Cleveland Indians plan to use Francisco Lindor in the No.2 hole

No game last night — The Cubs kindly decided to postpone so that Jason could deal with the flooding in his basement. Absent some other crisis at the Lukehart residence, the make-up will be on Monday, August 24th.

I'm not sure what they will do if tonight's game is also postponed. If it's even allowed under the CBA, a double-header on Aug 24 would certainly be tough on the Tribe, who are playing in New York the day before.

Indians news & notes

Rain delays Francisco Lindor's first big-league start: Cleveland Indians notes | cleveland.com

With the same two pitchers as last night now scheduled to go in tonight's game, it looks like the the Tribe will be using the same line-up as well, with Lindor at No.2 and Santana moving back to clean-up. "This being a National League park, you can put a guy down at the bottom of the lineup and think you're doing him a favor, but not really when he's hitting in front of the pitcher," said manager Terry Francona. "This gives us some balance (because Lindor is a switch-hitter)."

Cleveland Indians' Bobby Bradley continues homer barrage for Lake County Captains | MiLB.com

Five homers in eight games — not bad for a player who only recently turned 19. Hardly surprisingly, Bradley was just named MidWest League "Player of the Week".

Manny Ramirez remembers 1995 Cleveland Indians; will try to attend reunion | cleveland.com

"I'm trying to make it if I can work it out with my job." said Ramirez. "I'd love to be there."

2015 Draft: Signing and Bonus Tracker | MLB.com

A couple of draft signings are officially in — college senior pitchers Devon Stewart (9th rd) and William Strode (10th rd) will both receive $5K (#no leverage). So that frees up a total of around $300K for one or two of the tougher signings.

According to Todd Paquette's Twitter, OF Nathan Lukes (7th rd; reportedly headed to Mahoning Valley), C Jack Goihl (28th rd) and RHP Christian Meister (29th rd) have also all agreed to sign (no terms have been announced as yet). Incidentally, the two stateside rookie leagues will be getting underway this weekend.

Tidbits from around MLB

Padres fire Bud Black | MLB Trade Rumors

Another NL manager bit the dust yesterday, Bud Black (Padres). In the words of Fangraphs' Dave Cameron, "A.J. Preller builds a dysfunctional roster, then fires his manager when that dysfunctional roster doesn’t win," and Dan Szymborski, "The Padres are what, a game or two below reasonable expectations? I doubt it's Bud Black's fault that Matt Kemp has sucked. Now, it could just be that Preller's wanted his own guy in there and was looking for an opportunity, but it's hard to blame '15 on Black."

The year of the call-up | HardballTalk

Nine of the top 12 players in Baseball America's preseason prospect list have already been called up, with Kris Bryant and Joc Pederson already tearing up the National League.

Royals' rabid voters should spark radical changes to All-Star Game | Sporting News

At this rate, the All-Star Game could become an even bigger joke than the Pro Bowl.

Contender positions that could most use an upgrade | FOX Sports

No surprise that the Tigers could use some bullpen help. As they did in 2013, 2014 etc.

Grady Sizemore signs with the Rays | HardballTalk

After being released by the Phillies a couple of weeks ago, Sizemore has agreed to a minor league deal with the Rays.