Mitchell: Sprinting to the Starting Line

This is the time of year when things really begin to roll downhill for baseball teams on the field and in the offices as well. Ticket sales, advertising, and publicity are going full stream, printing and season preparation deadlines are looming and in Arizona and Florida, rosters are being decided and changing at a furious pace as the squads head into the final fortnight of spring training. Scott and I will be heading the Goodyear later this week and we will bring you updates on the state of the Cleveland and Columbus teams from an eye-witness perspective. For now, here’s some of the scuttlebutt from the desert.

Tony Lastoria tweeted yesterday that Jensen Lewis was placed on waivers. The Ohio native has fashioned a very respectable Major League stat line and if the report is accurate, I would think a few teams will put in a claim on him. Though I didn’t expect to see him in Columbus this season anyway, it would be sad to see him go. Jensen is a great clubhouse guy and hits a tremendous fungo. He is also one of the top dugout play-by-play guys you’ll come across.

Jason Donald went through every test but the Wonderlic to finally reveal that he has a small crack in his left middle finger that may have him out of action up to a month. That means third base is again a competition with non-roster invitee Jack Hannahan as the odds on favorite to win it. The others in the mix are Luis Valbuena and Jayson Nix. Adam Everett injured his thumb sliding into a base head-first and might miss time, so infield roster spots are much more available today than they were 48 hours ago.

Josh Judy and Joe Martinez were optioned to the Columbus roster on Saturday and manager Manny Acta says Martinez will be a part of the Clippers rotation, a place that seems quite crowded right now. Acta cited the fact that injuries are such a fact of life in baseball and with pitching in particular, that it is incumbent upon teams to have a ready supply of Major League ready arms in reserve. Johan Pino was also assigned to minor league camp.

Acta declared Sunday that Grady Sizemore will not start the season on the 25-man roster and when it’s time to see game action after spring training, schedules and weather will have an impact on where he sees time tuning up for the big club. The Clippers start the season on the road for ten days, while the Akron Aeros play seven home games to open the campaign. If Sizemore is ready for games early, Clippers fans might not get a chance to see him, but if he’s a couple weeks behind the rest, and central Ohio isn’t under snow, Sizemore might have a Russell Branyan-esque stint at Huntington Park.

Matt LaPorta is batting just .182 this spring. Of note, he has 8 hits and only one of them is a single (4-2B, 1-3B, 2-HR). He is also tied for the team lead with 10 RBI’s.

The string of injuries for Nick Weglarz continues as the mountainous outfielder injured his knee running the bases late last week. It sounds like the same injury Jordan Brown had last year, but as it’s much farther into camp, he’ll likely miss more of the season than Brown did.

As always, questions and comments welcome at rmitchell@clippersbaseball.com.