20 Bold Predictions for the 2013 Cleveland Indians Season

Last week, 20 Cleveland Indians writers from six different websites and media outlets took part in a survey to reflect on the 2012 season and look ahead to the offseason and beyond. We’ve already released our player awards for the 2012 Indians, our thoughts on the organization’s direction and philosophy, our predictions for which players will be gone by Opening Day 2013, and our projections for how the Tribe will fare over the next several seasons. Today, we reveal the final portion of the results.

At the end of the survey, I asked each participant to make a bold prediction for the 2013 Tribe season. Here’s what we all came up with.

Eric P. Mull-US PRESSWIRE

Charlie Adams (Indians Prospect Insider): Jason Kipnis and Shin-Soo Choo will go 20-20.

Geordy Boveroux: The Indians will make a strong run in May as Cleveland will proclaim Terry Francona mayor, dictator and God. Then they will come back to earth and no one will care at the end of the season.

Mike Brandyberry (Did The Tribe Win Last Night?): The Indians will win win only 65 games, Asdrubal Cabrera won’t be on the Opening Day roster, and Lonnie Chisenhall will hit 22 home runs.

Ed Carroll (Wahoo’s on First): Call me a sucker, but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Grady Sizemore. He’ll probably never be the MVP-type player he was back in 2008, his last fully healthy season, but I think it’s possible we might see him making an impact in Cleveland next year.

Nino Colla (The Tribe Daily): The Indians enter 2013 with Justin Masterson, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Shin-Soo Choo, and exit July with none of them.

Andy Cooper: Terry Francona will resign in early June after the Indians get off to a poor start and he finally recognizes the dearth of talent in the organization and the front office’s commitment to mediocrity.

Kevin Dean (Indians Prospect Insider): Jason Kipnis finished top-15 in the Most Valuable Player race.

TD (WaitingForNextYear): At the trade deadline, the Indians will not only deal Shin-Soo Choo, but Asdrubal Cabrera as well.

Vince Guerrieri (Did The Tribe Win Last Night?): Ubaldo Jimenez will go 22-4. Bold doesn’t necessarily mean accurate, right?

Brian Heise (Wahoo’s on First): The Indians establish a new, clear direction with Terry Fancona and spend Year 1 acquiring talent and then allowing him to mold the team on the field to his image. It’ll hard to watch at times, but not as bad as the second half of 2012. They still will finish below .500.

Mike James (The Defend Cleveland Show): Well, the lowest attendance in Progressive/Jacobs Field history isn’t that bold, just really likely, and technically I can’t use my bold prediction just now of them making the playoffs in 2014 since that’s not for 2013… so how about in 2013 the Tribe trades Choo at the deadline for player(s) that actually pan out in their favor.

David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

Steve Kinsella (Wahoo’s on First): The Indians will be an above-.500 team. The talent in 2012 wasn’t as awful as their record they just didn’t care to play for the manager.

Craig Lyndall (WaitingForNextYear): The Indians will be a buyer at the trade deadline and do a deal. Is that bold? I don’t know. Seems bold right now.

David McGarry: Carlos Santana has the best season among catchers in the league.

Jim Piascik (Indians Prospect Insider): The rotation rebounds and is buoyed by some bounce-back signings and trades, the bullpen stays sold, and the Indians’ signings and trades on offense work out. The 2012 Indians could have been a playoff team with a little luck on the scrapheap signings, so maybe they’ll work in 2013. It’s really not a bad strategy, but sometimes it all goes wrong. Hopefully 2013 will be different.

Lewie Pollis (Wahoo’s on First): Zach McAllister gets some Cy Young votes.

David Roberts (Did The Tribe Win Last Night?): Indians have a pitcher who is a 15 game winner.

Kevin Schneider (Did The Tribe Win Last Night?): Fearing fan backlash, the Tribe front office will make some surprise long-term deals with core players. They’ll wait and see how they start 2013 first—then, Justin Masterson, Chris Perez, Vinnie Pestano, Zach McAllister, and, yes, maybe even Shin-Soo Choo could get deals.

Ronnie Tellalian (Did The Tribe Win Last Night?): The Indians will bounce back to finish second in the AL Central, and contend for the playoffs into early September.

Evan Vogel (Wahoo’s on First): Carlos Santana hits 30+ HR and drives in 100+ runs, establishing himself as the Indians best player.