2008 Cleveland Indians

The defending American League Central Champs made it to game 7 of the American League Championship game before losing to the eventual World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. The Indians are led by last years American League Manager of the Year, Eric Wedge. The Indians return almost the exact same team from the year before. Management believed that it was a weak class of free agents and didn’t feel that any trade offers would better the team. While they do return an outstanding pitching staff, many fans wanted to see some bigger bats to add to the lineup. And while there team didn’t do anything they had to watch the Detroit Tigers bring in new player after new player. While the team is pretty young all around, if they all continue to get better they should be able to have another very successful year. We wouldn’t be surprised at all if they shocked everyone and were able to capture the division or even a wild card spot.

Pitching:

The main reason the team was able to win 96 games last year was the outstanding pitching by their two aces Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia and young sensation Fausto Carmona. Both pitchers total 19 win seasons and to show just how good these two are, Carmona was 4th in Cy Young voting and actually had a lower ERA than Sabathia. Next in the rotation are veteran pitchers Paul Byrd and Jake Westbrook. Westbrook had a very good second half of the season; in the first half his ERA was around 6 and in the second half around 3.44. We look for Westbrook to reach the double-digit win total this season. The fifth spot in the rotation is the one spot that needs to be answered before the season gets underway. We look for either Cliff Lee or Aaron Laffey to take over the spot. We give the edge to the younger pitcher Laffey; he performed much better than Lee. The Bullpen should be above average here as they return Joe Borowski who saved 45 games last year. They also return good set up men Rafael Betancourt and Jensen Lewis. The team will rely heavily on how well the back end of the rotation and early inning relievers are able to perform.

Offense:

While the offense might not of been the main reason for the success of last years season, they were able to mesh well together and get runs across when they needed to. They were led by catcher Victor Martinez, who was the team leader in average, homeruns, and RBIs The team also seen solid seasons from 1B Ryan Garko, 3B Casey Blake, SS Jhonny Peralta, DH Travis Hafner, and CF Grady Sizemore. Each player hit over 20 homeruns and hit right around .270. One key thing to remember is that Hafner was rarely at full strength last year and still managed to hit 24 homeruns. Cleveland will need him to return to the hitter he was just two years ago when he hit 42 HRs 117 RBIs and a .308 average.

Defense:

The Indians are a very solid defensive team they are led by gold glove winning center fielder Sizemore Martinez. They also have stud catcher Victor Martinez who is just as good defensively as he is on the offensive end. He has the ability to shut down opposing teams running game. They are also very solid as a unit committing only 92 errors for the sixth lowest total in the American League.

Prediction:

The Indians didn’t do much to improve while the Tigers did a lot. We see them slipping back to second in the Central. While we have Boston ahead of them in the Wild Card, we wouldn’t be surprised if they sneak into the playoffs if the Red Sox cant stay healthy.

2008 Cleveland Indians Odds to Win World Series 10 – 1

For every team’s odds head over to Sportsbook.com and check them out. You can also go to Sportsbook.com to look at the odds for teams to win their division or league pennant. Feel free to leave any comments in the comment section.

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