Cleveland Indians vs. Houston Astros series preview

The first road trip of the year is to Houston's Minute Maid Park to face the Astros for three games over four days.

• Monday: 7:00 ET (Kluber vs. Kuechel) ESPN
• Wednesday: 8:10 ET (Carrasco vs. Feldman)
• Thursday: 8:10 ET (Bauer vs. Wojciechowski)

The Tribe then returns home for the home opener against the Tigers. The first homestand concludes with two games against the White Sox next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Division Watch: Twins at Tigers, White Sox at Royals.

Team in a Box

The Indians took five of seven from the Astros in 2014, including three of four in Houston in mid-September.

There are signs that the doldrums in Houston are dissipating. They finally broke a three-year streak of 100+ losses, but still haven't finished with a winning record since 2006. Jose Altuve is an All-Star and George Springer is another exciting young player. The farm system is deep and almost ready to fill the roster.

Projected Roster

There are some really tough outs in this lineup with Altuve, Springer and Carter, who had a fantastic 2014. Gattis was a smart pickup, but the rest of the lineup is still unproven. LGFT Valbuena takes over at third base until one of the prospects is ready. Lowrie also looks to be a stop gap until uber-prospect Carlos Correa is called up. Both Altuve and Marisnick had great slash lines against us last year, but they were the only ones.

Projected Staff

# Stats with Oklahoma City RedHawks (AAA)

This has the start of a pretty good young rotation. Keuchel is the ace had a fine 2014, luckily, the Tribe missed him in both series. He is a lefty, and could neutralize the Tribe hitters. Feldman has two more years on a team friendly deal. He was really good in his start against Cleveland last year, only one run in eight innings in a no-decision. Wojciechowski is the surprise name here, as both Brad Peacock and Brett Oberholtzer open the year on the DL. He will be making his major league debut on Thursday. He is MLB's #23 prospect for the Astros. It is shame we will miss Fausto this series.

Gregerson gives them a solid closer to fortify the back end of a bullpen, which also includes a new face in Neshek. LGFT Sipp had a really good 2014 as well. I would recommend that the Tribe get ahead early because scoring on the top four guys might prove to be problematic.

On the Shelf

• RP Josh Fields [15 day DL], possible April return
• SP Brett Oberholtzer [15 day DL], possible April return
• SP Brad Peacock [15 day DL], possible April return

Almanac

*Does not include 2015 stats

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Prediction: The Indians take two of three.

Keuchel gives us trouble due to being left handed, but I think Kluber can outduel him. Carrasco should be able to beat Feldman, though he did not look good in his final tune-up. The wild card is the rookie on Thursday. Until the Indians show this isn't a problem anymore, I feel nervous about that game.