The Indians are Terrible (and AL West Preview)

Holy shit. The Indians, as of now, are 1-7 and heading into the opening series at new Yankee Stadium (aka steal yo' money park) tomorrow. They have the potential of being 1-12 by the time Monday rolls around. I haven't watched any games but I have listened to a few and caught a couple on game cast. I know Eric Wedge's team hates April and starts off slowly every year but this is dangerously close to being the end of the season for them. Let's highlight a few of the problems.

The pitching has been horrendous. I mean Cliff Lee can't control his fastball and hitters are nailing him on everything else. He just can't keep them off balance and honest so they look for the offspeed stuff and crush it. Carmona can't control his pitches at all. They dance around like they have a mind of their own. He's continued the trend from last year of walking more people than striking out. I'm not sure if it is a mechanical problem or if he's just bad. But I'm confident is saying that 2007 was a fluke year for him. Pavano is alright. He looked good in spring training, got knocked out of the 1st by the Rangers, then fanned 8 in 6 innings against the Royals. Not bad. (You know your pitching sucks when you consider Pavano "not bad").

The bullpen can't hold a lead so far and can't even keep the games close. Perez came in last night with the game tied up and gave up 5 runs. Kerry Wood has looked awesome though in his 1 inning of work. They should probably make him a starter.

The hitting has actually been doing pretty well. Hafner is off to a good start with 3 homeruns in the first week and Martinez looks fully recovered from his shoulder problem. Sizemore is the same old Sizemore hitting homeruns and striking out. They need to set a lineup and stick with it. I feel like Wedge tinkers with the lineup too much in April and causes the offense to putter into May. Isn't tinkering what Spring Training is for? I'm not a coach or anything but it would make sense to mess with your lineups when the games DON'T FUCKING MATTER (take heed Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini).

If they can get out of New York with a split in the four game series then they should be in OK shape. Anthony Reyes has looked pretty solid and should get better. Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona can't really do any worse then they already have. And despite the terrible start they are only 4 games from the Central Division leader. But like I said, its going to get late faster for the Indians if they don't start playing up to par.

Also, I'd like to see LaPorta, that catcher prospect from the Dodgers, and the other guy from the Sabathia deal to play in the majors soon. They all hit .500 in the spring and probably warrant a roster spot over Ben Francisco and some of the other bums (Ryan Garko). I like Trevor Crowe in the outfield though. He's like a mini Sizemore and hopefully can get on base more to create havoc.

AL West Preview

I'll keep this short because this division really doesn't change that much from year to year. The Mariners are supposed to be good and they actually might be with Felix Hernandez coming into his own and hopefully Erik Bedard pitching like his past self. I like the Franklin Guiterrez addition from the Indians. He may not look good on paper from last year but he was never consistently in the lineup. His power and speed in center will make him a real offensive threat with consistent at bats.

The Angels are the Angels and should be a solid team again this year. Oakland never really impressed me in spring training and just look to be mediocre. The Rangers have a great offense, especially with Nelson Cruz coming of age. But their pitching, as always, really sucks and they'll be mired in a 70-80 win season.

Prediction: I'm going to go with Seattle to win this division and make the playoffs. They've been on the cusp the past few years and fell short of expectations last year. But with a solid rotation anchored by veteran Jarrod Washburn in the back, they should be ready to take the title this year. Plus the return of Junior Griffey can't hurt.