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Yesterday's Game
Indians vs. Rangers recap: Josh Tomlin and Carlos Santana lead Tribe to victory - Let's Go Tribe
Yan Gomes, Carlos Santana homer as Cleveland Indians trounce Texas, 8-3 | cleveland.com
Cleveland Indians at Texas Rangers - June 7, 2014 | MLB.com CLE Recap
Lots of very welcoming developments from this game. First of all has to be Carlos Santana's good day, culminating with his home run to put the game away. Secondly, Josh Tomlin's 8+ innings of work, which gave the bullpen (sans John Axford) a day off. That should pay off the remainder of this series.
Cleveland Indians News
In recent years rounds 11-40 have been rather uneventful because of the draft pools, as any bonus over $100,000 to a pick after round 10 counts against the pool. That has ended the practice of clubs picking a player later in the draft and giving him a huge bonus. Don't take this to mean that those picks are worthless; last year the Indians selected Adam Plutko in the 11th round, and Plutko is already in Carolina's rotation. Still, these are players mostly intended to fill out of the rosters of the minor-league clubs.
But even so, some of the picks the Indians made yesterday were newsworthy.
Cleveland adds second Gomes to Tribe | indians.com: News
The Indians selected Juan Gomes, the younger brother of Yan Gomes, in the 37th round. The Indians drafted the younger Gomes as a catcher, though he's played mostly infield in high school and college. The article seems to suggest that Juan will go pro.
Indians come away with balanced effort in Draft | indians.com: News
BaseballAmerica.com: Draft: Draft Database
(plug in "Cleveland Indians" under the Sort By Team dropdown menu, and click the "Search" button)
The Indians also selected Peter Dolan, who is the son of team CEO Paul Dolan. Peter is a high school senior who doesn't plan to sign, instead walking on at the University of Michigan. If he was interested in playing pro ball, that negotiation would be rather interesting, to say the least.
In past years, the Indians have tried to draft at least one player from a Northeast Ohio high school or college, and this year they selected two: Peter Dolan (mentioned above), and Cody Callaway, who is one of the better high school players in the area, but has a scholarship to Bowling Green to play quarterback.
Swisher ready for Minors rehab with Double-A Akron | indians.com: News
Swisher will play for Akron on Tuesday and Wednesday, and if all goes well, he'll be activated while the Indians are in Boston. Presumably George Kottaras would be Designated again when Swisher is activated to make room on the 25-man roster, but what's more interesting is how Terry Francona will manage playing time. Lonnie Chisenhall has played himself into an everyday spot in the lineup, and Carlos Santana can't just be buried on the bench, with his only starts coming as a catcher. That probably means the Ryan Raburn/Jason Giambi platoon will get less playing time (a good thing), and that Mike Aviles won't get as many starts.
Tribe's milkman delivers in clutch: Cleveland Indians chatter | cleveland.com
Last year, George Kottaras, while a member of the Royals, beat Rangers reliever Robbie Ross in a milking contest. So when Kottaras as a member of the Indians, a re-match was set up. This year Kottaras won again, and got a second silver milk pail to place in his awards case.
Latest 25-man/40-man Roster
Believe it or not, Asdrubal Cabrera is now the team leader in WAR. Michael Brantley is getting nailed by the WAR calculation for supposedly bad defense. Same with Lonnie Chisenhall (bad defense), but I believe that.
I'm listing Mike Aviles as DH for now, though he's been playing other positions fairly regularly. That will change once Nick Swisher is activated from the DL, though, with Santana probably getting more starts as DH, with Swisher resuming his role as the everyday first baseman.
AL Central News
Twins to Sign Kendrys Morales - Twinkie Town
This came as a surprise to me, though the Twins could certainly use his bat. Morales, like Drew, is getting a one-year deal, and this time Morales' club will not be able to offer him a Qualifying Offer, and likewise the club that signs Morales next winter will not have to give up a draft pick.
A Plea to the Kansas City Royals to Show Some Self-Respect - Royals Review
In other words, don't hold a ceremony for Derek Jeter when he comes to town. As we saw with Mariano Rivera last season, 2014 has become a farewell tour for Jeter (the difference being that Rivera was actually good in his swan song, while Jeter, at least to this point, has been dreadful). Given the last couple years, I'd much rather have a player announce his retirement after he's played his last game, or late in the season so any ceremonies are spontaneous, not bloated and staged like we've seen with Rivera and Jeter.
Tigers 8, Red Sox 6: Detroit wins second straight, surivive Joe Nathan's struggles - Bless You Boys
We are getting closer and closer to Joba Chamberlain being the Detroit closer.
Hector Noesi: fixed or not? - South Side Sox
SSS uses a foolproof method to answer this question (hint: it's plastic, round, and you shake it).