Cleveland Sports Forum

Cody Anderson stretched out to 2 innings, scoreless, yesterday. At some point this season he could be big help,

Bieber 3 up 3 down in 1st. Topping out at 95 on gun.

Lindor and Zimmer both had at bats in a sim game today.

- per Andre Knott.

It's rise from the dead day. Luplow with a double; Matt Joyce with 2 singles. Both are now hitting .100. Bieber 4 shutout innings. Tribe up 6-0

IF Bieber continues to improve, it's amazing what this rotation could do.

Indians bats go crazy against a couple second rate Mariner pitchers, same guy named Felix Hernandez and a young guy who was their first round pick in 2018.

Mercado leads the way with his third homer, a double, and a single
Matt Joyce with his second straight two single day.
H. Ramirez' first extra base hit as an Indian
Ryan Flaherty homered
Eric Stamets with a two run double and a bases loaded walk.

Carrasco spring debut unimpressive except when compared to Felix's day. 2 homers and a single and a walk in 3 innings, he did K 4
2 perfect innings for Columbus opening day starter Adam Plutko

Federowicz adds a homer; it's now 16-2. I guess they'll be scoreless tomorrow.

scorelss innings for Otero and Grimm, each allowed a hit, O fanned 1 G fanned 2.
We have too many relievers pitching well this spring. What do we do with them all?
Clippard may have taken himself out of the running; down with an injury.

Hey civ - I don't know if you were watching, but King Felix was actually pitching pretty well until....

He threw a pitch to Jose Ramirez that was called a ball for a walk. And it was totally a strike. Felix mouthed off to the umpire and the manager actually had to come out to speak to him.

After that he got absolutely lit up.

Mercado absolutely looked great today. I do have to say, I am really interested to see if any outfielders run with this opportunity this year. I certainly think Naquin has a shot to do just that, and other guys like Mercado and eventually Zimmer just might too.

This isn't a bad time to give our young guys shots. We have the best rotation in the universe and the Central stinks. Rather than getting upset they didn't go out and get proven vets, I am going to watch with interest to see if young guys can surprise us.

Who are all these guys? H. Ramirez at least I have heard of. Maybe it was too early to watch a ball game. One dude didn't even have his name on his jersey.

And an Aussie accent in the Mariners' booth, that was different ...

There are some decent young unknowns out there to take a look at. Mercado and Johnson look like real possibilities for big league outfielders. Ernie Clement outperforms his talent and could well be a useful utility infielder in the near future. You Chang could be a solid hitter and perhaps 2b or 3B of the future. Some of the rest are soon on their way back to minor league camp, e.g. Mike Papi, Wilson Garcia, Mark Mathias. Catchers Navarro and Federowicz are in camp to help handle all the pitchers they've brought in for auditions.
There are still 58 guys in camp so more than 1/2 will be gone soon.

JEFRY RODRIGUEZ
SP, CLEVELAND INDIANS

Indians optioned RHP Jefry Rodriguez to Triple-A Columbus.
Rodriguez, 25, was acquired from the Nationals in late November as part of the Yan Gomes trade. He figures to play a role at the major league level at some point this year.

Mar 11, 2019, 12:54 PM

BEN TAYLOR
RP, CLEVELAND INDIANS

Indians optioned RHP Ben Taylor to Triple-A Columbus.
The 26-year-old Taylor put up very good numbers in Triple-A last year, but he struggled in his limited time in the majors. He'll continue to serve as bullpen depth in the minors.

Mar 11, 2019, 12:53 PM

YU-CHENG CHANG
SS, CLEVELAND INDIANS

Indians optioned INF Yu-Cheng Chang to Triple-A Columbus; reassigned RHPs James Hoyt, Brooks Pounders, and Asher Wojciechowski and OF/1B Mike Papi to minor league camp.
Chang, 23, batted .256/.330/.411 with 13 homers over 127 games last season in Triple-A. He's a solid prospect, but he's obviously blocked at the major league level right now. Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports that a recent finger issue was part of the reason behind him getting cut on Monday.

Mar 11, 2019, 12:50 PM

that brings them down to 51. I thought Chang could have a chance to be the utility man if Moroff would be the opening day SS. But probably makes more sense to go with Stamets since Chang still has a shot to be an everyday player.

Jefry Rodriguez is the only other one among that group who is likely to return to Cleveland some day.
Taylor's spot on the 40 man roster could easily go to Hanley Ramirez or Tyler [if he's not hurt[ Clippard or Alex Wilson.

Kluber finally started today, and got smacked around a bit. 5 hits and 3 earned (2 homers) in 3 innings.

We should have traded him while we could. His value is now obviously shot.

Well at least we still have Carrasco, Bauer, Clevinger and Bieber

day off

Back to work today, Indians score 3 in the first; JRam singles in one; HRan singles in 2. Mercado in LF today, with a double. I will be very disappointed when they option him out and keep Naquin. The two reasons to hold onto to Naquin are:
1. He's out of options and some team even more desperate than us for OFs could take him;
2. Maybe Hanley will fizzle out and we'll miss Naquin's big bat to fill in that gap in the lineup.
But Naquin will be turning 28 in a month and has not established himself yet which makes the chance that he will somehow catch on fire later pretty slight. Sure they can bring Mercado back at any time they want but why not start with a hot hand?
And a right handed hitting one.