Can the Tribe Stay Alive in the Central?

Flashing the Trivia: Former Cleveland Indians pitcher Jason Grimsley might now be well-known as a self-proclaimed steroid user, but what did he do in the mid-90's that apparently set the tone for the rest of his career as a cheater?

Maybe it was Victor Martinez who helped Bill Belichick
film pregame warmups.


Last season, the Cleveland Indians were able to scrape together their first AL Central division title since 2001. Not bad for a team that finished 18 games out of first place in 2006. What was the difference? Pitching. Especially the bullpen. Their bullpen finished with an ERA of 3.75, fourth best in the American League as opposed to the atrocious 5.00+ ERA from the year before. Going into this season, the bullpen appears even more stable than last with the addition of Masahide Kobayashi who had 227 career saves in Japan (and in my opinion, should be closer by mid-season). Kobayashi was the only splash the Indians made in the off-season, bringing back mostly the same squad.

Behind the plate is the always solid Victor Martinez. He hit .301 with 25 homers and 114 RBIs in 562 at-bats last season. Martinez also played 30 games at first base last season, giving Ryan Garko the occasional rest. Travis Hafner is still a better fielding 1st baseman than Martinez but Hafner slumped last season (.266 AVG, 24 homers and 100 RBIS), it was necessary to keep Martinez in the lineup whenever possible. Hafner should bounce back, giving Martinez more of an opportunity to rest.

Garko had a solid season, his first as a full-time starter by hitting .289 with 21 homers and 61 RBIs. The 26-year-old has immense potential and as long as he hits 5th or higher in the lineup, there's no reason why he can't top 100 RBIs.

At second base lies the 22-year-old Asdrubal Cabrera who emerged as the starter towards the end of the year. Before his promotion in August, Cabrera hit .310 with 78 runs scored 23 doubles, three triples, eight homers, and 54 RBIs in 96 games at Double-A Akron. He only spent nine games in Triple-A Buffalo before being sent to the majors. He replaced the season-long-slumping Josh Barfield who looks like will begin the season in Buffalo. But don't write him off just yet, if Cabrera goes through a similar sophomore slump, look for Barfield to be back.

Jhonny Peralta enters his 3rd season at shortstop for the Indians. After a disasterous 2006 campaign where he hit .256, he came back last season by hitting .270 with 21 homers and 72 RBIs. He's a below-average fielder but Cabrera makes up for it presenting an above-average double-play combination. Peralta provides the power at the 6th spot in the lineup and should display consistency by matching his 2007 numbers.

Casey Blake is a player that the Indians have used at first base, third base, and right field to mentor young players at each respective position. He started in right field (where Franklin Gutierrez eventually took over), then to first (where Ryan Garko, a former catching prospect, took over) and now at third (where former Atlanta Braves prospect Andy Marte was supposed to emerge but after a very weak hitting last two years, Blake has remained). Blake has been a bit below-average at the plate, hitting .270 with 18 homers and 70 RBIs. Blake should remain, Marte is not the answer. The most optimal infield for the Indians would be Peralta at third, Cabrera at shortstop (his natural position) and Barfield at second. Of course this is a long-shot, but we will see.

I'm not sure what's going on in left-field for the Indians (Jason Michaels and David Dellucci platoon?) I doubt that will last too long. The 25-year-old Ben Francisco will be given every opportunity to seize the position. Kenny Lofton's name continues to be tossed around but I believe Francisco should be given a shot at the full-time position. Francisco hit .310 with 12 homers and 51 RBIS in Triple-A Buffalo last season and hit .274 with 3 homers and 12 RBIs in 62 at-bats with the Indians last season.

Grady Sizemore is the total package in center. He really came into his own last year by hitting .277 with 24 homers, 78 RBIs and 33 stolen bases in 628 at-bats. There are many, including myself, that think Sizemore is much better than that. There's much to improve on his 155 strikeouts last season (obscenely high for a leadoff man). But unless Sizemore is dropped in the batting order (I don't see that happening, the Indians just don't have a better leadoff option) his numbers should be around the same with perhaps a better average.

The designated hitter position is manned by Travis Hafner (Ryan Garko and Victor Martinez switch too occasionally). From 2004-06 he was solid, hitting at least .305 with at least 28 homers and at least 108 RBIs. But in 2007 he slipped a bit by hitting a weak .266 (.222 with runners in scoring position) with 24 homers and 100 RBIs. He also had a terrible ALCS by hitting 4-for-27 (.148) with one home run and two RBIs. Hafner also set an ALCS record by striking out 12 times. Barring injury, Pronk should bounce back without issue.

The rotation remains very adequate and definitely above average. C.C. Sabathia anchors the rotation as he went 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA last season. Fausto Carmona, after a disasterous 1-10, 5.42 ERA rookie season, came into his own by going 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA. Jake Westbrook was his typical mediocre self, going 6-9 with a 4.32 ERA. Paul Byrd, usually mediocre as well had the second-highest win total of his career going 15-8 with a 4.59 ERA. Aaron Laffey, who took over mid-season for the injured Cliff Lee, went 4-2 with a 4.56 ERA.

Laffey will be very interesting to watch, as he did win the Bob Feller award as the Indian's top minor league pitcher (13-4, 2.75 ERA in 131 innings pitched with both Double-A Buffalo and Triple-A Akron last season). Laffey should at least top 10 wins in the back end of the rotation.

The Indians bullpen carried them all year last season. RHP set-up man Rafael Betancourt went 5-1 with a 1.47 ERA last year. He was brilliantly complimented by 25-year-old LHP Rafael Perez who went 1-2 with a 1.78 ERA last season. The only question mark once again is closer Joe Borowski. He did lead the American League with 45 saves last season but also carried a 5.07 ERA. But if consistency is an issue again this season, look for Eric Wedge to pull the plug, giving either Perez or newcomer Kobayashi a shot.

While the Indians have a solid team once again this year, alas, they are not the Detroit Tigers. But I do believe the Indians should be able to capture the wild card (over the Yankees). This season will ride on C.C. (and his expiring contract) Carmona (was last year a fluke?) and the back-end of their bullpen (will this be it for Borowski?).

I expect at least 94 wins in this team's future and a wild card birth.


Flashing the Trivia answer: In 1994, while the Cleveland Indians were playing the Chicago White Sox at Comisky Park, Albert Belle's bat was confiscated by umpires during the first inning. White Sox manager Gene Lamont was tipped off that Belle had a corked bat (which was indeed true). Here's the rest of the story from an SI article:

The New York Times reported that he took a cork-free bat belonging to Paul Sorrento, because all of Belle's bats were corked. Jason Grimsley said he knew there was an escape hatch in the ceiling in the clubhouse and figured there was one as well in the umpires' dressing room.

With the help of an unidentified Indians' employee, he navigated his way to the spot. Crawling on his belly, a flashlight in his mouth, he finally found it, dropped down on a refrigerator and swiped the bat from Phillips' locker.

"My heart was going 1,000 miles a second," Grimsley told the Times. "I just rolled the dice, a crapshoot."

After the game, the umpires immediately suspected foul play -- the bat, after all, bore Sorrento's name. The American League even spoke of bringing in the FBI.

Finally, the Indians were told that if they supplied Belle's bat there would be no punishment for the switch. Belle received a 10-game suspension that was reduced to seven games on appeal.