Last night was an epic night in baseball with two wild card spots decided in four separate games, two of which went extra innings, and a third decided in the bottom of the ninth.
Great baseball indeed.
Unfortunately, the Cleveland Indians were not part of it.
They had a 30-15 record and a 7-1/2 game lead in late May, but for the remainder of the schedule, their record was 50-67, and finished well off the pace (15 games) of the division winning Detroit Tigers.
Yes, they finished second, better than most people figured they would, and they won 11 more games than they did in 2010.
However, the Tigers aren’t going anywhere, so the Indians will have to do a great deal of improving if they want to win the AL Central in 2012.
Detroit will still have the best pitcher in the division in Justin Verlander and the best hitter in Miguel Cabrera. It was telling that the two teams the Indians pitching staff had the most problems with were the Tigers and Rangers.
Tribe hurlers gave up 6.2 runs per game against those two teams in the 28 games played. In the other 134 contests, Cleveland pitchers allowed 4.4 runs per game.
Unlike past years, the Indians do have some building blocks in place.
Asdrubal Cabrera proved to be one of the American League’s best shortstops, if not the best, hitting .273 with 25 HR and 92 RBI. Even better news is that he will be only 26 years old in 2012. He could cut down on his strikeouts to take the next step.
Carlos Santana had an outstanding first full year in the big leagues, with a .351 on base percentage to go with 27 dingers and 79 RBIs. He will be in the lineup somewhere next season, probably as the regular catcher. He’ll be 26 next year.
Two young players showed enough to go into spring training as regulars. Jason Kipnis, 25 in ’12, hit .272 with 7 HR’s in 150 at bats, and Lonnie Chisenhall, 23 next season, batted .255 with 7 round tripers as well.
They will be the starters at 2B and 3B in 2012.
And you have to feel that Shin-Soo Choo will be healthy next season and rebound after an off-year. Choo has been a solid player from 2008-10, so it’s likely that his 2011 season was an aberration.
With Michael Brantley considered a starter, that leaves one outfield spot, first base, and designated hitter as question marks.
Travis Hafner’s contract will be difficult to trade, so he’ll likely be back as DH, but the Indians desperately need right-handed hitters to man the other two spots.
That means cutting ties with Grady Sizemore. It will be a sad thing to have to do, but Sizemore’s on going knee problems make him impossible to keep going forward.
Decisions have already been made on the coaching staff with Tim Tolman and Tim Belcher leaving the staff.
Tolman’s departure moves Sandy Alomar Jr. to bench coach. Look for Columbus Clippers’ manager Mike Sarbaugh to replace him in the first base box in 2012.
Belcher’s departure was a surprise, and he did a good job with the staff this year. He will be tough to replace.
The organization also has to look at Bruce Fields as the hitting coach. The Indians need to cut down drastically on strikeouts, and perhaps a coach with a proven record of success at the big league level would be in order.
If Cleveland wants to make a run at first place next year, it cannot be a stand pat winter for GM Chris Antonetti. He will have to follow-up his bold move for Ubaldo Jimenez with other deals of the same ilk.
It will be a most interesting off-season indeed.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 