Pre-Season

This is what I sent to a few choice people before this season started. I apologize for the funky formatting.

I was right about a few things, wrong about others. I think I was right about our key, though:

That’s right, boys and girls and children of all ages, it’s time

 for another edition of Kyle’s Completely Unbiased and Realistic

 Indians’ Preview.  Because I have nothing better to do with my time.

First, a suggestion: The Cleveland Indians used to be the Cleveland

 Naps, named after their best player, Napolean “Nap” Lajoie.  I think

 naming a team after a player is a great idea, and hereby suggest that

 the Tribe becomes either the Cleveland Pronks or, even better, the

 Cleveland Garkos.  Don’t mess with the Garkos.

Twenty years ago Sports Illustrated picked the Indians to win their

 division.  They did the same this year.  That’s a bad sign.

But ten years ago the Indians headed down a road that brought them one

 Joe Table away from a World Series championship.  So that’s a good

 sign.

Now let’s get to the nitty gritty.

Why will the Tribe do better this year?

The easy answer there is “because they have to,” but we all know that’s not true.

Let’s start with our defense.  It was bad.  It was real bad.  And

 while most people would like to blame Jhonny Peralta, the majority of our

 errors actually came at the corners with the all-star combination of

 Aaron Boone, Ben Broussard, and Eddie Perez, none of whom are still

 around.  Marte is an obvious step up and the

 Blake/Garko/Martinez/Hafner/Harry Doyle platoon at first will make it impossible to commit the same

 mistake twice.  Personally, I look for Doyle to win a Gold Glove.

Evidently I wasn’t the only one learning from Major League, as our

 man Peralta has gone and got himself some new eyeballs.  The word on the

 street is that his range has improved a great deal and that he spends

 all his time with Barfield, our fancy pants new second baseman who looks

 nothing at all like a short, pudgy Manny Ramirez, which I think is a

 plus.  And Barfield can run!  Imagine an Indians team that can steal

 bases  -  boggles the mind.

I think we can gloss over the offense, as that’s not so much a

 problem for us these days (yet another nod to the 90’s).  At the very least

 our outfield should always be hitting right around .300 since there

 are five of them.

So let’s look at the pitching.  One big difference will be the simple

 fact that our rotation at the start of the year won’t consist of a

 3-4-5 of Byrd-Carmona-Johnson.  Sure, not having C.C. hurt us, but did

 it hurt more than having Jason Johnson?  No.  Fausto Carmona seems to

 have recovered from the trial by fire that was last season, so at the

 very least he should give us a chance (again, more so than Jason Johnson).

  And one would have to assume that Paul Byrd feels some pressure these

 days, what with the really freaking impressive Adam Miller chomping at

 the bit in Buffalo.

Yes, it would be nice to have our regular rotation to start the season,

 but regardless we’ll start off better than we did a year ago.  Fun

 fact for those who feel the need to complain about C.C.’s weight:

 Cliff Lee is on the DL with the same injury that C.C. had last year.  Have

 you looked at Cliff Lee?  He’s built like me.

As much as it may have improved, my biggest concern is still our

 bullpen.  Borowski appears to be the second coming of Wickman without the

 option for buffet jokes.  Hernandez is 102.  Fultz did not have the best

 spring.  Miller is hurt again.  And Betancourt is a lot like Charles

 Nagy: you have no idea if good Rafael or bad Rafael will show up.

So why on earth would anyone pick the Tribe to win the best division in

 baseball?  It’s simple: depth.

Everyone needs starting pitching and we have plenty.  We also have a

 whole boatload of outfielders who can hit.  I would not be surprised in

 the slightest if the Indians make some big deal at mid-season.  We’ve

 got pieces to spare, from Byrd and Westbrook (who could bring in some

 great players), to pretty much all of our outfielders aside from

 Sizemore.  We have crazy depth and we can pretty much use that to go out and

 get whatever we need during the course of the season.

Prediction: AL Central Champs.  The Tigers will be the White Sox of

 ‘06.  The Twins are one good starter away from being the best team in

 baseball, but that’s one more starter than they’ll find at any point

 during the season.  The White Sox will lose most of their team in the

 great AJ Riot of ‘07, orchestrated from afar by some kid in Los

 Angeles.  And the Royals are the Royals.

I think Garko will get more and more time at first as the season

 progresses and we’ll see a core infield form the likes of which we

 haven’t seen in a decade.  We’ll see at least one starter dealt, making

 room for Carmona full time and preparing for Adam Miller.  We’ll see

 Hafner and Sizemore jerseys all over the country.  And we’ll see the

 Indians get to the post-season.

Then again, I’ve been wrong before.