Kenny Lofton
2010
Its been awhile since I have posted here, but the Indians have not done much. Aside from a few veteran pick ups, the Tribe’s off-season moves consisted of new coaches. The question marks still remain for the team. Will the young players continue to develop? Will Sizemore, Westbrook, and LaPorta be healthy and at full strength this season? Who will round out the rotation? Can Carmona stop walking people? And many more. The Indians are not expected to compete this season, and it hard to argue against that. Even still, I am very excited for baseball to begin. Maybe I’m just sick of cold weather, wind, and snow. Baseball is right around the corner and I’m ready to watch the Tribe’s young talent. I believe that Cleveland will be a fun team to watch. They lack to pitching to compete but some of the young talent could make huge strides this season. Soon it will be April 5th.
Offseason
Its been quite sometime since I have written. The Tribe has had a very quite off-season on the player front. The coaching staff has obviously drastically changed. I’m excited to see what kinda of manager Manny Acta is going to be, and how good of a staff he put together. I excited for baseball to get underway again, so we can watch our young kids and find out what they got.
The Tribe really needs starting pitching help but is not going to spend to get it. The question marks in the rotation go 1 through 5. Its a pretty scary thought. Fausto has a lot to prove this season. I hope that Jake is able to pitch the way he used to. Masterson might be our most solid guy heading into the season. Laffey, Huff, and Sowers have yet to set themselves apart from each other. We need one, maybe two of them, to do just that.
I hope every one enjoys the upcoming Holidays. Spring Training is not too far away!
2009 Playoffs
As a baseball fan, I have loved the 2009 playoffs. I have been able to watch almost every single game and they haven’t disappointed. Its interesting that on series have gone the distance, but they have all seemed fairly even. Even the series that finished lopsided have had great games. The extra inning games were full of excitement. One thing that has really stuck out is the importance of defense. The team that makes more errors generally loses. Especially when those mistakes come in key situations. This has been a fun postseason to watch, and I expect more of the same from the Fall Classic starting tomorrow.
As a Cleveland fan, this postseason has been brutal. First the Twins win the division in a playoff to reach 87 wins. The lowest total to win a division this year. Then as I’m watching all the games, I see all the former Indians playing the playoffs. Guys like Thome, Ramirez, and Victor. Its no fun to watch those guys in other uniforms. Charlie Manuel couldn’t figure it out in Cleveland, now hes going to 2 straight World Series in Philly. All of this makes the playoffs kind of depressing, but its not even the worst part. Game 1 starters, Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia. OUCH! This one really hurts. Not only did Cleveland trade away back to back CY Young award winners, now they are facing off in the World Series. Both have been dominate this postseason. CC pitched terrible for us in 2007, now for the Yanks he is ALCS MVP. That stings. I’m going to watch the World Series, but Game 1 is definitely going to hurt. The Cleveland Indians have developed into the best farm team in baseball. Once you’re good enough you get the promotion to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, or LA.
Manny Acta
Get well soon
Matt LaPorta underwent two surgeries on Tuesday. One his left hip and the other on his left big toe. The hip had been bothering down the stretch and the toe was hyper-extended during the final game. The real bad news is that, unlike the surgeries with Cabrera and Perez, it appears to be a long recovery time for LaPorta. The time table given is 4-6 months, and he is expected to be behind come spring training. This might also put him behind to start this season.
This has gotta be rough on Matt. He will be going into his first full year and is expected to be an everyday player next season. This is not how you want it to start. Hopefully, Matt can recover a head of schedule and be ready for next season. He is going to be hitting in the heart of the lineup next year, and I believe he will be the starting 1st basemen. I wish Matt the best in his recovery, and I look forward to watching him everyday next season.
Which CC will we see?
To me, that is one of the main questions heading into the ALCS. CC Sabathia will get the ball for the Yankees in Game 1. His assignment: beat John Lackey and the Angels and maintain home field advantage. His only other appearance in the ALCS went terrible, a memory that still haunts me. His playoff numbers have not been great. He looked great against the Twins in the ALDS, but you still have to wonder which CC will show up.
CC’s playoff numbers have down right bad. In the Postseason he is 3-3 with a 6.54 ERA. He has given up 41 hits and 22 walks in just 31.2 innings. Those numbers include his dominate win in against the Twins this year. He was especially bad in the 2007 ALCS. In that series he went 0-2 with a 10.45 ERA. The reason for this could be the number of innings he logged in those years. This year his innings were down a bit and the Yankees hope that this Sabathia does not resurface.
This is the pitcher the Yankees need, and if his first start is any indication this is the pitcher they will get. Over the last three years, Sabathia is 55-25 with a 2.92 ERA. He has racked up 657 strikeouts. He was the American League CY Young winner in 2007 and almost single-handedly took the Brewers to the playoffs in 2008. This is the man that the Yankees shelled out the cash for, and you better believe they expect greatness in all of his starts.
So which CC will we see? Option 1 or Option 2? I’m really excited to watch this series. It hurts to watch Sabathia pitch well for another team. Walks will be the key. If he puts Angels on base, it will come back to hurt him. The Yankees hope that the pressure doesn’t get to him, while the Angels hope that he amps himself up to much. The Sabathia-Lackey matchup is one I don’t want to miss.
Draft History
Its obviously way, way, way too early to be thinking about next years
MLB Draft. Heck, its even be too early to be thinking about Spring
Training. But, I’m bored.
The Indians have the 5th pick in
next year’s draft. So I decided to take a look back at the first round
picks of the Cleveland Indians within the last decade.
| 2009 | Alex White | RHP | 15 | |
| 2008 | Lonnie Chisenhall | 3B | 29 | |
| 2007 |
Beau Mills | 3B | 13 | |
| 2005 | Trevor Crowe | CF | 14 | |
| 2004 | Jeremy Sowers | LHP | 6 | |
| 2003 | Bradley Snyder | OF | 18 | |
| 2003 | Michael Aubrey | 1B | 11 | |
| 2002 | Jeremy Guthrie | RHP | 22 | |
| 2001 | Alan Horne | RHP | 27 | |
| 2001 | Dan Denham | RHP | 17 | |
| 2000 | Corey Smith | SS | 26 |
The last three picks obviously deserve more time. The other 8 picks
are what they are. Snyder, Denham, and Smith have never made the
bigs. Alan Horne did not sign with the Indians. Michael Aubrey and
Jeremy Guthrie were never a factor with Cleveland and are now with
Baltimore. Guthrie has developed into a solid starting pitchers but
nothing spectacular. Aubrey is a decent hitter without a place in
Cleveland.
Trevor Crowe and Jeremy Sowers were both apart of the 2009 Cleveland
Indians. Crowe hit .235 in 68. Sowers went 6-11 with a 5.25 ERA. His
career numbers aren’t much better at 18-30 with a 5.18 ERA. Neither player appears to be a core player of the future.
Lets hope that Chisenhall, Mills, or White can develop into everyday guys, and that the 5th pick in next years draft can land Cleveland someone close to their 1st round pick in 1998 (CC Sabathia).
And then there were 4
The LCSs are set, and we have two East Coast-West Coast showdowns. Angels and Yankees. Dodgers and Phillies. This is not how I thought the playoffs would play out, but I’m excited for both match-ups. This is not the year of the Wild Card as both were knocked out in the first round.
The key to both of these series is pitching and more specifically the bullpen. All four teams have the ability to score runs, and lots of them. They also have the ability to score runs late in ball games. In their three games, the Yankees score 8 runs in the 7th inning or later. That included a walk-off home run from Teixeira and an 8th inning rally to win Game 3. The Angles scored 10 runs in the 7th inning or later in their 3 games verses Boston. Including taking the lead in the 7th of Game 2 and beating Papelbon in their last at bat in Game 3. The Phillies totaled just 5 runs late in their games, but they pushed across 3 with 2 outs in the 9th of a stunning Game 4 victory. And finally, the Dodgers scored 3 late inning runs against the Cardinals, but had a walk-off of their own in Game 2. The ability of the bullpens to put zeros on the board will play a major factor in both the National and American League Championship Series.
Feeling Dodger Blue
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