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2007 Cleveland Indians Predictions
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Cleveland Indians Predictions now!
The Cleveland Indians
decided several years back to rebuild their team with a
young nucleus of players and it paid off sooner than
they might have expected with their late run at the
Chicago Whitesox in 2005 as proof. They improved 12 wins
in 2004 from the previous year and they improved another
13 wins last season to give them an impressive 93
victories in 2005. The Cleveland Indians were even more
responsible for the Chicago Whitesox World Series rings
than most people know. Chicago was sliding down the
stretch as they had been out in front for so long and
they began to grow complacent. But a late surge from
Cleveland made the Sox refocus and got them back to
playing inspired baseball. But Cleveland backslid in
2006 with just 78 wins.
Before last season, I wrote that I was concerned that
the Indians could reach a plateau in 2006 after being
the most improved team in baseball over the last 2
seasons. They lost pitchers Kevin Milwood and Scott
Elarton who were large parts of a starting pitching
staff which had the lowest E.R.A in the American League
in 2005. I was slightly wrong as they fell off the
plateau in 2006 with the reemergence of the Twins and
the emergence of the Tigers.
CC Sabathia was announced to be Cleveland’s ace heading
into 2006, but he was outshined by both Cliff Lee and
Jake Westbrook which wasn’t really saying much last
season. Lee is dealing with an abdominal strain early
this season which makes this thin staff even thinner.
With the Tribe sending old faithful, Bob Wickman, off to
Atlanta, the Indians bullpen appears to be in a world of
hurt.
The bright side is that this team is still young and the
offense appears to be in place with guys like Hafner,
Sizemore, Blake, and Martinez. With young teams you
expect them to play solid at home and struggle on the
road. In 2005, the Indians were just the opposite. They
went 50-31 away from Cleveland and were just 43-38 at
home losing backers 13 units. In 2006, the Indians
discovered how to win at home, but forgot how to win on
the road. This inconsistency is the sign of a young team
without a consistent pitching staff. With another year
on experience under some of theses young guys’ belts, I
look for the Indians to improve at home, but they will
likely still struggle on the road, especially against
the elite teams in their division.
Cleveland’s down year in 2006 will have the Indians
playing the underdog roll often enough within the AL
Central and against the Yankees and Red Sox out of the
AL East. Even in a down year, the Indians were 19-14
against the AL East. If we find these boys as home dogs
or small favs in Cleveland, we will be ready to jump all
over them in 2007.
2007
Minnesota Twins Predictions
2007 Chicago
White Sox Predictions
2007 Detroit
Tigers Predictions
2007 Kansas
City Royals Predictions
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