ESPN piece documents Josh Gordon’s drug tests
October 1, 2014Find a Way to Stay
October 1, 2014The body is still warm, but it is time for an autopsy of the 2014 Cleveland Indians. A year ago, I waited a few weeks, but while it is all still fresh in my head, I wanted to get the player power rankings out to you for consumption. The season ended before it should have with the Tribe winning 85 games and falling short of a second straight playoff appearance. However there is a lot to be excited about in the years to come. As always, this list is subjective and based on how the full season played out.
When I produced this list after the 2013 Wild Card loss to Tampa Bay, many scoffed at my No. 1 player. Will he be the top dog again?
1. Michael Brantley (Last year: 1) – The answer is a resounding yes. Lets see: 200 hits, 20 home runs, 45 doubles, 23 steals, 97 RBIs, team leader in batting average (.327), on-base percentage (.385), slugging percentage (.506), runs scored (94), and finished fifth in the majors in WAR. Did I mention his 12 outfield assists? Brantley does all of this with an unassuming manner and leads by example. He is the same guy win or lose who just goes out, plays hard, and does his job every single day. Talk about a model of consistency. The Dr. Smooth nickname fits him perfectly. Anyone still want to say the CC Sabathia trade was a loss?
2. Corey Kluber (11) – Why Brantley over the potential AL Cy Young Award winner? It comes down to a guy who carried the offense for 156 games against a stud starter who pitched 34 times. With that said, Kluber put together one of the best season’s we have seen here from a pitcher in the last 40 years. Only Cliff Lee’s 2008 Cy Young season can rival it. But when you consider how good Corey was with the league’s worst defense, it makes it even more impressive (led all ML pitchers in FIP). He was the ace of the staff from day one who struck out 269 hitters in 235.1 innings pitched while walking just 51. The command was impeccable. His mound presence was second to none. When guys are supposed to be wearing down late in a season, Kluber charged to the finish line with back-to-back games of 14 strikeouts which preceded his season finale where he went eight scoreless with 11 more. Best part? Corey is under team control through 2018.
3. Yan Gomes (9) – Did the Blue Jays really hand over one of the best catchers in the American League along with Mike Aviles for Esmil Rogers? If not for Brantley’s amazing year, Gomes would be getting a lot more love. He deserves it. The 27-year old had a nice first half, but exploded after the break (.303/.322/.525) to finish his first full season as the Tribe’s starting catcher slashing (.278/.313/.472) with a career high 21 home runs. The Yanimal was the Indians only true legitimate right-handed bat in the everyday lineup. Against lefties, where the Indians struggled all year, Gomes hit .331. Behind the plate, he started slow, but worked hard with Sandy Alomar Jr. and the early season issues vanished. He’s locked into Cleveland through 2019 with two team options after that.
The Santana haters out there make zero sense to me.
5. (Tie) Cody Allen (7) and Bryan Shaw (13) – I decided to put the Tribe’s set up man and closer in together because they were quite the duo. Both righties were supposed to work together to be the bridge to free agent signee John Axford. We all knew that this was going to be a short lived moved and Axford obliged by flaming out by May. Allen was never officially named the closer, but it all worked out the way it should have. For most of the year, if the Indians had a lead heading into the eighth, it would be Shaw to Allen and we all go home happy.
Manager Terry Francona leaned heavily on both, especially Shaw who would often go more than an inning. He broke the Indians record for appearances with 80 and looked worn down late in the season. But Bryan was as dependable as it got. Allen was also nails for most of the year, but had a couple of ill-timed blown saves in September. He was second to Shaw with 76 appearances. Cody is a perfect fit in the closer role; a hard thrower who misses a lot of bats. His 11.76 K/9 was best on the team. The Indians have to add or develop another right-handed arm for the late innings to take some of the pressure away from Shaw in 2015. I can see a regression from these back-to-back years of overuse. It happened to Vinnie Pestano. Hopefully it doesn’t happen to Shaw.
7. Carlos Carrasco (26) – I know, you are saying to yourself, “what?” How can you possibly have him high considering he wasn’t a major factor until the beginning of August. Look deeper into his numbers after April. You know who had the second highest WAR of all Tribe pitchers? Carrasco allowed just seven earned runs in 36.1 innings out of the pen from May through the end of July and then went into the rotation for the final two months and posted an ERA of 1.32 with 78 strikeouts to just 11 walks in 69 innings. The Indians rotation stabilized once Carlos was added to it and found himself. Had the Tribe made it to October, he was your Game Two starter behind Kluber.
8. Lonnie Chisenhall (23) – The offense is rife with problems if Lonnie is essentially had the fourth-best season of any of the hitters. He is in this spot thanks to his breakout first half where he slashed .332/.396/.519 in 262 at-bats. The second half showed a gigantic drop off (.218/.277/.315 in 216 ABs). The strikeouts went up (45 to 54), the run production went down (41 RBIs to 18). Defensively, Chiz did little to prove he is below average, finishing second to all AL third baseman with 18 errors. With all of that said, there were low expectations for Chiz who went into the season as a backup. There was no denying he helped carry the offense for the first half.
9. Scott Atchison (NR) – Back in April, who had the 38-year old veteran as one of the more invaluable pieces of the team? That would be nobody. Signed to possibly become the 2014 Matt Albers, he made the team out of Goodyear and turned himself into one of Francona’s “big four” in the pen. Old Man Atch made 70 appearances and got himself a one-year contract extension mid-season. Francona needed someone to step forward to get to Shaw, Marc Rzepcyznski, and Allen and he found it in Atchison, who made 70 appearances and posted a 2.75 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP, only walking 14 in 72 innings.
10. Trevor Bauer (31) – In a three-man race for the fifth starter job in Goodyear, he finished third. But the talented and interesting kid from California found himself in the rotation by May 20. His spot start in April (six innings, one earned run, four hits) put the Tribe brass on notice. A new attitude Bauer was here in 2015. Once he took his regular turn in the rotation, Trevor proved he belonged. The intensity and love for the art of pitching radiates from him when he’s on the mound. The offseason work he did with his team along with help from Mickey Callaway harnessed his command issues. The one thing that seemed to dog him all year long was one bad inning per start, usually early in the game. On numerous occasions he would get into trouble in the first or second inning, and then completely shut down the opponent into the seventh. Bauer seemed to get stronger as games went longer. This will be a big offseason for him and the hope is that he will build on 2014.
11. David Murphy (NR) – The Good Guy was not the free agent that Tribe fans wanted to see, but when he was healthy, he was a solid contributor. You could live with a platoon of Murphy and Ryan Raburn had Raburn repeated his 2013 performance, but I think we all saw that regression coming (more on him later). Nevertheless, Murphy had a knack for hitting in the clutch, leading the team with a .360 batting average with runners in scoring position (36-100 with 50 RBIs). Solid yet unspectacular is probably the best way to describe Murph. The Tribe may look to upgrade in the outfiekld via trade this winter, but David is locked in for $6 million.
12. Marc Rzepcyznski (22) – As people love to bash GM Chris Antonetti, he seems to have a knack for hitting on the under the radar moves that make a difference. Adding Rzepcyznski at the trade deadline last year did not even measure on the radar, but he stabilized the pen as the late inning matchup lefty. He was again superb this season Left-handed batter his just .180 against him. 16 of the 18 hits he allowed were singles. He is 29 years old and under team control through 2016.
13. Mike Aviles (15) – Again, many Tribe fans were down on Handsome Mike this season. But the fact remains that he is among the most versatile players in the game. Francona often tries to get too cut by playing Aviles in the outfield when he shouldn’t, but that’s not his fault. Yes, Aviles is a free swinger who doesn’t light the world offensively, but there is value there on both the field and in the clubhouse. Of the few decisions to be made this offseason, the Handsome Mike $3.5 million club option is one that could go either way. The Indians could choose to let him walk and turn his uber-utility role over to Jose Ramirez next season. That would signal Francisco Lindor’s impending promotion to the big leagues.
To say Kipnis’s season was a disappointment would be an understatement.
2014 was a lost season for Kipnis and one could argue that if he delivered to his potential, the Indians would still be playing. The real question now is if this is the real Kipnis. Don’t forget that while he was fantastic for the first half of 2013 when he became an All-Star, his game dropped off the rest of the way. I hope this experience was an eye opener and I would imagine we see a more focused and ready Kipnis in 2015.
15. Michael Bourn (14) – When Bourn is healthy, the value is there. When he signed for four years and $48 million before last season, the Indians thought they had found their table setter. But a .314 on-base percentage from a soon to be 32-year old with hamstring issues that limited him to 106 games is very concerning. Bourn is a terrific guy who is clearly frustrated that injuries haven’t allowed him to be the player is once was. The problem? He was signed for his speed and defense. He stole just 10 bases this season while getting caught six times. His contract is not one that is going to be moved, so I would fully expect to see Bourn leading off and in center in 2015.
16. Jose Ramirez – Baby J Ram made himself into one interesting piece for 2015. Once Asdrubal Cabrera was sent to Washington, Ramirez was supposed to be splitting time at short with Aviles. Instead, his defense, speed, and pop earned him the trust of Francona who turned him into the everyday shortstop. The two hole was not ideal for him (.300 OBP), but Francona didn’t really have a better option. Jose’s energy was reminiscent of what Asdrubal gave the team in his 45 games in 2007 when he took over at second base. Easily my favorite stat of the year: Ramirez tied for the Major League lead in sac bunts with 13 with New York’s Brett Gardner. Gardner played in 148 games. Ramirez? 68.
The decision for what to do with Jose for 2015 will be a hot topic this winter. He could be the shortstop to start the season, leaving Lindor in AAA, or he could be the new Aviles. Or could Jose be a part of a package to get the Indians the right-handed bat they need so badly?
17. T.J. House (NR) – Who had T.J. House emerging as the Tribe’s fifth starter? The left-hander is an incredible story when you consider that two years ago he was on the verge of a minor league release and here he is today in the Indians rotation. House epitomizes the term “crafty lefty.” House kept the ball down and stayed out of trouble. Over his last nine starts, House put up a 2.25 ERA in 52 innings with 48 strikeouts and just eight walks. The lone left-hander has earned himself a serious look in 2015.
18. Danny Salazar (16) – Two young Tribe starters who rode the I-71 shuttle for a big portion of the year. They both found themselves as key guys down the stretch, but come with complete different pedigrees. House you just read about. Let us not forget the Indians were counting on Salazar to be the breakout star and eventual number two guy behind Justin Masterson before the season started. From his first start, Danny had major command issues and couldn’t get out of the fifth inning. he was taxiing his pen every start out. By May 15, Salazar was sent back to AAA with a 5.53 ERA. Credit to Danny for going back down to Columbus and working hard with AAA pitching coach Tony Arnold and getting himself right. In 12 starts over the last three months, Salazar struck out 73 and walked 18 in 69.1 innings pitched while posting a 3.50 ERA.
19. (Tie) Nick Hagadone (32) and Kyle Crockett (NR) – The Tribe needed a second left-handed reliever to step forward to be the counter part to Rzepczynski. They found two. Hagadone has been a tease since coming over from Boston in the Victor Martinez deal in 2011. 2014 he finally out it all together and was solid. He was not a specialist. Hags had the same splits against lefties and righties and became a regular for Francona in a middle relief role. He will be out of options in 2015.
Crockett came out of nowhere and pitched his was to the big club. He was the first player from the 2013 draft class to make it to the Majors and showed he will be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. In 43 appearances, Crockett struck out 28 in 30 innings and allowed just six earned runs (1.80 ERA). His baby face has spawned his nickname in the Tribe Twitter circle: The Fetus. When he stands next to Atchison, they look like father and son.
21. Nick Swisher (8) – It was a completely lost season for “The Bro.” Injuries to both knees hampered him all year. He tried to play through them, but it just wasn’t working. As bad as his bat was, his glove was even worse at first base. Francona had no choice but to DH him until his body finally gave out, and this was a guy who had played in at least 145 games in the previous eight seasons. While the Indians think he will be back fully healthy next season, the big concern is his bat speed. Guys with nothing were blowing fastballs by him. But they are stuck with him, good or bad, because of the two years and $30 million remaining on his immovable contract.
22. C.C. Lee (30) – Of all the young relief arms on the come for the Tribe, I thought Lee would be the one to step forward and become this year’s Allen. Instead, he was inconsistent, but did get more comfortable in August and September once his role was defined. His deceptive delivery makes it hard for batters to see the ball, but he still needs to improve to stick next season. He’s far from a lock to make the club out of Goodyear.
23. Zach McAllister (20) – I put Z-Mac just ahead of Josh Tomlin for his late season relief appearances. Like Carrasco in April, McAllister flamed out by mid-May after getting lit up for five runs in two innings against the Tigers at home and headed to Columbus with a 5.89 ERA. Down in AAA he dominated and was summoned back in July when the front office was still trying to find anyone for the back end of the rotation who could be consistent. He got four starts and gave up 13 runs in 19.1 innings. But in September when rosters expanded, The Zach Attack came back strong out of the bullpen and didn’t allow a run in his final five appearances. Interestingly he has never been a hard thrower, yet he was hitting 97 regularly out of the pen. He is a two-pitch guy. The Tribe may have found a role for him in 2015.
24. Josh Tomlin (NR) – The Little Cowboy may finally be out of bullets. He out-pitched Carrasco and Bauer in Spring but started the year in Columbus anyways. It wasn’t long before he got his shot he did what he usually does early on. He threw strikes and ate innings. A June 28 complete game one hit shutout of Seattle was Tomlin’s peak. This came on the heels of back to back five run losses and was followed by five consecutive losses where Tomlin gave up 21 earned runs in 27 innings. Off to the pen he went. JT is what he is, and that is probably not good enough to have a long term future here.
25. Tyler Holt (NR) – Because of injuries to Bourn, Murphy, and Raburn, Holt was the next man up. A regular center fielder in Akron and Columbus, Holt played mostly right field in Cleveland. He gave the team a Matt Carson-like spark against left-handed pitching, hitting .311 and hustling every chance he could. The 25-year old is an extra outfielder at best and will most likely start 2015 in Columbus.
26. Ryan Raburn (10) – The contract extension given to Raburn mid-2013 was the height of stupidity and Raburn smartly took that money and ran with it. 33 year olds with little track record shouldn’t be counted on to produce the way he did in one season in the sun. The Indians made the mistake of putting all their eggs in his basket and he regressed back to who he really is as a player in 2014. In addition, Raburn struggled with knee and wrist problems. Even when healthy, Ryan was not doing the job. He slashed .157/.214/.176 in April and never recovered. Worst of all, Raburn is guaranteed $2.5 million next season.
27. Zach Walters (NR) – The Grady Sizemore look alike burst onto the scene with some serious power. His seven homers in 88 ABs included a walkoff bomb against Arizona. The big pop in his bat is very intriguing, but if Walters is going to make himself a Major League regular, he is going to have to work on being more selective. He struck out 32 times in 88 at-bats. He was tried in the outfield, but Francona hinted his best position is second base. The ladies do love him though and “Grady’s Ladies” spawned a new group of female Tribe Twitter fans named “Walters Wenches.”
28. Roberto Perez (NR) – RoboCop came up in July once the decision was made to turn Santana into a full time first baseman. Defensive has always been his calling card but he showed some nice things with his bat. Perez should be The Yanimal’s backup for the foreseeable future.
29. Jason Giambi (18) – Papa G was once again an instrumental force inside the Indians clubhouse and was more coach than a player in 2014. He only had 60 at-bats, eight hits, and two phantom injuries that kept him around the team all year long. Looks like the end of the road for the 43-year old, who will be a manager sometime soon. We will always have this:
30. Jesus Aguilar (NR) – When you are skipped over for at-bats by a career journeyman backup catcher at your natural position of first base, that doesn’t say a lot about the confidence your manager has in you. Tribe fans want Jesus to be something he isn’t. Check the top prospect lists put out by the guys who do this for a living. Aguilar is nowhere to be found. I know he had 19 homers and a .907 OPS in AAA this season, but there is a reason you didn’t see him at all down the stretch.
31. J.B. Shuck (NR) – But…but…but…he is a Buckeye! Shuck was added late essentially as the new Chris Dickerson. As underwhelming as Chris was, he was better than Shuck who went 2-26 as an Indian and was trotted out in the middle of a pennant race almost as a shot to the front office. Felt like Francona was telling his bosses, “OK, this is what you provided me, now sit back and enjoy it.”
32. Chris Gimenez (NR) – Someone has to be last, and this is the perfect place for a nice guy like the G-Man. Chris was brought over for catching depth in late August and found himself playing first base in a must-win game against the Royals last Monday. I railed on the move until I was blue in the face. Then Gimenez went out and dropped a two-out line drive that cost the Indians one of the two runs they allowed. At the plate, he took an 0-fer with two infield popups. Not exactly Tito’s finest hour as Tribe skipper.
18 Comments
Bourn at 15 was extremely generous IMO.
Chris Dickerson on line 1 muttering, “Shuck and Gimenez, Gimabi who all made it but not me, wtf?”
Solid as always Mr. Dery. The future is bright with #1-#7 but they still need more help and I don’t just mean from #8-#28. Starting with the GM! I notice he didn’t even get an honorable mention.
Though I know batting average is an aging stat to judge someone by, I was correct to look at the one thing that stat brought Carlos this year: he had the second-lowest batting average for a guy who lead his team in home runs in Indians history.
And while leading the MLB in walks. Something doesn’t jive.
Nah. There’s plenty of jive. Santana is a patient hitter, almost to a fault.
His Z-Swing rate this year was 58.9, meaning he watched more than 40 percent of strikes go by. This is well and good if you’re Victor Martinez or Michael Brantley with insanely good contact rates on swings (95 and 95.7 percent, respectively). Not so great when it’s 85 percent.
I still maintain opposing teams would rather give him a walk then take a chance which is a direct indictment of the lineup around him. I also believe Victor Martinez is the perfect role model for Santana. If you aren’t going to swing a lot when you do make contact. This is part of why I had a daydream of Victor back in an Indians uniform regardless of Swisher’s presence. I know I know there’s a little thing of $$$ too but still I had to dream.
The one thing Chiz started doing this year was extending at bats and flicking outside pitches to left. In the first half many of those dropped, in the second half not so much. At least he’s no longer an automatic out with two strikes. Just weird to see how a guy with so much minor league success can look so insecure at times in the batter’s box.
That Gomes was stronger in the second half was pretty unusual for a catcher. Maybe the week off for the concussion kept him perky to the end. Yeah, the Blue Jays must be waking up in the middle of the night thinking about how that happened. Though there’s clearly some good luck at play. In a league desperate for good catchers, never heard that other teams were trying to pry Gomes from them, or that the Tribe wouldn’t have dealt Rogers unless he was included.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y8ViGvCrL8
So Carlos walked 113 times and hit 27 homeruns this season while he scored 68 times. He was on base a total of 263 times (113 bb + 125 hits + 25 doubles) and backing out the homeruns leaves us with 41 runs scored. I appreciate SABRMetrics fans have raging boners over OBP but I don’t see how baserunners that don’t get home help our W/L record.
Which isn’t to say I don’t love Carlos, but walks that don’t lead to runs (or worse that lead into DPs) are not a defense of his performance.
Kind of lost in that stat is the fact the Carlos is the worst baserunner on the team. Not only is he slow, but he makes bad decisions on the base path. I love the OBP, but you’re right… he needs to get his butt home.
I’m mostly in agreement with this list. No qualms at all with the top 10, it’s my order as well. I can’t allow Kipnis and Bourn to be ahead of any of our starting pitchers though. I’m using hyperbole here, but House and Salazar were part of the reason that the Indians won 85 games, while Kipnis and Bourn were not.
a good list and representation on the efforts that each gave to our team this year. I’d change a few things but it’s nitpicking (mostly, Jose Ramirez should be much higher and you shouldn’t suggest trading him).
here’s an interesting look at pure b-WAR to see how it compares to your list:
1. Kluber (7.4)
2. Brantley (7)
3. Gomes (4.4)
4. Carrasco (3.7)
5. Santana (3.1)
6. TJ House & Cody Allen (2.0 each)
8. Jose Ramirez (1.8) – did we mention he did this in his 21yo season?
9. Atchison & Shaw (1.7 each)
11. Chisenhall & Bauer (1.5 each)
13. Asdrubal (1.2)
14. Crockett (1.1)
15. Roberto Perez (1.0)
16. Bourn & Kipnis (0.9)
18. Salazar (0.8)
19. Rzepcynski & Hagadone (0.6)
21. Kottaras(0.4)
22. Aviles & Holt & Outman (0.3)
25. Nyjer Morgan (0.2)
26. Dickerson & Axford (0.1)
——everyone else 0.0 or worse———–
From that list the main things that conflict with TD’s list are:
David Murphy has a -0.6 b-WAR yet ranks #11 for TD.
Swisher has a -1.0 b-WAR yet ranks #21 for TD.
And, some of the newer guys didn’t get as much respect from TD’s list as their b-WARs would lend them:
Jose Ramirez 8 spots better on b-WAR
Roberto Perez 13 spots better on b-WAR
TJ House 11 spots better on b-WAR
on the other side, Aviles (9 spots worse on b-WAR) and Scrabble (7 spots worse on b-WAR) got more veteran respect from TD’s ranking.
Can’t argue too much. I’d have had Good Guy a bit lower on the list but after that top 7 it’s all pretty close. I always tend to be overly optimistic about guys coming back from injuries that kept bothering them for an entire season, so I’m really hoping for a bounce back year from Kipnis next season. Mostly, I’m hoping he learned his lesson about keeping in shape in the off-season. A return to form from Kip (who had a bWAR of 5.9 last year) would be huge for this team.
It would seem to me that walks that don’t lead to runs fall on the guys hitting behind him, not Carlos. Once he gets on base, he doesn’t have a whole lot of control over whether or not he scores. I suppose he could be faster, but fangraphs has him at just barely below average on the base paths. Upgrading the talent behind him (or just moving Gomes behind him) would probably result in a lot more runs.
Also, not sure why you counted doubles twice. He was on base ((H-HR) + BB + IBB) times, so (125-27)+113+5 = 216 times. He scored 41 times for a Run percentage of 19%. For comparison sake, Brantley scored 31% of the time he was on-base, but then again, he had Carlos hitting behind him most of the season.
Murphy was awful in the field, and looked it too. The only reason he isn’t a DH now is because Swisher is probably even worse.
re: Ramirez… in 68 games too.
The gap between the top 4 guys on this list and everyone else had to be the most ginormous in the league. No offense to Shaw and Allen who are very good back end guys but the drop off after Santana at 4 is extreme. This team is top heavy but those top 4 carried us a long, long way this year.
Hope you are enjoying the playoffs and I’m sure counting the number of games the Indians should have won this season. Who say’s every game in 162 doesn’t count?
Anyways, the glaring need for a right handed power bat has been killing us for probably a decade now. Let me know your thoughts on the below:
Oakland gave up quite a bit this season to make a playoff run and has some big question marks this offseason. Billy Beane is known to make bold moves and deal good players prior to arbitration. Josh Donaldson comes to mind and the Indians need to be aggressive on him.
Key reasons:
1) Jed Lowrie is a free agent and not the most ideal solution at SS. Oakland dealt their top SS prospect to the Cubs and needs a cost effective long term answer.
The Indians are quite deep at SS and can offer anyone except Lindor. My preference may be to deal Jose Rameriz.
2) The Indians should trade Salazar in addition to a shortstop for Donaldson. Salazar did make some great strides in the second half this year, but he has shown he is very hittable. His limited pitch selection and tendency to miss high in the strike zone lends to short outings and games where he gets hit around. Out of all our young pitchers with high upside, Salazar makes the most sense to trade.
3) Josh Donaldson is arbitration eligible this winter and having him for two years at a total cost of $25M (just high level guess) is well worth it. The Indians I believe have $10-$12M to spend this off-season if the payroll stays around $85M. Even offering Donaldson a long term deal that will reach perhaps $20M a year makes sense to me if Donaldson puts up the type of WAR he currently is producing. The Indians have only $16-$20M in salary commitments after 2016.
4) Escalating salaries around the league makes it impossible to sign an impact bat on the free agent market. The new TV deal will infuse more cash for the Indians. Long term deals every winter keep escalating so locking up a young player like Donaldson at $20M may save the team a lot down the road. Atlanta locking up Freddie Freeman seemed quite high, but in a few years, that deal may look like a bargain with how crazy spending is getting.
4) Trade David Murphy with all the young outfielders we displayed this year and fewer options to put Swisher now with Santana holding down 1B. Shedding Murphy’s salary provides some money to sign a low level starting pitcher for depth or allows the team to take advantage of the 1-2 players that have to settle for lesser deals because of the draft pick compensation rules (Ubaldo, Bourn, and Ervin Santana)
5) Simply put, you cannot waste this type of starting pitching and bullpen going forward. It’s really hard to put this type of pressure on your pitching staff each season and never know when an injury happens or someone falls off.
6) Third base defense needs improvement. Lonnie should be converted to an outfielder and perhaps split time with Swisher in RF/DH duties.
I know I threw a lot of stuff at you, but I think the next few years are crucial for us and our window to make a World Series run.
Thanks,
Kiran