While the Indians are creeping closer to Spring Training and the 2015 season-opener in Houston, the Progressive Field refurbishments are well underway; racing against the clock and calender to be ready to go for the home opener against the now Max Scherzer-less Tigers on April 10.
The Indians have been mostly quiet on the transactional front, save for a sneaky-good Brandon Moss acquisition from Oakland, and a seemingly completely ignored depth signing in former Twin, Anthony Swarzak. Things have been so secretive for the Tribe that even the sudden wishful thinking by a lot of fans of bringing in James Shields or Stephen Strasburg to to pair with Corey Kluber to create a crippling 1-2 punch for opposing hitters has made for “news.”
(I’ll make it simple for you: Shields wants to be in the $180- to $200-million range. We know how that goes here. Strasburg will cost the entire farm (including Francisco Lindor) and Danny Salazar and/or Trevor Bauer. Sure, Strasburg isn’t too happy about Scherzer taking his spot, but the Nationals aren’t about to create such a stir about “The Strasburg Rules” and then just decide that he’s not part of their present plan and of their future. Stop it. I like Jordan Zimmermann better anyway.)
So, most of the news is stemming from the stadium facelift. And today, the announcements were a culinary grand slam.
As soon as it said Melt, my mouth started watering. The new Gate C mall will also have Barrio and Sweet Moses. But Melt, man… Yes, please.
And I’ll be remiss if I don’t once again remind some folks that this is being paid for by the Dolans out of their own pocket privately. It’s not publicly-funded, nor is it dipping into the pool of whatever limited payroll resources they have. So please, if you’re one of those people, do realize that this isn’t money appropriated for extensions or free-agents. For all of the furor of the Dolans not being able spend just because, they should be commended for trying to capitalize “the most family-friendly ballpark” without our extra help.
Time will tell if we end up hating the new digs once we see how the ball carries. But for now, may our stomachs be forever content.