Weekend Update 2/10

I have some unconfirmed dates in regard to when minor leaguers report to spring training:

March 2nd: Pitchers and catchers report
March 3rd: Physicals for pitchers and catchers
March 4th: First workout for pitchers and catchers
March 4th: Position players report
March 5th: Physicals for position players
March 6th: First full workout

This should be right, but if anyone in the know has something different, feel free to e-mail me at tlastoria@theclevelandfan.com and let me know.

Buffalo's spring training schedule was released this past week. The Bisons will play all their home games in Winter Haven and all games will be played at 1:00 p.m. with the exception of camp day intrasquad games, which will begin at 10:00 a.m.

Date Opponent Location
March 14 v Round Rock Winter Haven
March 15 v Toledo Winter Haven
March 16 CAMP DAY Winter Haven
March 17 v Richmond Winter Haven
March 18 @ Round Rock Kissimmee
March 19 CAMP DAY Winter Haven
March 20 @ Toledo Lakeland
March 21 v Round Rock Winter Haven
March 22 v Toledo Winter Haven
March 23 CAMP DAY Winter Haven
March 24 @ Toledo Lakeland
March 25 @ Richmond Kissimmee
March 26 CAMP DAY Winter Haven
March 27 @ Richmond Kissimmee
March 28 v Toledo Winter Haven
March 29 @ Toledo Lakeland
(schedule subject to change)

Congrats to Baseball America's Chris Kline for landing a gig as a scout with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kline was an excellent contributor to the publication, and he knew the Indians farm system inside and out. I've known Kline for about three to four years and talked somewhat frequently with him, and for awhile now his dream had been to be a major league scout. It was nice to see his dream realized, and I wish him the best of luck.

The Indians are not commenting on a proposed move of their Triple-A franchise to Columbus in 2009. With their Buffalo contract due to expire at season's end and Columbus with a vacant brand new state of the art stadium opening in 2009, there has been rampant speculation that the Indians will move their Triple-A operations to Columbus. While the Indians have a great relationship with Buffalo, and there really is only maybe an extra hour of driving time to Buffalo compared to Columbus for most Clevelanders, a move to Columbus makes sense on a lot of levels. To bring the Triple-A affiliate to the state capital of the team's home state would be huge, and also help pull from the Columbus market for the major league team as well as for the Indians new cable network. This will be an interesting story all season, but rumor has it this is pretty much a done deal that the Indians move to Columbus. We shall see.

Brendan Donnelly was signed to a minor league deal this week. This is yet another Shapiro reclamation project, and Donnelly likely won't pitch in Cleveland this year. There is a possibility he could pitch at the tail end of the season, but this looks more like a signing where the Indians hope to build some goodwill with Donnelly so if he remains healthy they can keep him fr next year. In an interesting twist, if he does not request his release on August 6th, the Indians could keep him the rest of the year and because he only has 4+ years of major league service time going into this season, he won't be eligible for free agent next offseason. He will only be arbitration eligible and under the Indians control, which means if he progresses well by the end of the season, Donnelly may be looked at as a bullpen option for 2009.

Oh yeah, Scott Elarton was signed to a minor league deal this week. Yawn.

One last thing, my prospect book is ready for printing and I will likely send in an order for it on Monday or Tuesday this week. I will have details in the next few days on how to place an order and how to get your payment to me.

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