Restart It All | A Cleveland Indians Fantasy Draft

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Cleveland Indians Team Outlook

As the fantasy draft went on and trades occurred following it, it became apparent that the Cleveland Indians fans are going to have much to cheer about this coming season.

Armed with Mat Latos for an ace, the Indians rotation is young and mostly inexperienced. Featuring three rookies the rotation goes Mat Latos, Jarrod Parker, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Michael Wacha and top 50 prospect Danny Hultzen. Though Ryu, Wacha and and Hultzen are all rookies manager Terry Francona is confident in the group's pitching talents. Their bullpen is in extremely capable hands led by closer Ryan Cook. Also in the pen are flame throwers Jordan Walden, Aaron Crow and Daniel Bard. Brett Cecil, Bryan Morris and Justin Wilson are also in the bullpen offering versatility as longmen and one inning guys as well.

Mat Latos Will Lead the Indians Young Rotation

On the offensive side, expect a lot of doubles and homeruns from the team. The group is lead by uber-powerful outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton will be the team's DH though as there is terrific depth in the outfield that can offer better defense and are still offensive threats. That group from left to right is Bryce Harper, Oscar Taveras and Josh Reddick.

Offensive Stud Giancarlo Stanton

The offense doesn't stop there, top 50 prospect Mike Zunino is the Indians starting catcher. Eric Hosmer will be manning first base. The rest of the infield are also extremely capable hitters but will be adjusting to a new primary positon. Brett Lawrie who is more accustomed to third base will be playing second. Dayan Viciedo will be at third as he moves from right field. Finally Manny Machado will be at short stop as he moves back to his draft positon. He had been previously switched to third base.

Indians fans should be extremely excited about what the team has going on here. Armed with excellent depth on the MLB team and in the minors the Cleveland Indians look to be a force for a long time to come.

Cleveland Indians Depth Chart Depth Chart - 2012

• Catcher
• Mike Zunino
• Christian Bethancourt

• First Base
• Eric Hosmer
• Sean Rodiguez

• Second Base
• Brett Lawrie
• Darwin Barney
• Sean Rodriguez

• Third Base
• Dayan Viciedo
• Sean Rodriguez

• Shortstop
• Manny Machado
• Darwin Barney
• Sean Rodriguez

• Left Field
• Bryce Harper
• Jose Tabata
• Sean Rodriguez

• Center Field
• Oscar Taveras
• Jose Tabata
• Sean Rodriguez

• Right Field
• Josh Reddick
• Jose Tabata
• Sean Rodriguez

• Starting Pitcher
• Mat Latos
• Jarrod Parker
• Hyun-Jin Ryu
• Michael Wacha
• Danny Hultzen

• Relief Pitcher
• Jordan Walden
• Aaron Crow
• Daniel Bard
• Justin Wilson
• Bryan Morris
• Brett Cecil

• Closer
• Ryan Cook

• Designated Hitter
• Giancarlo Stanton

[pittsburgher86]

Machado's 3 RBIs Lead Way in Season Opener

All ready up on the Blue Jays 4-1 the Indians were threatening again with the bases loaded. Manny Machado up to the plate. He watches a strike. A ball. Another ball. It is a 2-1 hitters count. The pitcher gives him a mid level fastball in. With that, the Indians are up 7-1 as Manny Machado hits a double into the left center gap unloading the bases.

Mat Latos earned the win the game going to 1-0 to open the season. He pitched okay and that's all he'd say he did as well. He went extremely deep in many at bats and getting in a jam in the sixth. His day as over at 5 1/3 innings. Lefty reliever Justin Wilson finished off the rest of the game going 3 2/3 innings pitching easy and effectively only giving up a meaningless homerun to Troy Tulowitzki in the eighth.

Daniel Bard was set to come in the ninth, but Wilson plead with manager Terrry Francona to finish the game. Wilson wanted to earn his first major league save saying to Francona "I've got this, I'm being effective and got more than plenty left in the tank." He was right too, recording those last three outs in only 7 pitches. "Don't expect this sort of thing. Up 6 runs we were in a comfortable spot to allow Wilson finish out the game. Being game 1 and only using one reliever is fine with me. Just don't expect relievers to be pitching these sort of innings all the time." said Francona.

Cleveland Indians at Toronto Blue Jays
Apr 2, 2012	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cleveland (1-0)	0	2	1	0	0	0	5	0	0	8	13	1
Toronto (0-1)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	6	0
W: Mat Latos (1-0) L: Gio Gonzalez (0-1) S: Justin Wilson (1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			CLE	TOR
CLE	2	B. Lawrie homered to left. G. Stanton Scores.	2	0
CLE	3	O. Taveras homered to right.	3	0
TOR	4	D. Ortiz homered to center.	3	1
CLE	7	J. Reddick homered to right.	4	1
CLE	7	M. Machado doubled to center. B. Harper scores. M Zunino scores O. Taveras scores.	7	1
CLE	7	M. Stanton doubled to center. M. Machado scores.	8	1
TOR	8	T. Tulowitzki homered to left.	8	2

Cleveland Indians
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Oscar Taveras, CF	4	2	2	1	1	0	1	.500
Manny Machado, SS	5	1	1	3	0	0	0	.200
Dayan Viciedo, 3B	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	.200
Giancarlo Stanton, RF	4	1	2	1	0	1	0	.500
Brett Lawrie, 2B	4	1	1	2	0	1	1	.250
Josh Reddick, DH	4	1	2	1	0	1	1	.500
Bryce Harper, LF	4	1	3	0	0	0	0	.750
Mike Zunino, C	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	.333
Eric Hosmer, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
TEAM TOTALS	37	8	13	8	2	4	3
BATTING: 2B: M. Machado (1), G. Stanton (1), J. Reddick (1) HR: B. Lawrie (1), O. Taveras (1), J. Reddick (1) RBI: B. Lawrie 2 (2), M. Machado 3 (3), O. Taveras (1), G. Stanton (1), J. Reddick (1) GIDP: M. Zunino
BASERUNNING: CS: O. Taveras (1), D. Viciedo (1)
FIELDING: E: B. Lawrie (1) PB: M. Zunino (1)

Toronto Blue Jays
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
TEAM TOTALS	34	2	6	2	0	7	2

Cleveland Indians
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
M. Latos (W, 1-0)	5.1	5	1	1	0	5	1	1.69
J. Wilson	3.2	1	1	1	0	2	1	2.45
TEAM TOTALS	9.0	6	2	2	0	7	2

Toronto Blue Jays
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
TEAM TOTALS	9.0	13	8	8	2	4	3

Game Notes:
~Oscar Taveras and Mike Zunino made their major league debuts.
~Mat Latos recorded his 600th career strike out.
~First career save for Justin Wilson.