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SlinkyRedfoot
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I posted about the Sports Illustrated article putting the Indians in the hunt for a championship. While that's a little premature in my opinion, I think they could be poised for a great season. If Francona can keep the pieces moving in the right direction, I like their chances for a playoff berth.
Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA projections have the Indians finishing two games behind the Tigers and squarely in the hunt for a wild card berth. As an Indians fan, I particularly enjoyed the last three paragraphs from BP's season preview:
The pieces, in short, are there for Terry Francona, a man who seems to exist in full only at the ballpark, to oversee the overthrow of the "Curse of Chief Wahoo" just as he tossed off the yoke of the "Curse of The Bambino." That we can contemplate this outcome is a credit to the work of General Manager Chris Antonetti, who has built a team full of good-to-very-good players in their mid- to late-20s, signed at reasonable prices. He is betting on the value of the athletic prime.
It's a smart bet. There is no question that most baseball players hit their primes in their late 20s. It is the furthest thing from rocket science. If we have a large enough sample size on anything, it is that. Still, it's one thing to have a team with an average age in the fat middle of that prime; it's another to have most of your core players that age. (Far more important to have a prime third baseman than a prime middle reliever, after all.) If there's a way to add wins to a team returning the vast majority of it's roster, it's to have a bunch of players in their prime, not likely to lose performance to aging, along with veterans poised for a bounce-back. These are your 2015 Indians. This is good. This is their time.
With Detroit's core largely past its prime and shedding players in an attempt to balance the budget while keeping the window open, more is at stake than just a Wild Card spot. Despite everything Kansas City did last year, the Indians should be considered favorites to topple the Tigers, maybe favorites outright. (Or at least co-favorites with the aggressive White Sox.) Of course, the AL Central isn't the ultimate goal for a city humiliated by its sports franchises: It doesn't mean a thing without the ring. For this team in this town at this time, there's only one thing left to do.
Go Tribe.
Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA projections have the Indians finishing two games behind the Tigers and squarely in the hunt for a wild card berth. As an Indians fan, I particularly enjoyed the last three paragraphs from BP's season preview:
The pieces, in short, are there for Terry Francona, a man who seems to exist in full only at the ballpark, to oversee the overthrow of the "Curse of Chief Wahoo" just as he tossed off the yoke of the "Curse of The Bambino." That we can contemplate this outcome is a credit to the work of General Manager Chris Antonetti, who has built a team full of good-to-very-good players in their mid- to late-20s, signed at reasonable prices. He is betting on the value of the athletic prime.
It's a smart bet. There is no question that most baseball players hit their primes in their late 20s. It is the furthest thing from rocket science. If we have a large enough sample size on anything, it is that. Still, it's one thing to have a team with an average age in the fat middle of that prime; it's another to have most of your core players that age. (Far more important to have a prime third baseman than a prime middle reliever, after all.) If there's a way to add wins to a team returning the vast majority of it's roster, it's to have a bunch of players in their prime, not likely to lose performance to aging, along with veterans poised for a bounce-back. These are your 2015 Indians. This is good. This is their time.
With Detroit's core largely past its prime and shedding players in an attempt to balance the budget while keeping the window open, more is at stake than just a Wild Card spot. Despite everything Kansas City did last year, the Indians should be considered favorites to topple the Tigers, maybe favorites outright. (Or at least co-favorites with the aggressive White Sox.) Of course, the AL Central isn't the ultimate goal for a city humiliated by its sports franchises: It doesn't mean a thing without the ring. For this team in this town at this time, there's only one thing left to do.
Go Tribe.
