Key offseason additions- David Murphy, John Axford,
Key offseason losses- Ubaldo Jimenez, Drew Stubbs, Chris Perez
Cleveland is coming off a season in which they took the American League by storm, and surprisingly secured a wild card berth, only to be eliminated by the Rays in the wild card game. Apparently the Indians were content to go with primarily the same team in 2014 as they put on the field in 2013, with only a couple minor offseason moves.
The departure of Ubaldo Jimenez, and the absence of anyone to replace him, will leave a big hole at the top of this rotation in 2014. Justin Masterson is going to have to repeat his 2013 season, and will likely need to post bigger numbers in order to compensate for the loss of Jimenez. But behind Masterson, there really isn't a lot to brag about in Cleveland. Guys like Zach McAllister and Corey Kluber are average number 3 and 4 starters. Trevor Bauer is a huge X factor in this rotation along with Danny Salazar. Cleveland will be relying on both of them to step up in 2014.
Carlos Santana is moving to third base this season to make room for Yan Gomes behind the plate, who burst onto the scene in 2013. Other than that the only change to the everyday lineup will be the presence of David Murphy who comes over from Texas. There is a good balance to Cleveland's lineup in terms of speed, power, and average, and they should be one of the more productive offenses in the American League in 2014.
The Indians aren't great at a lot of things, but they do enough things well to get by in this division. I see them fighting it out with Kansas City and Chicago for second place behind the Tigers in 2013. Overall though I don't think they have enough high end starting pitching to reach the playoffs for a second consecutive year.
Projected finish: 2nd, AL Central
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