quang: to many people last year, the indians' extreme success was one of the biggest surprises of the 2007 season. but those of you who have seen them play over the past few seasons and knew about their incredible run differential in 2006 probalby weren't as suprised that they, along with the red sox, won the most games in the league. what i did find surprisng was that they were able to do so despite off years fom so many of their key contributors. travis hafner had a mediocre year by his standards, josh barfield was extremely ineffective, and cliff lee and jeremy sowers were both so unbelievably horrible that i didn't believe it. if i knew these players were going to be as bad as they were last year i would have written the indians off immediately. but thankfully for them, cc sabathia and fausto carmona were lights out, asdrubal cabrera and kenny lofton contributed a lot down the stretch, and the indians bullpen was outstanding. if these players don't regress too much and if the previous players rebound, i think this team will be a tough out.
last year, the indians one through nine could all rake. this is a trend that continues this year as i think cleveland's depth in the lineup remains one of their biggest strengths. it all starts from the top with grady sizemore. he is probably the heart and soul of this team. he has power, he has speed, he has plate discipline and he is an incredible centerfielder to boot. victor martinez is probably next on the pecking order. he's one of the most gifted offensive catchers in the league which likely means a shift to first base is forthcoming. another key cog on this team is the aforementioned travis hafner. if he returns to his intimidating form of the previous few years it improves the whole lineup. the rest of the team is as they say, solid but unspectacular. jhonny peralta is a better than averag shortstop and also a walking typo. as for the other middle infielder, asdrubal cabrera took over for barfield late last season and provided a much needed spark down the stretch. manning the corners of the diamond are casey blake and ryan garko. to me their essentially both the same player which isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if they can share jerseys. the corner outfields, where franklin guitierrez, jason michaels, and david dellucci will all have a chance to play, are probably the biggest concern offensively. typically, you'd expect a little more production from left and right fielders, but i guess these short comings are more than made up for at other positions.
pitching wise, the indians are decent. sabathia is the reigning cy young award winner and his upcoming free agency should be reason enough to expect similar numbers as last year. fausto carmona meanwhile made a seemless transition from horrendous closer to incredible starter. it will be very hard for a pitcher who pitches to contact like fausto to be able to duplicate his success, so i don't think it's unreasonable to expect slightly worse numbers this time around. other than those two, the indians will throw out throwback paul byrd, league average jake westbrook, and either cliff lee, adam miller, or sowers. though miller has the highest ceiling, lee would probably give them their best chance to win now, while sowers gives them the highest era. whatever they decide, if the indians bullpen is anything like last years, they'll be more than up to task of eating some innings. set up men rafael betancourt and rafael perez shared first names and sub-2.00 eras. toss in jensen lewis and aaron fultz and cleveland will be tough to beat in innings 6-8. the final inning is another story altogether. joe borowski returns as closer and his 46 saves and 5.07 era last year will get him labeled as "a gamer" and "someone who knows how to win" by baseball purists even though "bad" and "kind of really bad" would be more appropriate.
overall, the indians have pretty much exactly the same team as the one that relenquished a 3-1 series lead in the alcs to the red sox. i'm actually concerned that they were a little too complacent this offseason and are relying a little too much on everyone having a similar season from last year. unfortunately, baseball doesn't work that way and from year to year, unpredictability is the only constant. well the only constant other than frank thomas hitting giant home runs. anyways, if for some reason the white sox can't win the division, like if they win too many games that the standings can't accommodate their enormous win total, i'd much rather the indians take it than the tigers. first, because i don't like the tigers. and second, because of the irony that ensues when cleveland fans, who occasionally cheer their team on by wearing red face, pitching fits about lebron james wearing a yankees hat. but objectively, though i think the indians have a very good team, i'm not confident a team with a shaky back end of the rotation and back end of the bullpen can beat these mighty tigers. hopefully, i'm proven wrong and the white sox with their shaky rotation and bullpen, win the central.
dhivy: People of Cleveland, be on the lookout for 6’3”, 240 pound male with “Apache” beard who answers to the name Pronk. He was last seen in 2006 when he hit a home run every 10.8 at-bats and drove in 117 runs. Last year, his presence in the lineup was replaced by a poor facsimile with a higher k-rate, lower walk-rate, and slugging percentage over 200 points worse. If spotted, please contact Eric Wedge and Mark Shapiro.
Assuming a bounce back year from Travis Hafner, the Native Americans are “Hopi”-ng to build on their 2007 campaign, which saw them one win away from a World Series. Three straight losses in the ALCS sealed their fate and left the city wondering if they missed their opportunity. It’s hard to predict a division title with the moves that the Tigers made, but with their core still intact, Cleveland should remain a major player in the American League. CC Sabathia is fresh off a Cy Young year and with free agency looming, his motivation has never been higher. Fausto Car-“Mohawk” preformed admirably in his “Seminole” season in the rotation, but he’ll be hard pressed to repeat his performance from ’07. And when Paul Byrd isn’t scrounging for HGH, he and Jake Westbrook provide solid, if unspectacular innings. Whether or not prize prospect Adam Miller pans out will determine if this rotation goes from good to great. The weakness of this staff is in their closer, “Nava”-Joe Borowski. Despite a league-leading 45 saves, his ERA was over 5 and the team cannot hesitate to lean on Rafael Betancourt or import Masahide Kobayashi should Borowski falter.
The player to watch in the Native Americans’ lineup is Josh Barfield. He was traded from the Padres last off-season and had a difficult time adjusting to the AL, both at the plate and in the field. While he starts the season behind Asdrubal Cabrera, I expect a resurgent year that will force Eric to Wedge him into the lineup somehow. At the very least he won’t end up as big a disappointment as “Cherokee” Parks. Sizemore, Hafner, and Martinez have become household names, but Casey Blake, Ryan Garko, and Jhonny Peralta make this one of the deeper lineups in the majors. The infield trio combined for 60 bombs and 230 runs scored. With Peralta and Garko entering their prime, this team is not “Cheyenne” away from predicting another postseason birth.
In the thirteen years baseball has employed a wild card, that spot has been captured by the AL East nine times. With such a discrepancy, I’m surprised the other divisions didn’t “Sioux”. Simply put, I don’t see the East’s domination continuing this year. The gap between the top and bottom teams in the Central is more pronounced than it has been in years past and I expect Cleveland to take advantage of the lesser competition. With their youthful exuberance an die-hard fan base, the Native Americans are a fun team to watch and appears poised for a long run of success.
“Algonquian”.
Unsung Hero:
- Franklin Gutierrez (q)
- Josh Barfield (d)
- Asdrubal Cabrera (j)
- Joe Borowski (q)
- Joe Borowski (d)
- Joe Borowski (j)
Favorite Moment:
- In a game against the White Sox, Aaron Fultz gives up a walk off home run in the bottom of the 13th to Juan Uribe. Somewhere in San Diego someone buys a whole bunch of hamburgers to celebrate. (q)
- The Indians score a run off the Yankees as Joba Chamberlain is eaten by insects in the alds. (d)
- I win one of my fantasy baseball leagues last year after choosing Josh Barfield in the fifth round....the fifth round!!! (j)
- People finally remember that Rafael Betancourt was once suspended for failing a drug test for performance enhancing drugs when pictures from a party at Jose Canseco's house surface of Brian McNamee injecting Betancourt before the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Photo Shoot. (q)
- Grady Sizemore tries to reenact Willie Mays Hayes’ double steal from ‘Major League’, but Travis Hafner is unable to beat out the bunt. (d)
- Grady Sizemore demands a trade to either San Diego, Los Angeles or Florida solely because his "Grady's Ladies" cheering contingent would probably be hotter there. (j)
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