This Week in Indians Baseball: Week 1

NEWS:

• On Tuesday, the Indians extended Carlos Santana’s contract through 2016 for $21 million, with a club option for 2017.
• On Thursday, the Indians reportedly reached an agreement with outfielder Johnny Damon for a one-year deal worth $1.25 million, with performance incentives built into the contract.

WAHOO’S ON FIRST HIGHLIGHTS:

• Lewie pieced together the story of the Opening Day heartbreak with a mosaic of Twitter updates
• Katie offered an optimistic take on the excitement of the home opener
• Steve looked at how each member of the Indians’ roster came to Cleveland
• Brian previewed the series against the Blue Jays and White Sox and Merritt previewed the series with the Royals
• Lewie interviewed Jays Journal’s Jared Macdonald about the Blue Jays, CSN Chicago’s JJ Stankevitz about the White Sox, and Kings of Kauffman’s Michael Engel about the Royals
• In our Weekly Wroundtables, we gave our picks for the series we’re most looking forward to and debated how long Chris Perez should stay at closer
• Merritt wrote an ode to Shelley Duncan’s “goofy brilliance”
• Geordy finished his 2012 Indians top prospects list with No. 1: Francisco Lindor
• Lewie took issue with some of Manny Acta’s lineup decisions—specifically, hitting Jose Lopez fifth and putting Jason Kipnis eighth
• Lewie called the Carlos Santana extension an “absolute steal”
• Brian examined the improvements the Indians have made to their 2012 uniforms
• Lewie questioned the wisdom of signing Johnny Damon to replace Shelley Duncan

WEEKLY TRIVIA:

• The Indians’ Opening Day 16-inning marathon was the longest Opening Day game in MLB history in terms of innings.
• After one week of play, Jack Hannahan has three errors. He had only five through all of last season.
• The Sunday, April 15 game celebrated the legacy of Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in baseball in 1947. All players wore his number—42—in honor of his contributions to the sport.
• The Indians have had at least one home run in each of their games so far this season.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Giving $21 million instead of a birthday card? That’s a good birthday.”—Chris Antonetti, after announcing the contract extension of Santana two days after the catcher’s 26^th birthday.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Shelley Duncan

The outlook in left field was bleak at the start of the season, but so far Duncan has filled the position quite well. He leads the team with a .320 batting average, a .485 on-base percentage, and a 1.085 OPS. He’s tied with Carlos Santana with eight walks, and for good measure he’s hit two home runs. Duncan has certainly come up big when the Indians have needed him so far.

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