Fausto Carmona (RH)

Adam Miller (RH)

Jake Westbrook (RH)

David Huff (LH)

5th spot up for grabs: JD Martin (RH), Scott Lewis (LH), Rafael Perez (LH)

I expect Adam Miller to get healthy and be a starter again for the Indians. Westbrook should be healed completely and back in decent form by 2010.

I know it sounds crazy to move Perez to the rotation but he does have a good minor league background with starting. The Indians might be desperate still for decent starting pitching in 2010 following the losses of Sabathia and Lee in 2008 & after 2009 respectively.

 Bullpen

Yes, Lewis and Perez could flip roles

But more likely:

Closer - Jensen Lewis, Edward Mujica, Jeff Stevens (all RH pitchers)

Setup and others - one of Scott Lewis/Rafael Perez, Tony Sipp (LH), Rafael Betancourt, and two of the three that aren’t closer above.

I expect Mujica to settle down and get a lot better.

Jensen Lewis is already good.

Both Jeff Stevens and Tony Sipp are still in the minors, Sipp mostly due to injury setbacks. Both of these pitchers flash dominant ability in the minor leagues as both are K machines.

Lineup

Shin Soo Choo - RF (LH)

Asdrubal Cabrera - 2B (switch)

Grady Sizemore - CF (LH)

Victor Martinez - C (switch)

Jhonny Peralta - SS (RH)

Matt LaPorta - DH* (RH)

Andy Marte - 3B (RH)

Ryan Garko - 1B (RH)

Michael Brantley - LF (LH)

On LaPorta: I would expect-hope that the Indians start playing him exclusively at his best defensive position soon - 1B. That is where he played in college and, being defensively challenged but with an advanced bat, there is no need to slow his development and ETA by forcing defensive issues.

Laporta and Garko will determine who is playing 1B/DH for the Indians in 2010. I expect Beau Mills to not be far behind them either.

Half of this lineup would be made up of previous blue chip type of prospects. The others were merely top prospects.

I expect Peralta’s power to continue to blossom.

The 9 thru 4th spots, Brantley, Choo, Cabrera, Sizemore, Martinez, will be an on base force to be reckoned with. Michael Brantley will only be about 22 years old but I believe his bat is advanced enough to be in the big leagues by 2010 barring any injury setback.

Michael Brantley is showing Trevor Crowe what he was supposed to be. The best case scenario for the Indians is that Crowe has a great year in AAA this year and can be used in a trade to bring pack a piece.

Brantley as a 20/21 year old in AA this year: 27 SO in 420 at bats. That is insane. Granted, he’s shown no power as of yet and I can’t say I expect him to. But a potential .400 OBP in the 9 hole? I’ll take it.

Grady Sizemore could be a monster hitting in front of Victor  Martinez and not making it a priority to get on base as the leadoff hitter anymore.

I believe by 2010, Asdubal Cabrera could challenge Choo for the 1st spot in the order. Being a switch hitter, it is very valuable to stick him in between Choo & Sizemore.

Garko will have either gotten better, been replaced at 1B by LaPorta, or be off the team as soon as Beau Mills is ready.

The best two of the Indians hitting prospects to come are not in this lineup yet. Nick Weglarz is going to force somebody out of the OF eventually and Carlos Santana may eventually move Victor Martinez to DH or off the team.

Andy Marte - the forgotton written off one. As far as prospects go, there is no name on this list that was rated higher (consensus of many sources) than Marte.  Would I include him in this future lineup if the Indians had another viable decent third baseman? No. I’m just saying what the I think the Indians would do. That’s not what I would do because I would give him a full year of consistent playing time.

But since they don’t have another 3B anywhere near close to the big leagues, Marte stays. And I believe he is going to surprise some people if he gets the aforementioned playing time.

The only 3B prospect close to Cleveland is Wes Hodges, who just finished 2008 in AA. He might have the bat, although I don’t expect him to hit for good power. His glove is bad though. So that makes Hodges not a challenger for 3B well, probably never. If the Indians are not happey with Marte by then they will have to look elsewhere for a replacement.

Hodges should be bundled with Crowe as mentioned above. These are exactly the type of prospects I’d like to see Mark Shapiro package together and trade for a a decent bullpen arm for instance.

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