With Opening Day less than a week away, it’s time for Cleveland sports fans to start thinking about baseball. The Tribe missed the playoffs by less one game last season thanks to a horrible last week of the campaign. Here are five reasons a poor finish like that won’t back a difference in 2006, because the Indians will make the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
The young players will get better. Historically, ball players hit their peak between the ages of 27 and 29. I feel guys like Grady Sizemore and Jhonny Peralta will be even better this season. Travis Hafner (28) and Victor Martinez (27) numbers should not be in decline as of yet. If Hafner can avoid injuries this year, he will be an MVP candidate.
More depth this year. Last year, management had no alternative when Aaron Boone got off to a horrible start. That will not be the case in 2006. If Boone struggles, Andy Marte will get the call. If the first base platoon struggles, the Tribe can call up Ryan Garko. If Casey Blake scuffles, Franklin Gutierrez might be an alternative. On the pitching side, it appears Fausto Carmona could hurl effectively in the bigs. Jason Davis and Jeremy Sowers could get the call as well. In the bullpen, Andrew Brown showed the brass he is ready to take the next step as well. And if a trade is needed, one or more of these guys could be involved too.
Experience. This group of guys as experienced many different things during the rebuilding stage, and the next time the situation occurred, they succeeded. If the Tribe needs to win in the last week of 2006, they will know what they are up against. They learned how to handle themselves in a pennant race, and that could come in handy this season.
Still have good pitching. Although the team lost AL ERA champ Kevin Millwood to free agency and set up man Bob Howry left through the same method, their still is talent to came up for these losses. Paul Byrd won the Angels only game in the ALCS vs. Chicago in 2005, and had more quality starts for the season than Millwood. Guillermo Mota is a quality set up man, and between him and Fernando Cabrera they will make up for Howry’s departure. Jason Johnson might be a more reliable fifth starter than Scott Elarton.
Competition. Despite the White Sox World Championship and subsequent trades for Jim Thome and Javier Vazquez, it says here they will not be as good in 2006. The Pale Hose’s tremendous record in one run games was the main reason they beat out the Tribe last year, and that is more luck than talent. Plus, Jon Garland and Jose Contreras had career years last year. Chicago will miss Aaron Rowand’s defense in center field as well.
Even though Cleveland will not win as many games (93) as they did in ’05, they will still get to around 90 victories. That will mean a playoff berth in 2006. It won’t be another 40 years between playoff appearances like the drought between 1954 and 1995.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 