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Cleveland Indians: Revisiting Preseason Predictions

By Joe Russo

Oct 4, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; A general view of a Cleveland Indians helmet prior to a game between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox at Progressive Field. Cleveland won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 4, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; A general view of a Cleveland Indians helmet prior to a game between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox at Progressive Field. Cleveland won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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How do the preseason predictions of this year’s Cleveland Indians play out?

In our three part Mailbag Preview for the 2016 Cleveland Indians, there were some bold predictions made by yours truly. How did those prognostications hold up? We take a look back to see how well we’ve done thus far.

Cody Anderson is not quite in 2015 form

  • Cody Anderson was great in 2015. He provided the Tribe a real legitimate fifth starter after Bruce Chen and Shawn Marcum actually made starts early in the year for the Cleveland Indians. 2016, though, fell short of expectations.

    • I really thought the young starter was going to

    continue to improve 

    while the Cleveland Indians organizational depth. Instead, it’s been a disastrous season for Anderson. A 7.48 ERA with the big league club is most definitely not improvement.

    More from Factory of Sadness

    Yan Gomes lost “bounce back” year

    I had high hopes for Yan Gomes, as I devoted an entire piece to why he should be

    poised for a big 2016

    . After a .169 / .208 / .349 slash line thus far with only 29 hits on the entire year, Gomes has been the weakest link on an otherwise potent offense. That’s caused a lot of Tribe fans, including on this site, to look at Brewers catcher

    Jonathan Lucroy

    as a trade target ahead of the deadline.

    Related Story: Is Brewers' Lucroy A Trade Target?

    Bullpen move saves Trevor Bauer

    • Monday’s piece on Bauer hit on all of the reasons why Mickey Calloway’s magic continues to work in the bullpen for starters in need of a refresh. Bauer has been a different pitcher since the move to the ‘pen, lowering his ERA by over a full run and lowering his walk rate since getting back into the rotation. For a team that doesn’t have a lot of pitching reinforcements in Columbus, Bauer’s resurgence has been a huge part of one of the best rotations in all of baseball.

    Rajai Davis makes an impact, but not the biggest of the vets

    Davis has played well, including an epic stretch of games during the Cincinnati Reds series. He’s been a valuable piece to the outfield with

    Michael Brantley

    out and now

    Marlon Byrd

    ‘s career over due to his second PED suspension. I thought

    he would be a net positive

    , anyways.

    More from Cleveland Guardians

  • But it’s been Mike Napoli. who leads the team in homers and RBI, that has been the biggest addition of the old timers the Cleveland Indians brought in. He is hitting .248 at least, but with Jose Ramirez and Tyler Naquin making a major impact so far, Davis might be slotted back to being a fourth outfielder by season’s end.

    • Tyler Naquin lives up to our expectations

    Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Factory of Sadness loves Tyler Naquin. I was going to be happy if Naquin

    hit like he did in Columbus

    , but he’s been better than expected for the Cleveland Indians.

    Next: Will Brantley Have A Successful 2016?

    He’s hitting .300 since coming back up to the big club and quickly became the Kansas City Royals’ worst nightmare. If he continues to swing the bat and provide great defense in center, this team can use their new found outfield depth to their advantage down the stretch.

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