Web Round Up: Tribe Eyes Fast Start; Rays Hire Brian Anderson

In the normal edition of the Web Round up, here are some interesting articles around the internet concerning the Tribe.

Anthony Castrovince gives a little bit of a season primer with his Opening Day Outlook.

“What’s expected this year is a dogfight with the Tigers for AL Central superiority. An improved performance from Hafner, in particular, could go a long way toward the Indians winning that fight.” (Indians.com)

Anthony Castrovince again gives his first game preview of the year with a little bit of extra flare, saying the Tribe must get off to a hot start in the division.

“The Indians will be relieved if they can even play Monday’s 3:05 p.m. ET season and home opener against the White Sox at Progressive Field without the aid of snow shovels. Whoever decided to schedule an outdoor ballgame in Cleveland on the last day of March was obviously taunting Mother Nature, especially in light of the blizzard that turned last year’s home opener into an aborted mess.” (Indians.com)

Dennis Manoloff talks to the heads grounds keeper Brandon Koehhnke about the rain that has hit Progressive Field.

“The help must come from above. Every minute without rain or snow is cause for celebration in Koehnke’s world. Unfortunately, the forecast for the days leading up to the opener call for clouds and rain, with the exception of partial sunshine on Saturday.” (Indians.com)

With Thursday’s visit from the Rays, it gave us the chance to see our Tribe Reporters catch up with Brian Anderson. Anderson was hired as the assistant to pitching coach with the Rays. His comeback was abruptly ended early in Spring when he re-tore the elbow in his pitching arm.

“Just as Anderson was making plans to go back to law school and work with STO again, the Rays offered him a job as an assistant to pitching coach Jim Hickey. He’ll help out at Rays home games, do some scouting and video work, and, when the team is on the road, assist in the front office.” (Indians.com)

I wrote an article at Bleacher Report about Anderson and his failed comeback.

“Brian Anderson never won a Cy Young Award, and didn’t really win many games to begin with. But he won me over with his desire to never quit and his risky move to give it one more chance.” (Bleacher Report)

Indians Prospect Guru Tony Lastoria at the Cleveland Fan says Jeff Stevens is ready to make an impact.

“Stevens has certainly found his calling as a reliever. While he has been a starter for most of his professional career, he has had some experience in college and in the pros pitching out of the bullpen.” (The Cleveland Fan)