Thanks for the scoop HB

Tidbit on ballparks. "Ballpark factor" (long story short) measures how hitter or pitcher friendly a park is. A rating around 100 is middle of the road - above his hitter friendly and below more pitcher friendly.

This particular chart has all kinds of settings. Ratings for singles, doubles, homers etc.

I chose a 3 year regression so the link is based on the past 3 years but you can fiddle with it. Found it fascinating that overall Progressive Field is tied for 4th for most HITTER friendly. With Fenway no less.

Yet not because of homers (you'd think the large LF wall has something to do there). But other various hits..

https://www.fangraphs.com/guts.aspx?typ ... 0&sort=3,d

Glad to hear Cookie is alive and well. although not sure which Friday he is referring to: he didn't start today, I'll see if he comes on in the 4th. If not until next Friday he'll be three starts behind Iron Man Trevor

OK, all is well with the world, Carrasco comes on to start the 4th.

Interesting take on Alonso from a fantasy site:

Yonder Alonso (CLE) 1B -

It would be easy to dismiss Yonder Alonso as a first-half wonder from last year, and it appears that that is exactly what's happening as he is currently 1B39 coming off the board.

Here are some facts as to why I think he will outperform that spot enough to be a worthwhile standard-league CI: 1) moving to CLE, this will be the first year of his big-league career where he is a starter in a favorable park for hitting; 2) moving to CLE, this may very well be the first time in his career that he's in a better than average lineup; 3) the second half "swoon" that he experienced included a FB rate that was still 3 percent better than his previous best, and a hard contact rate that actually increased from the first half to a new career high.

Better lineup, better environment, somewhat misleading second-half stats (particularly in AVG). I think he could definitely outpace last year's production this season in CLE, which should put him up around the top-20 at 1B.

Bad news for HB

The Indians are grooming third basemen. The plan is for Yandy Diaz to open at that position in Class AAA Columbus. That can change if someone is injured. The Indians have played Yu-Cheng Chang at third at times this spring. Chang played shortstop at Class AA Akron in 2017, batting .220 (.774 OPS) with 24 HR and 66 RBI.

Nah, it's totally expected. When Yonder was signed and Kipnis didn't get traded it was pretty obvious there was no spot for Yandy. They tried the OF one time and it was ugly.

Does anyone think that perhaps moving Zimmer to first and Allen to center perhaps next year might be wise? Zimmers height and the fact that he is a lefty makes a pretty compelling case for first base. Allen is supposed to be the real deal as well.

Everyone think's Zimmer is a terrific outfielder. Has an excellent arm which would be wasted at 1st base. Maybe RF? Could have the ability to put together a terrific fielding group of OFs who can run well and hit marginally.

I am hoping our OF in the very near future is Naquin, Allen, and Zimmer, from left to right. And hope Bradley cuts down on the K's enough to become the regular 1st baseman.

Top stattrak measured speed guys in MLB

2017 Baserunning Sprint Speed leaders, feet per second

30.1 feet per second -- Billy Hamilton
29.9 -- Byron Buxton
29.8 -- Bradley Zimmer
29.6 -- Franchy Cordero
29.4 -- Keon Broxton
29.3 -- Dee Gordon / Delino DeShields
29.2 -- Kevin Kiermaier / Manuel Margot / Lorenzo Cain / Jarrod Dyson / Mallex Smith
27.0 -- Major League average

And that is why the Tribe sees CF for Zimmer. Amazing, #3 fastest player in baseball

Allen is fast and plays a great CF too. Plus he is a prototypical lead off hitter that gets on base. That is hard to find and everyone wants one. Zimmer also has a good arm, which is why he eventually ends up in RF. In my worthless opinion..

Absolutely all solid points but in my equally worthless opinion I think the Tribe sees stars when they think of Zimmer's talents being the CF of the future. And others will have to fall in line and fit in around him.

Yes, OF in the very near future of Naquin, Allen, and Zimmer would be supremely athletic, great runners, great arms. But not so sure of the offense. Yet again, with the bats we offer in the infield it could work.