Indians Decade in Review: Optimism and a hot start in 2011

The Cleveland Indians seemed like contenders after 45 games in the 2011 season. The rest of the year didn’t exactly go so well.

Our Indians Decade in Review series continues with a look at the 2011 season. It was a year that began so well. The Indians were contenders! Until they weren’t.

The Manny Acta era began in 2010 and the final result was a 69-93 record. But optimism was high for Year 2 and a 30-15 start seemed to reward all the positive thoughts. Then the Indians came back down to Earth and gradually fell out of the playoff race.

Perhaps the most notable part of the entire season has to do with the first-round pick in the 2011 MLB Draft. A young man known as Francisco Lindor was taken with the No. 8 overall pick. So while the Indians were in a stage of rebuilding, the front office was doing their best work to make the team better.

The Opening Day lineup looked like this:

1. Michael Brantley, CF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
3. Shin-Soo Choo, RF
4. Carlos Santana, C
5. Travis Hafner, DH
6. Orlando Cabrera, 2B
7. Austin Kearns, LF
8. Matt LaPorta, 1B
9. Jack Hannahan, 3B

The starting pitcher was Roberto Hernandez, or the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona. Missing the playoffs once again was a disappointment, but there were plenty of positives to go with the negatives.

The first positive is the obvious one. The 30-15 start. The team went 18-8 in April and 14-12 in May. Then came sub-.500 months in both June and July to bring the Indians back to expected levels.

In the midst of all the ups and downs, Carlos Santana became an everyday player at catcher and finished the year with 27 home runs and a .351 on-base percentage. His home runs led the team and his OBP was second behind Travis Hafner, though the slugger only played in 94 games. Santana was also second in slugging percentage at .457. Asdrubal Cabrera finished at .460.

The team was still trying to compete in July and that was something to smile about. The evidence came in the form of the Ubaldo Jimenez trade that saw the Indians send Alex White and Drew Pomeranz to Colorado. Jimenez’s 5.10 ERA in Cleveland falls more in the negative category.

Justin Masterson was the ace in 2011, finishing with a record of 12-10 and a 3.21 ERA. As fans may also recall, the bullpen started to earn a persona in 2011 with the breakout performances of Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano, and Chris Perez. Tony Sipp and Rafael Perez also had great seasons. All five finished with ERAs below 3.33 and Smith led the group at 2.01.

Yet in a season when it became clear the Indians weren’t contenders the one true positive was getting to see Jim Thome in an Indians uniform one last time. He joined the Indians in August and returned as a hero. He hit .296/.390/.479 in 22 games and even launched three home runs to add to his career total.

A young outfielder named Michael Brantley even appeared in 114 games and was fourth among position players in WAR. The team got a lot of production from the guys making the least amount of money.

Oh boy, were there negatives. Mainly Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore.

Poor Sizemore played in only 71 games after only playing in 33 the year before. He just couldn’t stay healthy after making three All-Star Game appearances from 2006-2008 and winning two Gold Gloves in that span. The worst part of it all is that he was only in his late 20s. This was a young player who was supposed to be part of the team’s future success.

Then there is Hafner. The man who hit 42 home runs in 2006 was fading fast by 2011. He only played in 94 games and finished with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs. He became a 1.6 WAR player and was the highest paid man on the team. Second on the payroll was Sizemore.

Third was Roberto Hernandez, who is still Fausto Carmona to me. He was an All-Star in 2010 and a liability in 2011. He finished the year with an ugly record of 7-15 and a 5.25 ERA. He only recorded 109 strikeouts in 188.2 innings of work and allowed 22 home runs.

The three men who were supposed to be the best were not adding much value to the team. Two struggled to stay healthy and the third was barely doing enough to stay in the starting rotation.