State of Affairs Monday October 22, 2007

How 'bout those Pats:
The New England Patriots remained undefeated going to 7-0 on Sunday against the lowly Dolphins. This comes as a surprise to no one as the Dolphins are now 0-7 after a 41-21 loss to my Cleveland Browns followed up by a 49-28 drubbing by the one of the leagues best. The final score is absolutely insulting to Belichick's Pats who lead 42-7 at the half. Tom Brady upped his season touchdown total to 27 still with 6 more TD tosses. Brady is now only 1 TD shy of his career high of 28. With nine games left to play he is on pace for 63 TD passes, 15 more than Peyton Manning's record 48 TDs. With Pittsburgh and Indianapolis the only two real playoff teams left on the schedule, the Patriots are in a position to remain undefeated when this regular season is all said and done. With not only the number one rated overall offense, the Patriots also command the number two overall rated defense. This balance matched with their experience and impressive coaching, the rest of the NFL will have a very tough time catching them off guard. With that being said I feel the best chance for the winning streak to be broken is week 14 against the Steelers. The Steelers D might just be the answer to the elite offensive attack lead by Brady, Moss, and Maroney. But keep in mind, no one in this league can handle, let alone beat, the Pats when they are clicking, or even, dare I say almost clicking.

The Next Step:
After witnessing a 3-1 lead in the ALCS evaporate over the course of the last 5 days I cannot help but still be optimistic about the Indians season and more obviously their future. The 2007 Indians campaign was all but a disappointment. After only 78 wins a year ago, the Tribe stormed back to form with 96 wins, a division crown, and a game 7 in the ALCS. All of this was done amidst a career low year from Hafner whose career OPS .950 is 7 points higher than David Ortiz' .943 career mark. Not to mention the fact that Cliff Lee who went 32-16 with an era just over 4 the last two years was only able to muster a 5-8 record while posting an era north of 6. Beyond that the Indians also played most of the season without their #2 starter from years past Jake Westbrooke, free agent LF David Delucci, and free agent RP Aaron Fultz due to injuries. So, yes I am disappointed that we blew a 3-1 lead in the ALCS, but when you realize we got their without 60% of our starting rotation from April and with mere average numbers from one of the games best sluggers, I declare success.
The next logical question is where do we go from here. The next step must be to improve the two worst things about the club, defense and relief pitching. These flaws became quite evident in the waning innings of game seven as a one run game got blown wide open due to a lack of quality defense and an off night from Raffy right. To that end I suggest moving multiple players around the diamond. First is Jhonny to third. Defensively Peralta has above average hands and arm but below average range for a SS. This toolset SCREAMS 3B. Not only would his defense improve with a move to third but his offensive numbers would increase do to a lessened demand of his body in the field. Next is Rudy to SS. If his dazzling performance at 2B throughout the playoffs isn't enough to invoke comparisons to Omar Vizquel, maybe the fact that they share a home country in Venezuela, a number in 13, and a first team in Seattle. Cabrera has the potential to be an elite defensive SS and one that has the ability to change games. Barfield would then get his spot back at 2B. His defense is good at 2B and with an improved approach should too become a more productive hitter. Finally Blake would become Gutz' platoon partner in relief of Nixon and the teams defense, speed and versatility are greatly increased. The rotation will likely remain the same with Byrd the only exception as he is likely to be grant fee agency. This leaves CC, Fausto and Westbrooke at the top and Lee, Sowers, and Miller fighting for the final two rotation slots. The other off season issue is the pen. With Peralta established at 3b this would leave room for Marte to be traded for another backend arm. The additions of Lewis, Raffy left have solidified the middle innings but the Tribe could still use another closer type pitcher to aid Raffy right and JoBlow. I do not expect to see the Indians to make any outside moves but look for some subtle changes from within similar to the ones outlined above. With little work this team will be contending for the World Series again in '08.

Next post: My World Series preview and a look at college football before the huge BC/VT game...