Re: General Discussion

4433
Rusty, you get information before I do! Where do you find the Salazar update?

Here's a Plain Dealer piece from a couple days ago:

Clubhouse confidential: In three starts with Triple-A Columbus, Danny Salazar is 0-3 with a 7.11 ERA. He has surrendered 21 hits and has issued eight free passes in 12 2/3 innings.

The Indians optioned Salzar to Columbus on May 16 so the right-hander could work out some kinks in his delivery. He had trouble keeping his lead arm at a consistent height during his throwing motion. As a result, he lacked deception in his delivery, often struggled to throw strikes and racked up a 5.53 ERA and 1.623 WHIP in eight starts with the Tribe.

"He was getting it up too high," said manager Terry Francona. "It wasn't so much the height of the lead arm. It's what it was doing to the rest. He was kind of rocking. He wasn't driving off that back leg."

On Friday, Salazar allowed three runs on 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings for the Clippers. Jason Bere, a special assistant to baseball operations, assured Francona that Salazar's outing wasn't as poor as the box score indicated.

"It sounded like he threw a lot more fastballs down in the zone," Francona said. "He got a little out of whack in his delivery. ... [Bere] said, 'Don't let that line score beat you up. He wasn't that bad.' That was good to hear."

Jesus be nimble, Jesus be quick: Jesus Aguilar is listed at 6-foot-3, 250 lbs. He is probably larger than that.

On the first play of Saturday's game, Aguilar nearly did the splits as he stretched to snag a throw on a groundout. For a guy with a sizable frame, Aguilar can field his position. Francona said he has been impressed with Aguilar's defense at first base.

"He has pretty good feet around the bag," Francona said. "He lowers his body good on ground balls to slow things down, which is hard to teach. Good infielders do that, as opposed to stabbing at balls. He stretches well."