In a phrase that has become all too synonymous with Cleveland, it once again is being muttered around town.
The Cleveland Indians had high expectations this year, evidenced by Sports Illustrated picking them to win the World Series for the first time since 1948.
They returned a young roster that is mostly locked up for years to come, regained a healthy Jason Kipnis, and brought in Brandon Moss to be the power bat they were looking for the past few years. Instead, it was another rough start to the year for the Tribe.
The big free agent signings the year prior, Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn, continually battled injuries and found themselves battling for playing time.
The poor defensive play early in the year was also costly with many of them seemingly playing out of position. An early season injury to Yan Gomes was also a catastrophic start and everything began to look like another typical Cleveland season that could only be matched by the woeful attendance.
The last major disappointment in the year came when the Indians became sellers at the deadline, including a trade of an underwhelming Moss to the Cardinals for a young prospect. While Moss disappointed in terms of batting average, he did hit for some of the power the Indians wanted, smashing 15 home runs before his trade.
In comparison, Moss will finish second on the team in home runs, despite being traded back in July and only four behind Carlos Santana for the team lead. It has been a constant struggle for the Indians to provide some power in their lineup, finishing twenty-second in the league in home runs.
However with the bad comes some good, the Indians played their best baseball at the end of the year and while they didn’t make the playoffs they can still take momentum into next year.
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