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Best Case Senerio: Hafner comes back to something between his 2006-2007 forms and is a very solid middle of the order power hitter. Westbrook comes back right around the All-Star break and wins about nine or 10 games.
Reyes and Pavano stay healthy and both get double digit wins. Lee is closer to the Cy Young form and so is Fausto. Wood never gets hurt and all the new additions in the bullpen work out. The Indians win 95 games and go deep in the playoffs.
Worst Case Senerio: Hafner is more like the 2008 hitter, and Wood lands back on the DL. The offense regresses with players such as Choo and Francisco. The bullpen never gets on track and the additions don't work out. We see the next wave of Indians in August and hope for a better 2010.
Most Likely: Hafner bounces back and hits between 20-25 home runs and Wood only spends two short stints on the DL. Lee wins 17 games, as does Carmona. I think Pavno will stay healthy and give 14 wins, and so will Reyes.
Westbrook will come back in late June and give the Indians a shot in the arm in the second half. The team wins 91 games and has a strong shot at at least and ALCS appearance.
My projections
Grady Sizemore: .275, 40 2B, 30 HR, 89 RBI, 35 SB
Mark DeRosa: .280, 31 2B, 22 HR, 78 RBI
Victor Martinez: .310, 25 2B, 24 HR, 96 RBI
Travis Hafner: .280, 23 2B, 23 HR, 86 RBI
Jhonny Peralta: .286, 31 2B, 33 HR, 110 RBI
Shin-Soo Choo: .308, 26 2B, 21 HR, 81 RBI
Ryan Garko: .281 21 2B, 17 HR, 75 RBI
Ben Francisco: .275, 24 2B, 18 HR, 60 RBI
Asdrubal Cabrera: 292, 20 2B, 13 HR, 58 RBI, 21 SB
Kelly Shoppach: .255, 25 2B, 25 HR, 70 RBI 150 K's
Josh Barfield: .225 8 2B, 2 HR, 21 RBI, 18 SB
Jamey Carroll: .270, 10 2B, 3 HR, 35 RBI
David Dellucci: 225, 5 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI
Trevor Crowe: 280: 17 2B, 7 3B, 10 HR, 44 RBI, 25 SB
Dellucci gets cut by May and Crowe is the fourth outfielder on this team. This Indians team can hit, providing Sizemore, Peralta, Hafner, Shoppach and Garko don't strikeout a ton and kill their rallies. This team was one of the best teams in terms of getting extra-base hits and on-base percentage last season.
Cliff Lee: 17-5 2.79 ERA
Fausto Carmona: 17-7 2.91 ERA
Carl Pavano: 15-8, 3.45 ERA
Scott Lewis: 11-8 3.78 ERA
Anthony Reyes: 15-6 3.12 ERA
Jake Westbrook: 11-4 2.99 ERA
Jeremy Sowers: 3-6 5.50 ERA
Aaron Laffey: 6-2 3.41 ERA
This rotation reminds me a lot of 1995. There was no 20-game winner, but the rotation had five guys capable of winning at least 15 games, while it may not be enough to win the World Series, but very well could get them deep into the playoffs.
Kerry Wood: 2-2 44 saves, 3.13 ERA
Jensen Lewis: 4-3, 11 saves. 3.29 ERA
Rafael Betancourt: 1-3, 16 holds, 2.41 ERA
Rafael Perez: 4-2, 10 holds, 2.26 ERA
Joe Smith: 2-3 8 holds, 2.98 ERA
Masa Kobayashi: 1-4 4.38 ERA
Zach Jackson: 2-2 3.89 ERA
Masa and Jackson are both jettisoned in mid-May and two more prospects make their way into the system.
(Former Lake County Captain) Hector Rondon: 3-0 2.24 ERA
Former Captain, Tony Sipp: 0-2, 2.29 ERA
The bullpen is rather solid with some additions by subtractions.
LaPorta, and Michael Brantley also see some major time at the big-league level and contribute, as does David Huff)
91-71, win the AL Central, at least an ALCS appearance.
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