Cody Allen: Cody has dynamic stuff and today was no different. He did show some signs of rust in that his fastball command was still not what it will be eventually. His off speed pitches were solid and his ability to blow away Trumbo was impressive. He will end up right where he belongs in the eighth inning.
John Axford: Threw his fastball in the mid 90s and seemed to have reasonably good command. He did not throw his curveball hardly at all. It seems to me that he is preserving his curveball until later in the spring. I suspect that as he begins to mix in his off speed pitches he will look even more effective. At this point I am not concerned and I believe that he could be an effective closer. I do not believe that he will be a significant downgrade over Chris Perez.
Scott Barnes: Scott was throwing the ball fairly well in the two times that I have watched him. Unfortunately, he does not show any substantial improvement over where he looked to be last year. I still feel that he would be an extremely long shot to make the Indians team and I am not even certain if he could be effective if we need to call him up.
Preston Guilmet: He suffers from his main problem of having average stuff. It is not that his stuff has no major-league potential but is just not effective enough to consistently get major league hitters out. I do not have much confidence that he can be effective either now or in the future for the Indians.
T.J. House: Decent but not great fastball and fastball command. He can get hitters out with his off speed pitches, but not consistently enough. Still a prospect but approaching the point where that may no longer be true.
Justin Masterson: He looked sharp and will be ready to go on opening day. I just wish the Indians would sign him to a three or four year deal. He would be worth it in my view.
Bryan Shaw: Another dynamic late inning reliever that looked fine on the mound today. He will pair with Cody Allen to clean up the seventh and eighth innings. Looked good and he impressed me again with his mid 90’s fastball paired with a sharp breaking ball.
Blake Wood: He has a great chance to compete for a bullpen spot. I did not see the explosion I expected with his fastball but it is good enough. He was effective in his one inning.
More capsules tomorrow. I will include position players.