The creature and I have had our misadventures, but never anything like this. I know who I'm not paying for on fantasy draft day.
Back in October I made some brazenly off-the-cuff predictions for the Indians opening day roster. 4 months later, with pitchers and catchers reporting, I'm going to stick by most of those.
Here are the gimmies -
C - Carlos Santana
1B - Matt LaPorta
2B - Orlando Cabrera*
SS - Asdrubal Cabrera
LF - Austin Kearns*~
CF - Michael Brantley~
RF - Shin Soo Choo
DH - Travis Hafner
Rotation - Fausto Carmona, Mitch Talbot, Carlos Carrasco
'Pen - Chris Perez, Tony Sipp, Rafael Perez
Bench - Jayson Nix, Trevor Crowe~
Likely -
Rotation - Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin
'Pen - Frank Herrmann, Vinnie Pestano, Jensen Lewis, Joe Smith
Bench - Shelley Duncan, Luis Valbuena
Crap Shoot -
3B - Jared Goedert
What's Changed -
Obviously, my bold predictions about bringing back Kouz and Westbrook were spot off.
* indicates an off-season acquisition that wasn't available as an option back in October.
~ refers to Grady Sizemore beginning the season on the DL. When he returns, Brantley slides to left, Kearns to a DH/LF platoon and Crowe back to Columbus. Trevor's only value is as a second CF.
Personally, I believe that Justin Masterson is much more well suited at the back end of the bullpen, but the word on the street is that he'll be trade bait by mid-season, so the Tribe wil choose to showcase him as a starter.
Others feel that Jeanmar Gomez can beat out Josh Tomlin for the 5th starter role. That could happen, but I'll bet on Josh until he proves me wrong.
There are not a lot of other reasonable options for the 'pen. Aaron Laffey will be shipped to AAA to start. Joe Martinez could make it as a long man, but I see him getting kicked off the 40-man when O-Cab is officially added. While Josh Judy could makes some waves in Goodyear, we won't see him until later in the year.
Of Lou Marson, Paul Phillips, and Luke Carlin, I choose the last as the back-up catcher. Marson should be playing everyday and will, at Columbus. Phillips is a grade-A POS (7 MLB seasons, never more than 67 ABs, career .655 OPS) and Carlin played well in a brief audition last September.
Either Jason Donald or Jared Goedert could be the 3B until Lonnie Chisenhall is ready. I do not believe that Donald can field the position. If the knock on Goedert is his D, he certainly won't lose the job to Donald because of it. I have faith in Jared putting up good offensive numbers in the spring and Jason being optioned to the Clippers to become more familiar with the hot corner.
The Tribe could choose to stick with Donald as the utility infielder above Valbuena, but Luis has better pop and just as much defensive utility (no, I won't use that word).
Soon comes the fun part, actually watching them play. ;-j
Cheers.
