Leo: Ice Cold Clippings

It’s hard to imagine sipping on a cold beverage on a warm summer evening at Huntington Park when you’re busy scrapping ice off the windshield of your car, but (believe it or not) baseball is right around the corner. Pitchers and catchers will be working out under the desert sun in Goodyear next week and Clippers “Opening Night” in Indianapolis is two months from today!

So, in the spirit of preparing for better (and warmer) times, here is the first 2011 edition of baseball’s favorite bullet-pointed blog segment:

* Thanks to all that have submitted possible names for the “Leo” portion of the blog. Here are some of my favorites:

Leo’s Roars (“Leo the Lion” themed… nice)
The Skinny with Scott (I am also extremely thin, so it fits)
The Red-Headed Stepchild Report (the hair sometimes causes me grief)
Easy Eddie Leo’s Everyday Thoughts (inside joke…I was once called Eddie by a fan)
Leo’s Lip (playing off the legendary Leo Durocher)
Scott’s Hot Shots (also a baseball broadcaster term, well done)
Leading off with Leo (it has a ring to it)
Scott’s Scuttlebutt (this one is also fun to say)
Leo’s Lowdown (this one makes it sounds like I’ve got the “scoop”)
Scott’s Thoughts (I’m a fan of anything that rhymes)

Keep the suggestions coming to sleo@clippersbaseball.com. I’ll make a selection this weekend and send a Clippers prize to the person that has the winning name.

* Our friend Tony Lastoria (Indians Prospect Insider) is featuring his Top 50 prospects which include Jess Todd, Ezequiel Carrera, Vinnie Pestano, Jared Goedert, and Jordan Brown. Keep checking Tony’s site for more!

* Recent reports suggest the Indians are in talks to free agent pitchers Jeremy Bonderman and Kevin Millwood. It’s unlikely the Tribe would sign both, but one addition to the big league staff could make it tough for Josh Tomlin, David Huff, Jeanmar Gomez, and others to make the big league rotation. Fausto Carmona, Justin Masterson, Carlos Carrasco, and Mitch Talbot seem to have a strong hold on the other four spots.

* Doctors have cleared catcher Carlos Santana to start spring training on time, so there is no reason to believe he won’t ready for Cleveland’s Opening Day. However, it’s not a lock that Lou Marson will be his back-up. There is one school of thought that Marson could start with the Clippers in order to play every day and improve his offense. That could mean that either Luke Carlin or Paul Phillips land in the bigs. There is still a possibility that the Indians will add a veteran catcher (i.e. Mike Redmond last year) as late as the end of spring camp (once other teams make some cuts).

* Grady Sizemore won’t be playing in any Cactus League games until at least mid-March so there’s a chance that he won’t be ready for Opening Day and might see some time on the rehab circuit, similar to Russell Branyan last year. Stay tuned…

* The Triple-A National Championship Game is on the move. It will be played in Albuquerque in 2011. Here is the new logo: