Now and Then

I won't lie, I miss the mid to late 90's cleveland indians very badly. The days of the 3-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to win every game, Albert Belle beating up trick or treaters, skinny Manny, Jim Thome playing 3rd base, prospects that weren't good enough to play for the indians but later were all-stars for other teams (Brian Giles, Jeromy Burnitz, Richie Sexson, Sean Casey, Jeff Kent, Danny Graves). Also missing are the usual 5-7 all-stars each season and the old guys that were always brought in to give some veteran leadership (Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, Denny Martinez, Orel Hershiser, Dwight Gooden, they even tried Cecil Fielder one year).


Then : Now : Advantage

RF : Albert Belle : Franklin Gutierrez : Belle, still trying to find a decent right fielder.

CF : Kenny Lofton : Grady Sizemore : Sizemore, I still love Kenny though.

LF : Manny Ramirez : Ben Francisco : ManRam, this isn't even fair

1B : Jim Thome : Ryan Garko : Thome, I love them farmboys

2B : Carlos Baerga/Robbie Alomar : Asdrubal Cabrera : Baerga/Robbie

SS : Omar Vizquel : Jhonny Peralta : Omar, didn't we almost get Carlos Guillen?

3B: Travis Fryman/Matt Williams : Casey Blake : Fryman/Williams, I miss Casey's beard

C : Sandy Alomar, Jr : Victor Martinez : Victor, close, but Victor's a monster

DH : Paul Sorrento : Travis Hafner : Push, Hafner if this was from 2006

SP : Charlie Nagy : Fausto Carmona : Carmona, when he's on at least

SP : Bartolo Colon : C.C. Sabathia : C.C. I wonder who could eat more?

SP : Chuck Finley : Cliff Lee : Push, can Cliff keep up his outrageous April?

SP : Denny Martinez : Paul Byrd : Martinez, Byrd should use more HGH

SP : Orel Hershsiser : Jake Westbrook : Push, Bulldog went to Bowling Green

SP : Jaret Wright : Jeremy Sowers : Push, they had a decent year then imploded

RP : Jose Mesa : Joe Borowski : Mesa, even if he did blow game 7 in 1997

RP : Mike Jackson : Rafy Betancourt : Rafy, at least last year

RP : Paul Assenmacher : Rafy Perez : Assenmacher, what a pro that guy was

Yes, I know, that wasn't every played that played for the Indians since there last great season of 1998, but they were the main parts. The indians have been struggling to find corner outfielders the last 10 years to live up to ManRam and Joey Belle, JuanGone did work for a year, but people like : Ryan Ludwick, Brady Anderson, Shane Spencer, Karim Garcia, Jason DuBois, Chris Magruder, Alex Ramirez, Marty Cordova, Jason Michaels, Jody Gerut, David Dellucci have not even come close. There's always hope with the Indians, but there will always be some nostalgia reasons that make me miss a decade ago.