Indians Spring 2018 Recap, Player Evaluations, and Predictions

hey, Indians fans! Happy Opening Day Eve! well, we made it through another offseason and spring training! after a 169-day waiting period, the Tribe will begin the 2018 campaign and embark on their journey toward a championship in just a mere 27 hours! who's ready?👏👊

in the meantime, what do you say to a recap of the Tribe's spring? i've divided this blog into several sections including a quick Cactus League overview, a summary of our offseason free agent signings, and of course, my player evaluations. you'll also find a couple Tribe predictions that i made here, as well as predictions for the American League Championship Series, National League Championship Series, and World Series matchups. in addition, i incorporated my final thoughts and some miscellaneous game talk at the end, too. so scroll through everything and let me know what ya think!😉

real fast though, let me first welcome the new visitors who i noticed checked out my blog during the offseason. if you are from Cambodia, New Zealand, and/or Kuwait, thank you very much for stopping by!👋 i'm so grateful and honored that you found All Things Brantley, All Things Tribe and i hope you continue to read my posts during the 2018 baseball season! feel free to leave comments and have your say about any of the topics that interest you.💭💻

Brantley To Open Indians' 2018 Season on 10-Day DL

today, on March 25, Terry Francona told reporters that Michael Brantley will open the Cleveland Indians' 2018 season on the 10-Day DL. Michael is currently playing in the team's Cactus League game versus the Cincinnati Reds right now, so the club can make his DL stint retroactive to tomorrow, March 26 (if he sits out the final two spring games). in doing that, Michael would only need to spend seven days on the disabled list during the regular season and would be eligible for activation in time for the Tribe's Home Opener versus the Kansas City Royals on April 6. should that scenario play out, Michael would miss just the first six games/two road series between March 29 and April 4. (in my opinion, this is a realistic possibility.👍)

photo courtesy of @Indians on twitter

the skipper made it clear that Michael has NOT

Indians Spring 2017 Recap, Player Evaluations, and Predictions

hello there, Indians fans! how happy are you that Cactus League play is finally over? i know a lot of us have been very anxious for the 2017 season to get underway ever since things did not end how we wanted them to on the night of November 2, 2016. and now, after a shortened offseason and a longer spring training, we are just TWO DAYS away from meaningful game action and Indians Opening Day! this may arguably be the toughest weekend of the year for Tribe fans. so while everyone's waiting, let me present a recap of the Tribe's spring, including a review of player performances, as well as some predictions about how the reigning American League Champions will do this season!

before i start though, i want to acknowledge all the new readers who discovered my blog over the winter. so here is a special welcome to the viewers in the following countries: Netherlands, Indonesia, Brazil, India, Croatia, Singapore, Finland, Georgia, Portugal, Venezuela, and Turkmenistan. many thanks to each one of you for reading, and i hope you enjoy the blogs i post this year! and if i left you out, let me know you were here by telling me where you're from in a comment below!


Spring Training 2017 Overview

Indians Cactus League games took place from February 25 - March 31, consisting of three split-squad days and just two

Tribe Spring Recap and 2016 Predictions, Thoughts, & Player Evaluations

real quick before i start: since i've begun posting excerpts of my blogs on the Baseball Bloggers Alliance website this year, i've noticed that i'm getting views from countries that i've never seen in my viewer audience before. maybe some came here from the BBA site or maybe that was just coincidence, but i am very happy to see my blog getting newfound circulation in Norway, Mexico, Slovakia, China, Hong Kong, Morocco, Ireland, Trinidad & Tobago, Syria, Spain, Australia, Japan, Israel, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, and Luxembourg. to all those first-timers, hi! i see you all and feel quite honored to have you here! thanks so much for checking out my blog!


hey there, Tribe fans! Happy day before Indians Opening Day! baseball is just about back and that means it's time for me to recap the Tribe's spring and give my thoughts about the roster and the team's chances in 2016. so here we go!


while spring training is an important part of a baseball players' preparation, as tedious as it may be, the outcomes of the games don't always mean a whole lot. this year, in 34 games, including the two exhibition contests in Texas on April 1 and 2, the Tribe's spring record was 18-12-4, 3rd best in the Cactus League. while that looks pretty good, it could have been even better. in the early spring games, there were many times when the Tribe had the lead and then relief pitchers who weren't going to make the team--either spring training invites or minor leaguers--came into the game and then blew it. those are losses you can't be too upset about. and, like always in spring training, there were also several games that

Brantley To Open Indians' 2016 Season On 15-Day DL

he tried to avoid it, but unfortunately it could not be avoided. today, on April 3, the Cleveland Indians announced that Michael Brantley was placed on the 15-day DL as he continues to recover from offseason right shoulder surgery. we've all known this was going to happen for some time, but the roster transaction did not become official until now. the good news about his DL stint is it's retroactive to March 25. that means, if Michael was ready, he could be activated as early as April 9 and would only miss the first week--just 4 games--of April, as opposed to missing the first two weeks or more of the season. while that once seemed like a real possibility, it now doesn't appear as though he will be back that fast.

note: i am presently in the middle of writing up Michael's daily health updates and the results of his spring/rehab games, but this is something that i felt needed to be posted about separately.

originally expected to miss April and part of May after his shoulder surgery on November 9, Michael attacked his rehab and did everything he could to be back on the field as soon as possible. he spent most of his offseason rehabbing in Cleveland, Ohio, then went out to Goodyear on February 1 to carry on with his rehab there. he started swinging a bat well before the initial projection date of March 9, beginning with hitting off a tee, then some soft toss, then progressing to indoor batting practice in the cage, and lastly graduating to

Tribe Spring Recap and 2015 Predictions, Thoughts, & Player Evaluations

Happy day before Indians Opening Night! and/or Happy Easter if you celebrate it.

now that my Brantley spring #s and season expectations blog is done, it's time for me to discuss the Indians spring as a whole and how i think things will shape up for the team in 2015.

last year the Indians finished with the best record in spring, and it didn't amount to anything in the regular season. this spring, it was quite the opposite. in 33 games, the team's spring record was 14-18-1, but i have my theories about that. honestly, it seemed like many of the opposing teams we played were

Brantley's Spring Training 2015 #s and My Expectations

happy days are here again--it's baseball season!

i never really had much of an offseason this year because every time i turned around, Michael made it onto another list or was announced as a finalist for some prestigious baseball award. so i continually had to write new blogs from October to December, and even a few in January. not that i'm complaining. but i kept myself very busy with that, plus a new project i'm working on. stay tuned ;D

going into 2015, a big question on everyone's mind is what

Brantley Ranked 43rd in Baseball Tonight's Top 100 Players

as promised, ESPN's Baseball Tonight unveiled their Top 100 Players going into 2015 on March 30 and 31. the players ranked 100-51 were revealed on the afternoon of March 30 online, while the players ranked 50-26 were revealed online in the afternoon today on March 31. and later tonight, an ESPN2 special, airing at 8 pm EST, will be announcing the Top 25 players.

unfortunately, in what came as a complete shock to me, i did not have to wait for the 8 o'clock show to find out where Michael placed on the list because

Brantley's On the Cover of Sports Illustrated!

what does finishing 3rd in the 2014 American League Most Valuable Player voting get you? your very first cover of SI! yes, that's right. today, on March 24, Michael Brantley made his debut on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine! he shares the honor with 2014 American League Cy Young Award winner and teammate, Corey Kluber. they are both featured in an SI MLB Preview discussing why the Cleveland Indians could win the World Series in 2015. how exciting! here is the picture:

Brantley Ranked 1st in Baseball Tonight's Top 10 Left Fielders

today, on March 23, ESPN's Baseball Tonight revealed their Top 10 left fielders going into 2015. not normally one to care much about ESPN rankings, i figured i would post this on my blog anyways because it's great for Michael.

a panel of MLB writers, analysts, and contributors were put together by ESPN to rank the Top 100 MLB players heading into 2015. a list of more than 300 players was provided to over 60 ESPN experts, who were polled in February and March. that list was narrowed down to the Top 100 based on how well the experts felt the players would perform, on a scale of 0 to 10, in 2015. those results will be announced on March 30 and 31 on a special edition of Baseball Tonight at 8 pm EST on ESPN2. i am very interested in seeing where Michael ranks on that list.

until then however, Baseball Tonight is revealing their Top 10 lists of each position around the diamond. today they kicked it off with the Top 10 left, center, and right fielders, but i am only going to cover the Top 10 left fielders here.

Brantley's Offseason Regimen & 2015 Preparations

the first spring training game is tomorrow--finally! but instead of waiting until spring is over to write a blog, i'm doing something different this year. i thought it'd be a good idea to write a blog about how Michael's offseason went, including what he did, things he worked on, and how he spent his free time, before he and the team get back to the grind.

so how exactly does an All Star/Silver Slugger/MVP Finalist prepare himself in hopes of having an even better season?