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.

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 baseball blog, Fangraphs, recently reminded us that Shin-Soo Choo may be a valuable fantasy league pickup this season.

Fangraphs points out that the left-handed hitting Choo did have some success against lefties last year, albeit in 84 at bats.

According to its projections, Choo is in line for a .290 average with 15-20 home runs if he is able to hold down a full-time position. If he were a first baseman he would be comparable, fantasy-wise, to Chicaco Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee, Fangraphs wrote.

A parent club rarely makes the kind of off-season additions to its major league club that the Indians have this winter without having to dip deep into their pool of minor league prospects.

Yet, with Tribe general manager Mark Shapiro admitting he’s likely done dealing with players set to begin reporting to spring training next month, much-needed additions such as closer Kerry Wood, third baseman Mark DeRosa, starting pitcher Carl Pavano and reliever Joe Smith may have cost the club a wad of cash, but little by way of bodies.

In fact, the Indians traded just one significant minor leaguer in sending right-hander Jeff Stevens to the Chicago Cubs in the DeRosa package, while throwing in two unproven low-level pitchers in right-hander Chris Archer and lefty John Gaub.

Stevens, 25, was the player-to-be-named in the Tribe’s knee-jerk 2006 trade that sent shortstop Brandon Phillips to Cincinnati. Between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Buffalo last season, Stevens went 5-4 with six saves with a 3.24 ERA in 36 games. He also participated for Team USA in the Beijing Olympic Games.

But Stevens – who will likely make his major league debut in the Cubs bullpen sometime this upcoming season – isn’t even among Baseball America’s Indians Top Ten Prospects.

And while the Indians recent addition of Yankee’s four-year flop Pavano meant having to designate for assignment former No. 1 pick (11th overall in 2003) Michael Aubrey to clear room on the 40-man roster, it was a move that make sense long term.

“When he’s healthy, he hits,” Shapiro said of Aubrey, who finally made his major league debut last season after missing large chucks of nearly every season battling one injury after another since turning pro.

“He’s undergone a lot of injuries over a lot of time. It was a tough call emotionally. But from a standpoint of looking at it objectively and with the depth that we have at first base, it made the most sense.”

While every club’s goal is to nurture their own home-grown players in hopes they will become the foundation of future major league teams, dipping into the farm system to make necessary trades is a part of the game.

Some organizations walk that fine line without much care, too preoccupied with the player they’re getting as opposed to those they’re forced to give up in return. This off-season, Shapiro and his staff have handled that delicate balance better than most.