Indians Were Just Average Despite Few Injuries and Disappointment

New Indians general manger Mike Chernoff might be the man to build the Indians' first World Series championship team since 1948.

Who knows?

I just wonder if Chernoff, who has been the assistant GM to new president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti the last five years, has himself fooled that the Indians as now constituted are good enough to be serious contenders.

We're hearing some "what ifs?" about the Indians' season, which they finished at 81-80, thanks to a mini-surge down the stretch. The prevailing sentiment within the Cleveland organization seems to be that if only a couple more things had gone the Indians' way a little sooner, they might still be playing now; a worthy playoff team.

Chernoff, based on his statements about the team since his promotion was announced on Tuesday, is evidently a driving force behind that thinking, along with, probably, Antonetti.

One glimpse into Chernoff's generous outlook is his talk that if he could change something about the past campaign, it would be that catcher Yan Gomes hadn't suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss 37 early-season games.

To me, if that's the biggest thing that went wrong for the Indians, they were indeed a very fortunate team.

Gomes is a solid catcher, probably around middle-of-the-pack in the big leagues when all aspects of the position are taken into account, and that's not bad.

Most other teams, though, had bigger obstacles to overcome than did the Indians. That includes virtually all of the playoff teams.

It's difficult to find any team in recent Indians history that had fewer injury problems than did this year's Tribe.

Yes, outfielder Michael Brantley missed 24 games and second baseman Jason Kipnis was sidelined for 20, but along with Gomes, that's about it for the key position players. Check, and see that many star players around baseball this season missed many, many more games than did Brantley and Kipnis.

(If you want to add the expected injury problems of the departed Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher, go ahead, but both are considered past their primes as productive players)

The four starting pitchers with the dynamic stuff -- Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar and Trevor Bauer -- missed just a handful of turns. The nucleus of the bullpen stayed remarkably fit.

Various outlets that track such matters show that the Indians had fewer games missed than most any team in baseball.

Consider, too, whether there were any Indians who performed much below expectations, given recent past performances. Not really. Things could have been much worse for the Indians.

Some "what ifs" the Indians' bosses could ask themselves:

* "What if we had some legitimate pure right-handed hitting, especially a righty slugger who would command the respect of opposing pitchers? Wouldn't a better-balanced lineup help our pure left-handed hitters such as Brantley and Kipnis and make it tougher for opposing managers to utilize pitcher-batter matchups in the late innings?" .... The Indians need to rely a little less on "sabermetrics" and "analytics" and admit that something like right-handed hitting does matter.

* "What if Brantley, Kipnis and emerging star shortstop Francisco Lindor all hit around .280 or so?" .... Those would still be pretty good seasons. Too much depends on their excellence.

* "What if Carlos Santana remains as he's always been, not a difference-making run producer despite hitting in the middle of the order?" .... After this much time, there's no reason to believe he will ever consistently drive in the big runs.

* "What if no significant offensive help arrives from the minor leagues next season?" .... Not all promising players become impact players in the big leagues, and even if one or more of the Indians' top prospects makes it big, none may be ready in 2016.

A front office can't be paranoid, but throughout baseball history, accomplished or promising pitching staffs have unexpectedly faltered. It's not guaranteed that Cleveland's pitching will flourish for years, so take advantage of having it now, and find a way to bolster the pitchers' run support with an improved lineup. The defense was much improved for the Indians this season. Now give the pitchers more runs to work with.

* "What if what often happens to starting pitching staffs happens to this one? What if Kluber regresses, or Carrasco, Salazar or Bauer don't continue to develop, or what if one or more hurts his arm? And what if Cody Anderson will never be as good again as in his rather brief rookie trial, and what if Josh Tomlin's comeback was a mirage?" .... The Indians, for now, have some quality depth in their starting pitching, it seems, but they may have to risk diminishing it somewhat by making a trade for a big-time hitter.

* "What if the bullpen falters, and what if it can't continue to be bolstered by the surprise performance of relievers such as Jeff Manship and Ryan Webb?" It's been proven that quality relief pitching comes and goes.

Not all and hopefully not many of the what-ifs will go wrong for the Indians next season. Tribe fans must hope, though, that the team's decision-makers realize that most things went right for the Indians in 2015, and still, the team was no better than average. The bosses must give in and understand they need some meaningful help -- even if only hitting -- from outside the organization.