I agree seagull and this will be the year Haase gets some real run!

OK, so Hanley is ready now. Don't know if the pitchers who surrendered his homers are legit, but he hit them out of the park for real.

I keep trying to remember this:

Bauer said he’s taking nothing for granted, and that teams emerge out of nowhere. It happens every season.

“It’s not who’s the best team on paper as we found out in 2017 and 2018,” Bauer said. “It’s who plays the best. And we have all the pieces here to play the best.”

This is so true. And I do think the team was flat last year with the cakewalk to the division so they didn't play well when they had to "turn it on".

The Twins' improvement may be just what they need. I hope so because another cakewalk would be boring.

Any way you look at it - if our starters get hot in a playoff series they can shut anyone down.

Geez hard to believe that anyone thinks that in this day and age that 2 million is a big deal.

$2M is a big deal if the front office is minding every penny.

Catchers Roberto Perez and Kevin Plawecki will do the catching. The picture cleared Thursday when Eric Haase was optioned to Class AAA Columbus. Haase didn’t draw much outside attention this spring, but it seems like he was in this race to the end. Francona said the Indians spent a lot of time discussing ways to fit Haase on the 25-man roster.

Mainly that was because of his bat. Haase hit .364 (8-for-22) with two doubles, two homers and 10 RBI. The 10 RBI were the second highest total on the team.

Haase produced one clutch hit after another. Twice he saved the Indians from defeat by hitting game-tying hits in the late innings. Teams usually play nine innings in spring training regardless of the score because teams don’t want to extend their pitching staffs.


Over the winter Haase attended “swing camps" in Cleveland and trained to hit in the clutch. Last year he had 16 sporadic at-bats for the Indians in September. The results left him frustrated so he tried to find a way to counter that and the process is working.

Catcher Eric Haase, optioned to Class AAA Columbus on Thursday, impressed the right people this spring.

“We thought so much of Haase that we had several conversations about maybe configuring our team that he’d make it,” said Francona. “We ultimately thought that if he’s playing sparingly in April in Cleveland, you’re setting him up for failure.

“You’re playing a kid once or twice a week with little major league experience. It’s normally cold. He’s not going to be catching. He needs to be in Triple-A catching. He had a terrific camp and I think he worked hard work on his swing. He’s getting to balls he didn’t used to get to. Defensively, he’s come light years.”

Nick Goody optioned to AAA and Trayce Thompson reassigned to Minor League camp. Roster is at 32 players

Apparently after his start today, Bauer left the facility without speaking to reporters. Feeling from some reporters is he is upset he didn’t get opening day nod.

This guy is almost impossible to like.

Just came here to say the same. Please trade this jerk before he leaves or suffers another injury.

of the "32" in camp, 28 are on the major league roster, but that includes Lindor, Kipnis, Zimmer and of course Salazar all of whom go on the DL. Among the non-roster invitees, the only ones still on hand as far I know are Carlos Gonzalez, who will still in Arizona, and Hanley Ramirez. That means there are 2 more who I don't see on the roster lists. As far I know the remaining are:

5 starters;
8 in the Bullpen: Hand, Cimber, Olson, Otero, NRamirez, Edwards, Wittgren, Perez
5 including Hanley: the handful of noninjured infielders: Santana, MRamirez, Moroff and Stamets [plus H.Ramirez]
5 the awesome OF: Martin, Allen, Naquin, Bauers and [surprise?] Luplow [plus Gonzalez]
2 catchers
1 The unknown 2nd baseman makes 26

They want to add some other guy to play 2nd base since Moroff is apparently not good enough to play although he is good enough to fill a spot on the bench. Knowing Kipnis and calf injuries, I assume whoever opens at 2nd will be there for a month or more. Among the names under consideration are Adam Rosales who played a couple games for us in September, Brad Miller whose OPS of 724 last season was 20 points higher than Kipnis.

civ ollilavad wrote:$2M is a big deal if the front office is minding every penny.

It's obvious that they are not minding EVERY penny, that's an exaggeration.

I look at it this way. The moves they made earlier in the offseason clear the way to take smaller chances like Hanley and Cargo and without being locked into multi years with them.

This ain't like the old days where GMs took their best gamble - these guys study this stuff constantly - even devoting entire departments to this type of research. The stats/metrics these days are mind boggling.

Tampa Bay (Oakland too) is the model - these guys have a payroll that makes the Indians look like the Yankees. Yet they win 90+ games in the AL East???

It can be done. And we have the advantage where 90+ wins will get us in the postseason where our rotation gives us the fighter's chance.

You know, interestingly, all the roster moves in the world wouldn't have made us the equal of Houston, NY or Boston on paper anyways. That's just reality. Those 3 teams have rosters that are mind boggling.

But like was pointed out, it's about who is playing well at the right time and we have the luxury of a very winnable division and entry into that lottery playoffs!

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- When the Indians learned Friday that both Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor would need to start the 2019 season on the injured list, the front office immediately started looking for available middle infielders. On Sunday, the Tribe found its match.

The Indians announced Sunday morning that they signed free-agent infielder Brad Miller to a Major League contract. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, pitcher Danny Salazar, who is working his way back from right shoulder surgery, was placed on the 60-day injured list.


Miller has been in the big leagues for six seasons, spending his first three years with Seattle before moving to Tampa Bay in 2016. Last season the Rays traded Miller to the Brewers on June 10, and he hit a combined .248 with seven homers, 29 RBIs and a .724 OPS on the year before being released on July 31. He was signed by the Dodgers on Feb. 27, and he hit .385 with two homers and three RBIs in 12 Cactus League games this spring before he was released on Thursday.

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Wittgenstein has been optioned to AAA as well.

So our bullpen is precisely the same bunch we had in September with the minor deletions of Allen and Miller.

Hillbilly wrote:GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- When the Indians learned Friday that both Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor would need to start the 2019 season on the injured list, the front office immediately started looking for available middle infielders. On Sunday, the Tribe found its match.

The Indians announced Sunday morning that they signed free-agent infielder Brad Miller to a Major League contract. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, pitcher Danny Salazar, who is working his way back from right shoulder surgery, was placed on the 60-day injured list.


Miller has been in the big leagues for six seasons, spending his first three years with Seattle before moving to Tampa Bay in 2016. Last season the Rays traded Miller to the Brewers on June 10, and he hit a combined .248 with seven homers, 29 RBIs and a .724 OPS on the year before being released on July 31. He was signed by the Dodgers on Feb. 27, and he hit .385 with two homers and three RBIs in 12 Cactus League games this spring before he was released on Thursday.

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Wittgenstein has been optioned to AAA as well.

Who??

60 day DL for Salazar is where he has spent much of his life. And where I expect he'll remain until his $5M deal expires. Although he could be activated at some point in the summer and then quickly become re-disabled.