Cleveland Indians Players Compared To Their Central Counterparts

Offense

Offense will be a key for the Cleveland Indians in 2016. Now that is obvious, as offense is a key part of baseball, thus making it a key for every team. But it will be a bigger key for the Indians because of the holes in their lineup. Now don’t get me wrong, every team has holes in its lineup, but most managers can usually bury them somewhere. Some nights, the Indians could arguably have multiple holes in their lineup (especially if Michael Brantley starts the season on the disabled list), which makes it very hard to hide them. Most of the power in the lineup will come from the middle of the order, as Mike Napoli, Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, and Brantley will put up a majority of the power numbers. 

The Royals are a solid team up and down their lineup, led by a solid nucleus of Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez, and Eric Hosmer. The Detroit Tigers are a boom or bust team, as they do have J.D. Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, and Justin Upton. And that’s about it. They either have old regressing players (Ian Kinsler) or young players who aren’t known for their offensive game (Jose Iglesias, James McCann). The Twins made a move this offseason when they signed Byung-ho Park, who hit 210 home runs in nine seasons in the Korean League. But that’s about it when it comes to their offseason. They’re letting their young kids play, and giving the reins of their lineup to Trevor Plouffe, Brian Dozier, and Miguel Sano.

The White Sox might have two of the most polished power hitters in the division in the forms of Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier. Frazier is the reigning home run derby champion, and Abreu has hit 66 home runs over his first two years of baseball, but on the other end of the spectrum, they’re also planning on having  a 37-year-old Jimmy Rollins start at shortstop, so that says something about the overall talent on the roster outside of Frazier and Abreu. 

Next: Bullpen