The Indians second week (2/28-3/5) started out a little less impressively than the first with a 10-0 loss to the Texas Rangers. More bad news came shortly after as Chris Perez hurt his shoulder and will miss the rest of Spring Training (for the second season in a row). Frank Herrmann is also out for the remainder of the Spring, virtually eliminating him from bullpen consideration. He may miss the entire season if surgery is needed to repair his elbow.
The next few games saw the Indians offense return scoring 35 runs over the next five games. Mike McDade deserves another mention this week as he has outplayed all his competition for the corner infield bench spot. So far in March he has batted .455 in five games, knocking in three runs. If the competition for the last bench spot is truly a fair competition, McDade should easily beat out Jason Giambi (0/11 this Spring) and Chris McGuiness (.111 AVG in ten games). His 9 RBI this Spring lead the team.
The Indians should also be excited about the known starters heating up as well. Nick Swisher (.875 AVG in March) has caught on fire this past week with 6 RBI in his last 8 at bats as has Lonnie Chisenhall with 5 RBI of his own. Jason Kipnis started off slow this Spring bat has batted over .300 the past week and looks to be getting into regular season form.
Five starting pitchers have made their third appearance this Spring with Trevor Bauer standing out as best right now. He has given up just four hits in seven innings and only two earned runs. It probably won't matter how he performs this Spring overall as Terry Francona likely has already decided where he will start the regular season. Scott Kazmir and Daisuke Matsuzaka have also both pitched well to this point, leading to a stiff competition for the Indians final open rotation spot.
The next week will see Vinnie Pestano, Carlos Santana, Asdrubal Cabrera, Mike Aviles, Giovanni Soto, special instructor Carlos Baerga and MiLB manager Edwin Rodriguez leave camp for the World Baseball Classic. All except Pestano will be traveling to Puerto Rico to compete in division C where Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Spain and the home club, Puerto Rico. The first round in Japan has already ended with team Brazil (sans Yan Gomes) finished 0-3. These players leaving will allow the Indians to give more at bats to players like Gomes and Lou Marson to help decide the final positional battles.
Asdrubal is leaving, but McDade is still here.
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