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Ever wanted to ask a sports personality a question? Now’s your chance. They will answer readers’ questions in The Denver Post’s “Fan Mail” feature.

Keep an eye out for next week’s installment when Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd takes questions. Send your queries in an email to fanmail@denverpost.com.

Hey Harold, one of the hot topics in baseball, of course, is replay. What’s your opinion on replay and how this could make the major league game better? Could it harm the future of baseball? I believe the NFL has been able to implement this successfully.

— Joe, Greeley

Harold Reynolds: Well, that’s a tough one because it’s so controversial, and I mean that in all senses of the word because baseball’s a game where we have a human element involved.

Baseball is more intimate up-close and you’re going to have a lot of pitches thrown — there are 250 pitches thrown in a game, so you’re going to have a lot of mistakes and a lot of plays. That said, I think we’re moving toward expanding replay. There’s a lot of evidence that’s pushing it that way and fortunately we have a commissioner who’s open to it.

We’ve watched him move through it by appointing a committee to evaluate the game and he listens to their input. The suggestion and thought that I’ve always had — and I’ve heard others give the same suggestion — is that you should have a fifth umpire in a booth. Give the umpire crew chief an earpiece; they look at the replay together and huddle up and the fifth umpire says “Hey, we need to reverse it,” or “You’ve got it right, leave it alone.”

We’ve already got it with home runs and foul balls, so that works, but I do think there can be certain times that you can expand it. The controversy is the “what.” Is it pitches? Is it close plays at the bases? Is it balls down the line? Once they figure that out, maybe we can expand it.

I heard in an interview the other day how a lot of East Coast fans may not know much about the San Francisco Giants because their games are always on so late at night. It seems like West Coast and smaller market teams just don’t get as much national attention. Do you think this could be a “time zone” issue or is it just a “smaller market” issue or not an issue at all?

— Joe, Greeley

HR: Clearly, time zone is a simple answer. I live out east now but I grew up on the West Coast. Now that I’ve lived out east for the last 12-15 years of my life, I understand the difference.

My simple answer is that most of MLB’s teams originated out east. West Coast clubs are very young when you start looking at the history of baseball. In that sense, you’re going to have a little bit of a bias because most people who grew up with them are still following the East Coast clubs and the ones that are popular out west are the Brooklyn Dodgers, who are now in Los Angeles, and the New York Giants, who are now in San Francisco.

Colorado, Seattle, Arizona, all of those newer clubs need to build their own fan base and it’s going to take time. It’s taken years for the Yankees to have the following that they have and I don’t think anybody can expect that to happen overnight.

I know that when you were first drafted, you declined to sign with the San Diego padres and instead decided to play with a college team in California. Based on your experiences, do you think that it’s better for young players to sign with a team right away? Or should they wait until they feel they have mastered their game? Also, with the playoffs well under way, do you like Bud Selig’s idea of extending the number of wild-card teams in a couple of years from now?

— Geoff, Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.)

HR: As to your first question, this is a case-by-case situation. I think it comes down to maturity and opportunity. I look back to when I was 18 years old, coming out of high school. I had two older brothers playing pro baseball and I knew I wasn’t ready to ride a bus. I just wasn’t going to be ready to wash my clothes, do all the things that are required and still be able to focus on playing baseball and have that be a career.

In the next year, circumstances changed for me in college. I transferred schools, ended up back in the draft. I got drafted at a higher spot and I also grew up in that year where I knew I was ready to go.

I’ve been asked this through the years. I had a big debate when I was in Seattle with a friend of mine saying that Ken Griffey Jr. should’ve gone to college. He was 19-years old and playing in the big leagues. Nineteen years-old! But Ken Griffey Jr. proved that he could handle it. Some people cannot. So, it’s on an individual basis.

As for extending the playoffs, I like it. I think it adds to the competitive balance and I think baseball can handle it. Right now the system has been terrific but it does have a flaw, and that flaw is that the wild card has the same advantage of any other club that gets into the postseason.

(Wild card teams) should have a disadvantage. They should have to play a play-in game, and that’s what this would be, a play-in series so that you’re not walking into the playoffs with your pitching lined up the same as the club who just one 100 games. It’s not fair. I think this will make our game better and the playoffs better and eventually the World Series, and it will weed out the best teams that will win.

In today’s ever-changing game, in my opinion, each position evolves because of what stars make of the position. Younger generations emulate their stars and try to be like them and play their positions. Witness Pee Wee Reese, Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripken, Alex Rodriguez, and now, Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop. How do you see the progression at second base from Jackie Robinson, Joe Morgan, Ryne Sandberg and Roberto Alomar to today’s best? Who is the best star of today at second base that you believe today’s generation of youth baseball players should model their game after in regards to that position?

— Karl, Thornton

HR: I think younger players have to pick out the person that fits them best. If you’re smaller in stature and you’re a little scrappier, then you don’t get any better than Dustin Pedroia. If you’re like Robbie Cano and you’re 6-foot-1 and you can drive the ball and you’ve got a great arm, that’s a great guy to emulate.

Second base is probably the deepest position in all of baseball. You starting looking at Chase Utley, Robinson Cano, Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler and it’s the deepest position that’s got the most all-star potential every year.

Do you think the Yankees will have any problem acquiring Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee (during the offseason)?

— Andrew, New York City

HR: I hope Cliff Lee stays in Texas for baseball’s sake. He’s found a great fit, he’s got tremendous respect, and he’s going to get that respect anywhere.

There’s no doubt that the Yankees are probably going to throw an incredible offer at him and there are very few teams in baseball that could match it, but it would be nice to see him stay in Texas and be an example to other players that you don’t just have to go to New York to get the money. He would give that organization a guy to look up to and be a foundation.

I think the Rangers are going to be in the playoffs for the next 5-10 years, that’s the time of run they’re getting ready to go on. They remind me of the young Yankees with the Core Four (of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte). If I’m Cliff Lee, after a while, you’re going to get a big contract. I think he’s going to pick where he wants to go and the team where he feels he’s going to be competitive. And I think Texas is going to be very competitive.

How do you rank Troy Tulowitzki among the top shortstops or players in baseball? As a middle infielder, how do you rate the Tulo-Clint Barmes double play combination? I enjoy your baseball knowledge and insights.

— Steve, Aurora

HR: Tulo is one of the top players in baseball, not just at shortstop. I picked him to be my MVP for the National League in 2010, that’s how much I respect his abilities.

He has an incredible throwing arm, great power, hits for average — everything you look for, including leadership quality. It’s all there.

As far as Barmes is concerned, he doesn’t play every day, so it’s hard for me to say that that’s a combination. I don’t look at the Rockies and say that Barmes and Tulowitzki are a combination like (Chase) Utley and (Jimmy) Rollins. I know they’re there every day. One day you might see Eric Young Jr. at second base, so I don’t look at it like it’s an etched-in-stone, Lou Whitaker-Alan Trammell combination.

There has been some early speculation that Clint Hurdle might become the new manager of the Mets. You have been around the Mets enough to have a feel for that team. What do you think, is that a good match?

— Jim, Englewood

HR: I think Clint Hurdle would be terrific as the Mets’ manager. The No. 1 thing you’ve got to do in New York is handle the media. X’s and O’s, all those things can take care of themselves, but you have to be able to handle the media in New York. What I mean by that is you have to be accessible, you have to forthright, you have to answer tough questions, you have to lay your cards on the table and Clint Hurdle would do all of that.

On top of that, I think he’s a terrific baseball person. He’s got a real grasp on things. He did a terrific job in Colorado and he’s done a fantastic job in Texas as the hitting coach. His resume speaks for itself, but I think the thing that separates him from most other managers is his ability to communicate and handle the media.

Harold, you obviously love baseball, but the game doesn’t seem to have caught on with the current generation of African-Americans. My question: Do you think baseball will ever regain its popularity with black sports fans in America?

— Phillip, Centennial

HR: I think there is a resurgence, so to speak.

It’s not necessarily that the African-American community is not following baseball. I think they are. I think Major League Baseball’s done a great job with the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner cities) program, but I also think that we’re starting to see younger stars, and you need them for young black kids to look up to.

I wouldn’t have gotten involved in baseball if I didn’t have all the figures in the 1970’s that I grew up seeing. Now several of the role models that African-Americans identify with in sports are in football or on the basketball court. I think we need to get guys like CC Sabathia, Derek Jeter, Jimmy Rollins, Justin Upton, B.J. Upton, who are All-Star players, front and center.

The last thing is, I think we have to make it fair and competitive. A lot of times when I watch college baseball, there aren’t any African-American players. I’m just being frank. I did the College World Series for 10 years and I can count on two hands how many black players I saw.

As long as there are 11.7 scholarships available, it’s going to be very difficult to allow lower income families — not just black players, but lower income families – to play college baseball. If we continue to have the mindset that we’re only going to draft college baseball players, then you eliminate an entire generation.

That’s what happened when I look back at “Moneyball” and all the systems that we’re now accustomed to. We cut out a whole generation of ballplayers because we said we were only drafting college players. We have to change that system. I see a change happening now with some clubs starting to draft kids who are younger and come from lower-income families, and they’re not having to go to every camp to be evaluated and fit in. They’re scouting them and finding them.

So we’ve had a flawed system. It’s not that African-Americans aren’t playing — they are playing. I think the system that was in place did not allow them to be in a situation or put themselves in a position to be drafted.

Harold, the NL players just voted Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies as the league’s outstanding player. How much have you seen of him? What are your impressions and how good a player can he be?

— Dylan, Denver

HR: We’re looking at one of the greats for the next 10 years. His name will be penciled in for an All-Star Game almost every season. He’s going to right at the top with batting titles, home runs, RBIs like we saw this year and possibly a Triple Crown guy. He’s a once-in-a-generation player. I think he’s phenomenal.

Harold Reynolds, a two-time American League all-star, has long been considered one of the best baseball analysts on television. He’s an Emmy-award winner who now works as an MLB Network studio analyst and is covering the World Series between the Giants and the Rangers. He can be seen on “MLB Tonight” before and after each World Series game.

Reynolds made his big-league debut with the Seattle Mariners in 1983, spending 10 of his 12 Major League seasons with the club, earning two All-Star berths and three Gold Glove awards at second base.