Hope is in the air! The baseball season starts in earnest for Cleveland fans on Friday afternoon, when the Tribe and White Sox battle at Progressive Field. Finally, they are playing games that count. The Indians are projected by many to finish in fourth place of the AL Central Division, and right now that seems to be an accurate picture of the ’11 Tribe. You can make the argument that Cleveland could finish ahead of Minnesota, Chicago, and Detroit to move up in the standings, but a lot would have to go right to finish better than fourth. Here are some things that concern this fan about this season– Health. The Indians had a lot of injuries last season, and they weren’t the usual nicks and bumps that happen throughout a normal season. Grady Sizemore has micro-fracture surgery on his knee. Travis Hafner’s shoulder still has not returned to 100%, and this could be a fourth season where he isn’t Pronk. Asdrubal Cabrera came off a tremendous 2009 season, only to break his arm and miss a good portion of the season. If this team wants to stay in the race, they can’t have anymore injuries of the catastrophic variety. If Sizemore can come back to something that resembles the all-star we know, and Cabrera’s career path resumes from ’09, when he was the second best SS in the league, it would allow Cleveland to stay in the race. Starting pitching. The Indians front office will point to the second half of last season as to how good the rotation was, but there still are a lot of question marks. First, would be Carlos Carrasco, who pitched well in September, but baseball people always say not to get all excited about performances in April or September. The 24-year-old has had two solid AAA seasons, but still seems susceptible to the long ball. If they are solo jobs, then it doesn’t really hurt his chance of winning. However, it is something to watch for as the season begins. The other concern is Mitch Talbot, who was 10-13 with a 4.41 ERA last season. However, Talbot was 5-3 with a 2.40 ERA in April and September. The rest of the season, he was 5-10 with a 5.20 ERA. See above for comments on April and September records. Talbot has been spotty in spring training, so much that Manny Acta has slotted him in the 5th spot in the rotation, behind Josh Tomlin. If Carrasco and Talbot struggle when the regular season starts, the front office’s optimistic view of the rotation will have taken a hit, and will send the organization scrambling. There is depth with David Huff and Jeanmar Gomez, but the Indians would rather not bring those guys up early in the campaign. The offense. Much of the concern would be eased by the injury dilemma, that is, having Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, and Asdrubal Cabrera healthy. One note on Hafner, he’s not a 40 home run guy. Never has been. He hit 40 one time in a big league season, in 2006. What he is is a guy who hits 25+, walks a ton, and gets a bunch of doubles. The hitting attack could have problems too, if Orlando Cabrera doesn’t bounce back (doubtful since he’s 36), Matt LaPorta doesn’t fulfill his promise (a poor spring doesn’t make you warm and fuzzy), and Michael Brantley can’t improve his on base percentage to close to .400. If they don’t get solid hitting from those three, once opposing pitchers get past Hafner, they will feel like they are on vacation. A 6-9 string of O. Cabrera, Kearns, LaPorta, and Hannahan/Everett doesn’t put fear in a lot of hurlers. Baseball fans are always optimistic on Opening Day, but if you are a fan of the Tribe, there is still plenty to worry about.
