...Aaaaaand there it is.

Dear Adam Miller,

Time to live up to the hype.

Your friend,

Kyle

A mere 48 hours after my last blog, C.C. made it known that he and his agent would be suspending any contract negotiations until after the '08 season aka he will be a free agent. And while there remains some small grain of hope, this can't be a good sign. At least he didn't say he'd have to have the Indians jersey torn off his body.

So where does this leave us?

In some ways, if the Indians DON'T compete next season it might not be the worst thing that ever happened. Because then the Tribe could deal C.C., not to mention perhaps move some of the other expiring contracts like Michaels and Byrd (and Dellucci, although he has another year) and make some call ups. Because let's face facts, starting your rookie season with the expectation of stepping in for C.C. is daunting.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still picking the Tribe to win the Central as no one has been able to convince me that the Tigers aren't going to have the same exact problems they had last year. But there's a silver lining if we don't.

We're looking at replacing 2/5 of our rotation next year as opposed to more than likely none (assuming Laffey gets the 5 spot again) this year. And while we should have money to spend on the free agent market, we might need that for a third baseman or a closer.

So who's ready for such a step up? Will Adam Miller stay healthy? Will Jeremy Sowers return to form? Will another year in Buffalo be enough for Chuck Lofgren? And the real kicker, is Cliff Lee still salvageable?

The Tribe doesn't seem to have a lot of question marks this year. Next year, however...the mind boggles.