News and Notes: Tribe unlikely to keep Bryan Shaw

Having a lot of good players on your roster is a obviously a good thing, but unless you’re one of the few clubs who can afford a $180M+ payroll (and the luxury tax on top of that), you won’t be able to keep all those good players once they head into free agency.

Tribe News

Cleveland Indians don't think they'll be able to keep iron-man free agent Bryan Shaw (cleveland.com)

Not that surprising. The ability to take the ball 70 times a year and throw at least effectively is one of the more valuable traits in the game. And Bryan Shaw has done that for five consecutive years. He’s about to be paid handsomely, and to somebody not named the Cleveland Indians.

Cleveland Indians five-year run, Yandy Diaz, free agents: Terry Pluto (photos) (cleveland.com)

Pluto reports that the Indians aren’t going to move Yandy Diaz around this season, even if that means he starts the season in AAA. That of course assumes that Kipnis returns to second and Ramirez to third, or that Giovanny Urshela is the third baseman (which doesn’t make sense to me, but it is a possibility).

Around MLB

Performances from yesterday’s Fall Stars Game (Arizona Fall League), broken down by organization. Francisco Mejia had a double, and you can see the video of that at the link.

Johnny Cueto will not opt out of his contract, meaning that the Giants (for better or worse) will be paying him $84M over the next four seasons.

David Laurilia in his Sunday Notes column notes that the Hall of Fame will be releasing its Modern Baseball Veterans Committee ballot tomorrow. Alan Trammell will be one of the most prominent players on it, and should (in my opinion) be one of the players voted into the Hall.