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Tracy Ringolsby's weekly baseball notes

Submitted by administrator on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 13:31

Reality sets in quickly with the start of the new year.There are 27 players on baseball's free-agent market -- Roger Clemens excluded - who made at least $5 million in 2007 who don't have a job yet for 2008.Home run king Barry Bonds heads the list. Having made $19.3 million with the Giants last year, including incentives, Bonds doesn't even have a serious discussion about employment for 2008.Oakland seemed a possible destination, the A's and Bonds both seeing it as a chance to jab the Giants, but with Oakland's decision to undergo a major rebuilding project, it doesn't need the distractions that come with Bonds.If these free agents want to play again, they are going to have to make major lifestyle adjustments, although most of them will be hoping they can rebound in 2008 and create a new market next offseason.None of the players is a middle infielder. There are, however, a handful of corner infielders -- first basemen Shea Hillenbrand ($6.5 million in 2007), Eric Hinske ($5,625,000) and Mike Sweeney ($11 million), and third basemen Pedro Feliz ($5.1 million) and Corey Koskie ($6.25 million).Outfielders, in addition to Bonds, include Shawn Green ($11.5 million), Luis Gonzalez ($7.35 million), Mike Cameron ($7 million), Kenny Lofton ($6 million) and Reggie Sanders ($5 million). Mike Piazza ($8.5 million) is the only catcher or designated hitter among the 27.Starting pitchers include rehabilitating Bartolo Colon ($14 million), Freddy Garcia ($10 million), Matt Clement ($9.5 million), Kris Benson ($8 million) and Odalis Perez ($9.25 million) plus healthy but unemployed Jeff Weaver ($8,325,000), Livan Hernandez ($7 million) and Brett Tomko ($5.1 million).Relievers include Armando Benitez ($7.6 million), Bob Wickman ($6.5 million), Octavio Dotel ($5 million) and Keith Foulke ($5 million).OVERHEARD-- Right-hander Clement, hoping to return after missing a year because of surgery, appears to be focusing on Cleveland and Pittsburgh. A selling point for him is the proximity to the home he recently built in Butler, Pa.-- Twins lefty Francisco Liriano, 24, is rehabbing from the reconstructive elbow surgery he underwent a year ago, and it appears he will not be ready until midseason.-- Right-hander Jon Lieber has indicated an interest in the Mets, among other teams. Agent Rex Geary said his client enjoyed pitching in New York when he was with the Yankees.READERS' TURNBob Sellers asks, "Can you tell what is meant by being eligible for salary arbitration? I realize that it is a form of salary, but why does a player have to become eligible and what distinguishes it from other forms or stages of negotiation? Also, why did the Rockies let Matsui go, seemingly so easily, to the Astros?Bob, here is the word from the Major League Baseball Players Association Web site concerning salary arbitration: "A player with three or more years of service, but less than six years, may file for salary arbitration. In addition, a player can be classified as a 'Super Two' and be eligible for arbitration with less than three years of service. A player with at least two but less than three years of major league service shall be eligible for salary arbitration if he has accumulated at least 86 days of service during the immediately preceding season and he ranks in the top 17 percent in total service in the class of players who have at least two but less than three years of major league service, however accumulated, but with at least 86 days of service accumulated during the immediately preceding season."As for Kazuo Matsui, the Rockies were willing to give him a two-year deal, but not three years. Those are the decisions a team has to make when it looks at long-range planning. If Jayson Nix happens not to be ready this year, there is every reason to believe there will be several in-house candidates surface in the next year, including Chris Nelson. So what happens is if you commit, say, $5 million in 2010 to Matsui, that's money that would be better used to try and keep Garrett Atkins or Brad Hawpe or even Matt Holliday.For responses to other questions or to ask questions of your own, check out the Rockies Inbox at RockyMountainNews. com/sports.TWO CENTS' WORTHIn the midst of Curt Schilling's holier-than-thou pronouncements about late-career booms, it would be interesting to have Schilling explain how he turned a lackluster career at the age of 30 into a dominating effort in the next decade.At 30, having played with a Philadelphia Phillies team that included Lenny Dykstra and Pete Incaviglia, who were listed in the Mitchell Report, Schilling had a career record of 52-52.Since he turned 30, Schilling is 164-94. What's more, he was 34 before he won 20 games for the first time and has done it three times in the past seven years.NUMBERS GAME-- 8: Consecutive seasons of 200 innings or more for free-agent pitcher Livan Hernandez. In fact, in the right-hander's 10 full major league seasons, the only time the Cuban defector failed to reach 200 was in 1999, when he split the season between Florida and San Francisco and worked 199-2/3 innings.HALL OF FAME LINKUniversity of Vermont freshman infielder Frank Petroskey has an insight into the Hall of Fame.His father, Dale, has been president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., since 1999.EVOLVING COORSCoors Field never will be a pitching paradise, but it can be conquered, which was evident from last season.Not only did the Rockies rank eighth in the National League with a 4.32 ERA, lowest in franchise history, but their 3.86 post-All-Star-break ERA was the lowest in the NL. Atlanta ranked second at 3.93, with the Cubs third at 4.16.The Rockies rotation ERA of 4.58 was the lowest in franchise history despite using 13 pitchers to start games.The bullpen had a 3.85 ERA, second best in franchise history. The 1998 bullpen had a 3.65 ERA.HE SAID IT"You know you are going to pay premiums for starters, middle of the order (hitters). Sometimes the bullpen guys, even though they are important, are not, as far as financially, the key guys that you're looking at, but they end up being key guys as far as the games go."-- Bob Melvin, Arizona manager, on rebuilding bullpens every year.(Contact Tracy Ringolsby at ringolsbyt@RockyMountainNews.com)(Tracy Ringolsby writes for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo. E-mail ringolsbyt(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)