What Will Offseason Moves do for Cleveland Indians in 2013?
Second Baseman Jason Kipnis
Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona, the turning point of the Indians organization.
Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera
Though the Cleveland Indians did not get the record they were looking for last season, finishing third in the AL Central at 68-94, they certainly had some things to be excited about after last season. The emergence of Asdrubal Cabrera and Jason Kipnis, the continued progression of catcher Carlos Santana, and the fact that they grabbed Terry Francona to be their manager in 2013 are all things they were able to say were positives that came out of 2012. But when the offseason came around, the Indians came out swinging. They signed first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher, who had a great season last year with the Yankees, batting .272 and slugging 24 home runs. They signed Drew Stubbs, an outfielder with good speed and a few good years behind him with Cincinnati. They signed Mark Reynolds, a third/first baseman with decent pop and fielding ability, and most recently, they signed Michael Bourn, an outfielder who also has great speed. Bourn batted .274 last year, won gold gloves in 2009 and 2010, and stole more than a hundred bases in the past two years. Yes, these moves certainly came with a cost; they ended up losing Grady Sizemore, Shin Soo Choo, Travis Hafner and Derek Lowe. But they certainly have upgraded their outfield, and nobody really saw any of those guys being the future of their organization besides Shin Soo Choo and Sizemore, and the outfield looks better now in Cleveland than it did with those two out there. Plus, the addition of Terry Francona is huge for this team. These guys have not really had a great coach of Francona's caliber that can bond, teach, and motivate them in Cleveland, no disrespect to Manny Acta, but Terry Francona is almost legenary for his time in Boston, all his postseason appearences and players he has made an impact on. A coach can make all the difference for a team, and if anybody is the guy to change a team, it's Terry Francona. But I think we can all agree that the weak spot for the Cleveland Indians is their pitching. Prospect Trevor Bauer, Zach McAllister, Justin Masterson, Chris Perez, and the most unpredictable, inconsistent pitcher in baseball, Ubaldo Jimenez are their highlight pitching products. Yeah, not good. They can't win a large amount of games with a group of pitchers like that. Some pitching changes are essential to the success of their organization not only now, but going forward. This day in age, pitching is SO vital to the success of a Major League Baseball team. They cannot keep going, neglecting their pitching and loading their position players. Right handed starting pitcher Kyle Lohse is still on the market, why not sign him for two or three years? He had a 2.86 ERA last season for the St. Louis Cardinals. He would be the perfect hire for Cleveland to start to fix their pitching. This problem will come back to bite them, and they will have to face it eventually, so they can do it now or later, but the sooner the better. The sooner the Indians bring in some pitchers, the sooner they will start winning some ball games.
Ubaldo Jimenez
It probably won't all come together at once, so we may not see a complete transformation next year, but we will almost certainly see at least a small bit of a turn around from what we saw out of the tribe last year. My prediction is the Indians go 72-90, placing third in the AL Central next year, underneath the Tigers and the White Sox, then obtain a winning record in 2014, place second beneath the Tigers in the AL Central and make the postseason via a wild card. They will improve, but it will take time for Terry Francona, the players, and the Indians ownership to mesh, but it will happen. The players are pumped, the fans are pumped, and so are the rest of the organization. Let's go.
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