Fausto Carmona will begin this season the way he ended last year: Suspended.

The right-hander was suspended for five games at the end of last season for beating the crap out of Gary Sheffield.

(If I remember correctly, it appeared more as if he was giving Sheffield a noogie than actually beating the crap out of him, but beating the crap out of him just sounds better).

Carmona’s suspension will be over by Tuesday though, when he will face off against Vicente Padilla.

As for pitching, Carmona is one of the few Indians pitchers who has had a strong spring training. He finished the spring with a 2.67 ERA and allowed eight runs, walked eight and struck out 13 in 27 innings, according to Sheldon Ocker.

That success continued into Friday when Carmona allowed two runs and six hits in five innings against the Astros.

Most of the Indians pitchers struggled with the dry air in Arizona this spring training, which Sheldon Ocker discusses in detail today.

Manager Eric Wedge released his starting lineup for Monday’s game yesterday. As he has said all along, Travis Hafner is etched into the fourth spot.

Wedge had no problem defending the choice.

“I like having a couple of right-handers [DeRosa and Martinez] between Grady and Hafner even though Vic is a switch-hitter,” he said (to Paul Hoynes). “I like having Jhonny Peralta in the middle as well. If you move Hafner down in the lineup, then you’re going to end up with him and Choo right next to each other. That makes it real easy for [opposing pitchers].”

“I trust Travis,” Wedge said (to Anthony Castrovince). “I trust the work he’s done. He’s worked hard, he’s moving in the right direction, and I think it’s important he knows I trust him. It doesn’t mean he’s going to get out the gate like gangbusters, and it doesn’t mean he’s not.”

The Rest…

Terry Pluto writes that Ben Francisco has overcome adversity his entire career.

Anthony Castrovince profiles Kerry Wood, who grew up near Arlington, Texas.

Castrovince also offers his season preview.

The Indians are also trying to ease fans financial problems by offering flexible ticket prices, value meals and all-you-can-eat combos.

Good riddance, Goodyear.

At least that’s the tone coming out of spring training. Appropriately, the Indians ended their 30-game stay by struggling mightily in a 9-8 loss to the Cubs Thursday.

This time it was Anthony Reyes turn to get roughed up. He gave up seven runs (six earned) on six hits in two innings, per Sheldon Ocker.

This was the first time Reyes really struggled all spring. Asdrubal Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta both committed errors.

The best part about the game though? IT DOESN’T MATTER.

If Cliff Lee pitches well Monday, no one will even care about the spring.

The Indians flew to Houston yesterday to play the Astros tonight and tomorrow at Minute Maid Park before heading to Arlington, Texas to play the Rangers Monday in the season opener.

Manager Eric Wedge called the spring “unusual” and unlike any he has seen, according to Anthony Castrovince.

Wedge said the World Baseball Classic and battles for the bullpen and starting pitching spots made it different and sometimes difficult.

Players are just sick of spring training as well.

“It’s good to get out of here,” he said. “Everybody’s been champing at the bit to get out of here for a while. It will be a shot of fresh air getting into a big league stadium [Minute Maid Park]. Hopefully we’ll be a little more crisp.”

The best of the rest…

A couple of good profiles hit the Internet when Anthony Castrovince broke down Jhonny Peralta’s importance to the Indians and Sheldon Ocker profiled Fausto Carmona.

Both good reads.

Jake Westbrook is doing well in his rehab from Tommy John surgery, but will be staying behind in Goodyear to continue the process, Paul Hoynes wrote.

Hoynes is even becoming technologically advanced by filming his interview, check it out.

David Dellucci is also staying back in Goodyear as he rehabs his strained calf, Hoynes notes.

Who cares? Is this guy really going to make an impact on this team? I doubt it.

The real nugget from Hoynes’ notebook is that Adam Miller is progressing through his bullpen sessions and is ready to face batters.

Not sure what that means or how the new grip has altered his actual pitches, but it is progress none the less.

Anthony Castrovince answered his mail bag today.

Terry Pluto scribbled about Travis Hafner, Masa Kobayashi and Josh Barfield, to name a few.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Rich Exner and Bill Lubinger used their computer-assisted reporting skills to dig into the economic slate of Major League baseball today.

Does maximum cash equate to winning?

It’s an interesting report, but flawed in many areas and just not broad enough overall.

It is obvious from the onset Exner and Lubinger may be examining a sport they know little about:

But while reviving the call for a cap on major-league salaries that many owners believe would give teams equal footing, Red Sox President Larry Lucchino reminded the media, “An old adage says [there's] three things money can’t buy — love, happiness and the American League pennant.”

But a Plain Dealer comparison of payrolls and team performance over the last 13 seasons (1996-2008) suggests that, yes, Larry, you can buy your way into the postseason.

Making the postseason and winning an American League pennant are two different things guys.

Obviously there is going to be a direct correlation with spending money and making the playoffs. Baseball has always been an uneven playing field.

The reporters offered these bullet points in their story:

• Nearly 80 percent of the 104 playoff teams since 1996 ranked among the top half in payrolls.
• Eight of the 13 World Series titles were won by teams ranked among the top 10 payrolls.
• Last season, the three teams with the highest payrolls — the Yankees, Detroit and New York Mets — sat out the playoffs. But other high payroll teams dominated: No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 all reached the postseason.

The top half in payrolls is a broad spectrum. There is a huge difference between the 2008 Yankees who had a payroll of $209,081,579 and the No. 15 team, the Milwaukee Brewers, who had a payroll of $81,004,167. The Indians came in at No. 16 with a payroll of $78,970,067.

The Brewers were the only playoff team of that group.

The Top 10 payrolls are also interesting. The No. 10 team last year, the Atlanta Braves, had a payroll that was half of the Yankees at $102,424,018. Heck the No. 2 team, the Detroit Tigers were far behind the Yankees at $138,685,197.

While a team may be in the top 10 or 15 of payrolls, it doesn’t mean they are throwing around a lot of cash. There is just such a huge difference after you get past the Yankees.
Click here to check out everyone’s payroll from last season

But what the report really ignores is how Major League baseball is beginning to close the economic gap through revenue sharing.

In 2001 the revenue sharing system circulated $169 million dollars throughout all of Major League Baseball, according to Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci in his new book, the Yankee Years. By 2008 the figure jumped to $408 million dollars.

This has allowed teams like the Tampa Bay Rays the ability to sign some of their premiere young players, Like Evan Longoria, to long term deals.

Now that small market teams can afford to buy out their star player’s arbitration years (six years), players are not hitting the free agent market till they are about 30 years old. Making there attractiveness to possible buyers less then they would be if they were hitting the market at 25, reaching their peak years.

This leaves the free-wheeling Yankees, who like to purge free agency, with choices that are getting closer to the downside of their career.

While there is always going to be a disparity between the top payrolls and the lower payrolls, teams are starting to catch up just by being economically efficient as well.

Which, Exner and Lubinger tried to cover in their second story:

Only Oakland, Minnesota, Atlanta, Houston and St. Louis graded out better (than the Indians) in analyzing the combination of win totals and opening day payrolls over the 13 full seasons since the 1994-95 work stoppage.

Not suprisingly, the Oakland A’s — with their dollar-stretching ways made famous by the 2003 book Moneyball — got more for their money than any other team in baseball.

Tyler Kepner of the New York Times recently conducted an interview with Houston Astros General Manager Ed Wade about free agent outfielder Bobby Abreu.

Abreu is one of the best available free agents on the market and someone that Wade knows all too well from their time together in Philadelphia.

While Kepner’s post does not say much in the way of where Abreu will be playing next year, it does offer some interesting comparisons to former Phillie Aaron Rowand.

I found this passage the most interesting:

“Aaron Rowand is an outstanding player and he brings that blue-collar type of energy to the field, and that’s great. Fans gravitate to that, especially in Philadelphia. Bobby’s so good at what he does and so smooth at doing it, he tends to be underappreciated,” Wade told Kepner.

That would seem to be the case on the free-agent market, in which Abreu, who turns 35 in March, has not yet found a deal comparable to the Phillies’ Raul Ibanez (three years, $31.5 million) or the Cubs’ Milton Bradley (three years, $30 million) – not to mention the five-year, $60 million contract Rowand received from the Giants last winter.

I have always enjoyed watching Rowand for the very same reasons that Wade states. He plays all out, all the time. Yet I find it hard to understand how he is making more money than Bradley, Ibanez and most likely Abreu.

Rowand signed his contract after last season with the San Francisco Giants. Bradley and Ibanez were both signed in the offseason.

To make matters even more interesting Roger Rubin, of the New York Daily News, is reporting that Abreu has just recieved an offer from the Chicago White Sox. The deal: One year, $8 million.

Rubin reports that Abreu is only recieving one-year offers.

Rowand’s contract is back-loaded according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, meaning Rowand was paid $8 million last season. He will get $8 million this season and $12 million a year for the remaining three years.

Last season Abreu hit .296 with 20 home runs and 100 RBI in 156 games in the pressure cooker that is New York. His On base percentage as .371 and OPS was .872.

In Rowand’s seven seasons he has had just two years where he has hit above .300 and had 20 home runs (2004 and 2007). Rowand has never driven in 100 runs in a season, something Abreu has done six times. Rowand did hit.309 with 27 home runs in his contract season of 2007.

Abreu, who hits left, is a middle of the order type hitter with a career on base percentage of .405. His career OPS is .903. Rowand, a right-handed hitter, only bats in the middle of the San Francisco Giants order because of necessity. Does the three-four combination of Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand scare anyone? Ray Durham was once in that mix too. Rowand has a career .342 OBP and .795 OPS.

Rowand’s contract was signed last off-season and it is quite obvious that the unstable economy has contributed to less money being offered across major league baseball.

Rowand is 31 years old, while Abreu is 34. One argument could be made that the Giants aren’t exactly intelligent with its free agent signings. See: Zito, Barry; Johnson, Randy, Renteria, Edgar; etc. That is besides the point though.

Yet Ibanez’s contract makes Abreu’s situation even more puzzling. Ibanez is 36-years old and the Phillies gave him a three-year deal for $31.5 million. Ibanez, a left-handed hitter, received a $2 million signing bonus for this season to go along with his $6.5 million base salary. He will receive &11.5 million for the remaining two seasons, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

His 2008 numbers are nearly identical to Abreu’s: 23 homers, .293 batting average with a lower OBP (.358) and OPS (.857). Career wise, Ibanez does not offer as much as Abreu does. He has a career .346 OBP and a OPS of .818.

Milton Bradley, a switch hitter, hit 22 home runs last year with a .321 average to earn his three-year, $30 million deal. Most impressive was Bradley’s .436 OBP. Bradley is only 30 years old, but has had a bevy of off the field problems.

Fielding wise, Rowand is the best of the group, but I feel his plus defense weighs out compared to a middle-of the-order type bat. Abreu isn’t a bad defender either.

I know this is only a light look at their numbers and true value, but I think it is pretty clear that Abreu has just as much value, if not more, than these three guys. So why is Abreu still sitting on the sidelines with less money and years being offered?

Although the Indians have closed the checkbook this off season, is this a player that the Indians should at least consider. Right now he is only being offered one-year, $8 million bargain from the Indians Central Division rival, Chicago. That is at least enough to consider a look by Shapiro.

The Cleveland Indians signed right-handed pitchers Kirk Saarloos and Greg Aquino to minor league contracts today. The two will be non-rsoter invitees to Spring training.

Saarloos is a journeyman pitcher who began his seven-year career with the Houston Astros. He has also pitched with the Reds and, most recently, the Oakland A’s. His career record is 29-30 with a 5.02 ERA.

Aquino, another journeyman, is a converted infielder with a 2-4 record and 17 saves in his five years as a pitcher. Aquino led the Arizona Diamondbacks with 16 saves in 2004.

The Indians have now extended 7 non-roster invitations to minor league free agents: RHP Tomo Ohka and catcher Damaso Espino. Infielders: Andy Cannizaro, Jesus Merchan and Wilson Valdez.