Not too much news from Winter Haven this week.
Actually, the biggest "news" is that the Indians are still trying to find a new Spring Training home:
"It's an annual rite of spring for us to chat about our future [Spring Training] home," said Bob DiBiasio, the Indians vice president of public relations. "We'll be here in '07. To look beyond that, we don't know."
Apopka and Cape Coral are the latest Florida cities to express interest in possibly building a new training facility for the Indians. But the spate of hurricanes that have hit the state in recent years have made funding a major roadblock.
Winter Haven doesn't want the Indians, and the Indians don't want to train in Winter Haven. Arizona is out of the question because the Indians would need another team to go with them. The recent hurricanes haved tied up a lot of dollars as well.
Ryan Garko is writing a weekly journal. Highlights from his first entry:
Sounds like Winter Haven is a happenin' place.
The Indians are interested in signing Jhonny Peralta to long-term deal, and it looks the interest is mutual:
"The odds are very favorable [that a long-term deal will happen]," Rego said. "We had very positive and flexible dialogue."
The Indians control Peralta through 2010, and Jhonny would be arbitration-eligible after 2007. Generally, the years before a player becomes eligible for arbitration is when both the team and the player will agree on a long-term deal to take up through his arbitration years. The player gets more money up front, and the team gets some cost certainty.