MLB and MLBPA reach agreement in wake of stoppage for coronavirus

Slider is still in hibernation | Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports News and Note for Saturday, March 28, 2020 MLB and MLBPA have come to an agreement regarding key issues affecting baseball in the time of coronavirus. Indians News MLB, players reach deal addressing key issues - Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have finalized a deal that addresses both salary and service-time issues, among others, as the entire sport continues to wait out the coronavirus pandemic. MLB, players...

Taking the Indians to new horizons in Animal Crossing

Scott Brady, Twitter You can pry baseball from my cold, dead fingerless hands Listen, I know video games aren’t everybody’s thing on a blog dedicated to sports. If they aren’t yours, turn back now. There is no analysis of the Indians or transaction news here. It’s about to be all video games all the time for the next few hundred words. Ok, are those people gone? Everyone cool here? Y’ALL HAVE YOU PLAYED ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS YET? The game is incredible and a giant leap...

It was perfect weather for Opening Day in Cleveland

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Morning news and notes for March 27, 2020 Remember all the hand-wringing about the Indians opening their season in March? Turns out they would have opened the season to a perfect spring day and the weekend won’t be too bad either. Anyway. Indians news Indians option four to Triple-A Columbus, including Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac, Bradley Zimmer | Akron Beacon Journal Can’t let a global pandemic get in the way of some service time...

Today was supposed to be Opening Day

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

It’s not, though

Today was supposed to be Opening Day. I was going to listen to baseball quietly at my desk and surreptitiously check highlights while I counted the hours until quitting time. I was thinking I might microwave hotdogs at work or something, really make friends in the office.

I was going to talk baseball with the president of my company — a Nats fan, he’s very happy — and see if I could get some of those company tickets at some point this...

Indians option four players to Triple-A

The Indians announced today that four players have been optioned to Triple-A (Twitter link), as outfielder Bradley Zimmer and right-handers Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac, and James Karinchak were all cut from the 26-man roster. Of all the roster assignments we’ve seen in recent days as teams make procedural tweaks well in advance of when the 2020 season could actually begin, the Tribe’s moves may have been the ones least likely to happen had the season begun today as scheduled....

N&N: It’s Not Opening Day

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

News and Notes for Thursday, March 26, 2020

In a parallel universe, it would be Opening Day today. Instead, in this universe, we have social distancing, Hot Dog Race bobbleheads and Hey Hoynsie.

What to expect from Cesar Hernandez for the Cleveland Indians in 2020? - cleveland.com
The addition of Cesar Hernandez at second base gives the Indians four switch-hitters in their starting infield.

Cleveland Indians’ season opener will be missed, but...

Watch: Relive the Cleveland Indians 2019 Opening Day

Missing the tradition of the Tribe’s Opening Day? Watch to relive the 2019 home opener against the Chicago White Sox. Wednesday, March 25, 2020

This article intentionally left blank.

Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

There is nothing to read in this piece.

Rookie radar: AL Central

The delayed start to the 2020 season will obviously have a  wide range of effects on Major League Baseball. Among them: A totally  different promotional timeline for some of the game’s most exciting  young players. We will never know how things would’ve unfolded. And we  don’t yet know what the parameters are for an altered season. But  there’s no doubting the impact. Typically, opportunities  open as rosters evolve over the course of a grueling 162-game season.  Some top...

N&N: Which Jose Ramirez should we expect?

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Morning News and Notes for Tuesday, March 24, 2020

A lot depends on Jose Ramirez putting up MVP-level stats again.

What to expect from Jose Ramirez with the Cleveland Indians in 2020 - cleveland.com - So which version of Jose Ramirez jogs out to third base this year, providing there is a season because of the coronavirus?

With Baseball on Hold, Life for Minor Leaguers Remains in Flux | FanGraphs Baseball
"The recurring theme during...

N&N: Shane Bieber was having a fantastic spring training

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

News and Note for Monday, March 23, 2020

Here’s hoping for more good news than bad this week for our country and planet.

Some scribbles from Spring Training | cleveland.com

These are my favorite from the old journalist. From Terry Pluto:

OK, here are some scribbles left over from Goodyear that actually have to do with baseball:

1. The two best pitchers I checked out were Aaron Civale and Shane Bieber. That’s important, especially Civale....

Out of the Park Baseball 21 doesn’t like the Indians very much

Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images Despite that, can the SimuIndians fight their way to glory? This year’s edition of Out of the Park Baseball came out on Friday. It’s excellent news for baseball junkies like me who are desperate for any kind of content and interaction with the game of baseball. I’ve already nailed down my grand strategy for Perfect Team, and Matt Lyons and I are already trash talking each other relentlessly. His team sucks, by the way. More important to readers of this...

N&N: Even without games, the roster must be trimmed

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

News and Note for March 21, 2020

Baseball may be suspended for now, but the Indians are still making roster moves.

How can Brad Hand avoid another ’tired arm’ slump for the Cleveland Indians in 2020? - cleveland.com - Hand's 2019 season started out in All-Star form before a tired arm caused a mid-year slump.

Why didn’t the 1996 Cleveland Indians reach the World Series? Hey, Hoynsie - cleveland.com - People have questions...

Indians...

N&N: OOTP 21 releases today

Morning news and notes for Friday, March 20, 2020

Alternative titles: Animal Crossing: New Horizons releases today, DOOM Eternal releases today. I’m just saying, it’s a good day for being quarantined and playing video games.

Cleveland Indians option Bobby Bradley, four others to Class AAA Columbus | Cleveland
Until there’s a transaction freeze, teams are going to transact. The Indians did so yesterday by optioning Bobby Bradley, Logan Allen, Scott Moss, Yu Chang, and...

Report: Giants 'willing to consider' signing controversial slugger Yasiel Puig

Yasiel Puig was Public Enemy No. 1 in San Francisco at one point, but now the tides may be shifting. Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported this week that the Giants are one of the teams “willing to consider” signing the divisive outfielder and that the belief is Puig will sign this month. Puig, who hit .267 with 24 home runs and 84 RBIs in 2019, played six seasons with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. During his time there, he was involved in a number of bench-clearing incidents with the...

Indians scoreboard logo is finally lit up again

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images It’s been a year since those bad boys were fired up and I sure did miss them We could all use some good news right now, no matter how small, so how about this one: The script “Indians” logo at Progressive Field has been turned on, as recorded by Cleveland 5 News last night. Astute viewers of night games and anyone who has glanced at the massive outfield display noticed that it was out all of last season, hampering — in my totally unbaised opinion...

The science behind Tom Hamilton’s voice

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

I spoke to an expert in vocal physiology about his signature sound

Tom Hamilton’s home run call is the best in baseball. Other announcers might bring his level of passion for the game to the broadcast, but he stands alone with his talent for highlighting great moments. He never fails to rise to the occasion, and the sound of his voice is iconic. Not just in Cleveland, but around the game. You don’t have to...

N&N: Still no baseball

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

News and Notes for Thursday, Match 19, 2020

Still no baseball and no reliable word when there will be baseball.

What to expect from Carlos Santana with the Cleveland Indians in 2020 - cleveland.com
Carlos Santana, entering his 10th season in the big leagues, has always brought one thing to the plate in every season of his career -- the ability to reach base.

Cleveland Indians players star in Trevor Bauer’s sandlot wiffle ball game...

N&N: Akron RubberDucks Twitter appreciation post

Morning news and notes for Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Look, there’s still basically no news to report. Everything is stopped and you should be staying home if you can.

In the meantime, you should be checking out the Akron RubberDucks Twitter account because whoever runs it is so incredibly in-tune with weird Twitter and unlike most MiLB Twitter accounts they do more than just use the GIPHY attachment and post gifs from The Office.

pic.twitter.com/FZBT3HKi2R

Schur’s Law; Or, was baseball actually better in the past?

We continue to ruminate because that’s what you do when you ruminate

Our deep dive into whatever I feel like continues. Previous installments:

Don’t get me wrong: I still love baseball. I’d like to think I’m fairly well-versed in the game today and its history. The root of those first couple of posts grew out of a thought that the 2016 and 2017...