After two days into the playoffs, we'll reach into the mailbag:
Q: I'm a Tigers fan and now that it's over officially, I'm trying to look forward to free agency, but I can't find the date it starts anywhere. Why is it such a big secret?
-- Riley G. (Holland, Mich.)
A: Riley, a longtime agent e-mailed this morning with an answer to your question: "The filing period for free agents begins the day after the World Series ends, and continues for 15 days. In that period, players can speak with any club, but can only discuss dollars with their current club. When that period ends, they are free to speak without restriction. As for the actual date -- it depends on when the World Series ends."
Q: As a long-suffering Blue Jays fan, is there any thought of realignment or expansion of wild cards in the near future? Tampa Bay struck lightning last year and took a step back this year, and it's hard to imagine them keeping their core together. The Blue Jays face a similar predicament. That's not to suggest that the Jays have the same core of talent that Tampa has, so maybe you can make a run every 5-10 years, but providing a consistent competitive team year in and year out is not realistic in the AL East.
-- Mark (Toronto)
A: Your sentiments are echoed constantly among executives in Major League Baseball. I have not specifically heard that realignment is being seriously discussed, but ideas and theories about how to level the playing field for the Rays, Orioles and Jays are constantly tossed around -- and I'd be stunned if there aren't some kind of changes made in the next labor agreement, with those teams at least partly in mind.
Q: What minor league player who will start the season in the minors next year would you build a team around?
-- Jarrett (Flemington, N.J.)
A: Jarrett: If you're talking about building a team around him for 2010, I don't think such a player exists. As
Matt Wieters showed this year, there is a period of adjustment even for a star prospect. But if your question is a big-picture, into-the-future thing, there is one clear answer: Jason Heyward of the
Atlanta Braves. He just turned 20, and his physical presence and skills remind some evaluators of a young Darryl Strawberry, but he appears to be a much more refined prospect than Strawberry ever was. Heyward hit .323 while
surging through Class A and Double-A and into Triple-A, and while he had stunning power numbers -- 25 doubles, four triples and 17 homers in 362 at-bats -- his walk-strikeout totals of 51-51 are what really distinguish him from other prospects. In Double-A, he had 28 walks and 19 strikeouts in 162 at-bats, and posted an OPS of 1.057. Stephen Strasburg might be the best pitching prospect ever, but Heyward appears to have the ability of a franchise centerpiece.
Q: Why would you even make that comment about Miguel Cabrera possibly being drunk while playing Saturday's game? The word "possibly" really gets you off the hook, but tends to put Cabrera in a bad light with your several readers. That's pretty -- no -- very irresponsible journalism.
-- Paul Puruleski (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
A: Paul: I have no idea if Cabrera was intoxicated when the game started at 7 p.m. Saturday. But he reportedly had a .26 blood alcohol level at sometime around 6:30 in the morning. According to research, the average drinker will process alcohol at .015 parts per hour, and an experienced drinker will process alcohol at a rate of .02. You do the math. If he was so intoxicated by the time he arrived at the park that he couldn't legally drive a vehicle, I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that his ability to hit or catch a baseball might have been affected. It would be irresponsible journalism to
not raise the issue of whether his alcohol ingestion might have affected his ability to play baseball, in one of the Tigers' most important games of the season.
Look, I absolutely believe that players have a right to privacy. I've known many players and coaches and managers who've battled drinking problems (and we all have friends and family members who have been overcome by this addiction). In almost all circumstances, it's a matter that's left untouched by reporters. But in this case, there was an alcohol-related incident in which police were called, in which Cabrera was taken away from his home by authorities, and -- most importantly -- in which there was a reasonable question about whether his ability to play baseball might have been significantly affected by his drinking. This is when the situation crosses from a private matter into something that reporters ask about -- when his play
on the field might have been affected by alcohol ingestion, with tens of thousands of paying customers watching.
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Buster Olney
