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How do the Cleveland Indians position players compare with the rest of the AL Central?

After wrapping up with the folly that is the bench, we now have covered all of the position players for each AL Central club. So let us now review just how dire the Tribe is when it comes to position players.

Will the Tribe offense celebrate a lot this year?
Will the Tribe offense celebrate a lot this year?
Jason Miller/Getty Images

Heading into this offseason, there was much discussion as to whether or not the front office would tap into their strong rotation and add a bat to increase some offensive output. As spring training arrived, very little in the way of an impact bat was acquired and the Cleveland Indians front office decided to stand pat.

Through the review of the different positions, we can now take a look at all of the projection numbers and see just how bad the situation may or may not be.

A few changes have occurred since each article has been published, but the philosophy hasn't changed. We are now going to list the projected roster for each team and look at the projections as a whole. We will average the wOBA, wRC+ and WAR from Steamers and ZIPS into the table

Cleveland Indians

Player

PA

wOBA

wRC+

WAR

C

Yan Gomes

433

309

95

2.4

1B

Mike Napoli

482

326

106

1.3

2B

Jason Kipnis

615

327

107

2.8

SS

Francisco Lindor

662

315

99

3.8

3B

Juan Uribe

334

307

93

1.6

LF

Michael Brantley

513

349

122

2.6

CF

Rajai Davis

372

300

88

1.2

RF

Lonnie Chisenhall

465

313

98

1.3

DH

Carlos Santana

608

345

119

2.0

C

Roberto Perez

223

282

77

0.9

IF

Jose Ramirez

420

301

89

1.5

OF

Collin Cowgill

205

287

79

0.5

X

Tyler Naquin

256

288

80

0.4

Chicago White Sox

Player

PA

wOBA

wRC+

WAR

C

Alex Avila

315

302

88

1.1

1B

Jose Abreu

630

361

129

2.9

2B

Brett Lawrie

488

314

96

1.5

SS

Jimmy Rollins

443

297

85

1.0

3B

Todd Frazier

627

330

107

3.4

LF

Melky Cabrera

602

322

101

1.0

CF

Austin Jackson

555

307

92

1.5

RF

Adam Eaton

655

328

106

2.5

DH

Avisail Garcia

421

311

94

0.0

C

Dioner Navarro

260

304

90

1.1

IF

Tyler Saladino

312

286

77

1.3

OF

Jerry Sands

208

317

97

0.5

X

J.B. Shuck

242

286

77

-0.1

Detroit Tigers

Player

PA

wOBA

wRC+

WAR

C

James McCann

410

286

77

1.4

1B

Miguel Cabrera

580

388

147

4.1

2B

Ian Kinsler

647

319

99

3.1

SS

Jose Iglesias

461

299

86

1.6

3B

Nick Castellanos

589

323

103

1.1

LF

Justin Upton

625

360

126

3.7

CF

Cameron Maybin

418

306

91

0.8

RF

JD Martinez

615

359

127

3.4

DH

Victor Martinez

515

335

111

0.8

C

Jarrod Saltalamacchia

287

306

91

0.9

IF

Mike Aviles

266

278

72

0.1

OF

Anthony Gose

469

294

83

0.6

X

Andrew Romine

227

266

63

0.1

Kansas City Royals

Player

PA

wOBA

wRC+

WAR

C

Salvador Perez

520

314

96

3.0

1B

Eric Hosmer

646

341

115

2.4

2B

Omar Infante

410

276

70

0.1

SS

Alcides Escobar

646

282

75

1.6

3B

Mike Moustakas

575

324

104

2.7

LF

Alex Gordon

602

338

113

3.5

CF

Lorenzo Cain

567

324

104

3.8

RF

Jarrod Dyson

318

289

79

1.4

DH

Kendrys Morales

576

336

112

1.0

C

Drew Butera

90

251

53

0.0

IF

Christian Colon

343

296

84

0.8

OF

Paulo Orlando

343

278

72

0.1

X

Travis Snider

168

309

95

0.2

Minnesota Twins

Player

PA

wOBA

wRC+

WAR

C

Kurt Suzuki

368

286

77

0.7

1B

Joe Mauer

572

323

103

1.5

2B

Brian Dozier

661

322

103

2.8

SS

Esuardo Escobar

429

306

92

1.4

3B

Trevor Plouffe

559

321

101

1.8

LF

Eddie Rosario

531

302

88

1.1

CF

Byron Buxton

439

309

93

2.1

RF

Miguel Sano

542

359

128

3.1

DH

Byung-ho Park

497

344

117

1.8

C

John Ryan Murphy

281

300

87

1.0

IF

Eduardo Nunez

229

297

85

0.5

OF

Max Kepler

323

305

91

0.5

X

Danny Santana

378

290

80

0.6

Totals

So for a quick recap, let's re-total up each of the WAR from each of the groupings as before with the slightly modified changes due to recent transactions:

CLE

CHW

DET

KC

MIN

IF

11.9

9.9

11.3

9.8

8.2

OF/DH

7.1

5.0

8.7

9.7

8.1

Bench

3.3

2.8

1.7

1.1

2.6

Total

22.3

17.7

21.7

20.6

18.9

As you can see, even with all the teeth gnashing this winter, this group of position players still is projected to be the best in the division. Will that actually happen? Of course there are no guarantees. But if I was to rank the teams, I'd probably give the Tigers a slight edge overall, but that is really dependent on JD Martinez replicating his late blooming. I'd probably ank the Royals and Tribe tied in the second spot, with the Twins next and the White Sox last in place.

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