Welcome to the first edition of Cleveland Baseball Weekly, a weekly notebook I will be writing on the Cleveland Indians.

Cleveland Baseball Weekly will catch you up on everything that happened with the team over the past week, or in this case, spring training to date, which has been quite eventful.

New Addition

Going into the offseason, times were bleak in Cleveland. Coming off of a 68-94 season, it certainly seemed like the team would be headed for another long rebuilding phase.

But the front office decided to go in the opposite direction. General Manager Chris Antonetti brought in new manager Terry Francona, two top-tier, high-priced free agents Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn and essentially changed the entire mindset and outlook for the club.

So far, the $117 million of offseason spending is fitting in quite well. The lineup is much deeper and has averaged around six runs per game in spring training.

Spring training statistics really do not matter, but it looks like the new players are fitting in well. The days of Shelley Duncan, Johnny Damon and Aaron Cunningham as lineup regulars are long gone.

The times have truly changed in Cleveland.

Battle for fifth starter

One of the spots still open on Cleveland’s roster heading into Spring Training is the fifth starter. Barring injury, Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Brett Myers and Zach McAllister will be on the team. As for that last spot, it could be any number of pitchers.

The main competitors for the spot are newly acquired top prospect Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco – who is almost recovered from Tommy John surgery – and Scott Kazmir and Daisuke Matsuzaka, two pitchers who signed low-risk minor league deals in the offseason.

Of the four competitors, it appears that Kazmir has really separated himself. Kazmir was one of the best pitchers in baseball a few years ago, but injuries and ineffectiveness drove him out of the league. However he is now on the comeback trail.

His spring stats are impressive (11.0 IP, 8 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 13 strikeouts, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com), but more importantly, his stuff is back too. Peter Gammons tweeted Monday that he was throwing 89-93 mph and had his “delivery restored.” Kazmir fell apart after losing his form, and now it looks like he has it back.

With a few weeks left in spring training, this competition is far from decided; injuries and general struggles have a way of messing with plans. But if the season started today, it would be a very safe bet that Kazmir would be on the opening day roster.

Raburn on fire

As I said earlier, spring training statistics really do not matter, but it is hard not to be impressed by what Ryan Raburn has accomplished so far this spring. Raburn launched four home runs in his first 12 games – which would put him on pace for over 50 home runs over a whole season – and is hitting .440.

Of course, there is no way that Raburn could keep this up over a whole season and he is doing this in Arizona, not Cleveland. What is important, however, is getting Raburn back to the form he had from 2009 to 2011.

During that span, Raburn had a .274/.329/.473 batting line and 45 home runs in 347 games. That offensive upside, along with his ability to play in both the outfield and the infield, makes Raburn a great candidate for a bench spot.

Signing a player like Raburn to a minor league deal would have been a highlight of last year’s offseason. Now, it is a great complement to the rest of the offseason moves and one that could stabilize Cleveland’s bench in 2013.

M*A*S*H Report

Cleveland’s been pretty good with injuries so far, but the team has taken a few hits. Closer Chris Perez was shut down after a shoulder strain earlier in camp and missed the World Baseball Classic as a result.

He may not be ready for opening day, but Perez managed to recover from an oblique injury last year in time for the opener.

Outfielder Michael Brantley suffered a few deep cuts to his arm after he was spiked Feb. 25. The injury required stitches, but Brantley returned to game action Sunday. He should be fine for opening day.

Finally, reliever Frank Herrmann is still gathering opinions on his injured right elbow. It looks like Herrmann will need Tommy John surgery, but he seems to be trying his best to avoid it.

Contact Jim Piascik at [email protected].