Around the Majors | News and Notes

The risk the Phillies and A's take in not getting Scott Rolen and Jason Giambi signed runs deeper than home runs and RBI -- and with the dearth of third basemen everyone knows Rolen can break the bank after 2002 and that Giambi's power numbers are going to earn him a few nachos grande at the end of this season, signing freeze or no signing freeze.

Both these organizations are trying to build something long-term. Philadelphia promises Rolen that somewhere around 2004 they will be very good. Oakland already is very good -- according to all scouting accounts the best team in Arizona this spring and again potentially one of the American League's three best teams.

	Scott Rolen gives the Phillies much more than a big bat.

Giambi feels that if he is willing to defer a chunk of his $90 million, six-year deal, then he is coming in under Carlos Delgado-market value, and thus should have no-trade protection so he doesn't start getting passed around like an e-mail joke. The A's say, hey, Jason is being offered Chipper Jones money and the only reason they'd ever want to trade Giambi is if the franchise is in trouble, and he'd want out at that point anyway.

The risk is that these are people whom teams are built around. Rolen has tremendous leadership skills as well as on-field talent. Giambi learned from Mark McGwire and is willing, like McGwire, to accept the mantle of responsibility to front the clubhouse; if Giambi slipped, McGwire wouldn't hesitate to put him back on track. Those traits are priceless.

"You watch what goes on around our team and Mac casts a huge shadow over everyone," says Jim Edmonds. "He's the first person to the park. He works the hardest. He deals with the media. He doesn't tolerate anyone not approaching the game the right way. I know he pushed me to work ways I'd never thought of."

McGwire's presence takes pressure off young players. "There's no question it helped me," says J.D. Drew. "With the publicity I received, it was a lot easier to break in here that it might have been somewhere else where I would have been the center of attention. I came up the September when Mark was breaking the record, I hit a couple of homers and no one noticed. That was great for me. Even more so -- what a great thrill for me to watch."

McGwire thinks that veteran presence is important. "I think it's important for young players to be constantly reminded that what you do one year means absolutely nothing the second that season is over," says McGwire. "Then you have to start pushing towards the next season. As a young player, you need someone to point you in the right direction. I was brought up right, with the A's. I had Carney Lansford there to teach me the way the game should be played. Look at the way Darryl Kile is with our young pitchers, what a leader he is. Darryl was brought up the right way, in Houston with Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and those guys. Houston's a great example of how you can have a consistently good organization if your star players are the right people. The teams that go up and down are those without that, and it's got to be the players."

	“	A lot of players talk about wanting to win, but they talk. You have to want to be a leader, have to feel that winning is all that counts. The commitment it takes to win and to lead is a lot more than talk. ”
		— Alex Rodriguez

McGwire and Bagwell are franchise figures. Todd Helton will eventually be one in Colorado, Darin Erstad in Anaheim once he learns to relax. Carlos Delgado is close to being one. Derek Jeter, too, although he's one of the youngest players on a veteran team. Paul O'Neill has always felt that these 1996-2000 Yankees are what they are because of the leadership of Don Mattingly, and that the attitude, respect and diligence grew under Joe Torre. And now Jeter is emerging as the heir to Mattingly's throne.

One of the reasons the Rangers invested so much in Alex Rodriguez is they feel he can be their franchise foundation for 10 years. At 25 and new to the team, he cannot take over as leader right away, and by bringing in Andres Galarraga, Ken Caminiti and Randy Velarde, Rodriguez can build the base and be the Rangers' Bagwell when Carlos Pena, Jason Romano and their other young players are ready for prime time. Case in point: this spring Rodriguez, usually a 7 a.m. arrival, talked to Pena and Romano about coming in at 9. Soon thereafter, they were in the cages at 7 a.m.

"A lot of players talk about wanting to win, but they talk," says A-Rod. "You have to want to be a leader, have to feel that winning is all that counts. The commitment it takes to win and to lead is a lot more than talk."

It's a hard thing to value in dollars. That's what the Phillies and A's are calculating right now. "You can't put a price on what Mark McGwire brings to the Cardinals organization," says Tony La Russa. "The responsibility he accepts is as great as any number of home runs."

AROUND the MAJORS

With Chuck Smith down and A.J Burnett out until May, the Marlins' early enthusiasm has been dampened with a need for another starter. Jason Grilli has had a very good spring. On the bright side, Braden Looper is throwing his slider for strikes and may be arriving as a dominating setup man. ... Chris Donnels, who may end up playing a lot of third base for the Dodgers, on what he learned in his four years in Japan: "There's no question they make you come back a better hitter. You get nothing but nasty pitches every pitch -- 3-1 breaking balls on the black, and so forth. You really have to learn to hit good pitches.

	Scott Radinsky is the lead vocalist in the Southern California punk revival band Pulley.

There are no cripples." It's a beautiful thing to have Donnels and Dave Hansen down at the far end of the Dodger clubhouse, making it the home of the "Pulley (Scott Radinsky's band)" fan club. "Scott's getting mainstream," says Hansen. "You can find his stuff anywhere from Best Buy to Target." Pulley has its own website and its own section at the Tampa Borders.

NEWS and NOTES

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