Cleveland Indians first round pick Brady Aiken looking forward to healthy return

Here's to a great week!

Aiken excited and throwing off mound again (Bastian)

Good news on the Indians 2015 first round pick.  From Bastian:

Aiken went through his windup, fired a fastball and heard it pop into the catcher's mitt.

"It was a very big moment for me," Aiken said from Arizona.

That was on Monday at Cleveland's Spring Training headquarters in Goodyear, Ariz. Aiken went through another conservative mound workout on Friday morning. He threw only fastballs, at only an estimated 50-percent effort level, but these were important pitches for the 19-year-old. They marked the next step in the road back to being an ace in the making.

The Yankees boring offseason (Rogers)

New York's General Manager, Brian Cashman, has stuck to his word about not making a big splash in this offseason's free agency market . . . so far.

The Royals did not screw up with Ian Kennedy's contract (Jackson)

Here we have an argument that Kansas City and Dayton Moore did not overpay for Ian Kennedy with their recent five-year, $70 million contract.  I certainly thought it was an overpay at first, but this article at least makes the deal sound reasonable enough.

Cardinals general manager discusses chances of DH coming to NL (Townsend)

St. Louis GM John Mozeliak says that there has been some momentum in the National League in regards to bringing the designated hitter position over.  From Townsend:

Mozeliak further noted the topic of the DH in the NL used to be a "non-starter" with officials, but now it's become more of a topic, which perhaps indicates actual movement within those ranks.

If the universal DH is truly gaining momentum, then it's something Manfred will have to take on head-on at some point during his tenure. At this point though, it seems like we're still a good distance away from it gaining enough momentum to motivate change. If there's a silver lining for DH backers though, it's that it's also difficult to see the tide ever shifting back in the other direction, meaning the universal DH is an inevitability at some point in baseball's future.

Taking a look at the top suitors for Yoenis Cespedes (Davidoff)

Depending what you read, Cespedes could be signing very soon or be waiting awhile until his demands are MET.  It seems that the Los Angles Angels, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, and New York Mets are most interested in the outfielder.

Cubs co-owner sticks foot in mouth (Townsend)

Co-owner Todd Ricketts made some not so nice comments, including calling Mets fans "really, really obnoxious."  But of course, all those amazing Cubbies fans . . .