Indians news & notes: Marlon Byrd brings the promise of legitimate power

Everyone else is trying to get over their St. Patty's day-induced hangover, but tough cookies. There's baseball news here to report and by god, I'm gonna report it. Here's a look at what's going on around the league today:

Reds 8, Indians 6

Danny Salazar had a disastrous outing yesterday, giving up three dingers and five earned runs total in what turned out to be a slugfest vs. the Cincinnati squad. The Dzar also got hit pretty hard in the left wrist by a line drive from Joey Votto, but he was able to finish the rest of his terrible outing. Jason Kipnis was the highlight for the Tribe offense, smashing a three-run bomb to go along with Tyler Naquin's triple, but the rest of the game was pretty ugly stuff. On to the next one.

Kipnis hits 3-run homer, Naquin triples vs. Reds | Indians.com

Meseroco homers in first game back, Reds beat Indians 8-6 | Ohio.com

Indians news & notes

Cleveland Indians wise to add Marlon Byrd in quest to find some power | Cleveland.com - Terry Pluto really like Byrd's power, but had to dig deep to understand why no one had signed him despite his solid batting average and RBI numbers.

Tribe brings Byrd into mix on minor league pact | Indians.com - Marlon Byrd was overlooked by everyone until the Indians decided to give him a look. The details of the contract aren't finalized yet, but Byrd seems very enthusiastic about the opportunity to play for a team he feels has a chance to win it all. Byrd could be a valuable power asset in a Tribe lineup that was led by Carlos Santana's meager 19 homers in 2015.

On Marlon Byrd and the 6 things we learned Thursday about the Cleveland Indians | Cleveland.com - Hoynsie also takes a deep dive in RBI and batting average numbers, both in discussing Byrd and in his daily musings about totally meaningful spring training numbers.

Cleveland Indians' Michael Brantley takes another step toward April 4 with first game | Cleveland.com - Dr. Smooth made his spring debut Thursday in an intrasquad minor league game, enduring a brutal heckling from Josh Tomlin in his first live action returning from injury.

Brantley on rehab: "I'm not going to hold back" | Indians.com - As we'd all expect, Smooth is going for it with gusto. He's not going to led deadbeats like Tomlin get him down.

Why Indians fans should love Cralos Santana | Waiting For Next Year- If somehow by now Jason Lukehart hasn't convinced you that Carlos is a national treasure, then nothing will. Nonetheless, the boys over at WFNY give it their best shot.

News from around the league

• Somehow Adam LaRoche's retirement is the biggest news in baseball, and Fangraphs thinks there's validity to both sides of the story
• Many of the Sox players don't see it that way; they considered boycotting yesterday's game, as Craig Calcaterra reports in a collection of LaRoche-related pieces
• Giancarlo Stanton says he wasn't beaten by Barry Bonds in a homerun contest - because they were on the same team
• Apparently 37 year-old erstwhile ace Johan Santana is looking to make a mid-year comeback in 2016
• Mike Trout further establishes himself as Bryce Harper's foil, playing the "respect the game" card in saying he'll never flip his bat