COMMENTARY : They’ll Have Plenty to Choose From

If the Colorado Rockies or Florida Marlins have the money and the inclination, they could acquire an outfield of Danny Tartabull, Ellis Burks and George Bell and build a rotation around Jack Morris, Bruce Hurst and Bob Welch. Those players, as well as many more high-salaried, high-profile players, are available to the National League expansion clubs in their draft Tuesday, according to published reports.

Lee Smith, Jose Lind, Bobby Thigpen, Glenn Davis, Kelly Gruber and Charlie Leibrandt also are among the players left off the protected lists of the 26 existing clubs, which were uncovered by the Chicago Tribune and Rocky Mountain News.

Each team submitted a list Monday of 15 players who they chose to exempt from the draft. Only the Rockies, Marlins and the commissioner’s office received those lists.

They were intended to be so secret that the commissioner’s office originally asked employees of the Rockies and Marlins to sign pledges that they would not divulge them. Any person found to violate that pledge would be fined $250,000.

However, Marlins General Manager Dave Dombrowski said the commissioner’s office “never asked us to” sign any papers after that initial request. The commissioner’s office intends to look into the release of the lists, according to a spokesman in that office.

Several general managers were known to be outraged about the release of the lists. Two executives who asked not to be named said the secrecy would have insured against alienating players who might be offended that they were not protected. In addition, one executive said clubs were reluctant to let other teams know how they evaluate the talent in their system.

“You never want to tip your hand,” the executive said.

Said Dombrowski: “A lot of clubs, I don’t think, are going to be happy with (this) situation.”

Further, the release of the lists could trigger a flurry of trade requests to the Marlins and Rockies. Now that every club knows who is available, they can make arrangements with the Marlins or Rockies to draft a particular player with the express purpose of then trading for that player. .

“We’ve had discussions in the beginning stages of those things, relative to the list,” Dombrowski said. “Clubs have approached us about taking players from other organizations.”

Dombrowski said the Marlins have decided on “their top few” picks. He said none of those picks involved a player they intended to trade, though he did not rule out changing those plans.

If money were no object, the Marlins or Rockies could field this lineup with their 13 first-round picks: first baseman Davis, second baseman Lind, shortstop Shawon Dunston, third baseman Gruber, outfielders Tartabull, Burks and Bell, catcher Damon Berryhill and pitchers Hurst, Welch, Chris Hammond, Lee Smith and Mitch Williams. The price tag for those 13 players last season was $35 million.

“I’m not sure if we took all those players available that we’d have a club that would be able to win the division,” Dombrowski said.

Several clubs left their closers unprotected, apparently under the assumption that the Rockies and Marlins will not be competitive enough to find enough use for a high-salaried relief specialist. Six closers who have saved at least 30 games in a season are available: Smith, Williams, Thigpen, Bryan Harvey, Steve Farr and Mike Schooler.

The protected lists give an indication of how valuable teams consider pitching. Of the 390 players protected, 167 of them, or 43 percent, are pitchers. Five clubs devoted more than half of their entire list to pitchers: the Angels, Mariners, Expos, Pirates and Giants all protected eight pitchers.

The lists also may hint at a lack of quality catchers. The 26 clubs protected a total of only 32 catchers.