MadLibs, Anyone?
May 23, 2008Browns Add Terry Cousin
May 23, 2008I came up with this idea for a series of guest blogger spots over a week ago. When it first came to me the Indians were in second place behind the Twins. Then they swept the A’s to take over first. Now, it’s the White Sox turn at the top. With all these teams bunched together the A.L. Central is wide open, with no team out of it. We asked bloggers from each team to tell us why their team WILL WIN the A.L. Central. Most of them replied reluctantly, because the baseball in the Central just hasn’t been that good this year. Part 1- Tigers, Part 2- Royals, Part 3- White Sox. Up next is the home team…
Wow. I envisioned this being easier to write. Coming off consecutive sweeps, the Tribe limps home for a series with the Rangers, and the hottest hitter in baseball- Josh Hamilton. The Indians are 4.5 games behind the White Sox, and currently only a game ahead of Kansas City, two ahead of the Tigers. Chicago actually has the largest division lead in the Majors at the moment, but certainly not an insurmountable one.
So, why will the Indians win it? Let’s start with the obvious- the best starting staff in the majors. That’s right- all of baseball. There may be a club or two that can match the Indians 1-4, or maybe even top them, but NO CLUB can touch our starters 1-7. Yeah, I said 7. We have that many quality major league starters. Interestingly enough, I consider Paul Byrd to be the worst of this group. You know that Byrd isn’t going to get out of the 6th inning. The third time through that order he’s going to get shelled, and in fact there is always a danger that it will happen earlier, but he has managed his magic act again this season so far. The young guys, Laffey and Sowers are ready to pitch every fifth day. They have probably learned all they can from AAA. Sabathia has shaken off whatever funk he was in to start the season, Carmona hasn’t really been that consistent with his stuff this year, but he is giving the Tribe 6 or 7 strong innings, and has really learned to pitch his way out of jams. You can’t say enough about Cliff Lee, and Jake Westbrook was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball through spring training and the first month of the season.
Now, about that bullpen. I have confidence in Jensen Lewis and Rafael Perez. I also believe that at some point Betancourt is going to turn his year around and be a consistent reliever, but not a closer. For whatever reason, he isn’t suited for that role, and so be it. I am not sold on Kobayashi. I don’t see enough movement on his pitches, and he is in the strike zone hitting zone way too much. Lately the pen is giving up at least a run for every inning pitched, and obviously that has to stop. I think it will, as this is a cycle that should come to an end. Unlike the Tribe’s other problem area…
How can a team that is DEAD LAST in hitting win their division? That’s a great question. The answer, in my opinion is that they can’t. And so, if we’re to win this division we will have to greatly improve our offense. Ben Francisco is 4 hits shy of Asdrubal Cabrera’s total, and 8 hits shy of David Dellucci’s total in HALF AS MANY GAMES! Michael Aubrey has 2 home runs in 3 games played, or 8 at bats. That’s 2 home runs better than our clean-up hitter and supposed all-star Martinez. We can beat up on guys like Blake and Cabrera for not hitting, but those two should be considered defensive players and given some slack (although hitting below .200 is not acceptable for ANY major league regular.) But Martinez, Sizemore, Hafner, Garko and Peralta are supposed to be hitting consistently, and driving in runs. They aren’t. I’m sorry, this is supposed to be Why We Will Win the Central. Well, we will win because these guys start hitting something, or they won’t be starting.
Mark Shapiro will not allow this team to dig it’s own grave. I know that he must feel a little gun-shy seeing former Indians Brandon Phillips, Ryan Church and Ryan Ludwick hitting the cover off the ball. But he also realizes that the cupboard is getting bare in the hitting department. Laffey and Sowers are HUGE trade material right now. Especially Laffey, a left hander with a 1.60 ERA through 5 starts. It’s criminal that his record is 2-3. The Pirates outfield of Nate McLouth, Jason Bay and Xavier Nady is hitting .302, with 96 RBI and 30 HR combined. Any of them would look very nice in our outfield. We’ve talked about Griffey in the past. There are others out there that Shapiro can get. And he will get someone. He has shown that he isn’t afraid to make minor deals to bring players to town, the question is will he make the big deal? I doubt that we will see Holliday come here. Probably not Atkins either. But we will get some help, and probably a bullpen arm as well. Will it be enough to win the Series? No, probably not…but that isn’t the question is it?
So we will win the division because we have the best pitching in the division, plus a few of the bats will awaken, and Shapiro will supplement the rest of the line-up through trades. It sounds simple. So go do it already, there will not be a Wild Card team from the Central again this year. Better win it…