2008 Cleveland Indians Predictions & Season Preview

Larry Cook gives you his 2008 Cleveland Indians predictions in the following article along with their odds on winning the AL Central, AL Pennant and World Series. Below is an Indians' season preview as well. This is a team built to repeat as AL Central Champions if everything goes as planned. They kept free agent C.C. Sabathia and now have one of the most dominant starting pitching staffs in the league. The offense and bullpen is respectable, but Travis Hafner will need to return to his old form and the corners of the outfield need to be more productive as well if they want to hold off the Detroit Tigers.

Starting Rotation:

C.C. Sabathia is coming off a Cy Young season, the first Indians' starter to receive this award in 35 years. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona may be the best one-two punch in the game. Carmona posted 19 wins for the Indians last season and it was no fluke. He or Sabathia could be the Indians' first 20-game winner since Gaylord Perry in 1974. The Indians also have veterans Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd in their starting rotation. Byrd could serve a suspension at the start of the season for attmitted HGH use. Cliff Lee, Jeremy Sowers and Aaron Laffey each get their shot at the No. 5 spot in the rotation.

Bullpen:

The Indians added Masahide Kobayashi from Japan to add depth to an already deep bullpen. Closer Joe Borowski and setup man Rafael Betancourt are a very efficient combination in the American League. Borowski led the AL with 45 saves last season and Betancourt did a great job turning over games to their closer with 31 holds. Rafael Perez is the left-handed version of Betancourt and Jensen Lewis is another righty option. Kobayashi brings 227 saves over from Japan. His role is undefined, but if Borowski or Betancourt struggle, he has experience in both the closer and setup positions. Aaron Fultz has proven to be strong against lefties and Tom Mastny squeaked out 7 wins last season.

Line-Up:

The Cleveland Indians have one of the most explosive line-ups in baseball and they are in line to win the AL Central division once again with the players they will be putting in the batters box. Grady Sizemore leads off for Cleveland and he is approaching 30-30 status after stealing 33 bases last season. Asdrubal Cabrera hits in the 2 hole after a .283 batting average last season and assisted on 33 double plays in just 45 games. Despite Travis Hafner's struggles last season, he will be asked to have a big year in the 3rd spot at the DH position. Hafner did post 100 RBIs for a 4th straight year and 100 walks for a second straight despite battling injuries. Victor Martinez is the best offensive catcher in the league and a great clean-up man. He finished seventh in the AL in RBIs and reached base in 81 of the final 88 games. Ryan Garko hits 5th after setting a club record by getting hit by a pitch 20 times. He was also Mr. Clutch with a .297 batting average after the 6th inning. Johnny Peralta led the AL in home runs for shortstops with 21 and added 72 RBIs last year. LF David Delluci, RF Franklin Gutierrez and the streaky 3B Casey Blake round out the 7, 8 and 9 spots in the line-up. Blake had a 26-game hit streak last year but batted just .190 with RISP. The Indians' bench will be asked to step up this season. Hafner's batting average dropped 42 points from a year ago so he will have to improve on that number if the Indians' are to be effective. Jamey Carroll was acquired from Colorado to fill in at second and short when needed. Jason Michaels is a great backup outfielder to have and should see plenty of playing time platooning in left or off the bench. Francisco, Michaels and Choo can play all of the outfield spots. Kelly Shoppach is the backup catcher who drove in 30 runs in just 161 at bats.

Indians 2008 Predictions:

The Detroit Tigers made all the moves in acquiring several proven big-league players. The Indians will bank on their depth and farm system to get the job done again this season. They have alternatives with big league experience at almost every position to protect them against injury or poor performance. They would rather test these options first rather than going outside of the organization to fix these problems. GM Mark Shapiro has to take advantage of any opportunity he gets if the Indians are to beat out the Tigers once again. We feel that the Indians' rotation can only carry them into 2nd place in the AL Central this season. The Tigers have made all the right moves and they will overtake Cleveland in 2008. The Indians will just have to hope they can win enough games to catch the Wild Card slot.

Larry Cook finished with the #5 World Ranking with his baseball picks in 2007 last year. Hard work with research, analysis and starting pitcher breakdowns gives Larry the edge over your sportsbook and bookies. You won't believe the kind of profits you can make by signing up for any of Larry's long-term packages. By doing so, you will get in on all of his winning MLB action this season. Larry will guide you to profits you have never seen before once he makes his move up to the #1 spot in 2008.

2008 Cleveland Indians Odds:
Odds to win AL Central: 7/5
Odds to win 2008 AL Pennant: 6/1
Odds to win 2008 World Series: 10/1

American League Central