Indians news and notes: Encarnacion still not part of the Cleveland Indians

Another day gone without Edwin Encarnacion booking a flight to Cleveland. Is it possible? Of course. At this point, who knows what will actually happen as the Cleveland Indians try to patch together some improvements for the 2017 lineup.

Indians news

Inbox: Status on possible Edwin-Tribe deal? | MLB

The biggest question that fans have is “why isn’t Edwin Encarnacion part of the Tribe yet?”. Jordan Bastian tackles that question along with questions about an extension for Cody Allen, spring training for the pitchers who logged a lot of innings in the postseason, and, of course, the status of Michael Brantley.

Tribe announces baseball ops promotions, hiring | MLB

A handful of Cleveland promotions and hirings were announced on Monday with the most noteworthy ones being Eric Binder, the former assistant director of player development, being promoted to the director of baseball operations and James Harris (who was with the Pittsburgh Pirates last year) being hired as the director of player development. Congratulations, gentlemen!

The complexities of the Cleveland Indians’ center field situation | Cleveland.com

The short version of this story is no one has any idea who’s going to be playing center field for the Cleveland Indians in 2017. I was in a panic, but then I remembered the ALDS and remember that it’s really not that big of a deal if we don’t have a center fielder:

Around the League

• Kenley Jansen got PAID as the Dodgers forgot what the phrase “luxury tax” means.
• MLB has instituted a new anti-hazing policy that will prevent teams from “requiring, coercing, or encouraging” players from "dressing up as women or wearing costumes that may be offensive to individuals based on their race, sex, nationality, age, sexual orientation, gender identify or other characteristic."
• Speaking of not respecting women, Aroldis Chapman is still being talked about like he’s not a garbage human being for some reason.
• Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis announced that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent a procedure to remove one of his testicles in November. Here’s to a full and speedy recovery, Chad.
• Stephen Strasburg is pulling an anti-Bauer and going with fewer pitches in 2017.

Poor Nationals (kind of):