Tyler Naquin making his case for Opening Day

Well, the Tribe won their first baseball game of 2016 yesterday.  If (counting ties as losses) we were 1-6 to kick off the regular season, I'm sure that there would be a lot of frustration around the interwebs.  Actually, come to think of it, there probably is a lot of frustration on other sites.  I haven't subjected myself to the negativity, and I suggest that you all do the same.  Instead, enjoy the fact that the Cleveland Indians are inching ever closer to playing meaningful baseball!

Indians news

• Indians get their first victory of the spring over the Dodgers by a score of 8-5 | MLB
  As noted above, it took the Tribe until game 7 of spring training to notch their first victory.  The game had many highlights, including a couple of long drives by some of the team's younger members:
• Indians taking aggressive Hunter along slowly | MLB
  Tommy Hunter wants to get back to the mound more than (seemingly) anyone else on the team.  But, if he's going to be a productive member of the bullpen this season, he's going to have to take things slow in order to fully recover from a tough offseason.
• Tyler Naquin front and center in Cleveland Indians' search for center fielder | Cleveland.com
  Who needs Austin Jackson when you have someone up and coming like Tyler Naquin?  Hyperbole aside, the young center fielder is doing everything he possibly can to make the Opening Day roster for the Tribe, and it's showing; with the absence of Abraham Almonte and the lack of Austin Jackson, Naquin is primed to take over a starting spot on the Tito's lineup card.
• Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley almost healthy enough to hit baseballs with a bat while outside | Cleveland.com
  Who knows?  With the progress that Brantley is showing, they may even let him go bowling without the bumpers up as well!
• Make-or-break seasons: Players on the spot in the American League | ESPN
  ESPN has chosen a player from each team which they consider to be in "make or break" mode for the 2016 season.  For the Cleveland Indians, that player is young pitching phenom Trevor Bauer.  Trevor has shown flashes of his signature #BauerOutages throughout his time with the Tribe, but he also has shown that he can have difficulty keeping people off of the base paths.  Can he figure it out this year?  I hope so for many reasons, but chief among them is so that we can hopefully get a new rap track that is as good as his original.

Around The League

• LGFT CC Sabathia opens up about his toughest out. Best of luck to CC on his road to recovery; it takes a lot to open up in the way that he does here.
• The Orioles and Pedro Alvarez have agreed to a 1-year deal.
• LGFT Jhonny Peralta looks like he could be out for up to 2-3 months with a thumb injury. The Cardinals look like they may be in a bit of bind because they don't have a "true" backup SS.