De-Who?

Yawn! The Tribe acquired Mark DeRosa from the Cubs for 3 minor league pitchers. Don't get too excited, we now have a little more depth. He had a pretty good year in '08 batting .285 with 30 doubles, 21 home runs, and 87 RBIs. That ranks him on the team as 2nd in average, 4th in doubles, 3rd in homers, and 4th in RBIs.

Well, OK...maybe we should get excited a little.

I am sure that Little Italy will embrace him but not to the extent of favorite "adopted" son Rocky Colavito...not just yet.

So, have we improved?

Yeah, sure we have.

Kerry Wood will be a dominant closer if he stays healthy, but the Indians have a poor record of late with keeping pitchers healthy. Almost the entire staff has been decimated over the last several years with muscle pulls that seem to be screaming out to poor conditioning.

Cliff Lee must come back strong.

Travis Hafner must put up very strong numbers and be the dominant force that he once was.

Asdrubal Cabrera has to produce on offense...period.

The outfield of Sizemore, Fransico, and Choo will be solid in offense and defense.

Scott Lewis will be counted on heavily to prove that his late season heroics were for real.

OK, now I am beginning to get excited!