Nick Swisher and Jason Kipnis look to lead their rag-tag band of Thundercats and Terminators to promised land.

Happy Friday, Tribe fans. Opening day is so close I can taste it. The roster is set - the rotation filled out, and the positional competitions settled. We've only got the weekend left to debate whether craft beer plays better 3B defense than Lonnie Chisenhall, or whether Pam Beasley should have beaten out Carlos Carrasco for the #5 spot. Anyway, here's some links to hold you over:

Indians news

Tribe has another rung to climb in '14 | Indians.com - Bastian riffs on the 2014 Indians motto: "Unfinished Business". It's fluff, but there's some fun quotes from Tribe players, it's a good wrap-up of the offseason, and it ought to get you pumped up for Opening Day!

Nick Swisher likes everything about the 2014 Cleveland Indians | Cleveland.com - In case you wanted to know where Swisher's "Thundercats" nickname came from... too bad. He doesn't know either. But he sure is stoked, bro.

Indians bullpen ranks in the middle of the pack | Fangraphs - Coming in at #17, Fangraphs doesn't have much good to say about the Tribe bullpen. Perhaps the biggest improvement in the departure of Chris Perez. While they give credit to the FO for assembling a competent bullpen on a budget, there aren't any real standouts.

Kipnis emerging as leader and star of Tribe | Did The Tribe Win Last Night? - We can argue all we want about the best plan for 3B, but I dare somebody to argue we're not rock solid at 2B. DTTWLN profiles Jason Kipnis and takes a look at his prospects for 2014 and beyond. Speaking of the 3B situation, DTTWLN also has a piece on Lonnie Chisenhall's future that's worth a read. They speculate that if Carlos Santana is successful at 3B, Chisenhall will be headed to AAA or shipped off in a trade.

Kluber ready for expanded role in 2014 | Wahoo's On First - Corey Kluber is a really good pitcher. He also may or may not be a time traveller/the Terminator.

Around the league

Cabrera, Tigers agree to gigantic extension | CBS Sports - Pending a physical (insert fat jokes here), the deal could be worth up to $352 million. Are they paying this guy by the pound or what? According to Buster Olney, MLB executives are "appalled" about the contract.

Kershaw to miss Dodgers North American opener | Twitter (Bill Shaikin) - Clayton Kershaw won't start Sunday against the Padres. I blame the WBC.

Is MLB's new replay system overkill? | Sports on Earth - Out of 50,000 plays that would be deemed "reviewable" under the new system, on 377 would be overturned by it. Is that enough to justify the massive investment of time and money? Hey, as long as those costs aren't being passed on to the fans, then I'm all for getting every play right.

Chris Archer forges his own path to MLB | Sports on Earth - SoE looks at young Rays pitcher and sort of LGFT Chris Archer, a biracial young man raised by his white grandparents. Hat tip to Jay's Facebook for this fascinating piece.

The annual sneak peek at what individual career and franchise milestones and records could be set this coming season.

Welcome to year 6 of reading from your truly about the upcoming season's potential milestones. For those that read last year's the format should be familiar, but the numbers always change. For those that want a refresher as to what milestones were achieved in 2013, please refer to my October post that recapped such stats. For those that want more history, feel free to peruse through the archives of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Done catching up? Alright let us get to the numbers. There will be at most 2 areas of milestones covered for each player. Round numbers where the player is reaching something that ends in a double or triple zero. And franchise leaderboard moves where a player gets into or improves his place among the top 10 in a Padres statistical category. Maybe some day I will get to write about a Padres player moving up a Major League Baseball leaderboard, but today is not that day.

Back in 2012, Headley's monster year moved him up many of the franchise leaderboards. In 2013 his ascent was steady, but the impact was nowhere near as big as in his best season. When it comes to Chase approaching some round number milestones his 2013 season hurt. A few more healthy games and we could be talking about him approaching his 1,000th hit or 1,000th game played, but even matching his 2012 hit total will not get him to 1000 and he can not play in 169 games this year. So both are out, but he can reach the lesser rounder number of 900 in each. He also has a chance to achieve each of the following:

• 20 HRs would give him 100 for his career. He has only ever hit more than 13 HRs once though when he hit 31 in 2012.
• 26 2Bs will give him 200 for his career. He has never hit fewer than 28 2Bs in a full season, so this milestone is pretty likely.

Next up we look at the franchise leaderboards:

• 2.3 WAR would give Headley the 3rd most by any Padres position player in that stat over his career. He is currently in 6th and would pass Gene Richards, Gene Tenace and Adrian Gonzalez along the way and would sit behind only Tony Gwynn and Dave Winfield. This is the WAR that baseball-reference.com publishes and it includes defense. In that stat Headley has accumulated greater than 2.3 in each of the last 4 seasons. Anybody comfortable with calling Headley the 3rd most productive position player in Padres history?
• 142 games played in 2014 would vault Headley up to 4th in franchise history. He currently sits at 10th with 831, but will pass Brian Giles (833) and Terry Kennedy (835) in the first week. Then it is just Nate Colbert (866), Trevor Hoffman (902), Gene Richards (939) and Tim Flannery (972) till he gets there.
  
• 408 at bats would give Headley another 4th place in a longevity stat. He is currently 7th with 3007 and would pass Nate Colbert's 3080, Brian Giles' 3129 and Gene Richards' 3414 on the way up.
  
• As you may have guessed, a similar scenario exists for plate appearances. He is in 8th with 3413 and could get to 4th with 393 more.
  
• 53 runs scored in 2013 would get Chase Headley into the top 10 in Padres franchise history. He is in 12th with 371 and would need to pass Bip Roberts' 378 and Steve Finley's 423. Once he is there then Phil Nevin's 428, Garry Templeton's 430, Nate Colbert's 442 and Ryan Klesko's 449 are within reach since that would only require 79 runs scored. However, he has only done that once when he got 90 in 2012. He did have 77 in 2010 though. 93 runs scored would tie him for 5th with Adrian Gonzalez. An unlikely, but not impossible 99 runs would tie him for 4th with Brian Giles.
• 64 hits are all that Headley needs to jump from 9th place (809) in franchise history to 5th. Giles currently holds the 5 spot with 872 followed by Gonzalez' 856, Nevin's 842 and Kennedy's 817 also on Chase's path.
• Headley can always be counted on for plenty of doubles and in 2014 he can cement his place in Padres history in that stat by reaching 2nd place in franchise history. He currently is in 7th with 174, but only needs 22 to reach the penultimate slot. Gonzalez' 176, Klesko's 176, Winfield's 179, Giles' 189 and Templeton's 195 stand in his way.
• After his 2012 season, it looked likely that Headley would reach the team's top 10 in home runs. Sadly he fell short in 2013, but it makes it even more likely he will get there in 2014. He is currently 14th with 80 with only 5 dingers needed to pass Steve Finley's 82, Carmelo Martinez' 82, Giles' 83, Fred McGriff's 84 and Khalil Greene's 84. Those 5 would put him in 8th due to the McGriff/Greene tie and would force a tie with Benito Santiago's at 85. Ken Caminiti's 7th place total of 121 is way to far off to talk about.
• Another category, another top 10 awaits. Just 28 RBI added to his currently 12th place total of 369 would take him past Santiago's 375 and Caminiti's 396 and put him in 10th. Once there then 7th place is attainable with Giles' 415, Kennedy's 424 and Templeton's 427 all in reach. Since Headley did tally 115 RBI once, it is worth mentioning that Colbert's 6th place is 112 RBI away.
• 69 walks in 2014 would see him pass Gonzalez' 403 and Tenace's 423 and get to 5th place in franchise history.
• 2 strikeouts are all that separate Headley and Colbert for the lead in that category. In early April Headley will earn the dubious honor of having struck out more than any other Padres player.
• For some reason Headley got hit a lot in 2013. 11 times in total last year to give him 31 for his career. If he gets plunked 6 more times he will have the most the most in franchise history. He would pass Greene's 32, Flannery's 32, Tenace's 35 and record holder Kevin Kouzmanoff's 36.

Round Numbers:

• 9 2Bs would give Venable 100 for his career.
• 126 games player would give him 800.
• 211 plate appearances would tall him 2500.
• 437 at bats would get him to 2500 of those. 2013 was the only year where he got that many at bats in a season, so it is doable but not a given.

Franchise Leaderboards:

• 6 triples would get Venable to 3rd place in franchise history. He is currently in 5th place with 34 and would pass Templeton's 36 and Winfield's 39 to get there. Gene Richards' 2nd place total of 63 is out of reach in 2014.
  
• Before 2013, Will had never hit more than 13 HRs in a season. 13 HRs in 2014 would only get him into the top 15. However, he hit 22 last season and 22 HRs in 2014 would power him up to 8th place (well probably 9th assuming Headley blasts a few before then). Along the way he would pass Tenace's 68, Kennedy's 76, Cito Gaston's 77, Greg Vaughn's 78, Finley's 82, Martinez' 82, Giles' 83, McGriff's 84 and Greene's 84.
• Venable is usually good for at least 22 SBs. That total would take him from 9th place (108) to either 7th or 8th. Enzo Hernandez has 129 and is currently in 7th. The wild card is 8th place Everth Cabrera who has 118 and will likely get more. If Venable matched his career high of 29 SBs, then he would tie Ozzie Smith for what is currently 5th place with 147 and pass Dave Winfield's 6th place 133.

Round Numbers:

• 11 SBs will give him 100 for his career.
• 98 hits would give him 500. That is theoretically doable even if he misses up to 2 months of the season.
• 34 games played would give him 500.
• 204 plate appearances would get him to 2000.
• 378 at bats would would tally him 2000 there as well.

Franchise Leaderboards:

• While Maybin has 89 SBs for his career, only 70 of them came with the Padres. He will need 32 to get into the top 10 and pass Garry Templeton's 101. That is likely as high as he will go since Cabrera and Venable are moving targets above that and Enzo Hernandez 129 is too far away. Even that aforementioned 32 is pretty far given Maybin's injury and career high of 40. Getting healthy and starting on the regular would likely see him end up somewhere around Roberto Alomar's 90 (14th place) or Rickey Henderson's 91 (13th place). Possibly Luis Salazar's 93 (12th place). Bench coach Dave Roberts' total of 72 is just within reach. Finley's 85 and Quilvio Veras' 87 might be as well.

Last year, Cabrera became the 39th Padres player to represent the club at the All Star game. Another selection would put him in a more exclusive club along with Nate Colbert, Dave Winfield, Randy Jones, Terry Kennedy, Goose Gossage, Steve Garvey, Tony Gwynn, Benito Santiago, Ken Caminiti, Trevor Hoffman, Jake Peavy, Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell as the 14th player to represent the club twice.

Round Numbers:

• 109 games played would get him to 500.
• 428 plate appearances gets him to 2000.
• 153 hits is potentially doable if he plays a full season for once, and that would get him to 500 for his career. 53 gets him to 400, obviously.
  
• 1 HR finally gets him to double digits!

Franchise Leaderboards:

• 6 triples would elevate Cabrera to the top 10 in franchise history. He currently has 19 and is tied with Ozzie Smith for 14th. He would pass Bip Roberts' 21, Colbert's 22, Dave Roberts' 23 and Luis Salazer's 24 only the way and move him into a tie with Flannery and Giles for 8th at 25. Everth has hit as many as 8 triples in a season and had 5 last year. He would need at least 9 to get any higher than 8th since Finley is in 7th at 28. Gaston is just ahead with 29, but 10 triples is asking a lot.
  
• I already mentioned in the Venable section that Cabrera is in 8th place in franchise history with 118 stolen bases. He does not even have to match is career high of 44 SBs to make a move up to 4th place. 31 would get him past Bip Roberts' 148. 53 SBs would be quite the year, but it is worth mentioning that is home he would need to tie Alan Wiggins in 3rd place with 171.

Round Numbers:

• 26 games played from 800, 126 from 900. He hasn't played in more than 118 games since 2010.
• 340 at bats away from 3000. He hasn't done that since 2011.
• 21 hits from 700, 121 hits from 800. 2008 was the last time he had at least that many hits though.
• 27 RBI are all that is need for him to reach 500.

Franchise Leaderbaords:

• Chase Headley has a 5 HBP lead on Quentin due to his longevity, but Q is typically more prolific. Both have a shot at being the franchise leader. Carlos has 26 and is tied for 6th with Sean Burroughs. He needs 11 to pass Kouzmanoff for the franchise lead, that is if Headley already hasn't set a new team record. 11 is typically very doable for Quentin, but he only had 9 in 2013 after 5 straight years of 11 or more. His career high for a season is 23. He already holds the Padres single season HBP record with 17 in 2012.

Round Numbers:

• 16 games away from 600 and 116 from 700.
• 204 plate appearances from 2000.
• 380 at bats from 2000.
• 20 doubles until he reaches the century mark.

Franchise Leaderboards:

• Denorfia currently has the 14th best batting average in franchise history (min. 1500 plate appearances) at .280. It is possible that he could crack the top 10. Dave Winfield is 10th with a .284 batting average. If Denorfia were to say hit .294 over 500 ABs, he would pass Winfield. There are plenty of other combos, but getting close to 500 ABs is doable and Denorfia hit .293 for the Padres in 2012 so he could do something like that. It isn't too likely, but it is possible.

Franchise Leaderboards:

• Yonder Alonso should reach the 1500 plate appearance threshold in 2014 if he plays a full season. He needs 506 and had 619 when he played a full season in 2012. Should he cross that threshold he would be eligible for the franchise rate stats leaderboards. To this point, he has only hit .276 with the Padres, but he has the potential to do better. As mentioned in the Denorfia section, Winfield is 10th with a .284 average. A .300 batting average over the course of that full season would probably get him there.
  

There are other hitters that reaching round numbers in games played, at bats and plate appearances, but I only wanted to mention those categories for players who have additional milestones on the horizon. Now on to the pitchers.

In 2012, Street became the 38th Padres player to represent the club at the All Star game. Another selection would put him in a more exclusive club along with Nate Colbert, Dave Winfield, Randy Jones, Terry Kennedy, Goose Gossage, Steve Garvey, Tony Gwynn, Benito Santiago, Ken Caminiti, Trevor Hoffman, Jake Peavy, Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell as the 14th player to represent the club twice.

Round Numbers:

• 16 more saves and he will get to 250 for his career.

Franchise Leaderboards:

• Street needs only 9 saves to go from 7th place in franchise history with 56 saves to 6th place passing Craig Lefferts' 64. Mark Davis' 5th place number of 78 would be next and would require 23 saves to pass. 5 more on top of that (for a total of 84) would pass Goose Gossage's 83 for 4th place. 53 saves is a crazy number and way over a career high for Street, but it's not even a major league record (although it is exactly the franchise record set by Trevor Hoffman in 1998) and would see him pass Rollie Fingers' 3rd place total of 108.
  

Round Numbers:

• 134 2/3 IP and Kennedy will have 1000 IP for his career.
  
• If Kennedy finishes the season with an ERA under 4.00 then he will also lower his career ERA under 4.00.
• He is 7 games and 9 games started away from 150 in each of those numbers.

Round Numbers:

• Just 2 more IP and Johnson will reach 1000 IP for his career.
• 85 strikeouts and Josh will have whiffed 1000 in his career.

Our Padres open up a two-game exhibition series tonight at the University of San Diego's Fowler Park, named for Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler.

The Friars will host the Indians in a two-game set at Fowler Park this weekend before beginning the regular season on Sunday night. Matt Wisler will get the start for San Diego in tonight's opening game. It will be Wisler's sixth outing, but second start of the preseason. He made his first start on Sunday after the Padres announced that Josh Johnson would be starting the regular season on the disabled list with a strained forearm. It wasn't the sharpest of starts (5 ER, 5 H, 2 2/3 IP), but overall this Spring Wisler had shown a lot of potential, putting him in the mix for Johnson's vacated spot in the rotation. Corey Brock says that the right-hander will likely start the season with one of our minor league affiliates, however.

Getting the nod for Cleveland tonight is Zach McAllister, making his final appearance before the regular season, into which he will go as the Indians' no. 3 starter. McAllister is coming off a six-frame performance in Arizona against the Angels, to whom he gave up three runs on six hits. He had one really troublesome outing this Spring; giving up six runs on nine hits, two walks, and a hit batsman through just three innings of work; but otherwise put up a solid Spring campaign.

According to MLB.com's Steve Gilbert, we should expect to see all the regulars for Cleveland in tonight's contest. Meanwhile, Brock notes that the Padres will be playing many of the guys from single-A Lake Elsinore during this series.

Watch/listen

You can catch today's game live on Fox Sports San Diego as well as MLB.TV (which is free for all games today). Or you can listen to the radio broadcast on The Mighty 1090, Gameday Audio, and MLB At-Bat.

Lineups:

Who's ready for some baseball? #Padres vs. #Indians at Fowler Park @USDToreros 6:10pmPT pic.twitter.com/5er7QjKeog

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) March 28, 2014

Tonight's lineup at USD vs the Padres: Morgan 8 Swisher 3 Kipnis 4 Santana 5 Brantley 7 Raburn dh Cabrera 6 Gomes 2 Murphy 9 McAllister p

— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) March 28, 2014

Broadcast info:

TV: FSSD, MLB.TV
Radio: The Mighty 1090, Gameday Audio, At-Bat
Gameday

The Zach Attack is on the road at the University of San Diego

With the Cactus League portion of Spring Training complete, the Indians head to the University of San Diego to play a friendly two-game set against the Padres. First pitch is set for 9:10 ET, but the game will unfortunately not be televised or on the radio locally. Fortunately, MLB.tv has a free two day trial for today and Sunday, you you can catch the feed from Fox Sports San Diego.

Zach McAllister with take the hill for the Tribe to start things off. McAllister has had a bit of a rough spring, posting an ERA over 6 and giving up four homers in just over 16 innings. Could be that he's doing a lot of work on the slider he's added to his arsenal this spring but regardless, I think we'd all feel better if he could put up a few solid innings before the games start to count. Zach will face off against Padres right Matt Wisler, a native of Bryan, OH who has had a similarly rough spring.

The Tribe's starting 9 looks like what we should expect to see come Monday against Oakland, with the only notable omission being Lonnie Chisenhall.

Tonight's starting lineup:

1) Nyjer Morgan (CF)

2) Nick Swisher (1B)

3) Jason Kipnis (2B)

4) Carlos Santana (3B)

5) Michael Brantley (LF)

6) Ryan Raburn (DH)

7) Asdrubal Cabrera (SS)

8) Yan Gomes (C)

9) David Murphy (RF)

Let's Go Tribe!

An offensive outbreak including homers from Asdrubal Cabrera, Yan Gomes, and Carlos Santana overshadowed Zach McAllister's lukewarm performance.

Well that was a laugher. The Indians certainly didn't leave their big sticks behind in Arizona, and this one was over shortly after it started. Nyjer Morgan led the game off with a four-pitch walk, and advanced to third after a Nick Swisher single and an outfield error. Jason Kipnis drove T-Plush home with an infield single, then promptly stole second. After a Carlos Santana walk, Michael Brantley took one for the team, driving in Swisher. Ryan Raburn drove in two with a single, then Asdrubal Cabrera added the exclamation point - a three-run homer to RF, which was his first of the spring. It was 7-0 before the first out, and it only got worse for the Padres from there.

The Tribe added seven more runs in the 2nd, including three from a monster Yan Gomes homer, and tacked on a few more over the course of the night. Carlos Santana also homered for the Tribe. San Diego managed to push four runs across but there was never even the slightest bit of tension.

Zach McAllister was a bit of a mixed bag of nuts in his final start of the spring. He looked sharp in striking out six over the course of four innings, but gave up his ninth homer of the spring and walked three. Blake Wood came on in relief for the 5th inning. He looked a bit shaky, working two strikeouts in amidst three hits and a walk, allowing the Padres to plate a third run. Bryan Shaw and John Axford made uneventful one-inning appearances and someone called Brett Brach pitched the 8th and 9th.

Most of the relevant position players were replaced in the 5th and 6th innings and the remaining few noteworthy players didn't do anything exciting: Elliot Johnson and Lonnie Chisenhall both went 1-2 with a K. Aside from the abysmal start for Matt Wisler and the equally bad performance by Blaine Boyer, San Diego's pitching was decent.

It was not Matt Wisler's night. It wasn't Blaine Boyer's, either. Both pitchers gave up a whopping seven runs before ever recording an out. That's why Padres fans were so cheered when Trevor Gott threw 1.1 innings and only allowed 2 runs. It was mostly big leaguers on the mound from there on out, not that it mattered all that much. The Friars managed to get a few runs on the board, but nothing looks respectable when your opponent has scored 16. But even if the game was lousy, it's sure nice to have baseball back in San Diego, isn't it?

Eric Stults toes the rubber at Fowler Park tomorrow at 1:10 PM in the last game of spring training.

Friar Fever was once again the comment champion. He was joined in receiving a single rec by walkoff59 and field39.

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers will start Hyun-Jin Ryu in their domestic regular season opener on Sunday night against the Padres at Petco Park. The southpaw cracked his right big toenail while running the bases on Sunday in Sydney (Saturday night in Los Angeles), but has been cleared by the team medical staff to return to the mound.

Ryu threw 30 pitches in a bullpen session before Friday's game and took batting practice, and said his toe felt fine.

"Without something crazy happening, Hyun-jin is going on Sunday," manager Don Mattingly said after Saturday's game. "His pen went well, he was able to do basically everything."

That pushes Dan Haren to start Wednesday, the series finale in San Diego. Haren, who last pitched in a minor league game on Monday, will start Saturday's game against the Angels, but will only pitch an inning or possibly two.

Haren will be followed on the mound by Matt Magill and a gaggle of minor league pitchers, with most of the major league bullpen getting the day off with Sunday's regular season game looming. The only member of the major league pen who might pitch is Brandon League, who is healthy.

"When we were in Australia he threw the ball really well from the reports I was getting," Mattingly said. "We're happy with where he's at."

The Padres will counter with Andrew Cashner in their regular season opener, followed by Ian Kennedy and Tyson Ross.

Ever since my Little League days, I've always thought the uniform number 1 looked... well, just wrong. Part of that is because it's just a thin line leaving all kinds of empty space, and looks even worse with a name -- especially a long name -- over it. The other reason is that it seems arrogant, like "Ooh, look at me; I'm number one!"

Eighteen different Padres have worn number 1, whether it was just assigned to them or they were an egotistical loudmouth who stormed into town as a free agent and snatched it off the back of a fan favorite. If that's not a hint, I don't know what is. Along with the pair of shortstops everyone will know, that's four freebies. You have four minutes to recall or guess the other 14.

As always, be sure to log your results into the poll, and don't forget to use spoiler bars where applicable in your comments. Oh, and here's the perfect soundtrack you should play this to; it'll put you in the right mindset. It's 12 seconds shy of four minutes, but close enough.

My first run through the San Diego Padres farm system gave me 42 names to study. I have cut that down to 37 and would like to cut three or four more. Here are the names I am researching.

San Diego Padres37 players

Yeison AscencioOF
Jeremy BaltzOF
Leonel CamposRHP
Franchy CorderoSS
Adrian De HortaRHP
Alex Dickerson1B
Zach EflinRHP
Max FriedLHP
Reymond FuentesOF
Trevor GottRHP
Jesse HahnRHP
Austin HedgesC
Ryan JacksonINF
Travis JankowskiOF
Pete KelichRHP
Casey KellyRHP
Rymer LirianoOF
Tommy Medica1B
Juan OramasLHP
Dustin Peterson3B
Jace PetersonSS
Adys PortilloRHP
Kevin QuackenbushRHP
Hunter RenfroeOF
Franmil ReyesOF
Donn RoachRHP
Joe RossRHP
Keyvius SampsonRHP
Erik SchoenrockLHP
Burch SmithRHP
Cory Spangenberg2B
Jose UrenaOF
Josh VanMeter2B
Bryan VerbitskyRHP
Walker WeickelRHP
Joe WielandRHP
Matt WislerRHP

Our Padres close out their preseason this afternoon with game 2 of their exhibition series at USD. Lefty Eric Stults gets the call for the finale in his final warmup before the regular season, when he'll be pitching 4th in the rotation. Over 17 innings this Spring, the southpaw gave up 10 earned runs on 19 hits and six walks while collecting eight strikeouts. He struggled some in his first three starts, but then turned in two back-to-back strong outings to close out his Cactus League campaign. Over his last two starts, he pitched a combined 10 2/3 innings and kept opponents to just two walks while striking out seven. Stults looks to have better luck pitching at Fowler Park than Matt Wisler, who was hit hard in last night's series opener.

The Indians will also send their no. 4 pitcher to the mound. Danny Salazar will make his third and final start of the preseason this afternoon and he looks to build on his short, but strong, Spring campaign. Salazar kept opponents to just one run on five hits in his previous two starts in Arizona, pitching a combined 5 1/3 innings. He also walked four and struck out five in that stretch.

Watch/listen

The game will once again be available for free on MLB.TV, but you can also catch it on Fox Sports SD and MLB Network. The Mighty 1090 will have the radio broadcast, which is also available on Gameday Audio and At-Bat. First pitch at Fowler Park is set for 1:10pm.

The Indians face the Padres in their final spring-training contest.

The Indians face the Padres in San Diego this afternoon at 4:10 ET, in their final game of spring training. The game will be televised on MLB.TV, and is free to everyone (meaning you don't need to be a subscriber), though it will be the San Diego broadcast. Cleveland audio is available on WTAM.

Danny Salazar will start for the Indians. He's yet to throw 5 full innings in a game this spring, but look for him to go at least that far this afternoon, and perhaps even 6 innings, if he can keep his pitch count reasonable (something of a problem at times).

Eric Stults will be the starter for San Diego. He's a 34-year-old journeyman southpaw.

Today's starting lineup:

1) Asdrubal Cabrera (SS)

2) Nick Swisher (1B)

3) Jason Kipnis (2B)

4) Carlos Santana (3B)

5) Ryan Raburn (LF)

6) Michael Brantley (CF)

7) Yan Gomes (C)

8) David Murphy (RF)

9) Lonnie Chisenhall (DH)

That very well could be the Tribe lineup Tuesday night, when they face lefty (and LGFT) Scott Kazmir, though Murphy and Chisenhall could also be on the bench in favor of guys with a better track record against southpaws.

After getting through a throwing session on Friday without pain, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw appears on track to start Friday's game agains the Padres. Not surprisingly, manager Don Mattingly remains cautious.

It looks like Dodger faithful can breathe a sigh of relief about their new 215-million-dollar man, as lefty ace Clayton Kershaw is reportedly feeling fine after a throwing session on Friday, according to reports out of ESPN LA.

With the positive progression, it appears that the two-time Cy Young award winner will be able to pitch again soon after being ruled out of Sunday's (domestic) season opener against the Padres with soreness in his back. Despite the good news, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is taking the same baby steps he did when No. 2 starter Zack Greinke was injured earlier this spring.

"We've taken a little step forward," the ever cautious Mattingly told reporters, "I'm not saying that says a whole lot at this point, but it does mean that we continue on with the process of moving forward." That process of moving forward will include a more intense throwing session on Saturday, with the hopes that he can start Friday's game against those same Padres. But, Mattingly has made it clear that his best pitcher's health is his number one priority.

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"The one thing to keep in mind is we're not going to let him go out there unless he's 100 percent," said the third year manager of the most expensive team in baseball. If Kershaw is unable to pitch, Josh Beckett -- who infamously joined the team as a stowaway in the Adrian Gonzalez deal -- will be available after a stint on the disabled list. And the three-time All Star will be ready if called, according to Donnie Baseball.

"We feel like he's ready to pitch," Mattingly said of Beckett, who missed most of last season with various nagging injuries before being taken out completely by thoracic outlet syndrome. "For the most part, we'd prefer him to be built up a little further, but if he had to, he's going to be a guy who, by the time he is eligible, could help us."

During the meantime, the Dodgers will turn to Korean import Hyun-Jin Ryu to begin their season (in America) Sunday night. Like Greinke, Beckett and Kershaw, Ryu is overcoming an injury. In his case, it's a torn toenail he suffered whilst pitching during the Dodgers trip to Australia to start the season. But, the second-year starter is ready to go, telling reporters through an interpreter that "I feel OK".

Provided the team can manage to navigate the transition between their pitching staff being a M*A*S*H*/post-modern interpretation of the Braves rotation to the All-Star cast they are paying for, so will Dodgers fans. If they can see the games, that is.

Let's get on with the games that count!

The Indians dropped their final game of spring training, losing to the Padres 9-8. Danny Salazar was on the hill for the Tribe, in his final tuneup before the home opener on Friday, which he is scheduled to start. He allowed at least one hit in each of his 5 innings, and gave up a total of 6 runs (5 earned). Most of the damage came in the 3rd, when a pair of walks, a number of hits, and a Nick Swisher error combined to let in 5 runs. Salazar also allowed a leadoff home run to Chase Headley in the 5th. Vinnie Pestano and Scott Atchison also had some trouble. Pestano allowed a 2-run homer, while Atchison gave up 3 straight hits to begin his inning, before getting a double-play ball and a strikeout.

The offense attempted to mount a comeback, starting with Jason Kipnis doing this:

Later on Matt Carson homered twice, making a good final impression on the coaching staff before heading to Triple-A to begin the season.

Salazar not looking especially sharp was the biggest story from the day. It was the first time all spring he threw 5 innings in a game, and I'm not sure he's entirely up to speed yet. Don't be surprised if Terry Francona uses off days here and there to skip a start or two for Danny in the season's first few weeks.

For the most part, it was a successful spring training for the Tribe. Despite their success in the Cactus League, we've all been itching for the real games to begin. After a day off tomorrow, the Indians will kick off their regular season Monday night in Oakland (weather and stadium plumbing permitting). Let's do this!

It's been a long spring and an even longer offseason, but the Padres are finally set for Opening Night, and they're entering the regular season with their heads held high. Eric Stults wrapped up the spring with an impressive start, allowing just one run on one hit and 3 walks in 4 innings pitched. While his relief gave up 8 runs, none of them will be on the roster to start the season. Who will be on the roster? Chase Headley and Seth Smith, responsible for a pair of home runs and half of the Friars' 8 RBI. Also making the roster is Tommy Medica, who went hitless tonight but picked up a walk and run, wrapping up spring training with an attractive .324 batting average. Veteran journeyman Xavier Nady went 2 for 3 with a double tonight, entering the season hitting .353. Hopefully Medica and Nady can carry their strong spring showings into the season and make up for the lack of Carlos Quentin.

We'll see you here tomorrow night as Andrew Cashner opens the season against the Dodgers' Hyun-Jin Ryu at 5:05 PM. Baseball season is finally here!

Looks like everybody was resting for the big game tomorrow, but Friar Fever still picked up a solid 22 comments for the lead. No recs this afternoon, but you have nobody to blame but yourselves.

With Kershaw and Kemp out, this opening season series at home may be a chance for the Padres to hold their ground against division rival Dodgers.

With the Dodgers best pitcher, lefty ace Clayton Kershaw, out and their best player, outfielder Matt Kemp, on the DL until Friday, now appears to be the best time for the Padres to pick up some wins against their division rivals. And they'll need every last win they can get if they hope to keep up with Los Angeles' high-priced roster in what will likely be a tight divisional race.

Thankfully for the Padres, they'll be attempting to preemptively gain ground behind the arm of Opening Night starter and staff ace Andrew Cashner, who is coming off easily his best season as a major leaguer. Pitching for the Dodgers will be second-year starter Hyun-Jin Ryu of Korea, who has already pitched five scoreless inning this season as part of the team's season-starting trip to Australia.

Unlike Cashner, Ryu was not the projected starter or even the contingency plan if Kershaw wasn't available. But with a lingering calf injury to No. 2 Zack Greinke putting him out of action until Tuesday, Ryu was given the nod. Along with Kemp, the Dodgers have had to deal with their share of injuries to begin the season, but none of them appear too serious or likely to keep them out of contention for a projected second straight division title.

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The projections for the Padres are significantly more modest, with our own Steve Goldman believing that the bestcase scenario for them being "some of the older players get hot and find their way to contenders at the trade deadline in return for the players that will make this team interesting again" and their worst case something similar to the last two seasons of 76-86 baseball.

Regardless of where they may end up, however, hope always springs eternal on Opening Night.

Dodgers injuries

Clayton Kershaw, P; Matt Kemp, CF; Zack Greinke, P; Josh Beckett, P

Padres injuries

Josh Johnson, P

Projected lineups

Dodgers: Yasiel Puig, RF; Justin Turner, 2B; Hanley Ramirez, SS; Adrian Gonzalez, 1B; Scott Van Slyke, LF; Juan Uribe, 3B; Andre Ethier, CF; A.J. Ellis, C; Hyun-Jin Ryu, P

Padres:Everth Cabrera, SS; Will Venable, OF; Chase Headley, 3B; Jedd Gyorko, 2B; Yonder Alonso, 1B; Chris Denorfia, OF; Seth Smith, OF; Nick Hundley, C; Andrew Cashner, P

Game Date/Time: Sunday, March 30. 5:05 p.m. local, 8:05 p.m. ET

Venue: Petco Park, San Diego, CA

TV: ESPN (U.S. - English)

Radio: 570 Fox Sports L.A., KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)

Online: Watch ESPN App

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers reopen their regular season tonight in San Diego against the Padres, and Buster Olney will be a part of the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast. Earlier this week, Olney was kind enough to take time to talk about the Dodgers. He likes their chances to win in 2014.

"Unless they suffer a catastrophic series of injuries - look at the Texas Rangers, for example - I think they'll win the division, handily. They are an easy favorite in that division, the way that the other teams are constructed," Olney said. "The only way the other teams can catch them would be if the Dodgers play down to the other teams, either through injuries or the performance of some of their guys."

Olney also talked divisional foes.

"With the Giants, it's possible that Matt Cain bounces back and Tim Lincecum might be able to bounce back, but I don't think the other teams in the division have the depth that the Dodgers do," he said. "Going into spring training I was thinking San Diego could make a dent potentially. Yet again they are suffering these pitching injuries, which are just crushing from them, with [Cory] Luebke going down, Max Fried going down, and it looks like Joe Wieland is going down, too."

The Dodgers have the most expensive bullpen in franchise history at just over $33 million, including bringing back Brian Wilson and J.P. Howell and adding Chris Perez and Jamey Wright. But with 2014 payouts topping $260 million it's easy for $33 million to be under the radar.

"They just have so much talent. Their pitching staff is so loaded," Olney said. "With all the stars they have, it sort of obscures the fact that they've accumulated so much talent, especially in the bullpen."

Yasiel Puig was in the news this week after a pair of baserunning gaffes marred an otherwise productive second game in Australia, a game after manager Don Mattingly jokingly referred to Puig as the boy who cried wolf. A team meeting was called to discuss the matter, the severity of which and caller of the meeting is in debate (skip ahead to about the 29-minute mark of Thursday's Dodger Talk).

"The way that Puig responded to [the team meeting] is a great sign," Olney said. "There's this perception that it's some old sportswriters picking on Puig because he didn't hit the cutoff man, but there's no question that internally there are people upset with him. I've heard it directly from people who aren't going to go on the record necessarily, but it's there. That's why Donnie held the team meeting, to give people a chance to say some things.

"The team is thinking 'We have a chance to be pretty good, and we can't be making the same mistakes over and over again.' Donnie is smart. He was in the New York media for years, and knows how to get a message across. It seems like in the last six days he almost played bad cop / good cop by himself.

"Their hope is that he plays well, they leave him out there and he plays everyday, and the choice probably comes down to one of the other three guys. But the decision is going to depend on how he plays and how he responds."

The Dodgers will start the season with a platoon at second base with Dee Gordon and Justin Turner, a job that most parties would like Gordon to seize.

"It is an area of concern," Olney said of second base. "Their absolute hope is that Dee Gordon grabs onto it and takes off. He's internal, he doesn't cost anything relative to other solutions."

The wild card at second base is Cuban defector Alex Guerrero, to whom the Dodgers committed $28 million over four years. The 27-year-old has been praised for his work ethic and improvement during spring training both in the field and at the plate, but after essentially not playing competitive baseball for roughly a year he will start the season in Triple-A Albuquerque.

"There is a huge split on what [Guerrero] is. Clearly the Dodgers, given the amount of money they invested in him, somebody in their organization has seen potential in him. But I have had people from other teams tell me their scouts are flat out convinced that he can't play," Olney said. "It is interesting that there is such a split with him."

With huge contracts signed in recent days by Miguel Cabrera (eight years, $248 million with the Tigers) and Mike Trout (six years, $144.5 million with the Angels), the next big deal could be with Hanley Ramirez. The Dodgers shortstop will be the prize position player on next year's free agent market, if the Dodgers don't sign him to an extension first, as Olney thinks they will.

"I think they sign him. They have demonstrated time and again, this ownership group by the fact that they've ascended to No. 1 in payroll, that they're going to do what it takes," Olney said. "I know from talking to Mark McGwire and other people in the organization how much respect they have for the type of player he's become."

While Ramirez won't get $248 million, Olney said he is comparable to Cabrera in one respect.

"[McGwire] said if he wants to know what a pitcher's trying to do, the game plan, Hanley is the guy he likes to talk to because he has such an acute understanding of pitchers," Olney noted.

The Dodgers and Padres on Sunday night will open the 25th season of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, with Dan Shulman and John Kruk on the call and Olney reporting in-game. In addition, Baseball Tonight will run a 90-minute show beginning at 3:30 p.m. PT, with Karl Ravech, Barry Larkin and Kruk live from Petco Park.

Brian Creagh recommends 10 players owned in fewer than 10% of Yahoo! fantasy leagues.

And we're back! This season I will be bringing back by '10 Under 10%' series to FakeTeams. For those unfamiliar with these articles the concept is simple, using Yahoo! Ownership percentages I recommend 10 players that are worth adding. The suggestions are format agnostic, but the recommendations are geared for 14-team leagues and above. I try to get an even split of hitters and pitchers and mix up the positions within the offensive selections. I also make a conscious effort to not repeat picks, but if there is a player I feel isn't getting enough love I will occasionally put him on back-to-back weeks. My picks are a combination of players on a hot streak and worthy of a temporary addition, as well as players with a recent role change who could become long-term solutions. If a player clearly falls on one end of the spectrum, I will point it out in my brief write up. Let's get into it:

Derek Norris/Welington Castillo - I couldn't decide which of these two deserved to make the list, so I put them both on there. Castillo has the playing time edge, with Norris getting the weak-side platoon in Oakland. However, Norris hits in the better lineup and has the better peripheral numbers. If you can afford to platoon Norris with someone else, I'd go there, but Castillo is the better ‘set it and forget it' play. These are my two favorite sleeper plays from the C position.

Chris Denorfia -

Yes

— Is Quentin on the DL (@QuentinOnDL) March 29, 2014

A jack of all trades, Denorfia had a quiet double-double season for the Padres last season and with Quentin on the DL again, he's slated to start in LF. Both Maybin and Quentin can push Denorfia out of his starter role, but he should have a solid month or two of production before they are factors. Denorfia also has the sneaky triple LF/CF/RF eligibility if you play in such a league.

Nate Schierholtz - I was genuinely surprised to see Schierholtz at only 6% owned. In a semi-platoon situation last season, he still hit 21 dingers with a useful .251/.301/.470 triple slash. Ruggiano will still complement him when the Cubbies face a lefty, but any sort of improvement from both Castro and Rizzo should help Schierholtz improve his counting stats. Schierholtz has expressed interest in remaining with the Cubs, which is probably the best for his fantasy value, but there's a chance he gets dealt to a better lineup and forms a stricter platoon partnership.

D.J. LeMahieu - This one is fairly straightforward: a starter at a thin position, playing half of his games in Coors Field = fantasy value. He's a bit of an empty average guy, but he'll run into a handful of homers and managed 18 steals last season. Inexplicably, Josh Rutledge gets all of the love, but I expect LeMahieu to deliver more fantasy value in 2014.

Robbie Grossman - A 10 HR/15 SB candidate, Grossman finds his way on the list by the nature of batting atop the Houston lineup and having little challenging him in LF. The Astros recently claimed Alex Presley off of waivers, who I do like as well in deep leagues, but until Grossman is unseated he's the best play. If you're just looking for players who are going to get AB's (a strangely underrated component to fantasy value) Grossman should have no trouble finding those in another rough season in Houston.

Roenis Elias - One of my favorite stories out of Spring Training has been the emergence of Roenis Elias. A lefty, fastball/slider guy Elias will have to walk a tight-rope due to his control issues and the fact that righties have hit him pretty hard. The results could be explosive (not in a good way). However there is also a chance Elias puts it together and racks up above-average strikeout rates and lets the safe haven of Safeco remedy his mistakes. His first start or two will be very telling, but jump on him now because there is a lot of potential, and he's an easy cut if the first start doesn't go well.

Daniel Webb - Matt Mattingly covered Webb in-depth here so I won't say much more here. The White Sox bullpen is full of inexperienced closer options, and Webb could emerge as the best of the bunch.

Alex Torres - Torres was downright filthy for Tampa Bay last season, and a move to Petco should only add to his value. He's more than a LOOGY and is in a great place to rack up the tough to predict Holds. As recently as 2012 he was still viewed as a starter and while I'm not sure the Padres will go that route, there is still the outside shot he finds himself in a rotation.

Jenrry Mejia - Mejia just recently beat out Daisuke Matsuzaka for the 5^th rotation spot in New York. The once top prospect has struggled to stay on the bump, but when he's there he's shown the ability to strike out a batter an inning. You're not adding him expecting 200 innings, but he should provide at least 100 quality innings with the possibility for more if he can avoid the injury bug.

Felipe Paulino - If you haven't noticed the theme yet, my pitcher picks are limited to players with high strikeout potential. No player on the wire is going to help out much in the ratio departments, and Felipe is no exception, but an 8.5+ K/9 is a very real possibility. Similar to Mejia, Paulino is a big injury risk and doesn't have quite as favorable of a home ballpark, but he's firmly entrenched in the rotation and has flashed the ability to be a dominant SP.

BONUS: Josh Beckett - A sprained thumb will keep him out until mid-April, but Beckett has been given the 5^th spot in the banged up Dodgers rotation. Beckett is still capable of getting outs in bunches and with a potent offense backing him, there's a good chance Beckett wins 10+ games this season.

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The Dodgers were 11-8 against the Padres in 2013, including 6-4 in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO -- Let's get it on ... again.

The Dodgers open the domestic portion of their regular season on Sunday night against the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego with a chance to get three wins before 27 other teams in MLB have even thrown a pitch.

Getting the call for the Dodgers in the opener in San Diego is Hyun-Jin Ryu, currently leading the majors with a 0.00 ERA. He got that by pitching five scoreless innings last Sunday in Australia (Saturday night in Los Angeles), which happened to be the Dodgers' last game.

Ryu is the first Dodgers pitcher to start consecutive games since ... well, since Ricky Nolasco last July. But before that, the last one was Andy Messersmith in July 1975. Both Nolasco and Messersmith sandwiched their consecutive starts around the All-Star break.

In fact, the Dodgers' first two starting pitchers in San Diego will be a guy starting his second straight game followed by a guy who started three straight games in 2012, though Zack Greinke's streak was aided by a first-inning ejection and the All-Star break.

Ryu vs. San Diego

Ryu faced the Padres once in 2013, allowing one run while pitching into the seventh inning in a win on August 30. But this is his first start at Petco Park. Current Padres against Ryu:

Yonder Alonso: 1-for-3 (.333)
Chris Denorfia: 1-for-3 (.333)
Nick Hundley: 1-for-3 (.333)
Will Venable: 1-for-3 (.333)
Alexi Amarista: 1-for-1 (1.000)
Jedd Gyorko: 0-for-3 (.000)

Ryu's second straight start was in question as late as two days ago, as he cracked his right big toenail while running the bases in Sydney. But after throwing a bullpen session on Friday and not feeling any pain in his toe, he felt ready to go. Ryu, who threw 87 pitches in his first start, said he wouldn't be limited against the Padres.

"If I had any doubt that I could throw like I normally could, I wouldn't be out there," Ryu said, through a translator.

Outside of the toenail, Ryu has been perfectly healthy this spring, entering camp in better shape than he did in 2013. He put up a 2.20 ERA in four Cactus League starts, with 10 strikeouts and three walks in 16⅓ innings. He was asked the biggest difference between this year and last.

"Mostly it's my physical condition," Ryu said. "I feel a lot better than I did last year."

While Sunday won't be the first game for the Dodgers, it will be Opening Day for the Padres with all the pomp and circumstance surrounding it.

"I'm very honored. It's a privilege to take the mound for a team on the Opening Day, especially coming from Korea last year," Ryu said. "I'm going to take it very seriously, and do the best that I can."

Ryu also hopes Sunday night goes better than his four Opening Day starts with the Hanwha Eagles in the Korean Baseball Organization.

"I think I lost every start," Ryu said with a laugh.

Then again, if Sunday night in San Diego doesn't go so well, it wasn't really Opening Day anyway.

The other side

Andrew Cashner gets the call for the Padres, making his first Opening Day start. The right-hander was 10-9 with a 3.09 ERA in 31 games in 2013, including 26 starts, with 128 strikeouts and 47 walks in 175 innings. Cashner was even better at home, 5-4 with a 1.95 ERA at Petco Park with 52 strikeouts and 13 walks in 78⅓ innings.

The good: Juan Uribe is 4-for-8 (.500) with two doubles against Cashner, while Andre Ethier is 3-for-8 (.375) with a double and two walks, and Adrian Gonzalez is 5-for-13 (.385) with a double and a walk.

The bad: Hanley Ramirez is 1-for-11 (.091) against Cashner, while Yasiel Puig is 1-for-9 (.111) with a walk

Game info

Time: 5:05 p.m. PT

TV: ESPN

A look at the active rosters for both teams heading into Sunday night at Petco Park.

SAN DIEGO -- Both the Dodgers and Padres finalized their active rosters in advance of Sunday night's re-Opening Day. There were no surprises from the Dodgers, as they officially placed Clayton Kershaw on the disabled list, retroactive to March 23, with a strain of the Teres Major muscle, and optioned Jose Dominguez to Triple-A Albuquerque.

The Dodgers have 12 pitchers, two catchers, five outfielders, and five infielders on their active roster, with Chone Figgins listed separately as an infielder/outfielder.

The Padres have 12 pitchers, three catchers, five outfielders and five infielders. Notable roster moves for San Diego include Carlos Quentin on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 25, with a bone bruise in his right knee, and non-roster invitee Xavier Nady - who was drafted by the Padres and played in the organization through 2005 - made the club.

Here are the 25-man rosters for both teams: