The Cleveland Indians’ offseason has the team buzzing. After all the team filled its biggest need by signing closer Kerry Wood, who has the potential to be better than any closer the Tribe has had in the past decade. On top of that, the Indians got a solid setup man in Joe Smith, a utility infielder in Mark DeRosa, and are expecting the return of healthy sluggers Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez. The Indians also boast one of the most talented AA and AAA classes in all of baseball. These are things any baseball expert could tell you.

But as a Tribe fan, expectations return this season after finishing .500 last season. It was just two years ago when the Indians came within a game of reaching the World Series. Last year, with super high hype, the Tribe fell short mainly due to several injuries to key players. Now you would think that with the departure of C.C. Sabathia, the Indians would have regressed but such is not the case. Already having a young core of players has allowed the Indians to pick up where they left off against the Red Sox in ‘07 and no doubt a stronger Central Division is bound to push the Indians to play better; they are a team that seems to play up to its level of competition.

So with that said, Wood is one of the best things to happen to the Indians in a long time. He has a nasty streak that gets more than his fair share of strikeouts. Last season he had 34 saves and 84 strikeouts. He will no doubt solidify a shaky bullpen for the Tribe from last season. As far as the front of the rotation, the Indians can look forward to Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona as well as a returning Jake Westbrook. Sabathia will be missed, and it’ll be even worse seeing him win games with the Yankees but the Indians have the young talent to fill the void.

The offense has always been good but you can expect the team to reach new heights. The Tribe boast a team that features a lot of depth at every position including key up and coming players Kelly Shoppach, Asdrubal Cabrera and Ben Francisco. You can expect Grady Sizemore to do his usual. I expect Hafner and Martinez to return to their run producing ways, however they will have to share the DH spot being as injury prone as they are. The Indians have a lot of young offensive talent to utilize, something most baseball teams would kill to have. Indeed the expectations have returned for the Indians this season, though not as high as the beginning of last season. I think the Tribe players have set high expectations for themselves as well. For now we’ll just cross our fingers that no big injuries happen during spring training.