IF (4/5) - Victor Martinez may be moving to 1B. I guess it comes down to who has a better Spring out of Shoppach and Garko, because one of those will have to sit. DeRosa is an excellent player who can play pretty much any position well. With Peralta and Hafner at SS and DH, that leaves Marte as the only question mark. But there should be plenty of flexibility with DeRosa around, and possibly Tony Graffanino now as well.
OF (4/5) - The three starters are solid and Dellucci is a good veteran back-up (though his average has dropped lately).
SP (3/5) - Lee was the best pitcher in the league last year, but he's the only one locked into a spot. Carmona and Reyes have looked good and should be 2-3. If Pavano pitches like he can, that'd be a good #4. Potential to be a good rotation.
RP (4.5/5) - Kerry Wood had a great year. Perez, Lewis, and Smith looked good last year, as did Kobayashi, through June at least. Betancourt can do better and likely will. Meloan and Miller will try to win a spot. This can be a great bullpen when healthy, assuming the starters aren't giving them too much work.
Wildcards: Trevor Crowe, Marte, Jake Westbrook
Can they beat the Brewers? Yes.
[Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert on your team. I think it's fun to do this stuff before a season starts and then see how close (or how far off) I was. If you spend time from your day insulting us, telling others to insult us, or posting in a blog or messageboard about how wrong our opinions are, then we are flattered!]
3 comments:
I think you are too nice on your grading of The Indians. IF- you should when talking about the Indians infield you have to mention Asdrubal Cabrera if nothing more then having to say Asdrubal. Asdrubal is the player the Indians would love to have at shortstop, that is why the Indians had Peralta play third in winter ball. I think they did not like what thy saw because they have DeRosa at 3rd. I think Marte is out. Not only has Marte not produced the Indians have Wes Hodges the #4 prospect 1 or 1 ½ years away. I think Adam Miller should be a wildcard not Marte. Adam has the stuff to be a great closer or starter. His fastball hit over 100mph and that was when his elbow was not 100% . If Adam can stay healthy he could be very good. OF- yes Dellucci is on the hot seat and if he or Ben Francisco can not do the job they will call up Matt LaPorta a year earlier then they would like.
Go Tribe!
Did you just add something positive to the discussion and educate me about your team without resorting to childish insults? Crazy!
Obviously you know more about this team than I do, but are they not going to give Marte every chance to reach his potential? I think to salvage any value, they'll either have to give it another try this year or go ahead and move him soon, like the Cubs did with Pie. DeRosa is definitely an adequate replacement, but then what if they can't keep him and Hodges isn't ready next year?
You're right, I totally missed Cabrera. I just looked into it and it looks like DeRo may play 3B and Cabrera may play 2B.
Andy Marte was designated for assignment. No chance with Eric Wedge.
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