hoops23;870907 wrote:I'm disappointed in the collapse, however, I'm not too upset.
I was one of the very few who thought they'd compete THIS year in the division.. I was saying it as early as late last season. Many "experts" picked us to be one the WORST teams in baseball, period.
We have surpassed expectations and we have a young nucleus coming back next season... Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but a lot of people thought that last year.
I see a Cleveland Indians team who is, I believe, the 2nd youngest team in baseball? IF, and that is surely a big if, Dolan is serious about spending money to make this team better, then we should see some moves during the offseason/winter meetings to help this offense.
I know it won't be done, but ties need to be cut with Hafner. He's garbage and his #'s are below average for a DH making 10+ mill a year.
IMO, I'd make Carlos Santana the DH. He can also spot start at 1B and C when needed, so he's not completely useless when playing in a NL park and he's at least an average fielder at worst.
Lou Marson deserves a chance to play extended time behind the plate. Great defensive guy and throws out base runners at a good rate. He's shown flashes with the bat as well.
I'd move forward with Brantley, Carrera, Choo... Grady is gone, and so will be his salary. There really are no FA 1B that would be worth while for the Tribe to pursue... Guys like Prince will command way more money than we'll shell out and the rest are garbage. If we get a 1B, it may be through trade... I don' now if Lonnie could be an option to move to 1B and we go after a guy like Aramis Ramirez to play 3rd or if we even target an OF by trading off Choo or Carrera..
The point is, the offense needs revamped. You have a solid young core with Santana, Druby, Brantley, Kipnis, Carrera, and hopefully Chisenhall... But they need more around them...
I think the pitching is set. The bullpen is locked up as well as the starting pitching for another few years. Ubaldo needs to work on his mechanics, IMO. I think he'll be fine going into next year, but we'll see.
I think the season is over. 5.5 GB and Detroit plays a soft schedule.. They're like 13-3 against Tampa and Minny this season, so we can't expect much help right now.
Yeah, it was impressive that they were competitve until August, especially given all the injuries that they suffered through this year with Choo and Sizemore missing large chunks of the season. And lets be honest, its still not over yet, if they could go on a nice little run and detroit stumbled a little bit, there is still a chance they could make things interesting down the stretch.
