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Boston Herald: Tribe Still A.L's Team to Beat

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Silverman: On AL power meter, Red Sox lag behind Indians

Francona’s conquering Tribe still the one to beat

Michael Silverman Sunday, January 22, 2017

There’s no denying the Red Sox made a great trade when they acquired rotation-booster Chris Sale last month.

But let’s not be taken for a ride on that river in Egypt about how good they became.

They still aren’t better than Cleveland.


The Indians not only vanquished the Red Sox in three straight games in a lopsided American League Division Series last October and went on to win the pennant and nearly the World Series but they also got better this season.

Unlike the Red Sox, who lost their best slugger, David Ortiz, and did not replace him with a comparable solution, the Indians wound improving their already formidable run-scoring operation.

They went out and snagged the best slugging free agent on the market, Edwin Encarnacion, and at a team-friendly rate of three years for $65 million.

And, oh yeah, they expect to have a full season from underrated slugging catcher Yan Gomes and their best all-around player, MVP-caliber outfielder Michael Brantley, is expected back for next season after missing the bulk of 2016 with a shoulder injury.

Combine that with a rotation that is expected to be back at full health — unlike the ’16 postseason, when we all thought that the battered, depleted core would be run over by the Red Sox offense — and a bullpen that features both Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, the Indians did not take a hit anywhere.

They only got better.

And it all started with Encarnacion.

“I don’t think (the Cleveland front office) expected that Edwin would fall to where we could jump in there, but they did and got creative and good for us,” manager Terry Francona said last week. “Because (departing Mike Napoli) was a free agent — he had meant so much to us that signing a bat like Edwin’s should really help us.”

As is his wont, Francona was not ready to deliver a motivational speech for the team as it prepares to play in this October’s World Series.

But it’s clear that he likes his team.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen — we didn’t know guys were going to get hurt at the end of the year, you just kind of play and see how well you can do,” the former Red Sox skipper said. “Going into this spring, yeah, we’re excited. Everybody is. But you don’t know what’s going to happen but I do think it’s a good place to start from. We’re thrilled and hopeful that Brantley’s going to be OK. He’s our best player. And we had him for (39) at-bats. Missed two-fifths of our rotation and not having Yan Gomes — so yeah, we’re excited.”

The Red Sox are hardly roadkill in the Indians’ way.

The top of their rotation is as good as Cleveland’s, and their offense is still more than formidable. Their bullpen is not as good. The Indians have a young core, including Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor, plus key veterans in Jason Kipnis and Brantley, who combine to make the Indians very much a model franchise.

They play in a smaller market, but the Encarnacion signing was a deft addition that makes an already powerful ballclub into one that’s much better.

Teams such as the Red Sox, who are constantly reloading and restocking when one approach or another does not work, have the resources to adapt quicker and more dramatically, which is why their window for winning stays open for awhile.

Francona noted that his team has less margin for error.

“I think you’ve got to be realistic that in the winter, for the most part, we play in a different neighborhood and our guys do a great job of trying to be realistic about, ‘OK, who can we go after and not waste time on players that are not going to come?’ ” Francona said. “I’ve actually been really impressed with how (the baseball ops staff) do things there. They’ve put together a really good nucleus that hopefully keeps our window open. I think windows for small market teams are probably shorter than the big markets. I don’t think that’s out of line to say that. But I think because our nucleus is younger, the core group, hopefully it keeps our window open longer.”

As the Encarnacion move shows, the Indians are playing within their margin for error.

The Red Sox probably are, too, when it comes to the AL East. But when it comes to moving past the Indians, that’s still a question of if, not when.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/...d_sox_lag_behind_indians#.WITaepZKdZE.twitter
 
Silverman: On AL power meter, Red Sox lag behind Indians

Francona’s conquering Tribe still the one to beat

Michael Silverman Sunday, January 22, 2017

There’s no denying the Red Sox made a great trade when they acquired rotation-booster Chris Sale last month.

But let’s not be taken for a ride on that river in Egypt about how good they became.

They still aren’t better than Cleveland.


The Indians not only vanquished the Red Sox in three straight games in a lopsided American League Division Series last October and went on to win the pennant and nearly the World Series but they also got better this season.

Unlike the Red Sox, who lost their best slugger, David Ortiz, and did not replace him with a comparable solution, the Indians wound improving their already formidable run-scoring operation.

They went out and snagged the best slugging free agent on the market, Edwin Encarnacion, and at a team-friendly rate of three years for $65 million.

And, oh yeah, they expect to have a full season from underrated slugging catcher Yan Gomes and their best all-around player, MVP-caliber outfielder Michael Brantley, is expected back for next season after missing the bulk of 2016 with a shoulder injury.

Combine that with a rotation that is expected to be back at full health — unlike the ’16 postseason, when we all thought that the battered, depleted core would be run over by the Red Sox offense — and a bullpen that features both Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, the Indians did not take a hit anywhere.

They only got better.

And it all started with Encarnacion.

“I don’t think (the Cleveland front office) expected that Edwin would fall to where we could jump in there, but they did and got creative and good for us,” manager Terry Francona said last week. “Because (departing Mike Napoli) was a free agent — he had meant so much to us that signing a bat like Edwin’s should really help us.”

As is his wont, Francona was not ready to deliver a motivational speech for the team as it prepares to play in this October’s World Series.

But it’s clear that he likes his team.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen — we didn’t know guys were going to get hurt at the end of the year, you just kind of play and see how well you can do,” the former Red Sox skipper said. “Going into this spring, yeah, we’re excited. Everybody is. But you don’t know what’s going to happen but I do think it’s a good place to start from. We’re thrilled and hopeful that Brantley’s going to be OK. He’s our best player. And we had him for (39) at-bats. Missed two-fifths of our rotation and not having Yan Gomes — so yeah, we’re excited.”

The Red Sox are hardly roadkill in the Indians’ way.

The top of their rotation is as good as Cleveland’s, and their offense is still more than formidable. Their bullpen is not as good. The Indians have a young core, including Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor, plus key veterans in Jason Kipnis and Brantley, who combine to make the Indians very much a model franchise.

They play in a smaller market, but the Encarnacion signing was a deft addition that makes an already powerful ballclub into one that’s much better.

Teams such as the Red Sox, who are constantly reloading and restocking when one approach or another does not work, have the resources to adapt quicker and more dramatically, which is why their window for winning stays open for awhile.

Francona noted that his team has less margin for error.

“I think you’ve got to be realistic that in the winter, for the most part, we play in a different neighborhood and our guys do a great job of trying to be realistic about, ‘OK, who can we go after and not waste time on players that are not going to come?’ ” Francona said. “I’ve actually been really impressed with how (the baseball ops staff) do things there. They’ve put together a really good nucleus that hopefully keeps our window open. I think windows for small market teams are probably shorter than the big markets. I don’t think that’s out of line to say that. But I think because our nucleus is younger, the core group, hopefully it keeps our window open longer.”

As the Encarnacion move shows, the Indians are playing within their margin for error.

The Red Sox probably are, too, when it comes to the AL East. But when it comes to moving past the Indians, that’s still a question of if, not when.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/...d_sox_lag_behind_indians#.WITaepZKdZE.twitter

Wonderful article and I am so excited for this season. Not only because but a major part is seeing EE slug it. However if the team is healthy and we get Smoove and Gomes back to form. We might see something better than what we saw in the 90s. Because our pitching is top notch and we have depth there.
 

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