Peter Gammons gets some people riled, but I find him harmless and amusing, especially compared to certain local columnists. He's well-connected in several front offices, and can always be counted on to pass along juicy rumours. In his latest, Gammons takes a look ahead at the upcoming season, including some fun lists, based on his personal poll of executives and scouts.
Mark Hendrickson's honourably mentioned as a potential impact rookie, Jason Arnold is named as a freshman to watch in the second half, Vernon Wells "could vault to star level," and Jeff Tam is among the "innocuous acquisitions who could surprise," but somehow the 2003 Blue Jays aren't included as a team that will outperform expectations.
Also on ESPN.com, favourable commentary from Jayson Stark and Jim Caple on the announcement by the Commissioner that home-field advantage in the World Series will be determined by which league wins the All-Star game. What a crock! If an exhibition game is going to matter so much, why not use the spring training standings? (I'm joking.) How about a coin flip? Though I'm against the whole concept of interleague play, doesn't it make more sense to use those results? Actually, nothing's wrong with the status quo of alternating. This is yet another Selig overreaction to yet another mess he created himself.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030111033731999