I've been getting ready for the 2012 fantasy baseball season the past two weeks; and of course the first and most detailed team that I am projecting will be the Cleveland Indians. Last year I projected some players almost perfectly (Hafner, LaPorta, Santana, Brantley, both Perez's) and missed big on others (had Choo penciled in for 22 bombs and Asdrubal for 7. 450 plate appearances by Grady and missed Fausto's ERA by over a run.) Here are my 2012 projections that we could all be laughing at eight months time....

A few notes:

• I have Hannahan & Chiz sharing time at around a 65/35 split. I simply think that Hannahan's defense is too valuable to not being playing on a semi-regular basis. I also like Hannahan's approach at the plate. I think he's a solid player.
  
• I tried to go conservative but I do think this "could" be a bounce back season six years in the making for Travis Hafner. If he plays the way he has the previous five seasons I seriously doubt his option will be picked up in 2013 (see Grady Sizemore from last year.) If "Pronk" does fail to deliver a decent season this year - he could be done in the majors. Vladimir Guerrero and Johnny Damon - two probable future Hall of Famers - and to a lesser extent Chris Gimenez Raul Ibanez and Hideki Matsui, currently can't find work and they have a better track record than Pronk. The market for a DH isn't what it was even just a few years ago - more teams are using it as a revolting door to give guys a day off, using it as a platoon, ect. Travis Hafner dosen't peg me as the type of guy to play for the money; and I don't think that he hasn't been giving 100% the past five years, but I have to imagine the thought of this possibly being his last year in the majors - or at least last year as a starter (I guess he could find a Jim Thome role somewhere) isn't in the back of his mind somewhere.
  
• Speaking of Pronk, I have him and Grady penciled in for one DL stint a piece, because frankly it seems silly not to predict that.
• I have "Fausto Carmona" coming back sometime around the all-star break. He was the hardest to predict. I also put my rose colored glasses on and am imagining that this entire false identity thing being lifted from his shoulders might make him a bit more relaxed and maybe we'll see more of the "good" Fausto than the "bad."
• No projections on guys that I think will have less than 150 AB or 25 IP. Too small of a sample to really make a prediction. Remember David Huff was actually Cliff Lee for about 25 innings last year and Orlando Cabrera was a .300 hitting RBI machine for a few weeks.

Onto the Predictions...

Starters:

Asdrubal Cabrera

POS: SS

H/AB: 170/592

R: 92

2B: 35

HR: 17

RBI: 84

BB: 48

SB: 18

BA: .287

OBP: .344

SLG: .453

OPS: .797

Carlos Santana

POS: C, 1B

H/AB: 147/565

R: 87

2B: 37

HR: 31

RBI: 97

BB: 103

SB: 4

BA: .260

OBP: .374

SLG: .497

OPS: .871

Shin-Soo Choo

POS: RF

H/AB:165/572

R: 83

2B: 34

HR: 20

RBI: 86

BB: 78

SB: 22

BA: .288

OBP: .374

SLG: .472

OPS: .846

Jason Kipnis

POS: 2B

H/AB:142/512

R: 78

2B: 32

HR: 18

RBI: 72

BB: 47

SB: 10

BA: .277

OBP: .341

SLG: .465

OPS: ..806

Michael Brantley

POS: LF, CF

H/AB:137/503

R: 70

2B: 25

HR: 8

RBI: 58

BB: 41

SB: 18

BA: .272

OBP: .333

SLG: .395

OPS: .728

Casey Kotchman:

POS: 1B

H/AB: 131/472

R: 50

2B: 28

HR: 9

RBI: 53

BB: 51

SB: 1

BA: .278

OBP: .352

SLG: .407

OPS: .759

Lonnie Chisenhall

POS: 3B

H/AB: 117/439

R: 58

2B: 28

HR: 14

RBI: 62

BB: 31

SB: 3

BA: .267

OBP: .318

SLG: .435

OPS: .753

Grady Sizemore

POS: CF, DH

H/AB: 104/437

R: 63

2B: 32

HR: 21

RBI: 61

BB: 38

SB: 4

BA: .237

OBP: .305

SLG: .459

OPS: .765

Travis Hafner

POS: DH

H/AB:116/412

R: 49

2B: 22

HR: 16

RBI: 62

BB: 50

SB: 0

BA: .281

OBP: .365

SLG: .452

OPS: .816

Bench:

Jack Hannahan, 3B/1B: 295 AB, 76 H, 37 R, 6 HR, 37 RBI, .258/.336/.389/.726

Jason Donald, Util: 237 AB, 68 H, 32 R, 2 HR, 24 RBI, .287/.357/.388/.745

Shelly Duncan, 1B/LF: 225 AB, 60 H, 29 R, 12 HR, 38 RBI, .267/.329/.480/.809

Lou Marson, C: 212 AB, 53 H, 25 R, 2 HR, 21 RBI, .250/.318/.344/.662

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Rotation:

Ubaldo Jimenez

IP: 208

W/L: 15-11

ER: 75

SO/BB: 192-84

HR: 14

OAV: .237

ERA: 3.61

WHIP:1.28

Justin Masterson

IP: 204

W/L: 14-10

ER: 76

SO/BB: 162-68

HR: 12

OAV: .258

ERA: 3.73

WHIP:1.31

Josh Tomlin

IP: 184

W/L: 11-9

ER: 82

SO/BB: 101/31

HR: 24

OAV: .254

ERA: 4.44

WHIP: 1.21

Derek Lowe

IP: 192

W/L: 10-12

ER: 87

SO/BB: 131-67

HR: 16

OAV: .278

ERA: 4.52

WHIP: 1.41

Kevin Slowey

IP: 131

W/L: 6-7

ER: 60

SO/BB: 108-28

HR: 20

OAV: .282

ERA: 4.58

WHIP: 1.37

Fausto Carmona:

IP: 107

W/L: 8-5

ER: 44

SO/BB: 60-35

HR: 11

OAV: .267

ERA: 4.12

WHIP: 1.34

Bullpen Mafia:

Chris Perez, CL: 65 IP, 38 SV, 49-27 K/BB, .212 OBA, 1.16 WHIP, 3.47 ERA

Rafael Perez, LHS: 63 IP, 0 SV, 36-21 K/BB, .258 OBA, 1.28 WHIP, 3.51 ERA

Tony Sipp, LSU: 61 IP, 2 SV, 61-30 K/BB, .207 OBA, 1.21 WHIP, 3.44 ERA

Vinnie Pestano, RSU: 61 IP, 6 SV, 78-26 K/BB, .195 OBA, 1.11 WHIP, 2.96 ERA

Joe Smith, RHS: 60 IP, 0 SV, 48-23 K/BB, .212 OBA, 1.23 WHIP, 3.18 ERA

Dan Wheeler, Long: 58 IP, 0 SV, 48-14 K/BB, .232 OBA, 1.14 WHIP, 3.81 ERA

Robinson Tejada, Mop: 52 IP, 0 SV, 45-34 K/BB, .254 OBA, 1.33 WHIP, 3.95 ERA

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AL Central Standings:

1. Cleveland Indians (89-73)

2. Detroit Tigers (88-74)

3. Chicago White Sox (80-82)

4. Kansas City Royals (78-84)

5. Minnesota Twins (71-91)

Cleveland Indians Team MVP:

1. Carlos Santana

2. Ubaldo Jimenez

3. Shin-Soo Choo

4. Justin Masterson

5. Asdrubal Cabrera

Opening Day Lineup:

Asdrubal, Kipnis, Choo, Santana, Pronk, Grady, Kotchman, Chisenhall, Brantley