Mitchell: Indians Decorated with Garland

It sounds as though the Cleveland Indians have come to terms with pitcher Jon Garland on a minor-league deal pending a physical to be conducted later this week in Goodyear, AZ. Garland has been one to of the upper-level (though not premiere) starters in baseball over his career, which spans 12 seasons. He’s 32 years old, but coming off of a shoulder surgery that ended his 2011 season in July. The timetable for return from his injury should put him in line to be ready for Spring Training.

If he’s healthy, I’d guess he has a good chance to make the rotation, but that means there’s a domino effect. Kevin Slowey was the favorite to snap up the 5^th spot yesterday with David Huff Jeanmar Gomez and Zach McAllister in the mix. If Garland does make the squad, Slowey may make the bullpen and push someone else out.

This continues the off-season of depth for the Indians with a bevy of minor-league deals with Spring Training invites. The Tribe will have 60 on more players in big league camp vying for playing time with what is probably 5 or 6 spots open for competition.

Notes-

The Indians GM Chris Antonetti today told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the team will from now on refer to the former Fausto Carmona as Roberto Hernandez, which has been determined to be his real name. And so too, shall I.

Check out the new look to our friend Tony Lastoria’s website Indians Prospect Insider.

The Indians still have not announced a compensatory 40-man move for the signing of Casey Kotchman. It should be coming soon, and will likely come from the group of Nick Weglarz, Kelvin De La Cruz, and Corey Kluber. All would be intriguing to other teams when/if exposed to waivers.

The Oakland A’s have signed Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes to a 4-year $36 million contract and have also released a book entitled Moneyball 2: In Case You Didn’t Notice, the Last Philosophy Didn’t Win Us Squat So We’re Just Going to Throw Insane Amounts of Money at Unproven Mystery Players. It’s a bit wordy, as book titles go, but it seems to summarize the book nicely.

Happy Monday!