huge market correction,
and the Florida Marlins [are] no better example" (ESPN,
11/16). More Colangelo: "In basketball, I make an offer,
and it's usually either taken or rejected, and that's it.
In baseball, I lay out an offer, and the agent says, 'I want
to see what the market bears.' In other words, he's going
to take my offer and ship it, because baseball owners have
allowed that to happen. It's not going to work that way
with the Diamondbacks" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/16).