Cleveland Indians: Grady Sizemore and 10 of the Worst Injuries in Tribe History (5.31.11)

Championships are won with talent, hard work and luck. No team has gotten to the top without dodging some major obstacles. One of those problems is injures. You can assemble the best team in the majors, but if half of them go down, you’re not going anywhere.

The Indians have been playing for over 100 years now and only have two World Series titles to their name. Think they’ve been unlucky? The Tribe has racked up a massive amount of season-harming injuries in their over-a-century existence that very well may have cost the city of Cleveland another championship or two.

The 2011 Cleveland Indians are playing well despite the injuries they have suffered (Alex White, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner). But with how snakebitten this franchise has been in the past, it makes me (and I’m sure many others) worry about how long they can keep it up. Let’s take a look at 10 on the worst injuries the Tribe players have suffered over the years. Read More…

From Bleacher Report, May 31, 2011

 

MLB Power Rankings: Re-Ranking the Cleveland Indians Roster Through 40 Games (5.17.11)

Way back in the beginning of April when I ranked every player on the Indiansroster (which you can see here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/654001-mlb-power-rankings-ranking-the-2011-cleveland-indians-roster), little did any of us know we were looking at what would soon become the surprise, breakout team of 2011. Sure, there was significant potential for the Tribe, but who would’ve thought we’d have the best record in the majors 40 games into the season?

Despite the awesome record and play the Indians have recorded so far this year, there are still weak points on the roster. Sure, Asdrubal Cabrera and Travis Hafner have been on fire this year, but who is the worst player on the roster? How many players should be replaced in the near future? These are all questions that we should start thinking about.

Well, enough dribble from me. Let’s get down to business and rank the Indians from 25th to first. Read More…

From Bleacher Report, May 17, 2011

 

MLB Power Rankings: Why the Indians and Braves Are the Best Teams in Baseball (5.11.11)

It may not be a popular notion, but judging a team solely based off of their current win-loss record isn’t the best way to judge a team. Looking at the number of runs a team has scored and given up yields a much better notion of how a team has really played and eliminates any lucky/fluky wins.

I’ve explained my power rankings in more detail in previous columns (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/686651-mlb-power-rankings-how-far-the-rays-rose-the-white-sox-fell-and-a-new-1 andhttp://bleacherreport.com/articles/676326-mlb-power-rankings-ranking-all-30-teams-to-this-point-in-the-season).

The most important thing is that the Pythagorean W-L I use is how a team would finish if they continued scoring and allowing runs at their current pace. This gives the best picture of the true nature of each team’s play.

Without further ado, let’s get to the rankings: Read More…

From Bleacher Report, May 11, 2011

 

Cleveland Indians: Orlando Cabrera Shouldn’t Be a Roadblock for Jason Kipnis (5.9.11)

If you haven’t seen the movie Juno or just want to miss my awesome metaphor, feel free to skip the next four paragraphs.

If you have, then let’s go for a ride.

In the movie, Jason Bateman plays Mark, the husband of Vanessa (Jennifer Garner). These two are adopting Juno’s (Ellen Page) baby and seem like the perfect couple. Throughout the movie, I thought that Mark was so cool. He’s into some really cool music, toured with his band and owns an awesome guitar. Juno is just as taken with him as I was the first couple of times I watched the movie.

As the movie progresses, Mark becomes disenchanted with the idea of being a father and leaves Vanessa. At first, I didn’t really blame Mark. He wanted to chase his dreams and it seemed that Vanessa was forcing her dreams upon him.

The next few times watching the movie, though, I realized how ridiculous Mark was being.

Sure, Mark had all the intangibles, but deep down, he was just a bad person. Something there just wasn’t right and all the chic attributes in the world weren’t going to fix things.

I feel the same way about Orlando Cabrera.

I was against the Indians signing Cabrera when I thought we didn’t have a real chance at competing this year. Luckily for us Tribe fans, we’re in first place and making some real noise and Orlando Cabrera has been a large part of it.

The biggest thing that Cabrera has brought to the Tribe this year is his winning attitude. His presence in the clubhouse has gotten the Indians believing in themselves and always thinking they can come from behind and win it.

That said, the Indians need to not fall in love with Orlando Cabrera. Like Jason Bateman in Juno, he’s got all the intangibles in the world, but he’s also a 36-year-old middle infielder starting to see his skills fade. Read More…

From Bleacher Report, May 9, 2011

 

MLB Power Rankings: How Far the Rays Rose, the White Sox Fell, and a New No. 1 (5.2.11)

It’s been a good week for the Tampa Rays, a horrible one for the Chicago White Sox and a great one for the Cleveland Indians. As we hit the month of May, how each team in baseball is playing is starting to become clear. Hot starts (like the Orioles) have cooled down and cold starts (like the Rays) have heated up. It’s becoming easier and easier to see which teams have it and which don’t this year.

I said this is last week’s rankings (which you can see here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/676326-mlb-power-rankings-ranking-all-30-teams-to-this-point-in-the-season), but I’ll say it again: I rank each team through a formula based on the Pythagorean theorem taking into account runs scored and runs allowed. It’s as simple as scoring more than you give up.

These rankings are from the beginning of the season to today, not a prediction of future events. The Pythagorean W-L is what their record would be if they keeping scoring and allowing runs at the rate they are now. With that, let’s start the rankings by heading up north.  Read More…

From Bleacher Report, May 2, 2011