Placed OF Juan Gonzalez on the 15-day Disabled List (hamstrings)
Well, who knew that the chewing gum and baling wire holding Juan together would deteriorate this quickly? Well, perhaps they held him together just long to make the team and then, exhausted with relief, fell apart. Hamstring injuries don’t go away easily, and can linger for a long time. Pedicting 200 at-bats for Juan this season is probably optimistic.
Recalled OF Grady Sizemore from Buffalo (AAA)
By “Buffalo” I mean the next baseball field over in Winter Haven, because that’s where he was playing. At least he didn’t have to put any extra miles on his car while driving to Cleveland. It looks like Grady will be eased into the lineup, sitting against some left-handers (for example, against Mark Buerhle on Monday), but otherwise should be playing in center field every day. I think it’s worth a shot to bat him second against right-handers, with Belliard replacing him against southpaws. Unfortunately, Aaron Boone looks to be miscast in that role. Boone doesn’t walk much (.332 career OBP), and isn’t a contact hitter (his 162-game strikeout average is 103). The lone justification for hitting him second might be his speed, but the Indians don’t run often enough to take advantage of it; besides, why run when you have Hafner and Martinez up? Boone is a useful hitter, but he belongs farther down in the order. Heck, Casey Blake is a much better alternative, given his prowess against right-handed pitching and patience at the plate.
April Fools
A great read today is Mistake by the Lake’s April Fools columns, one for each Cleveland team. Check out the Indians section, where Corey gives a pretty convincing argument why the Indians are destined to fail this year. Now I know why the Yankees signed Tony Womack in the offseason…