@Butteredtoast
Quit trolling. I know you hate the Tigers, but it makes me sick that you'd joke around about Cabrera like that.
Also... Masterson-Jimenez? LOL. Have you heard of Justin Verlander and Doug Fister? Tigers have the best Pitching staff in the AL Central. Our bullpen is much, MUCH better. Oh yeah, people will also be introduced to either Jacob Turner or Drew Smyly.
First of all, I'm not trolling. The Indians have a great team, and if anyone watched them in the first half last year they would have seen that. They have guys who are sneaky and off the radar like Justin Masterson, Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, Chris Perez, Joe Smith, Jason Kipnis, Santana...
Verlander is better than Jimenez, I'll give you that. I don't think Verlander is going to quite replicate the numbers he had last year, but he will still be one of the best guys in the American League. I think Ubaldo will also revert more to his career numbers than what he did last year. You guys though lose in the 2-5 spots. I'd consider Justin Masterson better than Doug Fister to be about the same margin that I'd consider Ubaldo to be worse than Verlander. You then have to look at Fausto, Lowe and one of the many options for the 5 spot verses Porcello, Ol' Two Eyes, and Phil Coke. I'd give the Indians the advantage hands down on paper. The Indians also have one of the more complete bullpens in the entire league. They have a great young and consistant closer in Perez, a phenominal setup man in Smith, left hander specilists, a good long man, hard throwers, side armers, the entire works. Shit, all they don't have is a tribal man with war paint who does 360 flips and then throws the ball 102 MPH.
And the Indians offense is only going to get better. All these guys are high ceiling prospects that could all be all stars. Kipnis is a flat out superstar when I saw him play. Chisonhall is a great defensive 3B guy. LaPorta has had points when he single handly carried the team. Santana is becoming a great offinsive catcher taking the mold of V-Mart. He's also learning to call a good game too.
If Grady and Choo can overcome their injuries and get back to their career numbers, you have very solid #3 and #4 guys. As you saw from last year that this team can find a way so score runs when they need it the most, and that was with all the injuries and suspect pitching. They are a sneaky team that has made a bunch of low risk high reward moves. They are younger, faster, more motivated, and better at D then the Tigers. It's not a joke to give them a chance in the Central.