Betancourt Out for WBC; Tribe Filing into Goodyear

Christmas definitely came early.

This wasn't pitchers and catchers report day..

It was the whole freakin' team report day!

Hell, Cliff Lee's been in town for the past week.

Lee did some speaking on the steroid thing going on with Alex Rodriguez.

Read CastroTurf's latest entry for the entire quote... But I think it's interesting that Cliff Lee takes that same mentality that he has on the mound (or at least the new-found mentality) to something like this as well. Cliff has moved on and he doesn't look back at the past, it's the next pitch, not the last one. That tells a lot in terms of how far Cliff has come and why he won't be one-hit wonder like some people might be.

As far as Goodyear and the facility and all the excitement surrounding the whole thing.. It looks as if it's the real deal.

"Everybody wants to get out and see what all the hype is about," reliever Jensen Lewis said. "It's certainly lived up to it so far."

"We've never been here, never been to this town, so you want to get your bearings straight," he said. "I wanted to make sure I know how to get to the field and where the grocery store is and that kind of basic stuff." - Cliff Lee

It's amazing what new toy can do for you...

An interesting point that I thought of as I was reading something on Bleacher Report.

The Indians slow-starts to the season are rather tiresome. Perhaps the head-hanging state of Winter Haven might have given the Tribe a little bit of a lull..

and Perhaps.... This excitement will charge them into the first month of the season and that let-down in the opening month will be different this year.

We already know about Fausto Carmona from earlier today and now it turns out that Rafael Betancourt is out for the World Baseball Classic as well.

Betancourt has made a personal decision to step out, citing lack of use last time around and his performance in 2008 as a reason to stick in camp.

"I was taking time to make my decision to play or not play," Betancourt said. "I did it the first time, and I think, for me, I don't play winter ball, so it takes a little bit of time to get ready to compete. I got the experience in 2006, and it was a very good experience representing my country. But to prepare myself for the season, it wasn't good for me."

I kind of expected this. I think there was hints of it but this just seals it. Betancourt didn't need to do it, given how little use he had last time around, it could have really hurt him in the long run.

On another hand, you have Jhonny Peralta dealing with guys like Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez for the Dominican Republic. I tip-toed around Peralta actually making the WBC because of the stacked D.R. team, so if he does not get passed this last provisional stage, I wouldn't be surprised.

Peralta probably isn't expecting to make it either, but he said if he does, he will play.

Have you ever been so excited for what really amounts to nothing? I mean hell, they just arrived in a different city, yet I feel like something has actually started.