Cleveland Indians Players Compared To Their Central Counterparts

Bullpen

The Indians bullpen is solid. They have one of the best young closers in Cody Allen, and a quality bullpen behind him. Zach McAllister found his niche last season in the bullpen, as he went 2.77 in 28 appearances after the all-star break. Bryan Shaw continues to be a solid setup man, though sometimes he still looks lost on the mound. Kyle Crockett wasn’t able to build on his solid 2014 rookie year, as he has a 4.08 last year bouncing between the majors and Triple-A. There are also some question marks in the Indians bullpen, as the offseason acquisitions of Joba Chamberlain, Ross Detwiler, and Tom Gorzelanny could reap benefits once the year starts.

The Royals have the best bullpen in the division by far. Their bullpen was one of the reasons that they were able to win the world series this past year. If they went into the sixth inning with a lead, it was basically already a win, as their bullpen was able to slam any door it seemed like. Wade Davis is an animal on the mound, and Kelvin Herrera and Luke Hochevar are some of the best in the business. It isn’t like that for the Tigers. A good bullpen has kept the Tigers from truly contending these past couple years, and it looks like that could be the case again this year. They signed Francisco Rodriguez to close for them, which may have been a good signing in 2009, but it’s 2016 and he’s 34 years old so it’s tough to know what to expect from him. After him they have the formidable collection of Buck Farmer, Drew VerHagen, Mark Lowe, and Blaine Hardy. The White Sox are in the middle of the pack, as the back end of their bullpen is great with David Robertson and Zach Duke, but after that things get dicey, as they’ll be relying on the likes of Nate Jones and Tommy Kahnle.

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The Cleveland Indians have a very good chance of contending in 2016. They’ll need to address some of their own problems and pray for a couple of lucky breaks, but overall they should be able to persevere and pave their way into the playoffs.