Punxatawney Goes Public with Draft Plans October 11, 1998
Punxatawney, PA (AP)
Shortly after PVBL Commissioner Matt Peck ruled that teams must submit their
protection lists now rather than wait until just before the FA plan draft,
Punxatawney opted to announce their draft protection plans to the league,
following the lead of the Washington Sea Dogs.
The team has selected Option 2, which gives them the following list of
24-and-under players protected automatically:
The following players are protected by the 24 and under plan:
1B Jason Giambi ACT
2B Tony Batista ACT
2B Jack Jackson ACT
3B Scott Rolen ACT
LF Ryan Klesko ACT
RHP Rocky Coppinger ACT
LHP Mike Hampton ACT
RHP Curly Karkovice ACT
RHP Jaime Bluma AAA
RHP Jim Burright AAA
RHP Dustin Hermanson AAA
In addition, the team gets to protect 3 players and designate 1 franchise
player.
They have opted to protect two starters and their shortstop. Jon Lieber,
Bobby Thomas, and Jose Valentin will all be protected.
"Selecting a franchise player was a bit more tricky," said Hogs GM Dan
Shapiro. "We had a number of players we wanted to keep on the team."
Their franchise player is catcher Dan Wilson.
"He's a commodity that many teams might want. A catcher who can hit for
power and contact. If we put him on the free agent market, we'll never keep
him. If anyone wants him, we'll be willing to take two first rounders,"
Shapiro said.
This leaves a few quality players unprotected. This includes pitchers Ken
Hill, Sean Bergman, and Ricky Bottalico, as well as outfielder Dave
Martinez, as well as top setup men Scott Ruffcorn and Bobby Munoz.
"We'd really like to keep all of them, but thats not gonna happen. Hill and
Bergman are both 16 game winners, and Hill is a top starter with numbers as
good as Clemens," Shapiro noted.
Bergman had a quality year in his first season starting, but the large
number of quality Groundhog pitchers makes him an expendable quantity.
Bottalico is one of the best closers in baseball and racked up over 20 saves
this year. Dave Martinez is a solid outfielder, but he's rather injury
prone and aging quite a bit. Munoz and Ruffcorn both have had great years
in the bullpen, the cornerstones of one of the best bullpens in baseball.
"We'd really like to keep Ken Hill around, now that we've acquired him. He
helped us a ton down the pennant run and he's the only pitcher on this team
with enough endurance to throw 9 quality innings every game. But if we lose
him, we can replace him," said Shapiro.
Punxatawney will now sit tight and watch the playoffs. After the FA plan
and FA draft are complete, the team will look toward strengthening itself
for the coming season.
