Congratulations to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who has been selected to join the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame. "Hoynsie" took the time to answer some questions from Bill Lucey of the blog Newspaper Alum about the 33 years he has spent covering the Indians. Hoynes discusses the transition from print to web, recounts several stories about players and offers his take on instant replay. Lucey's piece is an excellent look at the life of a beat writer and is a fantastic read start to finish. Here's more out of the AL Central…
- Twins first baseman Justin Morneau hasn't heard anything regarding a potential trade and doesn't expect to be moved, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. One source told Morosi that money is still the biggest factor dissuading teams from pursuing Morneau.
- Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets that Twins VP of player personnel Mike Radcliff is headed on a scouting trip to Japan in the next few weeks. Wolfson believes Radcliff will watch right-hander Masahiro Tanaka, who has a 1.20 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9 in 20 starts for the Rakuten Golden Eagles this season.
- Jose Iglesias and Nick Castellanos should help to minimize the Tigers' payroll issues in the future, writes Chris Iott of MLive.com. Detroit is locked in to big salaries for Justin Verlander, Prince Fielder and Anibal Sanchez for the next several years, and they'll face decisions on Miguel Cabrera, Max Scherzer, Austin Jackson and Doug Fister by the end of the 2015 season. Iott feels that Castellanos will open the 2014 season as the Tigers' starting left fielder.
