An Update to “Why The Cleveland Indians Will Be in Contention in 2012”

The original post: colorshow72.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-cleveland-indians-will-be-in.html

The Indians finally found themselves the first baseman for which they have been looking in the form of Tampa Bay's Casey Kotchman. Having underperformed offensively, first baseman Matt LaPorta will most likely start the season at AAA Columbus; the Tribe has been actively seeking an alternative all off-season to fill this void. Free agent Kotchman is the perfect fit. Not only is Kotchman far superior defensively having made fewer errors in his eight-year career than every first baseman used by the Indians combined for just last season, but Kotchman is also immensely better offensively than any in-house options. Last year with the Rays was a career-high year for Kotchman who put up a stellar batting average and on-base percentage. Although Kotchman doesn't necessarily hit for power, he has a low strike-out rate and consistently gets on base, which is exactly what the Cleveland Indians need; the fewer strike outs and the more players on base, the more likely your team is to score. Though Kotchman is yet another left-handed hitter added to the roster, with him added to the line-up, the Cleveland Indians certainly have their own batting strength to combat the heavy hitters of the Detroit Tigers and other contenders like the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. With seven strictly left-handed hitters and two switch hitters, the Tribe could potentially put up an entire line-up of lefties against a right-handed pitcher—something I imagine we'll mostly likely see a fair few times this season, especially at home where Progressive Field favours left-handed hitters.

With much of the Tribe's pitching staff inducing groundballs, the first baseman's defensive prowess will keep the opposing team at bay. Defensively, Kotchman will do well to complement the acrobatic, double-play-starting shortstop, Asdrubal Cabrera. The in-field will be rounded out with Carlos Santana and Lou Marson behind the plate, rookie second baseman Jason Kipnis, and either Jack Hannahan, who finished last season as the best defensive third baseman in the AL, or rookie Lonnie Chisenhall at the hot corner—my vote is for Hannahan. With such a strong in-field, there's little chance of a ground ball being a base hit, especially when you remember that the in-field is backed-up by an outfield that, when healthy, could easily be one of the best in the game.

Why I Want to Write About Sports

If you've known me for more than a couple years then you know that I used to hate sports. I bowled and I golfed and that was it. I played one year of tee-ball and gym was my least favourite class at school. That's all changed though, and for the better. I could have been an excellent athlete, just like my dad; he played baseball and basketball and was awesome at both. This was the days before universities handed out full rides, but from what I gathered, he was the kind of athlete universities today desperately seek. Despite my stature, I'm very quick and agile. I probably would have made a good first baseman, if only I could catch. If I would have tried and actually care, I probably could have been one of those kids who is good at any sport he tries. Maybe I'm exaggerating though; I don't know. It's too late now to find out. I wish I would have tried—maybe played baseball and soccer in the spring and fall respectively and bowling in the winter.

Sports, especially baseball, and being in shape have become increasingly important to me. I work out almost every day and follow all the latest MLB news. I can tell you more about the latest off-season happenings than I could about any contemporary political bouts. This fondness of sports is certainly nothing I ever saw coming. But I guess, as they say, people change. With a growing interest in sports, it seemed almost inevitable that it would collide with my passion and penchant for writing. This is especially true when you think about two of my favourite authors: Hunter S. Thompson and Nick Hornby. HST both started and ended his career as a sports writer, working with ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and Rolling Stone (they do more than just music!). Sports were a big part of his life and one of his favourite things about which to write, along with his immense hatred of Richard Nixon. Some of Hunter's most famous works chronicle his adventures as a sports writer: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the Rum Diary, for instance. Likewise, much of Nick Hornby's works hold sports as a prominent detail. Hornby's first book, actually, was a memoir called Fever Pitch (loosely adapted into the America film of the same name starring Jimmy Fallon) detailing his obsession with the English soccer (football) club, Arsenal. Hornby still continues to blog and write the occasional article about sports, mostly soccer.

I spent much of my college career researching Woodstock—the massive music festival in '69. That was pretty awesome and I did a lot of original research. I intend to take all of my work and turn it into a book; it will tell a story that hasn't been told before, combining elements from the stories of many to find the true story of what happened. It will be ground breaking. Even though I know this will be huge when I finally complete it, I wish I might have added something else to me repertoire. I really want to write a history of Cleveland sports and eventually an anthology of Ohio sports in general. But I don't know were to start. Cleveland is a good place to start because it is rich in history and is home to three different professional sports teams. Cleveland actually makes for a great case study because of its history and its sports: there is such a huge connection between the two. A case study of Cleveland would also cross many disciplines: history, sociology, anthropology, psychology, etc. Cleveland fans are die-hard and like no other; they're desperate for a championship of any kind in any of their three sports. They've also had to deal with the departure of not one, but two major players in the last ten years leave their bad-luck-stricken city for more zeros on their checks: Jim Thome in 2002 and Lebron James in 2010. Both players could have led their respective teams (Indians and Cavaliers) to national championships, but they left before doing so, which, in Lebron's case at least, broke a promise to the city. Thome recently came back to Cleveland last season on a last-minute trade and surprisingly, he was welcomed back with open arms, despite so many angry fans when he left. If Lebron ever comes back, though, I imagine he'll be met with torches and pitchforks.

After watching Moneyball, I was immediately inspired to write a story about baseball. What came out was a short story called “You Can't Help But Be Romantic (About Baseball)” about a one-club player who recently left his loyal fanbase for another team with a bigger contract. For those of you who know your Cleveland history can probably see the similarities to slugger Jim Thome. It didn't take long before I felt the desire to turn those few pages into a few hundred and I starting writing a novel based on the same premise. Rather than being purely about the baseball or some sappy story like 90% of sports movies, this one is about how a player struggles with the hardships of being famous and having fans following (and judging) his every move and how he copes with the rejection he receives from those fans when they feel as though they have been betrayed. It is probably my favourite project to date. It is going to be the next great American novel, joining the ranks of Huck Finn and The Great Gatsby. Call me cocky, but I'm just confident.

Why the Cleveland Indians Will Be in Contention in 2012

Although it's only been in the last couple years I've become a baseball fan, I knew what I was getting into when I starting cheering on the Wahoos: they're one of few teams who can boast going 455 sold-out games in a row only to find themselves sometimes struggling to fill even a third of the 43,441 seats at the corner of Ontario and Carnegie. That's what happens when you go from being a division contender to a last place contender. It doesn't help when you lose the likes of Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, CC Sabathia, and Manny Ramirez, all of whom have gone on to have successful careers with winning teams (and also much larger franchises). With one of the smallest payrolls in the MLB, the Indians simply cannot keep those big names around; it is next to impossible to compete with the bank accounts of giants like the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, who seem to have almost unlimited capital. When the Hot Stove season rolls around in the winter, the biggest free agents go to whomever has the deepest pockets, regardless of apparent loyalty. Right now the Indians have one of the youngest rosters in the MLB with only a handful of players on the 40-man roster over the age of 30, most being in their early-to-mid 20s. Several of them have only recently been called up from the Minors and are under team control for a while, so no matter how big of numbers they put up, it will be a few seasons before the Indians lose their youthful sluggers. Hopefully though, they can pen some multi-year contracts before the likes of budding rookies second baseman Jason Kipnis and reliever Vinnie Pestano get snatched up by another club; Kipnis and Pestano are 24 and 26 respectively and both made huge impacts on the team. In an era of free agents where the single-team player is all but extinct, it seems unlikely though that many of the Tribe's starters will remain in the coming years. But we need not worry until then, for right now they're staying put in downtown Cleveland where they're turn a developing team into a championship team.

Last year the Indians finished with a losing season, though improving their win record by 11 games and recording a second-place finish, just a handful of games behind the Detroit Tigers—the major difference being some painful losses for the Indians against the Tigers, both home and away, at the end of the season. The Tigers, along with the Texas Rangers, were the only major contenders with which the Indians struggled, seeing big wins over the Yankees, Red Sox, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Up until the final weeks of the season the Indians even had the Tigers tamed, but a slew of season-ending injuries made a strong finish difficult. The Tribe was also within one game of sweeping the Reds in both home and away stints, a feat that has never been done by either team since the start of interleague play in 1997. Now here's the interesting thing: despite the unexpected success of the team, the Cleveland Indians were one of the worst teams offensively in the MLB, putting up a record number of strike outs, a record a team certainly does not want to boast. With a significant portion of the major hitters finding themselves stuck on the disabled list, it is unsurprising that the Tribe struck out so often and did not score more runs. For instance, at one time the entire starting outfield was on the DL—Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo, and Michael Brantley. The trio were some of the Tribe's biggest run producers and are also some of the best defensive players around; when all three are in good health, next to nothing gets by the Cleveland outfield. The Indians also lost their designated hitter, Travis Hafner more than once and third baseman, Jack Hannahan. Although Hannahan started the season a bit sub par, he was at the height of a hot streak and remained the best third baseman defensively in the American League all throughout the season (he's my pick for Opening Day over Lonnie Chisenhall). With so many injuries, players who normally wouldn't be seeing this much time in the Majors for another couple years were forced to learn on the fly. Naturally, this saw a decrease in offensive production; a lack of depth was exposed.

When the 2011 season came to an end, the Tribe was led by switch hitters Carlos Santana and All-Star shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. Both are young and will be essential to the Indians' lineup. Santana and Cabrera both broke club records and defensively, Cabrera found himself featured in many highlight reels with all sorts of acrobatic plays. Between the two, they belted out over 50 homers, with Cabrera having one of the biggest bounces in number of home runs in a season from one season to the next in Major League Baseball history. If Cabrera remains consistent (and there are no signs saying otherwise), then he could easily become one of the best in the game, both offensively and defensively. The same could be said of Santana who has excelled both behind the plate and at first base, even starting a rare triple play while playing first. Before the season was over, Santana found himself being delivered intentional walks leading to him having one of the highest amount of walks in the MLB. The important thing to remember about Santana is that this is first full season in the majors; he saw his debut mid-season in 2010, but was gone before the season was over with a major terrible knee injury. The 2011 season also saw the arrival of Jason Kipnis from Triple-A Columbus. Kipnis made an incredible impact on the team becoming the first ever player in MLB history to hit four consecutive home runs within two weeks of his Major League debut. Kipnis too, however, saw himself land on the DL, which immediately had effects on the team. With the heavy amount of injuries, bench players Shelley Duncan and Jason Donald also saw extended amounts of playing, each putting up big numbers and a strong case for their addition to the Opening Day roster.

With all of the injuries Cleveland face and the excessive amount of strikeouts, it is a wonder how the team did so well and saw themselves as contenders for much of the season when no one else did, save for their die-hard Cleveland-area fans who were still angry about Lebron. The answer is simple: pitching. Although the starting rotation also saw its fair share of injuries (Carlos Carrasco won't be seen until the 2013 season having underwent Tommy John's surgery), the Indians' hurlers were a huge part of the team's success. Although the starting rotation had a fairly high ERA, it has some of the best and most consistent arms in the game with Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Josh Tomlin—who, to date, has had only one start of fewer than five innings, his final game of the 2011 season that ended with an elbow injury. This season, the Tribe has much more depth in its rotation and has unloaded some sub par starters. Even with Fausto Carmona out of the mix for now due to his legal issues, the Indians starting rotation easily has the potential of being one of the best in baseball, countering the likes of the Phillies, Angels, and Rangers, which recently acquired coveted Japanese pitcher, Yu Darvish, for an outlandish sum. Where the Indians' pitching is best, though, is in the bullpen. The Indians bullpen, anchored by All-Star Chris Perez, had one of the lowest ERAs in the American League last season and has been consistent and almost unchanged for the last few years. In fact, going into this season there is only one spot open for competition, a spot that was held by Chad Durbin, who had one of the worst ERAs in the Cleveland bull pen. With the likes of Vinnie Pestano (only gave up 16 runs on 41 hits in 62 innings last year), Chris Perez (converted 36 of 39 saves), and Joe Smith (a meager ERA of 2.01 for 67 innings over 71 games), the Indians bull pen is capable of throwing strike after strike after strike and is what kept the Tribe afloat in the race towards the Fall Classic.

With Spring Training looming, the Indians are prepping for what will be an even more successful season. Even with Prince Fielder coming to the American League Central by signing with the Detroit Tigers (a move that I think still has us all a little suprised) and Albert Pujols also coming to the American League, the Indians are certainly still in contention. If health remains on their side, the Cleveland Indians offense will be far superior to that of last year, and thanks to numerous off-season signings, even if the injury bug bites again, there is much, much deeper depth all throughout the field. In 2011, the dying city of Cleveland got a taste good taste for success and is now hungry for more.

An update to this post: http://colorshow72.blogspot.com/2012/02/update-to-why-cleveland-indians-will-be.html