Time after time
Between work and, well, work, I haven't found much time for posts lately. But opening day is just six days away, and I really have no idea how the Indians will do this season.
Well, scratch that. I have an idea about how they will do, and it's not good.
I just don't see how a lineup with Trot Nixon, Casey Blake, David Delucci and Jason Michaels is supposed to scare pitchers.
I still don't think the defense will be very good, particularly with Victor Martinez catching and Jhonny Peralta at shortstop.
And the bullpen is still a bit disorganized, to say the least.
But most of all, I worry about Eric Wedge, and the now annual sub-.500 April. In this division, a bad April could be cause to turn out the lights.
If the Indians falter again, what will Wedge say? It's not a process anymore; it's not rebuilding. Good swings won't appease the fans if the offense starts cold.
Time is no longer promised to Eric Wedge.
If the Indians start slow, the second hand unwinds.
Labels: MLB
posted by Zach @ 11:47 PM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
What concerns me is that Hafner and Sizemore are both having abysmal springs at the plate. The front office and coaches can say all they want about it only being spring training, but are we to assume that the two pillars of last year's offense are suddenly going to flip the switch next week? Especially moving up here to cooler weather?
My guess is that both are going to get off to slow starts, along with the rest of the offense.
Other predictions:
Martinez will have a smoking-hot first half, but the rub on him is that he is usually a half-by-half performer. Good first half, not-so-good second half.
Peralta will improve offensively and defensively, but not to 2005 levels. Josh Barfield will play very well and enter the hallowed "core."
The outfield is a mess, and I think a lot of those platoons will fizzle once players slump and get hurt.
Ryan Garko and Ben Francisco will provide a shot in the arm at some point this year. Tony Sipp will close games for the Indians this year out of necessity when Joe Borowski ends up on the DL and Davis/Carmona once again crash and burn in the role. The good news is that once Sipp gets the nod, he's going to be this team's closer for the next half-decade.
Final record: 85-77, fourth place in a tough division.
which is an acceptable win total for this market.
The quasi-sad truth:
While the Indians have largely done a good job of amassing quality young talent, Shapiro and Co. know that given the (yes, I have to say it) constraints of this market, they really can't field a contending ballclub per se.
What they can do is field a decent team, hope that they get hot at the right time, overachieve and that things turn out better than they did in 2005.
The Indians are never going to be a year-to-year powerhouse like they were in the '90s. What Shapiro and Dolan are aiming for is a consistently above-average team that might catch lightning in a bottle at some point.
The quasi-sad truth:
While the Indians have largely done a good job of amassing quality young talent, Shapiro and Co. know that given the (yes, I have to say it) constraints of this market, they really can't field a contending ballclub per se.
What they can do is field a decent team, hope that they get hot at the right time, overachieve and that things turn out better than they did in 2005.
The Indians are never going to be a year-to-year powerhouse like they were in the '90s. What Shapiro and Dolan are aiming for is a consistently above-average team that might catch lightning in a bottle at some point.
The quasi-sad truth:
While the Indians have largely done a good job of amassing quality young talent, Shapiro and Co. know that given the (yes, I have to say it) constraints of this market, they really can't field a contending ballclub per se.
What they can do is field a decent team, hope that they get hot at the right time, overachieve and that things turn out better than they did in 2005.
The Indians are never going to be a year-to-year powerhouse like they were in the '90s. What Shapiro and Dolan are aiming for is a consistently above-average team that might catch lightning in a bottle at some point.
The quasi-sad truth:
While the Indians have largely done a good job of amassing quality young talent, Shapiro and Co. know that given the (yes, I have to say it) constraints of this market, they really can't field a contending ballclub per se.
What they can do is field a decent team, hope that they get hot at the right time, overachieve and that things turn out better than they did in 2005.
The Indians are never going to be a year-to-year powerhouse like they were in the '90s. What Shapiro and Dolan are aiming for is a consistently above-average team that might catch lightning in a bottle at some point.
The quasi-sad truth:
While the Indians have largely done a good job of amassing quality young talent, Shapiro and Co. know that given the (yes, I have to say it) constraints of this market, they really can't field a contending ballclub per se.
What they can do is field a decent team, hope that they get hot at the right time, overachieve and that things turn out better than they did in 2005.
The Indians are never going to be a year-to-year powerhouse like they were in the '90s. What Shapiro and Dolan are aiming for is a consistently above-average team that might catch lightning in a bottle at some point.
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