NEOSI Indians Spring Training Roundup – Thursday February 22nd 2018

The Indians are just a day away from their Spring Training opener against the Reds. Today the starting lineup for Friday’s matchup had been announced. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com tweeted out what the lineup will be for Friday’s game.

Friday’s Tribe 9:

Lindor SS
Gomes C
Ramirez 3B
Encarnacion DH
Alonso 1B
Davis CF
Upton RF
Barnes LF
Maggi 2B
…………
SP: Clevinger

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) February 22, 2018

Bastian also wrote about Francisco Mejia being a dark horse for getting an Opening Day roster spot. Dan Otero had this to say regarding the subject. “There’s always going to be that somebody,”  Otero said. “Good teams need those guys to step up. And we have such a good core group that those complementary players don’t need to do above and beyond. They just need to play to their capabilities.”

Mejia will be joining the likes of Tyler Naquin, Melvin Upton Jr., and Ryan Merritt.

Joe Noga of Cleveland.com wrote a piece on 20 Indians prospects trying to make an impression at spring training in 2018. Among Mejia as mentioned above, Triston McKenzie, Bobby Bradley, Nolan Jones, Aaron Civale, and Greg Allen.

The Indians are also close to adding veteran relief pitcher Carlos Torres on a minor league deal, according to Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. Torres played with the Brewers last season and the Indians will be looking to add him to the bullpen since Bryan Shaw has departed. Shaw made a total of 154 appearances over the last two season, Torres has made 139 with Milwaukee.

Is it a guarantee that Brandon Guyer will make the opening day roster? David Gasper of Believelandbaseball.com poses the question. Guyer only played in 70 games during the 2017 season with the Indians because of a right wrist injury, he had surgery during the offseason.

Terry Francona had this to say about Guyer, “He got an MRI, he aggravated that area, so we are going to let him spend a couple of days with the trainers. On Monday we will start gearing him back up, the doctors feel that the best way to go is to let it calm down for a few days and send him back out and rev him back up. He was going to be a little later anyway.”

Indians manager Terry Francona had this to say today in Goodyear about Carlos Torres:

“Ya know, he’s in that group of guys that is having trouble signing whether it’s with a major league deal or things like that. He’s been a major league reliever and we are excited to get a chance to look at him. He’ll be competing for that one spot, hopefully guys stay healthy and we don’t have multiple. We are excited to have him”

Francona also mentioned how starting pitching will look the first few days for exhibition games:

“Clevinger and Merritt are throwing the first game. There will be some guys after that obviously and they are going to be going just one inning. Day 2 will be Shawn Morimando and possibly Bauer the third day. Not sure yet, I think so…it’s just a rumor.”

The Indians game for Friday will be broadcasted on Sportstime Ohio, at 3:05 pm.