It’s a special day in the land of Cleveland Indians’ baseball.
It’s Opening Day eve, and the Cleveland Indians are rolling into San Francisco in preparation for their opening day tilt against the Oakland Athletics, a game in which we’ll get to see our old friend Scott Kazmir in his first official start with the A’s. While we can start looking forward to the interesting match-ups on a day-to-day basis, the CSI crew got together for the first time in weeks to talk about some of the Spring Training news, and began to look forward at the season, as well as at the Indians signing philosophy after they allowed two starters to walk away, then passed on extending Justin Masterson.
Two hours after we recorded the pod, the Indians then signed Yan Gomes to a long-term deal out of the blue. While we didn’t discuss that specific deal, we did talk about the Indians plan going forward.
Here’s the rundown:
2:40–The concern of the starting rotation
3:15–Carlos Carrasco has concerns, regardless of your belief in his upside
6:00–While there’s a body of work, there are questions about each spot in the rotation, especially Carrasco and McAllister (his label forever–upside)
7:10–Mike seems to have a moderate fanboy crush on…
7:40–Francona made some definitive statements about Carrasco
8:30–Carrasco has no foundation to support folks that talk massive upside
9:20–The #5 starter will be fluid
9:50–Carlos Santana moves to third base, and Steve’s face is frozen
12:50–Mike talks Santana concerns, especially considering the weak defense
14:45–Lonnie Chisenhall is now just a back-up
18:00–Carlos Santana has so much offensive plus
22:30–Steve begins his 2014 predictions: Can he match 2013?
26:15–A lot of talk about Francisco Lindor
32:45–Francona has earned the type of trust to move Lindor in the lineup without an injury
36:50–Lindor could play his way onto this team
38:12–David Murphy—get excited
40:00–Steve hates on Murphy and makes everyone sad
41:45–David Murphy or Eddie Murphy?
At this point…Orbanek goes off…Marco Polo…Rob Lowe and Eddie Murphy…
45:15–Mike loves right field, even though it’s not as sexy as Rob Lowe
48:15–The Indians model of signing free agents, and the issues.
52:00–Masterson would have been an investment
55:00–Jake Westbrook Rule
55:30–The Indians need to lock up young pitchers to long-term deals, and players in general…like John Hart
59:00–Salazar needs signed long-term
1:02–Mike the narcissist, and Jim gets him to say pooh-pooh
1:08:40–Mike talks Trevor Bauer and his new, moderate man-crush, and an old fanboy discussion on middle infielders
1:10–Michael Bourn watch
1:10:55–The plugs
Cleveland Sports Insiders 