Best Lineup In Baseball?

I have the time today, the tourney is starting on Thursday, I have to work tomorrow, so I figure I have nothing better to do today than check out the Indians lineup for this upcoming season.

Leading off will be Grady Sizemore. He should be able to build on the All-Star season he had last. He's probably the only true 5 tool player they have in the lineup. Hopefully he will steal some more bases than he did last season. He stole 33 bases last year, up from 22 the previous, but he's really the only speed the Indians have in the lineup. It would be nice to see him steal close to 50 this year.

The 2 spot should be filled by Asdrubal Cabrera. I really think this kid is the real deal. He was fantastic in the field teaming up with Jhonny Peralta up the middle and if he can hit around .300 this season, he will be very effective getting himself on base and moving Sizemore into scoring position for the meat of the lineup.

In the 3rd spot should be Hafner. Hopefully he's a little upset about his dismal performance in the playoffs when I'm still convinced he couldn't see the ball. Although his homerun totals and his average were down considerably last year, he still knocked in 100 runs. Which would tell me that he got some key hits when he needed them. Travis had a wrist injury last season, and I remember Jim Thome had a wrist injury and had a horrible season in the year following but was able to bounce back in a big way the next. Let's bet on Travis having a year like he did in 2006!

Hitting Cleanup will be Victor. Arguably the best hitting catcher in the bigs, he put up some solid numbers last year .301/25/114. I'm guessing he's going to get some more time at 1B to try and keep the knee problems down to a minimum. He should have another big season.

Behind Victor will be Ryan Garko. He had a pretty solid 2nd half of the season and can hopefully take the next step in protecting Victor in the lineup. The more good pitches Martinez gets to see, the better off the Indians are going to be.

Next up will be Jhonny Peralta. After a dismal 2006 both at the plate and in the field, I think he put to rest the thoughts of trade/release/move to 3rd/demotion with the way he played last year.

Casey Blake will be hitting in the 7 spot. This is another guy that put to rest the demons last year. With the acquisition of Andy Marte to play 3rd, and Gutierrez/Michaels/Delucci/Nixon to play the outfield last year. There was a real possibility of a short future in Cleveland. But, we found out that Marte sucked, and we needed a 3rd baseman. He filled in so well that there's really no question about who will be at 3rd this year. Hopefully a little stability will be good for Blake

The 8 spot will be filled with Delucci/Francisco/Michaels. Whoever is playing in the OF that day. I would really like to see them go after a power hitting outfielder this season. Maybe they can give up some pitching to get another big bat in the lineup?

And the end of the lineup will be shored up by Franklin Gutierrez. Another young guy that should hopefully build on the succes he had last year. He had moments of "...We don't need another guy in RF, Gutierrez is our guy!!!" and "...Why is this guy even in a major league lineup???"

Solid lineup from top to bottom. A good mix of vets and younger guys. Let's hope that they can build on last season. Let's hope that they have a little more desire after how last season ended. If nothing else, this should be a very entertaining team, they should have a very good shot to win the AL Central. Times are looking good at Jacob's Field. I'm really looking forward to this season.

I will never call Jacobs' Field, Progressive Field.

And I took these pictures at at Sox-Indians game at US Cellular last season. I know, they're really good....