Cleveland Indians 2006 Season and Off Season

The Cleveland Indians had a disappointing 2006 regular season. Cleveland fans had high expectations for the Indians as the came off a 93 win season in 2005.

Several things went wrong for Cleveland in 2006. The offense got off to a slow start at the beginning of the season. Not to mention that the Indians traded center field Coco Crisp was traded to the Boston Red Sox. The pitching staff preformed worse during the season. The result of the poor performances led to the trade of several players during the season.

Out of the bullpen left hand pitcher Scott Sauerbeck was released because of his poor performance. While pitching in 24 games for Cleveland, Sauerbeck posted an era of 6.23. Guillermo Mota posted an era of 6.21 in 34 games before he was traded to the New York Mets. Bob Wickman was having a decent year as the closer but since Cleveland was out of the playoff race he was traded to the Atlanta Braves.

The starting rotation was not as bad as the bullpen. Jake Westbrook proved to be a consistent starter. He pitched 200+ innings for the third straight year and his era was 4.17. C.C. Sabathia missed some start but still managed to make 28 starts. He pitched 192.2 innings and his era was 3.22. Cliff Lee started 30 or more games for the third straight year. His era was not bad at 4.40, but it did go up from 3.79 during the 2005 season. Paul Byrd was also consistent in his first season with Cleveland.

The offense saw some changes during the season too. The duo of Eduardo Perez and Ben Broussard were both traded in separate deals to the Seattle Mariners. Second baseman Ronnie Belliard was traded the St. Louis Cardinals. Shin-Soo Choo was one of the players that they acquired from Seattle. Choo hit .295 in 146 at-bats with Cleveland.

DH Travis Hafner had a great season in which he hit .308 with 42 home runs and 117 runs batted in. Center fielder Grady Sizemore played in all 162 games. Sizemore batted .290, 28 home runs, 76 runs batted in, and stole 22 bases. Victor Martinez had a pretty good season. He hit .316 with 16 home runs and 93 runs batted in. Third baseman Casey Blake also put up good numbers.

During the off season Cleveland acquired second baseman Josh Barfield from the San Diego Padres for Kevin Kouzmanoff and Andrew Brown. Outfielder David Dellucci signed a three-year contract. To improve the bullpen Roberto Hernandez, Joe Borowski, and Aaron Fultz were signed one-year contracts. Cliff Politte signed on, too. He had an off year during 2006. The also signed often injured outfield Trot Nixon hoping he can stay healthy.

With the moves made 2007 should go along better for the Indians if their bullpen can perform as expected. They will also want to get to a better start with the bats than the did in 2006. The American League Central is going to be a hard fought division to win. Cleveland should be competitive with the other teams in their division and have a shot at the playoffs in 2007.