The Indians are "grooming" Jayson Nix to play third base in the spring. File this under "we're cheap and we don't care if we win next year." Despite reasonable pop out of his bat, Nix's defense at the hot corner is atrocious. Last season, in 434 innings at third, Nix committed 16 errors for an .883 fielding percentage. The league average was .959 in 2010. Fielding percentage is not the be all and end all (see Derek Jeter's gold glove) and some of the meta-stats are arguable, but, by baseballreference.com's measure, Nix cost his team 12 runs with his defensive ineptitude at 3B. And now he is option #1 for the Tribe. He is playing winter ball in Puerto Rico to "sharpen" his defensive "skills." How long does it take to hone an egg to a fine point?
The Indians have 5 open spots on their 40-man roster, which must be filled by the 19th to protect those 5 from the rule 5 draft. 5 5 5 5 5 5... IPI suggests that LHP Nick Hagadone and RHP Corey Kluber are locks, so I'll jump on board with that. My guesses at the other three: RHP Adam Miller, 3B Jared Goedert, and... RHP Josh Judy.
Tickets for the Indians/Clippers exhibition game (03.30.11, 1pm @ Huntington Park) go on sale tomorrow morning at 10am. Avoid TicketMaster fees by calling the Clippers ticket office at 614.462.2757. I'll be getting 4 seats myself.
Cheers.
