1. Who will be the 5th starter? Among the candidates are Aaron Laffey who pitched well in spots down the stretch last year. Cliff Lee who recovered from a early season rib injury and was adequate in a few spot assignments. Jeremy Sowers who endured a bad sophomore slump but came back strong with some good numbers in the minors. You also have to figure it is time for Adam Miller once thought to be the best arm in the Indians farm system to finally fulfill his potential. The good news is there are alot of options. Terry Pluto figures that we may have the deepest pitching in the majors. I agree with him, if you take a 60,000 foot view of our rotation it could be as deep as 7 pitchers. Plus you have to believe That CC Sabathia will pitch well in a contract year (more on that later) and Fausto Carmona will continue to be tough on batters with his sinker and 2 seam fastball.
2. What will happen with CC Sabathia? CC has called off all contract negotiations until the end of the season. Initially I thought this was a pretty shitty move. To me he was basically saying that the Tribes $18 million dollar 4 year offer was too low, and he had made up his mind to walk. I still think this is part of it, because his numbers are stronger than Johan Santana's who just signed a $146 million dollar deal with the Mets. After rethinking it though Sabathia may just want to squelch all of the hoopla and media attention contract negotiations typically create. Last season they were at least part of the reason Travis Hafner was for shit.
3. What will come of the log jam in the corner outfield spots? Going into Winterhaven the Tribe will have 7 outfielders reporting to camp. David Dellucci, Jason Michaels, Ben Francisco, Franklin Gutierrez, and Shin Soo-Choo all figure to play in the equation. The platoon system worked ok last year, but I feel like we need to seriously set at least one of the corner spots. I would like to see Fransisco and Gutierrez go head to head and the one who shows the most keeps the spot for better or worse. I think this is the only way we'll know what we have out of these guys. Michaels and Dellucci both have the ability to platoon, so why not set them up in right and have Goot and Fransisco fight for left.
4. How will the complexion of the AL Central Change with off-season acquisitions?
The Tigers and Whitesox have loaded up, and the Twins have begun rebuilding, how will the AL Central look this year? Honestly the Tigers scare the shit out of me. They honestly have one of the most potent and versatile lineups in all of baseball. They also have added Dontrelle Willis to their rotation. I think the Tigers are going to be a force in the central, but I also think some of the things that derailed them last year will do so again in 08. Sure they have Rogers, Robertson, and Verlander to start games, but other than Todd Jones no one in their bullpen worries me. Joel Zumaya can be one of the scariest pitchers in the game, but he is so inconsistent I don't see him contributing night in and night out in either a set-up or closing role. The Whitesox added Nick Swisher to a potent lineup. Swisher will benefit from Jim Thome and Paul Konerko batting in front of him, and Jermaine Dye who may bat behind him. I still think the Sox need to add another top of the rotation quality pitcher to complement Mark Buehrle who is starting to hit the downside of his career. Bobby Jenks is a solid closer but like the Tigers there aren't people in front of him in the bullpen to get the game to him in the 9th.
5. What's the deal with the new Block C jerseys and caps?
I personally like the Block C look. It is a modernized throwback look kind of like the San Diego Chargers new uni's. I still haven't found a "Franchise" cap with the new logo, but once they drop I'll definitely be purchasing one.
1 comment:
I like this post. The only thing I would say is that in order to have a logjam, you need to have some logs instead of a few twigs.
Hopefully a few logs emerge as opposed to Dellucci, Michaels, etc. My dream scenario has F-Gut, Francisco and Choo taking control in a three way platoon.
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