The Poor Indians

[kxblue]

The Indians have been awfully unlucky this year:

RS:686

RA: 628

Ex win-loss:68-57

actual: 57-68

In reality the Indians aren't having a slump, its just been bad outcomes in close games. IMO, the future still looks bright.

[cincrazy]

They have a solid young core, but IMO the Tigers, White Sox and Twins all have brighter immediate futures. All of those teams are damn good right now, and with the exception of possibly the White Sox, are very young. In that division, I think the Tribe are in trouble.

I'm going to pass this along to my wife--she's an Indians fan who hasn't had time to pay close attention this year. It might actually make her weekly check of the standings--which she finally gave up on recently--not be as painful.

[MasonBuzz3]

living in NE Ohio i get to see a lot of Indians games. It seems nearly every Cleveland win is a blowout, but yet they lose a ton of games by close scores. They are just a very inconsistent team, I don't think the future is as bright as nearly everyone forecasted last year

[MartyFan]

whoever thinks the Indians are in bad shape has not watched them AT ALL...they're young..they're good and they're always getting better.

They need some BP help and a couple more starters to make them VERY DANGEROUS...like the 90's again but with balance.

[paulrichjr]

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/con...nsiderweb.html

The numbers do lie

Name this team: It has scored the third most runs in the majors and has the fourth best team ERA in its league.

None of its starting pitchers have losing records, and the rotation leads the league in complete games and is second in shutouts.

The offense is second in the league in slugging percentage, third in on-base average and in home runs.

It isn't the New York Yankees and it isn't the New York Mets. It certainly isn't the Cincinnati Reds.

It's the Cleveland Indians, buried in fourth place in the American League Central.

[guttle11]

It's Native Americans...

And they're raking...in the dough from their casinos. They're not poor.

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by kxblue

The Indians have been awfully unlucky this year:

In reality the Indians aren't having a slump, its just been bad outcomes in close games. IMO, the future still looks bright.

Interesting on the projected W-L.

IMO, a horrible pen helps makes a team unlucky. Also, as the other poster pointed out, due to the imbalanced schedule, they are forced to play a lot of high quality teams. These higher quality teams potentially have an advantage in close games. At bare minimum, the Indians faced a lot of superior bullpens. It's not quantifiable, but perhaps there are other factors on a team which allow it to beat or miss the projected W-L (or maybe the projected Pathag record isn't as accurate of a model as it could be).

[Red Leader]

Going forward the Indians have a very good, young offense. Jhonny Peralta regressed a lot this year. Is that going to continue going forward, or will he play better next season? I think it's going to continue personally. They are trying to figure out what to do at 1B. Are they going to move Victor Martinez to 1B and play Shoppach at C, or will they keep Martinez behind the plate and play Garko at 1B? Some interesting questions ahead for them this offseason, but they do have a lot of talent on offense.

Grady Sizemore is a stud in CF. Hafner is a stud at DH. Casey Blake showed a lot of improvement this year, and should be a starter in RF next year. I think they can afford to keep Martinez behind the plate next year and play Garko at 1B--he's good. Shoppach can catch in games Victor doesn't. Marte has steadily gotten better as the year has gone on. The only question marks they have are at SS with Peralta (who's fine, but could be falling out of favor after regressing so much), 2B (where an Inglett / Luna platoon ain't so good, although they did acquire a player from SEA who could help) and in LF with Shin Soo Choo (who appears to be a good player, but is unproven). They also have promising OF Franklyn Gutierrez that could play some OF for them next year, or they could pair him with several of their other high ceiling prospects to go get the pitcher or position players they need.

As for the pitching, Sabathia, Sowers, and Cliff Lee make a nice 1-2-3, but all are LH. Jake Westbrook is the 4th starter, and the 5th spot will be open for next year, I believe (unless Paul Byrd is returning). They could use a RH power arm for the rotation, not easy to get.

For the bullpen, Fernando Cabrera, Fausto Carmona, and Matt Miller can bring heat from the right side. Andrew Brown ain't too bad either. Tom Mastny is now closing and doing a pretty good job. They could afford to add a couple veterans to this group over the winter.

To get passed the Tigers, White Sox, and Twins, they are probably going to need a RHSP power guy to slot in the #2 / #3 spot, pushing Lee to the 4th spot and Westbrook to 5th. They also could use a good LH bat at 2B, and they will need a couple veteran bullpen guys to eat some innings. Not a whole lot to improve, they've got a solid core now.

[flyer85]

The reason the Indians are so bad is that the lead the AL in Ks.

[Red Leader]

Originally Posted by Ricardo Cabesa

The reason the Indians are so bad is that the lead the AL in Ks.

Oh, I didn't realize that. Please disregard my post.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by Ricardo Cabesa

The reason the Indians are so bad is that the lead the AL in Ks.

And give up way more steals then they get.

[bottom_feeder]

Byrd will return. He was signed to a two year deal.