Sunday, March 06, 2005

You know I haven't posted in a while when Drew Sanders gets on my case about it. This is the guy who wrote 2 Tournament of Uber-Toughness updates and then left us all hanging when he got to the semifinals. And HE'S telling me that I need to post more often. Wow.

Anyway, Drew is pretty excited about the Indians this year, with good reason:

Their projected lineup:

Coco Crisp, CF
Ronnie Belliard, 2B
Travis Hafner, DH
Juan Gonzalez, RF
Victor Martienz, C
Ben Broussard, 1B
Aaron Boone / Jose Hernandez, 3B
Jody Gerut / Casey Blake, LF
Alex Cora / Jhonny Peralta, 2B

and their projected rotation:

C.C. Sabathia
Kevin Millwood
Jake Westbrook
Cliff Lee
Scott Elarton

and their bullpen:

Bob Wickman
Bob Howry
David Riske
Rafael Betancourt
Jason Davis
Arthur Rhodes
Scott Sauerbeck

That's a hell of a roster. It's hard to pick against a team with Johan Santana (who Drew apparently thinks was a fluke this year, to which I say ARE YOU INSANE!!??), but I think the Indians might just do it this year. And if they get Martinez / Hafner / Broussard / Peralta / Sabathia / Lee signed to 3 or 4 year deals, watch out for a mid-90's revival of the Indians franchise, when at one time or another they had the following players on offense:

Kenny Lofton
Roberto Alomar (back when he was really good)
Manny Ramirez
Jim Thome
David Justice
Travis Fryman
Richie Sexson
Brian Giles
Sandy Alomar Jr.

probably some other beasts, too, but that's enough.


Not too much Astros news lately. All our possible #5 starters sucked in our first ST game; each gave up 2 runs in 2 innings. Yay. Then Roy Oswalt dominated yesterday, and Brandon Backe looked good today, and Jason Lane and Luke Scott homered. I like Scott as a darkhorse to make the team and get a few AB's while Berkman is hurt. Biggio started at 2B the other day, too, which makes me hurt all over.

I'm still waiting for BP2005. Damn you, Amazon!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ok, I did not say Santana was crap. I said I wouldn't take him as my first pitcher in our fantasy league. You know I'm saving that for Dewon Brazelton of the projected champion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. You know any team with four words in their name has to be destined for greatness. Look for a Hollywood movie based on how the team that spent pennies and sucked balls became a powerhouse. By the way, when listing the past greats for the Indians, you left out Albert Belle, Eddie Murray, Carlos Baerga, Paul Sorrento, Omar Vizquel, Dave Winfield, and Matt Williams. Don't forget such pitching powerhouses as Charles Nagy, Jaret Wright (uff), Jose Mesa, Dennis Martinez, Orel Hershiser, and Julian Tavarez. Unfortunately, I have to leave Eric Plunk out of the pitcher list, since anyone named "Plunk" has no business in baseball, much like Dilfer in football. As for the Tournament of Toughness. We're on hiatus until we can pick up a new sponsor.