The Indians had a visit today from Crash Davis. Kevin Costner, star of the movie Bull Durham and in Cleveland for the filming of his new movie Draft Day where he plays the GM of the Cleveland Browns, played catch in the outfield, gloved some ground ball at third base, and took batting practice. "I was actually glad I made contact," Costner said with a smile to reporters including MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. "I hadn't swung in a couple years. I thought my chances of swinging through the ball were just as good as fouling it off." With filming in Cleveland, Costner said he has seen several Indians games at Progressive Field and likes what he has seen, "I really think this team can win the division. I've watched a lot of baseball and they have a couple good pieces of DNA. One of them is they come from behind. Not all teams can do that. They've got the right amount of athletic arrogance to do that. I think they can run Detroit down." I wonder if Billy Chapel would agree. Speaking of the Tigers and the rest of baseball's Central Division teams:
- The Tigers had a scout at the Marlins-Giants series this weekend, reports Jason Beck of MLB.com. The Tigers are said to have interest in Miami relievers Steve Cishek and Ryan Webb.
- Injuries and back-loaded contracts with deferred money have diminished the value of the Brewers' trade chips, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt. The Brewers do have some productive players on team-friendly contracts such as Yovani Gallardo, Norichika Aoki, and Jonathan Lucroy; but, Haudricourt questions what the return would be for them or for relievers Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford.
- Bronson Arroyo is well aware financial constraints could force the Reds not to re-sign him, reports John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I talked about it very briefly in the offseason," Arroyo said. "The feeling I got was: ‘Hey, we’d love to have you, Bronson.’ I think everybody around would love to keep me here the rest of my career. But monetarily there’s question marks there."
- The Cubs could designate Henry Rodriguez for assignment to make room for another position player, tweets Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald.
- Like Arroyo, Cardinals third baseman David Freese told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he is aware he could become a payroll casualty because of the young and inexpensive infield talent the club has. Freese is arbitration eligible once again this winter and isn't eligible for free agency until after the 2015 season.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
