The New Florida

What is with all this rain in Florida? Doesn't mother nature understand the importance of getting ur baseball fix Spring Training provides us all?

There are certainly a lot of bloggers and baseball writes who are giving the Indians a decent chance to win the division this year. I certainly think its possible, but not without some amount of uncertainty. There are some factors I will keep an eye as Spring Training moves along and as we run into the beginning of the season here shortly.

1.) Will the Tribe's young hitters maintain their gaines from last year?
The young trio of Hafner, Martinez, and Broussard certainly impressed the Indians brass for a good amount of time the previous season, but the Tribe's offense will rely upon them mainting those types of perfomances. If they were to slide back to the mean a bit, that will put more pressure on the Tribe's pitching staff...

2.) Can the pitching staff keep it together for an entire season?
I think most of us can agree to assume that the Indians' bullpen should be alot more consistent than last year, and do they ever need it. Even if Wickman's age were to throw him out of the equation, I still think the bullpen is improved with Howry the entire year, Rhodes, Riske, and the rest returning ot the Tribe's bullpen. The starters are what worries me the most. Sure we added Millwood, who could possibly be a better-than-average innings eater, but his health will be a concern until he proves us all wrong. Sabathia had a couple of arm scares last season, and his injury in Spring Training certainly has to push us on the concerned side for him. However, I see Lee, Westbrook, and Elarton going both ways. Westbrook certainly had a breakout year last year, and the key will be to see if he can maintain that level of performance with such a low K/9 rate. Lee started the season off well last year, but seemed to tire as the season went along as his HR rate skyrocketed as the season came to an end. FInally, Elarton isnt the worst number 5 starter a team could as he could prove to be a sleeper this year for the Tribe's rotation.

Id love to see the Tribe's offense keep its ground, while the pitching staff allows about 100 fewer runs and see what happens. I think if that happens, the Indians will win another AL Central division title. It will be interesting to see if the Twins continue to just be happy to win the division, or get serious and start using their roster more efficiently and challenge the Tribe long past 2005.