seagull wrote:I can't keep track of who plays where. They've moved teams around since the Tucson teams move up here and Mesa built the Cubs a new stadium.

15 teams within a 60 minute drive is a lot better than Florida. Traffic still sucks.

Yeah it's no problem getting to the 1:00 games - it's rush hour though afterwards.

Diablo (Tempe) is about 3 miles from me so I will mostly stick there. But Goodyear on the 15th (Sunday) works.

Last time I went to spring training I was staying in downtown Phoenix. The traffic was terrible at times. I was leaving some days during 7th inning to get back before the rush hour. Our old pal J.R. gave me crap for leaving early, but I was raised in the hills of Ohio and now live in nowhere Montana. My idea of a traffic jam is getting behind a tractor pulling a wagon of hay. Or getting stuck in a no passing zone behind an Amish wagon. I don't do heavy traffic if I can help it.

I thought about going to Goodyear this year. I checked some sites like Air BNB and VRBO and there are nice affordable houses to rent in the Goodyear area. When I go back I'm going that route. Stay the hell out of Phoenix.

For sure Goodyear for you. That is pretty much the end of any kind of civilization west of Phoenix. Pretty far out and full development hasn't really kicked in there yet. But they are working on it....of course.

Carrasco down again with mild elbow issue.
Plutko with his best start.
Zimmer with another lousy day. Worst stats in camp makes Conner Marabell look like a stud

Domingo S signed for $1.5M.
Major league minimum is $563,500.
Dropping him and keeping Bradley is a trivial waste of money. I suppose some other team would pick him and pay him the minimum leaving the Indians with the difference'
So we'd be paying Bradley the minimum; and Santana the difference between that amount and $1.5M. which is what he'd cost us if we kept him
with the advantage that we don't keep him.

Is Bradley out of options?

If he is, trade him while he's hot.

offensive production for the 9 guys in competition for 3 or 5 spots

Bradley 333'1060
Luplow 222/833
Johnson 267/753
Zimmer 200/679
Deshields 227/553
D.Santana 200/480
Bauers 143/321
Allen 095/309
Naquin maybe soon

Santana is a lock to be on the team.

to me, Bauers, Allen (and I like him), Zimmer, Desheilds, and D Santana all go. Go young or go home!

Good article about Andrew Miller: https://www.si.com/mlb/indians/opinion/ ... t-was-real

I assume too that D.Santana is a lock but they've shown they're willing to dump FA pickups who don't show much in a month or two. Then Bradley gets his shot. I can't see them deleting Deshields. I agree he's nothing special but he can field and run, he'll have a role. Can't see any logical reason for Bauers to make the team; his spring has been horrible and that follows a pretty full season.

Indians Notes:

Rotation has more time to mend

Mike Clevinger, CLE

Clevinger was likely going to miss the first couple weeks of the season due to a torn meniscus, but the delay in schedule, combined with what has so far been a quick recovery, may allow the Tribe ace to miss very little, if any, time. Good for you if you got Clevinger on a discount due to his injury.

Carlos Carrasco, CLE

Like Clevinger, Carrasco (elbow inflammation) looked like he was at risk of missing Opening Day, but the delay in schedule should give him plenty of time to recover. Still, his situation is a bit riskier than Clevinger's. The Indians believe that the soreness is just a minor bump in the road, but we don't know that for sure. This is also already the second injury Carrasco has dealt with this spring. Even so, Carrasco may be a risk worth taking outside of the 1st 100 picks, especially now that he is likely to be ready by the start the season.

Lindor Contract Extension Talks Over for Now

Fransisco Lindor, CLE

The Indians and Lindor ended their talks about a contract extension earlier this week, at least for the time being. The Indians never really sign superstar players to big contracts, so we shouldn't be expecting anything to get done between the two sides. This of course means there's an increased chance that Lindor gets traded during the season, especially if the Indians are out of contention.

If you think the MLB season will only be pushed back 2 weeks, think again.

Sending everybody home from ST sites.

If they're lucky they'll be back in Arizona before the end of April. Would not be surprised if the regular season doesn't start until July;
Since the virus is not expected to totally run its course for six-18 months I don't know how they'll know when to get underway again.

Tidbit on Carlos Santana forecast:

Santana: his contact has always supported a BA higher than his career .250.

The question is whether last year’s big jumps in AEV and 95+% are for real. He hit all pitches well including a +14.9 pVal improvement against the changeup.

He starts 2020 six months older than he finished 2019. Given his career, regression this year is the obvious call, but his current reality should soften the blow to like .263 with 30 HRs in a good RBI slot.