Opening Day has arrived! There is plenty of chatter about the beginning of the season.

Here are some goodies:

International League News & Notes:
IL_News_&_Notes_4-09-09.pdf

Season Preview by position (Columbus Dispatch) Clippers by position

Clippers-Indians marriage should be blissful (Dispatch)

Talent pool in Columbus reminds Shapiro of the 90′s (Dispatch)

Loaded with talent, Clippers look promising (Dispatch)

Game Notes and lineups will be posted soon!

My head is spinning a bit as the season gets closer. Sorry for neglecting the blog, but now I’m back with lots of goodies:

1) Here is the preliminary roster: Roster 4-6-09.pdf

We’re still waiting to learn who’ll take Graffanino’s place on the roster. Both Andy Cannizaro and George Lombard are in route to Columbus, but are not currently on the roster. I assume one of them will be the guy.

2) I want to thank Stan Robinson of Town & Country Television for having me as a guest this morning on his show. It’s always a pleasure to chat with Stan, a former public address announcer for the Columbus Jets in the 1960′s. He even delayed the taping since I was running late!

3) Jim Massie wrote a nice piece on Chris Gimenez in the Disptach: Read it here

4) There’s also a Clippers-related article in the Business section: Here

5) The Clippers web site is now featuring archived audio and video for your unlimited enjoyment. Check it out here

Lastly, its 32 degrees and snowing at Huntington Park. Lovely. Baseball season has arrived!

THURSDAY’S NIGHT FORECAST IN LOUISVILLE: Low of 55, mostly cloudy, 10% chance of rain…. I’ll take it! Play Ball!

The Clippers played Nashville on the windiest day of the year in Goodyear, or at least the windiest day since I arrived on Tuesday. The strong winds made it almost unbearable to watch the game from behind home plate (I managed through almost all of it).

I caught up with Jim Massie of the Columbus Dispatch today. He is here previewing the season over the next week or so. Here is his first story: Clippers finally taking shape

Jeremy Sowers worked five innings in today’s Triple-A game at the Indians minor league complex. He seemed to have a little trouble locating his breaking pitch, but managed his way through every inning including a nice escape of after allowing a leadoff triple.

Other notes from the game:

* Wes Hodges had two well hit balls into the gap

* Luis Valbuena legged out a triple and made it look easy

* Jordan Brown smashed a homer into the 30-40 mph wind. I’m told it was impressive, but I had my back turned to the field doing an interview with Minor League News. (Sorry.)

I’ll be interviewing some players over the next few days and I post the audio here on the blog. So don’t stay away too long!

I’m not a photographer (and have never claimed to be), but some of you have e-mailed and requested more photos on the blog so here it goes:

Here is a sneak peak into the minor league clubhouse…

 The weight facility is tremendous…

The Clippers are represented well inside the Player Development Complex…

First and foremost, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! (Are you wearing green?)

Second, here is the latest edition of “Clippings”:

* Adam Miller continues to have problems with his finger. Miller, the injury-prone prospect, has been unable to throw for nearly two weeks with pain in his right middle finger. At this point, he’s probably eliminated from consideration for the Indians final bullpen spot. He started throwing again this week, but has already has experienced a setback. The latest problem involves an inability to bend the finger properly. It looks like he’ll start the season with the Clippers (or on the DL).

PS – The best headline I’ve ever seen involves this story… “Adam Miller continues to give us the finger” courtesy of http://www.letsgotribe.com

* Lefty Scott Lewis allowed only one run and three hits in his first Cactus League start Sunday against Milwaukee. The former Ohio State star went four innings with no walks and two strikeouts. Lewis is still considered a contender for the final spot in the big league rotation, but is likely to start with the Clippers.

* Jeremy Sowers is also competing for the #5 spot in the rotation and MLB.com writer Anthony Castrovince wrote a nice piece about Sowers: Sowers pleased with positive results

* Minor league spring training games begin on Wednesday. The Clippers play the Texas Rangers Triple-A squad (Oklahoma City). We’ll be providing daily audio reports from Arizona!

Here are a few items of interest…

* Clippers manager Torey Lovullo is doing fine after being hit by a broken bat near his left eye Sunday. Lovullo was given nine stitches to close the wound. He was back in the dugout on Monday.

* Beau Mills blasted a two-run homer to lift the Indians to a 5-4 win over the Cubs Wednesday. Mills, the prospect third baseman, is expected to start the season in Akron. It was his first HR of the spring.

* The Indians are 3-4-1 in Cactus League play. Thursday is an off day.

A few items of note:

* Our “Spring Training Reports” will begin airing on Monday, March 16th. They can be heard on WMNI (920 AM) and on the web at www.clippersbaseball.com. We will also be archiving interviews each day from Goodyear. More details to come!

* Clippers President/ GM Ken Schnacke will be a guest on “Shark on Sports” this Thursday from 6 to 7pm. The show can be heard on WTDA (103.9 FM) and www.tedfm.com.

* The Indians have agreed to one year Major League contracts with the following pre-arbitration players on the club’s 40-man roster: Josh Barfield, Shin-Soo Choo, Aaron Laffey, Jon Meloan, Adam Miller, Anthony Reyes, Tony Sipp, Jeremy Sowers, and Wyatt Toregas.

Currently there are 14 unsigned pre-arbitration members on the club’s 40-man roster. The Major League deadline to renew or sign all 40-man roster players with 0-3 years MLB experience is March 11.

* The first Major League spring training game is slated for Wednesday vs. San Francisco at 3:05pm ET. Jeremy Sowers is the Indians scheduled starter.

A few off-season things you may have missed…

* Opening Day at Huntington Park (April 18th vs. Toledo) will now start at 4:05pm instead of 7:05pm because of a Fleetwood Mac concert at Nationwide Arena.

* At the Winter Meeting in Vegas… The Clippers won the Bob Freitas Award, which recognizes outstanding minor league operations. The Freitas Award has been handed out since 1989, and it’s named for a longtime ambassador for the minors and a field representative for the National Association for many years. The Clippers also won the inaugural award in ’89.

* 2006 “Clipper of the Year” Andy Cannizaro has signed a minor league contract with the Indians. He is considered a strong candidate for the Clippers roster.

* Huntington Park will host the 2009 Big Ten Baseball Tournament (May 20-23).

* Pitchers and Catchers report to Goodyear on Thursday… 55 days until Indians Opening Day (at Texas) and 58 days until Clippers Opening Day (at Louisville).

Feel free to send any “Clippings” to sleo@clippersbaseball.com