Written by Nino Colla

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Here in Akron, still reeling over the loss to OU in the MAC Title game. Such a talented Akron squad won't get a chance in the tournament after winning their regular season championship. Akron would never win the National Championship, but they could win a game in the tournament. Let's not get into debating that though. Baseball does it right and the new playoff system is intriguing.

[SHAKING OUT]

Things should start getting interesting in camp in the next week. This past week has simply been boring. Sure we've had stuff to yammer on about and the whole Grady Sizemore thing made for some real talk, but really, nothing significant has or ever comes out of the first week of games. Heck not many significant things come out of spring training as a whole because the roster on April 4th may not even be the same a week later, let alone a month later.

But there is some real intrigue here now with the left field job because even though Sizemore may not miss a majority of the season, he's going to miss a good chunk of it. This has sidelined him early enough that he may not miss two months, but he very well could.

Either way, left field is open and it significantly impacts how the roster is going to look and that could have a long-term impact. What if someone like Felix Pie, Fred Lewis, or Ryan Spilborghs end up winning a spot because of the opening created and go on to have significant contributions?

You don't know what significant impact is going to result in this move, so we can only speculate and follow each detail of left field closely.

What I'm now a little intrigued with is what is happening around that left field spot. I mean with Sizemore out, it not only creates a starting spot for someone, it creates another roster spot. Instead of just Shelley Duncan getting a spot, now what if Aaron Cunningham gets one too. Could that re-open a door for Matt LaPorta if Jason Donald wins the utility spot? With Donald's versatility and Cunningham's ability to play all three spots, carrying someone like LaPorta is more of a luxury. Not saying LaPorta is a luxury, just the fact that they can pretty much pick anyone regardless of position, which way they hit, whatever.

You could take a chance on a Russ Canzler, or add a NRI like a Ryan Spilborghs who might do something for you. Heck, you could take a speedy Zeke Carrera to have as a designated runner. The possibilities are endless. You could carry both Lonnie Chisenhall and Jack Hannahan.

Then again if Chisenhall wins the third base job, Jack Hannahan is a backup infielder automatically, so in a way, that takes up a spot.

If Hannahan wins, Chisenhall is going to Columbus to play every day.

If you want, you can take a right-handed hitting compliment in left field like Fred Lewis.

Granted you do not want to be in a position like this one, you'd rather have a healthy and productive Grady Sizemore, but the silver lining isn't bad. Acta has some flexibility. He could even take an extra infielder too if he wanted. Jose Lopez seems to be fighting hard for a spot and as Jordan Bastian has pointed out, provides some right-handed pop and experience (and versatility).

Basically we've gone from having some tight races with little speculation as to how things will shake out, to a wide-open competition. No one is exempt from that final roster spot at this point. The left field spot will be filled, the fourth outfield spot and the utility infielder one will be too. That final bench spot is one that is open for interpretation with no real criteria attached.

Roster cuts are coming, with more advanced prospects just in for some additional big league camp experience (Chun Chen, Tyler Sturdevant, Austin Adams) being the first to go, joining the rest of the organization at Minor League camp. Then we'll start getting down to players on the 40-man roster (Weglarz, Neal, Kluber, Salazar) who do not really have a chance at winning a spot. By next week, we'll probably be at that point where the next cuts, are ones that eliminate people from competitions.

[IDENTITY CRISIS]

If you missed the "Identity Crisis" piece on ESPN's Outside the Lines on Sunday, you can watch it here. Pedro Gomez sat down with both the former Leo Nunez and Fausto Carmona. I feel like after that, I should move forth calling him Roberto Hernandez and not Fausto Carmona.

One interesting note is that Juan Oviedo grew up with the real Leo Nunez and was rather cooperative with everyone involved when the news first broke. Hernandez on the other hand said that the real Fausto Carmona is a "distant relative" of sorts and that the first time he was confronted about it publicly, he did not acknowledge it. The real Carmona exposed Hernandez on the radio and Roberto, did not take action until he was arrested.

Pedro Gomez went on to note that MLB could take action of suspension and/or fines against both Oviedo and Hernandez when they do return. Suspension seems more likely if its rather soon (which is unlikely). Oviedo has already missed time, while Hernandez has technically missed none to this point. I think Oviedo's situation will be resolved before Hernandez's, because remember his happened last year during the season.

The latest development as recently as last night is that Hernandez has seen the charges against him dropped, which means he is now one step closer to returning. He still has to work out his situation, much like Oviedo does, but now he, like Oviedo has need not worry about criminal issues with his native country.

Perhaps we are a little closer than we would have thought to seeing Roberto Hernandez pitch for the Cleveland Indians. I'm not saying it's close, but it is certainly closer than I had anticipated.

[SOMEONE LIKE YOU]

There was a buzz around the fact that Major League Baseball was going to have the Indians and Diamondbacks mic'd up for a spring training contest. It has been done in sports before, but not really so much in baseball. Baseball has weird unwritten rules, remember? So I'm sure the idea of sticking mics on people playing the game seemed intrusive to some. There'a a lot of chatter in-game between players and players, player and coaches, players and umpires, coaches and umpires, etc etc. Surely something awesome would come from this.

Something awesome did happen this past week in the MLB Network broadcast of Arizona and Cleveland and in a way, a star was born.

Well it comes as no shock to me that Kipnis is now more of a house hold name in three aspects... Baseball, Cleveland, and Chicks..man.I've pegged Jason Kipnis as a potential superstar. It half has to do with his talent, the other half has everything to do with his style of play and his personality. He's a "get dirty" type of player. He fits Cleveland well and with Grady Sizemore's star fading out, the city is still searching for that "poster boy" for their baseball team. Kipnis fits it and he has a wide smile and engaging personality on display in the world of Twitter and Facebook.

First off, he was singing on MLB Network, and this was a hotly posted issue around the internet.

Second, Cleveland pays attention.

Thirdly, he was singing Adele.

Chicks...man.

Now I wouldn't expect "Kip's Chicks" to start-up immediately, but I feel it could be close. All we need now is the production full-scale and Kipnis' star may start shining really bright.

And Kipnis has made it a point that this wasn't an attention grabber. He routinely does this during games. Hey it can get pretty boring out there at second base. You don't have anyone to talk to like the first baseman. No one can really hear you, so, why not?

Most places have termed it as Kipnis getting "caught" singing. Yet Kip is showing no shame. And why Adele? I guess http://twitter.com/TheJK_Kid/status/177568784742223873">only Chris Rose knows for sure.

He might be taking Vinnie Pestano with him because Vinnie is just as fun and seems to be a partner in crime (or a partner in whatever this is) with Kipnis.

[FIGHTIN' WORDS]

So looks like things were not exactly rocky mountain cool between the Colorado brass and Ubaldo Jimenez last season. Our little tale begins with Tracy Ringolsby uncovering some angst between Jimenez and the Rockies and Jordan Bastian completely ripping the cover off.

Jimenez told Ringolsby that he saw Colorado only had room to sign two players to big deals. Those two players ended up being Troy Tulowitzki (who wouldn't sign him?) and Carlos Gonzalez (kinda would want to sign him too.)... It made him unhappy.

"It wasn't the season I feel I should have, but I am happy I kept pitching," said Jimenez. "I was not going to get traded if I was on the disabled list. I wanted to move from Colorado (from the start of last spring). It wasn't working for me with the team. So I was happy when I got traded."

And when he says "I kept pitching" he was referring to the fact that he kept pitching through injuries, not because he was unhappy about his contract situation.

“It was kind of hard being with the Rockies,” Jimenez said. “I went through a lot. I think people outside the organization, they don’t know. But me and the people in the front office, they know. It works both ways. They’re happy and I’m happy. I’m happy to be here. And they’re happy with what they got.”

Jimenez ultimately felt unwanted.

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