Spring Training Begins for Your Cleveland Indians

Manny Acta? Michael Brantley? Jordon Brown? To paraphrase the movie Major League - Who are these guys? They are your 2010 Cleveland Indians and they are getting ready for Spring Training. Pitchers and Catchers report February 21 and there will be a lot of curiosity about the team that has been a major league disappointment for the last few years. In fact the 2009 season was the first time in years that my family did not attend a game. Yesterday I was listening to local sports talk radio WKNR and the fans are begging the Dolans to sell the team. With trades of players like Cy Young pitchers CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and catcher Victor Martinez Cleveland fans are not holding out much hope for this season but like it or not, Spring Training is upon us.

The players to watch this season are Outfielder Michael Brantley and Catcher Carlos Santana who, according to MLB.com, are ranked amongst the Top 50 Prospects List, and Pitcher Jake Westbrook and DH Travis Hafner. Both Westbrook and Hafner are coming off injuring and even though Hafner returned to the Indians line up last season, it will be interesting to see if the all the money that the is tied up in the former power hitter will finally pay off.

The projected started line-up based on the 2009 statistics.

1. CF Grady Sizemore (18 HRs, 64 RBIs, .248/.343 OBP/.445 SLG, 60 BBs/92 SOs)
2. SS Asdrubal Cabrera (6 HRs, 68 RBIs, .308/.361 OBP/.438 SLG, 44 BBs/89 SOs)
3. RF Shin-Soo Choo (20 HRs, 86 RBIs, .300/.394 OBP/.489 SLG, 78 BBs/151 SOs)
4. DH Travis Hafner (16 HRs, 49 RBIs, .272/.355 OBP/.470 SLG, 41 BBs/67 SOs)
5. 3B Jhonny Peralta (11 HRs, 83 RBIs, .254/.316 OBP/.375 SLG, 51 BBs/134 SOs)
6. 1B Matt LaPorta (7 HRs, 21 RBIs, .254/.308 OBP/.442 SLG, 12 BBs/37 SOs)
7. 2B Luis Valbuena (10 HRs, 31 RBIs, .250/.298 OBP/.416 SLG, 26 BBs/83 SOs)
8. C Lou Marson (0 HRs, 4 RBIs, .246/.347 OBP/.361 SLG, 10 BBs/21 SOs)
9. LF Michael Brantley (0 HRs, 11 RBIs, .313/.358 OBP/.348 SLG, 8 BBs/19 SOs)

The Project Starting Rotation

1. RH Jake Westbrook (DNP in 2009; 2008 stats: 1-2, 3.12 ERA/1.154 WHIP, 19 SOs/7 BBs in 34.2 IP)
   2. RH Fausto Carmona (5-12, 6.32 ERA/1.763 WHIP, 79 SOs/70 BBs in 125.1 IP)
   3. RH Justin Masterson (4-10, 4.52 ERA/1.454 WHIP, 119 SOs/60 BBs in 129.1 IP)
   4. LH David Huff (11-8, 5.61 ERA/1.558 WHIP, 65 SOs/41 BBs in 128.1 IP)
   5. LH Aaron Laffey (7-9, 4.44 ERA/1.619 WHIP, 59 SOs/57 BBs in 121.2 IP)
   Closer. RH Kerry Woods (3-3, 4.25 ERA/1.382 WHIP, 63 SOs/28 BBs in 55 IP, 20 saves/26 chances)

Whether this will be the actual line up or if the Indians organization can regain the trust and interest of the Cleveland fans remains to be seen. Like death and taxes there are two things that are certain - Spring Training starting and Indians fans' hoping that this will be their year.

www.clevelandindiansmlb.com

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