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Tracy Ringolsby's weekly baseball notes

Submitted by SHNS on Fri, 05/30/2008 - 13:37

In baseball's annual amateur draft next week, look for teams to make stronger commitments to college selections in the early rounds than they have in the past decade.Recent rapid rises to the big leagues by high-profile college players have set the stage for a trend back to focusing on college players early.Consider that 12 of the top 42 selections in the first round two years ago already have made it to the big leagues, including eight of the top 11.Left-hander Clayton Kershaw, the seventh player selected overall, who was called up last week by the Dodgers, is the only high school product in that group. The only position players among the 12 selections are third baseman Evan Longoria, taken third by Tampa Bay, and shortstop Emmanuel Burriss, taken by San Francisco with the 33rd pick.And 14 of the top 27 selections from 2005 have been in the majors, including seven of the top nine selections.The top six picks from 2005 who have gotten to the big leagues are position players, including No. 1 pick overall Justin Upton, a high schooler who has emerged as Arizona's starting right fielder.The others are third baseman Alex Gordon, No. 2 to Kansas City; catcher-designated hitter Jeff Clement, No. 3 to Seattle; third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, No. 4 to Washington; left fielder Ryan Braun, No. 5 to Milwaukee; and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, No. 7 to the Rockies.INFIELD CHATTER-- All-Star shortstop Michael Young could move to third base with Texas. That would open the way for the Rangers to trade Hank Blalock. The key is the development of shortstop prospects Joaquin Arias and Elvis Andrus.-- Milwaukee has to make a decision by Sunday on the status of right-hander Jeff Weaver, who signed a minor league deal with the agreement he can opt out of the deal if he isn't in the big leagues by June 1. He hasn't done much to force the issue. In six starts for Class AAA Nashville, Weaver is 1-3 with a 6.69 ERA, having allowed 39 hits, including eight home runs, and 13 walks in 35 innings.-- There is some interesting posturing going on in Philadelphia, where general manager Pat Gillick will retire at season's end. Gillick's current assistants, Ruben Amaro and Mike Arbuckle, are considered the two main candidates for the job. Amaro has assumed the more public role during Gillick's tenure, but Arbuckle was the scouting director who rebuilt the organizational talent level.THE ROTATIONWith Bobby Cox having agreed to a one-year extension through 2009 as manager of the Braves, he extends his status as the longest-tenured manager.Cox, who had been the Braves general manager, returned to the dugout on June 22, 1990. There have been 170 other managers since that time. Every other team has had at least four, except for Minnesota, which has had only Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire, who took over when Kelly retired in 2001.Teams with the most managers since Cox began his second tour of duty in Atlanta:-- Cincinnati (10): Lou Piniella, 1990-1992; Tony Perez, 1993; Davey Johnson, 1993-1995; Ray Knight, 1996-1997; Jack McKeon, 1997-2000; Bob Boone, 2001-2003; Dave Miley, 2003-2005; Jerry Narron, 2005-2007; Pete Mackanin, 2007; and Dusty Baker, 2008.-- Cubs (nine): Don Zimmer, 1988-1991; Jim Essian, 1991; Jim Lefebvre, 1992-1993; Tom Trebelhorn, 1994; Jim Riggleman, 1995-1999; Don Baylor, 2000-2002; Bruce Kimm, 2002; Baker, 2003-2006; and Piniella, 2007-2008.-- Florida (nine): Rene Lachemann, 1993-1996; John Boles, 1996; Jim Leyland, 1997-1998; Boles, 1999-2001; Perez, 2001; Jeff Torborg, 2002-2003; McKeon, 2003-2005; Joe Girardi, 2006; and Fredi Gonzalez, 2007-2008.-- Baltimore (nine): Frank Robinson, 1988-1991; Johnny Oates, 1991-1994; Phil Regan, 1995; Johnson, 1996-1997; Ray Miller, 1998-1999; Mike Hargrove, 2000-2003; Lee Mazzilli, 2004-2005; Sam Perlozzo, 2005-2007; and Dave Trembley, 2007-2008.OUT IN LEFT FIELDKansas City is on an 11-game losing streak, which began when the Royals were no-hit by Jon Lester in Boston on May 19.It is the longest losing streak since at least 1916 that began with the team being no-hit. It is not, however, the longest losing streak to include a no-hitter.Tampa Bay had a 15-game losing streak in 2002 that included being no-hit by Derek Lowe, also at Fenway Park, in the third game.CLOSING STATEMENTWith the constant chatter about the job security of Mets manager Willie Randolph, odds are a change will be made eventually.And when it does, the No. 1 piece of evidence will be the disappointing development of shortstop Jose Reyes. Reyes broke into the big leagues as one of the most exciting young players in the game, but that contagious enthusiasm he showed has been replaced by nonchalance and lackluster play.Along with Randolph, there is growing talk of changes in Seattle, where general manager Bill Bavasi and manager John McLaren are on the hot seat, and in Milwaukee, where Ned Yost, much like Randolph, is under fire as much for the late-season slide in 2007 as any struggles in 2008.NUMBERS GAME-- 17: Days in first place for Tampa Bay through Thursday. In their 10 previous years of existence, the Rays had spent only 15 days total at the top of the American League East standings.LIKE A FINE WINEYankees closer Mariano Rivera, 38, gets better with age. Not only is he 13-for-13 in saves, but also in those games he has worked 14 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks while striking out 14.He's the only one of 25 pitchers with at least 10 save opportunities this year who has not allowed a run in a save situation, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.HE SAID IT"The one thing Cabrera needs to know about Ozzie (Guillen, White Sox manager) is he has faults, and his No. 1 fault is that he protects his players too much. If Orlando doesn't understand that, he needs to talk to his neighbors."-- Kenny Williams, White Sox general manager, on problems shortstop Orlando Cabrera has been having with the club.(Tracy Ringolsby writes for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo. E-mail ringolsbyt(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)