Life can certainly change fast, but it is still hard to imaging JR's passing.

Jay Bruce - OF - Indians

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN reports that Jay Bruce will sign with the Mets, with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic saying it'll be a three-year, $39-million dollar deal.

The deal is pending a physical, reports Rosenthal. Bruce came over to the Mets in a deadline deal with the Reds in 2016, and then left New York for Cleveland when the Mets fell out of contention last summer. The outfielder will turn 31 in April, and posted an .832 OPS with 36 homers and 101 RBI for the Indians and New York last season.

He'll be an everyday player for the Mets again 2018 -- probably in right field -- and will likely hit in the middle of the New York order.

Who knows, but looks like a home town discount for the Mets. Evidently he, or someone in his family, like it in NY.

Cody Allen - R - Indians

Indians and RHP Cody Allen avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $10.575 million contract.

It was Allen's third year of abritration eligibility, and the Cleveland closer receives a sizable raise from his 2017 salary of $7.35 million. The 29-year-old reliever has saved 30 games or more the last three seasons for the Indians, and last year he registered a 2.94 ERA along with 92 strikeouts in 67 1/3 innings.

He'll once again be Cleveland's stopper in 2018, and he'll hit the free agent market in 2019, assuming he doesn't sign a long-term deal with the club.

Say no to a long term deal for Allen or any closer. Didn't you guys read Moneyball?

From Jon Heyman ...

The New York Mets, who signed outfielder Jay Bruce to a three-year, $39 million deal Wednesday night, nearly had a deal worked out with the Cleveland Indians for Jason Kipnis, according to sources. And in fact, there were people on both sides who thought they had a deal.

But apparently it was killed by someone at the top, very likely over money.

Hence we have the announcement that Kipnis will be at 2B. On the other hand, we shall see.

I'd definitely prefer to see Jose at 2nd, he and Lindor make a great defensive pairing. He handled third well, too, but not sure if he really has a 3rd base arm. We shall see.

JRs obit

http://obits.cleveland.com/obituaries/c ... &fhid=6468

Happy trails to you,
Until we meet again.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you,
Until we meet again.

Dale Evans

Random Browns post for HB and Browns followers. A nice story from a Bills article:

Unsung (Bills) hero:

Safety Jordan Poyer. He was signed as a free agent from Cleveland, coming off a serious kidney injury. Everyone knew who Micah Hyde was when he signed here, but no one knew anything about Poyer except for McDermott, and Poyer turned in a tremendous season-long performance.

Thanks for sharing that obituary, Seagull. I went looking for it the other day when you asked about it but I couldn't find it. I must have been too early.

JR - love coming his way! To the Godfather of the Indians' forum(s)!

Since Gerrit Cole trade to Astros is complete, perhaps teams who failed to meet the Pirates' demands will move on to Danny Salazar now?

I have a pretty darn good pic of our friend and leader!