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Don't expect much from draft proposal
Baseball insider Mike Berardino spoke with CNNSI.com about the latest offseason goings-on: CNNSI.com: Bud Selig recently came out with some proposals such as a balanced draft. Will smaller clubs benefit from this? Mike Berardino: I just completed my first mock competitive-balanced draft this morning and it's really not going to yield anything too exciting. When you look at it, the commissioner's plan would allow the top eight teams over the past three years to protect 25 players off their rosters. That pretty much leaves scrimmage players and prospects that no one has ever heard of. I really think in order to make this work they would have to cut that number of protected players to 15. That's how they do it in the expansion draft. We've seen a couple of times in the past decade that there weren't really any superstars coming out of the expansion draft either. If they really wanted to get tricky with it, they could drop the number all the way to 12 and then a team like the Yankees would actually have to give up someone they plan to use. CNNSI.com: Let's move on to free agents. Who's still left on the free agent list and where might they end up? Berardino: We are really down to bargain-bin time in this process. Rickey Henderson is still out there looking for a job; he just turned 42 years old on Christmas day and he is 86 hits shy of 3,000. He is not about to walk away until he gets to that magic number. I would say a team like Montreal is one to keep an eye on. The Expos went hard after Henderson last May when he was cut loose by the Mets; they came in second to the Mariners at that time. Montreal is still looking for a left fielder, still looking for someone to lead off - and, hey, Rickey might sell some tickets when he gets close to 3,000. Another guy to look at is Juan Gonzalez, who may possibly be able to find a home with the Orioles, who are looking to spend some of Peter Angelos' money. Mike Mussina is gone, of course. Baltimore has already brought in David Segui and Pat Hentgen, but there are still a few more dollars lying around for Juan -- though not likely the $140 million he passed up in Detroit. CNNSI.com: And what about David Cone? Any chance he could end up back with the Yankees? Berardino: Well, as much sense as that might make and as much as people in the Yankees camp would like to see it happen, it's not going to. Cone's options at this point would appear in Kansas City, his hometown, or in Texas. Joining the Rangers' starting rotation is the most appealing option. He is 16 wins shy of 200 for his career and there is something about that mark that makes a pitcher want to hang on. A-Rod has already made a call to Cone to try to recruit him down to Texas, where if they don't sign Cone, they're looking for Ryan Glenn and Doug Davis at the back of the rotation. It seems kind of crazy to ride out guys like that when you have a shortstop there for $252 million. Look for Cone to go to Texas. Mike Berardino covers baseball for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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