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Cleveland Indians (2013 Season)

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LitlBuck;2337440; said:
Terry Pluto thinks that the Tribe might be a contender. I think Terry has forgotten last and the fact that this is only May 16:wink:
http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2013/05/terry_plutos_cleveland_indians_2.html#incart_river
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This isn't the same team as the last 2 years... if for no other reason, and this, to me is a big one, is that they are, once or twice a week going to blow someone out.... that takes a lot of pressure off folks, not just for the Pen to feel like they have to keep them in every game, but, when younger guys are struggling, its nice to have them get a few at bats a week where the can relax instead of having to claw for every run.

Now, there are enough K's and youth and lack of a real premier slugger that they will struggle at times, but, there's also a lot of pretty good hitters and speed that they're gonna hang big numbers regularly. That we didn't have the last couple years.

And, say what you want about the Starting Pitching, the good thing is that while you may not get it every time out, all of them have given some good starts, and those are turning into more often than not, so, if Myers comes back healthy (and we can ascribe his woes to the elbow), at least they've got enough bodies, and those bodies aren't all that terrible right now. I mean, there were a lot of problems the last 2 years in the second half, and one was literally not having enough reasonably ok innings on the 40 man roster.

Now, the problem with "contender" is that I'm not 100% sure they need to win the division, depending how the wild card plays out, but, that remains to be seen. I mean, the Tigers are a Verlander trip to the DL from the dominoes falling all around them.
 
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AKAK said:
This isn't the same team as the last 2 years... if for no other reason, and this, to me is a big one, is that they are, once or twice a week going to blow someone out.... that takes a lot of pressure off folks, not just for the Pen to feel like they have to keep them in every game, but, when younger guys are struggling, its nice to have them get a few at bats a week where the can relax instead of having to claw for every run.

Now, there are enough K's and youth and lack of a real premier slugger that they will struggle at times, but, there's also a lot of pretty good hitters and speed that they're gonna hang big numbers regularly. That we didn't have the last couple years.

And, say what you want about the Starting Pitching, the good thing is that while you may not get it every time out, all of them have given some good starts, and those are turning into more often than not, so, if Myers comes back healthy (and we can ascribe his woes to the elbow), at least they've got enough bodies, and those bodies aren't all that terrible right now. I mean, there were a lot of problems the last 2 years in the second half, and one was literally not having enough reasonably ok innings on the 40 man roster.

Now, the problem with "contender" is that I'm not 100% sure they need to win the division, depending how the wild card plays out, but, that remains to be seen. I mean, the Tigers are a Verlander trip to the DL from the dominoes falling all around them.
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While I agree with you that this team is not the same as the team we have had in the past couple years I just think it is too early to start to judge this team as a possible contender even for a wildcard spot.

I do not know if Jiminez has just been a mirage the past couple outings or if he is for real. The same holds true for McAllister and Kluber. I would love for the Indians to be in contention for a wild-card spot or even for the top spot in the Central division but the past couple seasons have really made me a doubter and maybe it is because of that I am still very skeptical this early in the season but I sure hope that some of your points come true.
 
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LitlBuck;2337448; said:
While I agree with you that this team is not the same as the team we have had in the past couple years I just think it is too early to start to judge this team as a possible contender even for a wildcard spot.

I do not know if Jiminez has just been a mirage the past couple outings or if he is for real. The same holds true for McAllister and Kluber. I would love for the Indians to be in contention for a wild-card spot or even for the top spot in the Central division but the past couple seasons have really made me a doubter and maybe it is because of that I am still very skeptical this early in the season but I sure hope that some of your points come true.
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Its not really a come true or not, its just easy to see that this isn't the same house of cards of the last couple years. I think I made the argument going into the season that the only spot where we're not the same or better is Stubbs for Choo... I mean, our CF last year was Grady Sizemore. No, really it was... Hafner, how many games did he miss, then they guys who sucked that did actually play included the Great Casey Kotchman and Jack Hannahan. We're even better at back up catcher.

Is all that gonna translate to enough wins?

I have no idea, but, last year going into May 16th we were 20-16. This year 22-17... but, at least I have a sense that there have been times when this team really didn't play well and still won... I felt like last year they were playing out of their minds every time they won... anyway, the 2012 version of this team swept detroit in late may then got swept by a not very good ChiSox memorial day weekend which kind of killed their momentum... while they hung around first for a while after that, it was more attriubutable to the rest of the division sucking balls as much as anything else.
 
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It's hard to believe we're only 2 games ahead of where we were last year. I'll say this though, the schedule is more front-loaded this season, and we had a spell in April where the bats went rich sorority girl talking to a bum cold. If the bats don't disappear, it will be a fun summer. Looking at the schedule, June is brutal, highlighted by the 9 game trip from hell to Yankee Stadium, Detroit, and Texas in 10 days. Early August and September are the easiest stretches, so if they can just stay above water until August 1...they really will have a shot at the playoffs.
 
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AKAK;2337457; said:
Its not really a come true or not, its just easy to see that this isn't the same house of cards of the last couple years. I think I made the argument going into the season that the only spot where we're not the same or better is Stubbs for Choo... I mean, our CF last year was Grady Sizemore. No, really it was... Hafner, how many games did he miss, then they guys who sucked that did actually play included the Great Casey Kotchman and Jack Hannahan. We're even better at back up catcher.
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How could you leave off the likes of Matt LaBusta, Johnny Damon, Jason Donald or Brent Lillitbridge? Just the fact that there are really NO players on this year's team that compare to this bunch should be enough evidence that the 2013 team is vastly improved.
 
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Zippercat;2337598; said:
How could you leave off the likes of Matt LaBusta, Johnny Damon, Jason Donald or Brent Lillitbridge? Just the fact that there are really NO players on this year's team that compare to this bunch should be enough evidence that the 2013 team is vastly improved.
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Geeze man, you want me to get carpal tunnel?
 
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