[Belfry0304]

I look for my Indians to show a lot of improvement on offense this year. There is a lot more power in this 2013 lineup (Santana, Reynolds, Kipnis) and some good hitters such as Swisher, Brantley, and of course Cabrera. It'll be interesting to see what we can get out of Chisenhall and Stubbs. Perhaps a Reds fan can give me a better outlook on Stubbs. Unfortunately what I hope can develop into a pretty good offense will be negated by a bad pitching staff. Masterson, when healthy, has showed flashes of being a great ground ball pitcher but struggled in '12. If he returns to how we've seen we will be set. Ubaldo had one good little-over-half of a season, so he worries me a bit. Especially considering what we gave up for him, but regardless after those two it drops off drastically. Zach McAllister is a young guy who has shown some brilliance, so we can hope for the best out of him. Brett Myers will likely be the 4th starter, and just about every starter in the organization vying for the 5th spot. The strength of course will be the bullpen, headed by the Smith-Pestano-Perez bullpen that led to the Tribe being something like 20-4 when those three closed it out for them last year. UNBELIEVABLE. Then you have young hard throwing Cody Allen. The middle relief is what hurt, hopefully Nick Hagadone (coming off of a ridiculous non-baseball injury) can turn that around. Dude throws fire, seen it up close and personally.

Prospects: Francisco Lindor (SS), Trevor Bauer (SP), Dorssys Paulino (SS), Tyler Naquin (OF), Cody Allen (RP), Ronny Rodriquez (SS-2B), Tony Wolters (2B), Jose Ramirez (2B)

Notice a trend? A whole hell of a lot of middle infielders. Lindor is the best defensive player of them all. He's also younger than me. I'm 19. He will continue to develop and then eventually either cause an Asdrubal Cabrera move, or we'll trade him for some starters. A projected lineup card for the future suggests Paulino will be at 3B, with Lindor at SS, Cabrera at 2nd, and Kipnis at 2nd. That's the issue there, Chisenhall-Cabrera-Kipnis are relatively young and Kipnis/Chisenhall have been the highlight of the farm system for a while. Some of those guys may eventually be traded/moved because the Tribe is loaded with infielders. Lindor (#17 prospect in baseball, I believe) is the one I'm most excited about.

Trevor Bauer was the best deal of that Choo trade, #14 prospect in baseball (I may have Lindor's number switched with his, they're some combo of 14/17) he could be exactly what the Tribe needs, a starter. GM thinks he needs some more time to develop so I'd be extremely surprised if he made the opening day roster.

Finally, Manny Acta's non aggressive ways are gone and it's time to see what the Tribe can do under 2 time WS champ Terry Francona. This year will be a good start and I predict over-500, however the Tigers win the division and there's too many Rangers/Angels, A's, Mariners, Yankees, Orioles, Blue Jays, Rays in the AL for the wild card to be attained. I would like to hope the Tribe has a good year, brings in some pitching, and maybe we see the playoffs in 2014.

2013 lineup:

CF Brantley
2B Kipnis
SS Cabrera
RF Swisher
C Santana (Pitchers will have to pitch to Carlos here, could be a big +)
1B Reynolds
3B Chisenhall
DH McGuiness
LF Stubbs

Also worth noting that DH spot will do a ton of rotating and I can't guarantee the Tribe don't sign Thome for leadership/to hit there. Mike Aviles can play 2B/SS/3B so figure him in the lineup some days with Chis/Kip/Drubal at DH. The only change is, I don't know if I can see McGuiness hitting there. In fact that was the only portion of all this I had to look up, because I didn't know who was even projected to hit there.