While many in the national media stayed on the Kansas City Royals bandwagon going into the 2016, more analytical sources correctly projected the Cleveland Indians as AL Central champs.
After that, no one could have predicted the Indians’ continued success despite every setback possible decimating the starting rotation. Without two of their top three starters and despite a serious injury to their fourth during the postseason, Cleveland quickly dismantled Boston and Toronto in the American League playoffs, thanks to extensive work by the bullpen and the two healthy starters, Corey Kluber and Josh Tomlin. It was likely this increased workload that ultimately cost the Indians, as after getting a 3-1 series lead against Chicago in the World Series, they lost the final three games to the World Champion Cubs.
Preseason Prediction: The Indians have a pitching staff that isn’t only the best in the AL Central, but could be the best in baseball and the best in Cleveland since the late 1960’s. There is mound lowering talent in this starting five and if they can all repeat their successes from 2015, they should be able to lead Cleveland to a division title. Once there, any team facing Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and Danny Salazar in a playoff series is going to pine for the days when the Indians only had pitchers like C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee. Assuming the offense can score more than three runs per game, this team is has as legitimate chance as any at the 2016 World Series. (Joseph Coblitz, March 29)
What Went Right: As with any team that makes it this far, quite a few players had career years for the Tribe. Nearly the entire lineup had career-highs in home runs, including those players in the later years of their careers like Rajai Davis and Mike Napoli. Jose Ramirez came out of nowhere to have an MVP-caliber season, Tyler Naquin was the Indians’ second consecutive AL Rookie of the Year candidate and Francisco Lindor didn’t lose a step in his sophomore season.
In addition, nearly every single front office move made worked out perfectly. The signings of Davis, Napoli to low-risk deals and the purchase of Dan Otero prior to the season worked beautifully. Even Marlon Byrd played better than expected before his PED suspension-based retirement, as did Juan Uribe and Joba Chamberlain early in the season. The trade deadline deal for Andrew Miller was the single most important move made by the Tribe since the 2010 acquisition of Kluber from San Diego for Jake Westbrook, and even the deal that wasn’t, which would have brought Jonathan Lucroy to Cleveland, worked out OK as he struggled in the playoffs while Roberto Perez had his best games of the season.
What Went Wrong: Nothing but injuries. Michael Brantley playing just 11 games in the regular season didn’t hurt as much as expected, with so many other players having career years. But his bat was greatly missed in the postseason as Naquin was unable to catch up to even the slowest fastball. Yan Gomes was never the same after returning from injury in 2015, but his season was cut short again in 2016 when he separated his shoulder, then broke his hand when he was hit by a pitch in his final rehab assignment.
The pitching staff bore the brunt of the injuries as Carlos Carrasco first had a hamstring problem that cost him a month early in the season, then broke his hand on an Ian Kinsler comebacker in late September that cost him the rest of the season and postseason. Danny Salazar dealt with various arm pain from about the All-Star break on and the strain in his right forearm cost him most of September and the first two rounds of the playoffs. By the time he returned, he wasn’t able to get back into starting form, forcing Terry Francona to go with Kluber, Tomlin and Trevor Bauer on short rest.
The final significant injury of the year was Bauer’s as he cut his pinky while repairing his drone between the ALDS and ALCS. He wasn’t able to pitch with the stitched-up digit in the ALCS despite trying, then had problems with command in his first two World Series starts. He looked fine in his Game 7 relief appearance, but had already lost two games on the biggest stage by that point. Of course, if Carrasco and Salazar had been healthy, neither Tomlin or Bauer would have been making starts in the postseason, let alone on short rest in the World Series.
Jose Ramirez solo blast to left is the only run we have after 3! 1-0 @Indians #RallyTogether #FlyTheW pic.twitter.com/amA4QtvB2i
— SportsOverEverything (@SportsOverEvery) October 31, 2016
Most Surprising Player: When Jose Ramirez started the 2015 season as the Indians starting shortstop, he was a placeholder until the Super Two deadline had passed and Lindor could be brought up without that status. With the pressure of the best Indians shortstop since Omar Vizquel behind him, Ramirez hit .180/.247/.240 with 24 strikeouts to 13 walks while playing atrocious defense.
The promotion of Lindor pushed Ramirez back to AAA, where he played for the majority of two months before returning to Cleveland in August and playing decently as a utility man. While in Columbus, he played two whole games in left field, then added a couple more in Spring Training in 2016. But when the regular season opened and Brantley hit the DL yet again, Ramirez became the team’s starting left fielder and quickly took to the position. When Uribe struggled at third, Ramirez moved back to a more familiar position (his natural position is second base, but Jason Kipnis has that locked down) and played better defensively than he ever had before in the majors. In addition, he hit and ran.
After two years of typical numbers for a utility man, Ramirez hit .312/.363/.462, knocked in 76 runs, stole 22 bases and walked 44 times to just 62 strikeouts. The “utility man” got his full-time starting role on May 5 and played 134 of the Indians next 137 games, never tiring when many others, including Lindor and Napoli, hit the skids late in the season. While he played third exclusively once he took over for Uribe, Ramirez was still a utility man of sorts as he hit in every single spot in the lineup at some point during the season when he wasn’t in his normal fifth spot, protecting Napoli.
Most Disappointing Player: It wasn’t all his fault, as mentioned previously with the injuries, but Yan Gomes has not been the player the Indians have expected him to be since he signed a six-year extension in 2014. Before the shoulder injury in mid-July, he was hitting .165/.198/.313 and prior to his double in the game when he was injured, he had just played through eight straight hitless games.
Gomes was a huge part of the Indians lineup in both his first season in 2013 and his first full season as a starter in 2014 when he won the Silver Slugger for catcher with 21 home runs and 25 doubles. Combined over the past two years, he has hit just 21 home runs and 33 doubles in 169 games while batting .205. There is no question that some of the problem was due to being rushed back from his strained MCL in 2015. But at this point, one has to wonder if he will ever return to the powerful backstop that he was in his first two seasons.
The Future: The Indians have a very limited number of exiting free agents (Napoli, Davis and Coco Crisp). Even beyond that, they only have Bryan Shaw, Lonnie Chisenhall and Santana running out of team control after the 2017 season, so they should be able to compete among the best teams in baseball for years to come.
More importantly, without making any offseason moves, this roster will become better by orders of magnitudes before 2017 begins. Brantley will be back. Carrasco will be back. Salazar will be back. If Abraham Almonte can avoid any more banned substances, he will be eligible for the entire season and the postseason. In addition, just like Lindor in 2015 and Naquin in 2016, the Indians have a first-round draft pick just waiting for the starting gate to be lowered so he can make his mark on the majors. Bradley Zimmer was a starter in the Futures game this year and is currently playing in the Arizona Fall League. If Almonte is not the answer to the Indians’ problems in center field (and a replacement for Davis in the lineup), then Zimmer will be. He may begin the year in AAA, but there is no question that he and the rest of the Cleveland Indians will be a large factor in October in 2017.
