MLB adopts new rules regarding slides into 2nd, pace of play

The big news around baseball is that MLB has adopted new rules to help curb the possibility of collisions at 2nd base. Of course, the rule change was sparked by Chase Utley's controversial slide in 2015's NLDS, which injured Ruben Tejada and left a lot of people wondering why on earth that kind of play was legal in the first place.

As of the time of publication, no one has gotten in touch with Albert Belle to get his opinion on the rules. But hey, there's a bunch of other stuff going on around baseball that's worth reading about!

Tribe news & notes

Francona 'never understood the neighborhood play,' so consider him in favor of MLB's new rules | Cleveland.com - Tito may be a renaissance man, but he's typically one of the more progressive managers in the league when it comes to everything but sacrifice bunting. So it's no surprise that he's not ranting and raving about preserving the grittiness of the game or some other nonsense.

Breaking down Indians' 2016 top 30 prospects | Indians.com - Bradley Zimmer leads one of the best packs of Tribe prospects ins recent history, but how do the rest of the boys stack up? MLB.com's Mike Rosenbaum breaks down the best of the bunch by category.

All-time Indians: Ronnie Belliard | Burning River Baseball - BRB has an ongoing "All-time Indians" series and I don't usually link to it, but come on... when was the last time you say "all-time" and "Ronnie Belliard" in the same sentence, let alone as the basis of an entire article?

What to do with Giovanny Urshela | Wahoo's On First - Assuming Juan Uribe eventually gets his visa, the Indians will have to find a place for last year's (and the future's?) third basemen. The most obvious route seems to be sending him back down to AAA to marinate for a bit, but it might be possible that some of that time in Columbus is spent getting reps at other positions.

Cowgill is a platoon candidate in Tribe outfield | Did the Tribe Win Last Night? - Bob Toth profiles one of the Tribe's lesser known offseason signings and discusses how he might fit into the 2016 roster.

Tidbits from around MLB

• As mentioned above, the big news of the day is MLB adopting a new rule regarding sliding into second, and also a few new rules relating to pace of play; as expected, Mets manager Terry Collins has a lot to say about it
• Hell, Collins doesn't eve want to let Yoenis Cespedes wear his hat backwards during practice
• Dexter Fowler psyched out the Orioles and everybody else, signing with the Cubs instead
• Yasiel Puig is buying his own tricked-out helicopter to get to games this season
• Fangraphs discusses why the hate the Diamondbacks so much
• Rounding out the ridiculous news of the day, the Albuquerque Isotopes will be wearing 'Better Call Saul' uniforms for a promotion this season