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Back In The Saddle

Back In The Saddle
Posted by tlastoria on 24 Jul 2010 | AL Central, Cleveland Indians

I am on my way home from a family vacation and will be attending games in Kinston, North Carolina this weekend to see the Indians High-A affiliate in action. It’s nice to be back into the mix completely re-energized for the stretch run of the season we have coming up these last 6-8 weeks.

I am caught up on all the happenings while I was away, and once I get home late Sunday night I will be posting a lot of stuff at the beginning of the week with news on the trade front in regard to the Indians and a lot of minor league related material. Since Minor Happenings did not post the past two weeks I have some catching up to do, so will likely post two editions this week, with the first part early in the week to get caught up on Player of the Week awards and other things, and then the regular weekly edition later in the week.

Also, while getting back into the swing of things on the baseball front, I have been talking to a lot of people about the availability and interest in the four players the Indians are likely to (try) and deal: Jhonny Peralta, Jake Westbrook, Kerry Wood, and Austin Kearns. I have lots of quotes and information from several sources which I will quote in an upcoming article, likely Monday or Tuesday (my lack of urgency in posting it should show you how close I think the Indians are to any deal at the moment). In a nutshell, things are very quiet on the trade front with the Indians, and we are very likely to see most if not all four guys dealt in August rather than by the July 31st deadline. More on that later.

As mentioned, I will be in Kinston this weekend for my second visit of the year and to get lots of new video, pictures, and conduct a half dozen or so interviews for future articles here at the IPI. I will catch Kinston for the third and final time over Labor Day weekend in Washington DC when they go to Potomac.

Last, big thanks to Andrew Zajac for doing the game recaps while I have been away. He will continue to do them through the weekend, and has been a blessing with doing these while I was away and unavailable to really be on the computer for long stretches and to do the recaps. Also, thanks to Charlie Adams and Al C. for their help with posting articles while I was away!

Thanks again for reading, and expect to see LOTS of new material over the next several weeks.

Author: tlastoria

My name is Tony Lastoria, I was born and raised in Northeast Ohio and have lived here all 35+ years of my life. Growing up I was always a Cleveland sports fan and I still love the Browns, Cavaliers and Buckeyes, but I grew up with a passion for baseball and have been following the Indians since I was 5-years old. Over the past 10+ years that passion for Major League Baseball has permeated the minor league baseball scene. With the numerous affiliates and future players of the Indians to follow, minor league baseball now rivals my love for the Indians and major league baseball. About six years ago (2003) I started to write about the Indians minor league system, which is where my main colum Minor Happenings came about. Minor Happenings is a weekly column posted here and on TheClevelandFan.com and SportsTimeOhio.com that follows the news and developments in the Cleveland Indians minor league system. Through my reltationship with TheClevelandFan.com and SportsTimeOhio.com, about three years ago (2006) I was able to expand that writing to go out and visit the affiliates to talk to players and various Indians personnel and use that information for other features. In addition to Minor Happenings I now also write many daily articles on the players, transactions, news, and many other things that occur over the course of the year. I am very fortunate to be able to travel around to all the Indians minor league affiliates, talking with the players themselves as well as the various Indians coaches, managers, front office executives, and coordinators in the organization. I make several visits a year to not only the local affiliates in Lake County, Akron and Mahoning Valley, but also those that are a bit farther away such as Columbus, Kinston, and Arizona. I also talk to several executives and scouts for other organizations as well. You'll get no better coverage of the Indians prospects in their farm system and the philosophies of the organization than right here. Everyday you can expect lots of analysis on prospects, scouting reports, interviews, news, inside information, and more. Thanks for reading!

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