Cleveland Indians: Look Out for the Tribe's 2009 Lineup

Here is the Cleveland Indians lineup for today, July 13. ShB= Should be

1. Grady Sizemore CF ShB= same

2. Jamie Carroll 2B ShB= same

3. Ben Francisco LF ShB= batting sixth

4. Jhonny Peralta SS Shb= playing DH, with Asrubal Cabrera at SS

5. Ryan Garko 1B ShB= Same

6. Casey Blake 3B ShB= batting third

7. Kelly Shoppach C* ShB=Same

8. A number of different players DH* ShB= Jhonny Peralta

9. Franklin Gutierrez RF= Same

* Player is Starting due to another's injury

Now, let me start off with what I would change with this line up. I think Grady Sizemore should be batting third, but no one else is capable of batting in the No. 1 spot.

I like Ben Francisco a lot, and I think in the future he, Grady, and Matt LaPorta are gonna make one of the best outfields in baseball. But right now I don't think he's ready to bat third.

Another young guy I like a lot is Asdrubal Cabrera; I think he's the next Omar. I know why they've sent him down is a good reason for his batting, but him at SS would be 1,000,000,000,000,000 times better than Jhonny Peralta.

It seems the Indians are set on keeping Peralta, so put him at DH. You don't even have a set DH, so it can't hurt.

Indians current starting pitching rotation:

1. Cliff Lee

2. Paul Byrd

3. Jeremy Sowers

4. Tom Mastny

5. Aaron Laffey

Injuries: Fausto Carmona and Jake Westbrook

Those two injuries have deeply hurt the Tribe.

Next year's starting rotation might look like this:

1. Carmona

2. Lee

3. Byrd*

4. Westbrook

5. Sowers

* If they re-sign him

But here are some free agents (if their teams release them) in 2009 who the Tribe should look at:

Jon Garland: a young pitcher with a good arm

Mark Prior: A traditional NL pitcher; could he try to start over in Cleveland?

Jon Lieber: an older pitcher with a ton of experience (39 years old)

Jeremy Affeldt: Could help, could hurt, he would have to be consistent

Woody Williams: would be a serious gamble, but could pay off

If the Tribe can pull in anyone of these guys I feel they will do a lot better pitching wise.

What next year's lineup should look like:

1. Grady Sizemore CF

2. Asdrubal Cabrera SS

3. Matt LaPorta RF

4. Victor Martinez C

5. Travis Hafner 1B

6. Jhonny Peralta DH

7. Ben Francisco LF

8. Casey Blake 3B*

9. Jamie Carroll 2B*

Bench: Andy Marte, Franklin Gutierrez, Ryan Garko, Kelly Shoppach, and maybe Jorge Velandia.

* If they re-sign him

Yes, I did put Travis Hafner at 1B. He's in the MLB he should be able to play the easiest position.

I am taking a total guess for Matt LaPorta, but I think he'll bat somewhere around there.

There are a couple positions with question marks, so here are some 2009 free agents:

3B Joe Crede: very doubtful.

3B Morgan Ensberg: I think that's a good fit.

2B Orlando Hudson: would be a very solid second batter.

2B Tadahito Iguchi: better than Carroll.

SS David Eckstein: Perfect, would clear up Grady for the No. 3 hole.

SS Omar Vizquel: that would be a stretch. 

Thanks for reading my article. Now, this is my first article so feel free to comment, fill me in on things I may have overlooked, or even ask me questions. Thanks again for reading!