Mitchell: Poker Face

Lady Gaga did to Columbus last night… whatever a Lady Gaga does to a place, which I suppose is something to those who dig that sort of thing (which includes a large portion of the Clippers ticket department). In any case, the lone offering from the extravagant songstress that I’ve actually heard and her appearance in the Capital City last night inspired a blog title based on the quotes attributed to Manny Acta yesterday in Arizona about the future of certain prospects’ likely Opening Day uniform.

While it has been long reported that the Indians brass told Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis early on that they had no chance of opening the season with the big club, yesterday Acta seemed to hedge a bit, saying “What I’m trying to do is gauge Lonnie, Kipnis and some of those guys, where they’re actually at. So if they don’t make our ballclub when I leave in April, I can have that safety net as I had with Santana last year when we left.”

While not tipping his hand, that certainly seems to leave the door open to them being on the ballclub. Whether he plays the cards in April or not, Acta knows he has a large pair in the hole that he hopes will help the Indians rake in a big pot in the future.

Chisenhall has had a monster camp and 3rd base is not a position that is locked down in Cleveland. However, in spite of a recent hand injury, reports from Goodyear indicate that Jason Donald has played the position fairly well and his offensive numbers are encouraging.

As for Kipnis at second, by now we all know he wasn’t born this way, but they like his progress as a second baseman. Jayson Nix hasn’t been overly impressive, but Orlando Cabrera seems to have 2nd base sewn up unless he gets hurt.

If the future turns out to be now for either or both of the highly touted prospects, the effect on the Clippers would not necessarily be disastrous, as it would clarify an infield situation that has looked very crowded for a while. Cord Phelps would be the everyday second baseman and Jared Goedert, who was Jordan Brown-ed this spring with an early injury would man 3B. If they both start in Columbus, Acta will have had a good enough look at them both to be able to just pick up the telephone.

Other than that, there’s nothing else I can say.