Well, baseball season down. Unfortunate, too, as the Indians made a memorable charge towards the postseason only to come up short this past week. Simply put, they were pressing far too hard, and that's a recipe for disaster when you are playing against loose teams like TB and CWS, who came in with nothing really to lose. A couple thoughts on Indians '05 before I move on...
1. This team is going to be very, very good, even if it loses Millwood/Elarton/Howry/Wickman. All of the key young cogs are going to be in place for years to come, and they have proven themselves at the big-league level. Expect 95 wins next year, more or less depending on off-season moves.
2. The Tribe has preached 1 thru 9 as the way this team will be built. Well, at the end of the season, it was more like 1 thru 6 (I'll give the Battletoad the benefit of the doubt, but he's clearly not a long-term solution either at 2b). Broussard, Boone, and Blake were ridiculously bad. Broussard at this point is shot...just jettison him and replace him with anyone else (which I'll get to in a minute). Boone, I'm just not sure. He sure looked competant during the middle 3 months of the season, but the first and last month he was awful. Blake, I have an affinity for, as even though he might be the least clutch player in baseball, he can play RF/3B/1B decently enough and he does see a lot of pitches. He's probably fine to keep around as a utility player, plus he does have decent pop for the classic "PH with no one on, down a run" late game maneuver.
3. The pitching staff was wonderful all season and should be commended. CC Sabathia developed as a starter this season in a big way, fighting thru some struggles and ending up a true ace in every sense of the word. His September was huge, and he didnt falter even in the last week. Cliff Lee, while in my opinion overrated, is a solid #2 starter in the majors, and one that is young and could prove me wrong about being overrated. The guy finds ways to win, although it seems like he gets more run support than any starter in the league. Jake Westbrook is the quintessential groundball pitcher. Some days, when his sinker is up in the zone, he gets hammered, but most of the time he's good for a quality start. A telling thing about Jake is his 30 decisions, meaning he went late into a whole lot of ballgames.
The bullpen was surprisingly solid, although at the end of the season clearly tired out. Basically with the departure of Arthur Rhodes (who had a spectacular comeback season and I wish him well with his family problems) and the injury to Matt Miller, the bullpen was very shorthanded. Howry and Betancourt were very good, Riske had an excellent first half but faltered, but looked ok at the end, and Cabrera appears to be the wave of the future. Wickman and Howry anchored the whole thing admirably, despite a few scares from Bob, he provided countless entertainment to go along with his league-leading saves.
So where do we go from here? Here's what I recommend Dolan/Shapiro do in the offseason.
1. Let Kevin Millwood go. If you can resign him for a reasonable price, which is unlikely considering the shallow market, go ahead, but most likely you cannot afford to overpay for a guy with an extensive injury history. Let the Yankees do that and wish Tough-Luck Millwood a reversal of fortunes...He pitched his heart out this year for the Indians.
2. Resign Scott Elarton. Yeah, yeah, I'm biased. However, he put up excellent #s for a fifth starter and has said he would like to stay here, and should be able to be signed for 5th starter money. No reason not to bring him back when the major-league ready starter alternatives in the minors are so few (Stanford lol? Davis? Guthrie?) and the team is expected to win next year, so no time for development on the fly if they aren't.
3. Makeover the bullpen with savvy moves. Howry has Millwood syndrome and didn't look dominating the last two weeks of the season. Granted, he was probably tired, but still, relievers in general can be INVENTED, and overpaying for relievers is best left to the Mets/LAD/BAL/etc group of idiots. Give Davis/Cabrera a try as closer because mise. Wickman is beloved here, and I'll be sad to see him go, but come on, we can't afford to overpay a 36-yr-old "closer." I prefer a power pen anyways.
4. Fuck the scrap heap this year. No need to pick up any Cora/Hernandez shenanigans (although those moves were fine at the time). Veteran leadership has no point since these guys have grown up together and the whole thing is a bunch of BS anyways. Let the young guys get their experience playing at the big-league level. Dubois might not be ready for prime time, but he deserves a chance to play in RF...he can't be TOO much worse than Blake, anyways, and definitely has some right-handed pop. Guitierrez seems like a fine PR guy off the bench, if you can teach him to take walks, he could have real value in the future too.
5. Find some real corner infielders. Boone will probably be back thanks to his contract extension at a low rate. I can accept that, as he was very rusty at the start of the season and probably worn down by the end. 1B is a major need position for the Tribe. Teach one of the young hitters how to play there (Garko?) or better yet, get a REAL 1st BASEMAN. Someone with power (preferably right-handed) would shore up the lineup tremendously. Peralta was outstanding this year in the 3 hole, but let's be honest, probably should be batting 6th in an ideal world. Why not try and get there so that Hafner can be moved to 3rd, and the new 1b batting before/after Victor to give some additional pop. I don't know the market just yet but I'm sure someone is available, and if not, what about trading some of the farm lvl but big-league ready talent to add that big piece?
On a totally unrelated note, I am reading "The Game" by Neil Strauss. It's the best book I've read in a very long time, if not ever. It's about the world of pick-up artists and what they do differently from average guys. An excellent, excellent read.
Song of the Second:
Lustra - Scotty Doesn't Know
