Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco exited the club’s game Wednesday after taking a line drive off his left foot, Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com reports. Carrasco is now dealing with a contusion, and the Indians will further evaluate the star hurler Thursday, Hoynes tweets. In the event Carrasco misses regular-season time as a result of the injury, it could help open the door for the out-of-options Ryan Merritt to claim a roster spot, at least temporarily. Merritt and Josh Tomlin have been vying for the fifth spot in the Indians’ rotation this spring. Now, with Carrasco potentially injured and Danny Salazar set to miss the beginning of the year, the only sure things for the Indians’ season-opening starting staff appear to be Kluber, Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger (depth chart).
- In better news for the Indians, left fielder Michael Brantley isn’t ruling himself out for Opening Day (via Hoynes). “We shall see. But the old saying is take it one day at a time,” said Brantley, who’s working his way back from the right ankle surgery he underwent last October. Neither that procedure nor Brantley’s lack of availability from 2016-17, when injuries cost him a combined 223 games, were enough to stop the Tribe from exercising his $12MM club option early in the offseason. The 30-year-old appeared in 90 games in 2017 and slashed a solid .299/.357/.444 over 375 plate appearances.
- General manager Jerry Dipoto admitted to Greg Johns of MLB.com and other reporters Wednesday that David Phelps’ season-ending injury is a serious blow to the Mariners’ bullpen. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it. He’s a big piece of what we’re doing here, and it’s a big loss for us,” said Dipoto, who suggested the Mariners could pick up outside help for their bullpen, which also lost Tony Zych earlier this spring and is currently without the injured Nick Rumbelow. “You know you’ll run into an occasional injury and lose players along the way, but to have three in that time span is tough to deal with,” Dipoto said. “Fortunately were at the time of year when players are a little more accessible.” The Mariners have three open spots on their 40-man roster, Johns points out, giving them room to add relievers.
- The Yankees and Red Sox are nearing a deal to play a two-game series in London during the 2019 regular season, according to Janet Paskin and Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg. The series would take place at London Stadium, which hosted the 2012 Olympics, in what would be the first-ever Major League Baseball action in Europe.
Wow Yankees Redsox in London kinda cool if president dump didn’t cut off most of our ties with Cuba maybe there’d be games there or even a Cuban team one day
President “dump”cutoff your ties to proper grammar .
As he apparently cut off your ties with proper space bar use; you have to be perfect if you want to criticize the grammer and punctuation of other people.
You’re spelling of ‘grammar’ is uncorrect.
Your yoos of “you’re” is incorect.
Lol at this entire exchange. Was this whole thing staged?
I know. Sounds like a comedy skit.
It’s just Muphry’s Law. Google it.
Ewe guise our idiots.
Oops. Dubble post.
This is pure iddiocy
It’s idiotic, but not nearly as much so as hoping for a team in Cuba.
We won’t address the ridiculous notion that national policy should be influenced by where MLB might play a game.
Dump on that.
What’s so wrong about utilizing MLB as a diplomatic tool to help normalize relations between two countries that are geographic neighbors and also share many cultural ties historically?
If baseball were as popular with the citizens of this country as it is with Cubans it would be the true National Pastime, as it once was. As a lifelong 62-year old baseball fan it pains me that the NFL is clearly America’s #1 professional team sport today.
Baseball’s viewership is rising, while football’s is going down.
Sure. How many decades of this “trend” will it take for MLB to finally catch up with the popularity of the NFL?
Infinite. The Mlb will never catch the NFL. That possibility is long gone. The baseball season is entirely too long for your average American to have interest and shortening it 20 games wouldn’t do anything either. It’s a losing battle.
This is beyond the scope of your understanding. Cuba will always be Ex-President JF Kennedy’s greatest failure. Let’s blame “President Dump”… No Let’s stick to sports. This is why ESPN is failing.
How exactly is ESPN failing?
Try watching the news. ESPN is losing viewers across the board and has cut stuff across the board.
google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2017/11/30/…
I’ve read these stories and watched the news. This story is old and it shows ESPN cutting 2% of it’s staff in the latest cuts. FYI all networks are losing viewers with cord cutting and streaming options. This doesn’t mean in anyway ESPN is failing or about to fail. ESPN is owned by Disney one of the largest Entertainment companies in the world. ESPN has reported increased ad revenue with the contract it has with the NFL and NBA. ESPN remains the largest sports-entertainment-news source in the world.
Use this exercise in self reflection: assuming you are a more than moderate baseball fan, when was the last time you went to ESPN to hear their take on a baseball-related topic?
I am an MLB fan first and foremost. That being said,I am in no way naive to the fact ESPN gives less coverage to MLB then it does to the NFL and NBA. I’m also a sports fan who watches the NFL,NBA,and both NCAA Football/Basketball. No one can blame ESPN in catering to what the majority of the country is interested in,it’s just good business. ESPN doesn’t exactly cover that much of the NHL either,but that doesn’t mean it’s failing.
ESPN viewership is so low right now that if cable and satellite providers were not forced to include those channels in their base packages then ESPN would probably have to close up shop. Even with that guaranteed income stream and their other income streams they have been laying off tons of on and off air talent for the past three years or so. If Congress ever passes the bill that allows people to pick their own channels a la carte the only ESPN channel that probably survives is their 24 hours sports news channel.
“the only ESPN channel that probably survives is their 24 hours sports news channel” ESPN hasn’t utilized the 24 hours news channel for years. Please provide links to “ESPN viewership is so low right now that if the cable and satellite providers were not forced to include those channels in their base packages then ESPN would have to close up shop” cut the cord then.
If you look at the daily TV ratings ESPN only does well when it airs an NBA game(s). The games will be top 10 and then the sportscenter directly following the games is a few spots behind them. If they do not air a NBA game their best spot on the ratings is normally out of the top 20 and sometimes top 30.
Cable as a whole has been losing people, but ESPN is not competing against the non sports world.
ESPN is one of the most expensive TV channels in the cable bundle. ESPN has plenty of issues but they aren’t going anywhere. The politicizing of sports probably doesn’t help but it’s nowhere near the main reason for why they’re losing viewership. Netflix, Hulu, etc. is the main reason. With that being said, I’d watch the MLB network all day before turning on ESPN but my preference is baseball. ESPN has lost a lot of its baseball guys to the MLBN already.
LOL at people that think politics have anything to do with ESPN’s fall. all cable TV is dieing ESPN is just a part of a bigger problem.
These people only post this stuff because ESPN doesn’t pay much attention to baseball. If it were even as popular as the NFL draft maybe they would.
You’ve got to be on cloud nine,this is the most upvotes you’ve ever got. Congratulations
Yeah let’s put a franchise where fans can only afford to pay $0.05 per ticket and only once a month and players earn $30.00 a month. Brilliant!
Why do people have to politicize everything! Just let it happen
You do not appease or celebrate with Murderers!!!
Russia. Congrats, Putin.
Wow that was completely unnecessary! Leave your BS outta this
This is why I thought trading Emilio Pagan was a bad idea.
Cause you knew, and everyone else could have predicted Zych would be released, Phelps would have TJ, and Rumbelow would not pitch for a month?
I was torn on that trade- we needed to improve our pitching more than the lineup and with the benefit of hindsight it looks as though Vogelbach is finally ready to man 1B. Pagan and Vincent were a big part of our BP’s ‘success’ last yr. Was really sad to see the kid go to a division rival. As much as I’d like to think our FO will pursue Holland- can’t see ownership approve spending that amount of cash.
Some guy named Holland says Hi
That’s just Derek talking about how he’s happy it’s not him being hurt again.
Should I not have read this in Derek’s Harry Carry voice?
And to say the Yankees Red Sox isn’t changing the world is beyond inconsequence
.. And I’ll see you there
To bait readers is wrong. The London games was discussed on local radio on Tuesday. How is that news now? Stupid idea to shortchange two of the best fan bases in the sport.
Short change? Why because we miss one home game?
Exhibition. No issues. When was the last time Manchester United played Liverpool in a match that counts in Wrigley Field?
They should play in Fenway considering owner of Liverpool, also owns the Red Sox 😉
Don’t the Yankees have an interest or some type of agreement with a soccer club? Teams set. Would have to be a home and home to see which attendance is less.
Hopefully Yankees Red Sox in London becomes a bigger success than NFL games in London. I -for one, like it.
Hopefully not. It’s a stupid idea.
Why?
It’s a gimmick pandering to a theoretical audience that, even if it spawned, would not be involved in MLB as a potential expansion due to a big blue ocean.
The game is for influential American ex-pats, embassy personnel and military. No way are the Brits going to latch on to baseball when they already have cricket.
Yankees-Sox would have to be quite successful in London to attract anywhere near the crowd that this series would pull in either Boston or NY. IOW, doing this would cost both teams money.
It will be a sell out, as there are over 250,000 U.S. citizens and ex-pats living in the U.K., not counting the thousands of military personnel. This game is not being played for a potential British fan base; it’s for Americans living in the U.K.
No it is not. You wanna bet what the demographics of people in that stadium looks like? I’m sure it will be at least 70% British born citizens. sprinkle in some Americans over there and some tourists with an excuse to travel. It’s certainly not for the Americans in London.
I’m sure the games will sell out. The Pound/dollar exchange rate is prettyfavorable as well. 1 pound=1.41 dollars at the moment. I’m willing to bet they’ll do no worse than break even with their potential American revenue.
The NFL is dumb for having games in London every year and so is the MLB. These are North American franchises you don’t see the Champions League scheduling soccer games here in the US it’s a logistical nightmare. The game of baseball would be better served possibly doing spring training games in an indoor facility in Europe or in Asia. Regular season games though, a fan who bought season tickets expects to have 81 chances to see his team nothing less.
Sorry. I basically reiterated your comment as I didn’t scroll down. Glad I’m not alone.
I’m with you as well. Especially with the NFL that takes games to a country that doesn’t care about our type of football. If my team took a home game overseas I’d be pissed.
And I’d bet my life you didn’t go to all 81 games!
From where I’ve read(TSN),each player is receiving $60,000 for London. Judge and Stanton and The Sanchize denting some building overseas will be nice.
And I want to go. I wonder when tix will go on sale.
I think an overseas game is awesome – given the duration of season versus the European soccer season (avg 38 games, 18 home games) this is a great way to expand fan base and there are a huge amount of UK fans! Wembley for NFL fills 80,000 every time
And most NFL teams play to capacity; Jerry’s World takes in more than 80000 every time, no need to take our game to people that wouldn’t know the difference between the Rhein Fire and the Buffalo Bills, and never showed up to see the NFL Europe we gave them.
80k fans is a good bit higher than the average NFL stadium capacity. Why would you use the largest stadium? Comparing NFL Europe to the NFL is like comparing the indoor soccer league to the Premier League. 80K fans in Wembley is way more lucrative money wise for a number of teams.
Cookie should be back quick……I hope. If not, Francona will figure out something.
Didn’t realize the Yanks traded Rumbelow, got some decent prospects in return it looks like.
Sports !
Politics is stupid. Baseball rules!
Why do people of this country relate sports with politics. This post states NOTHING about Presidents and Cuba. We turn something Fun into something stupid. I think it’s really fun to see this happen. Go Yankees!