Biggest Offseason Acquisition: Michael Bourn. Though, flip a coin. It might be Trevor Bauer. Or Terry Francona.

Potential Fatal Flaw: Complete and utter lack of pitching depth.

Ceiling: AL Central champion.

Floor: A pretty high draft pick in 2014.

Overall: The Indians went from being managed by Manny Acta, very easily one of the more inept in-game managers to Terry Francona, two-time World Series champion, despite having to manage the personalities of Curt Schilling, Manny Ramirez, Kevin Millar, Pedro Martinez, and Derek Lowe at the same time. Probably explains the baldness.

Cleveland had the most fascinating offseason. They did what teams like Baltimore and Pittsburgh should have done: signed players. Teams like Baltimore and Pittsburgh can’t argue that players don’t want to sign with them when Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher go out and sign with the Cleveland Indians. Cleveland wasn’t complacent and I think it will really aid them.

At every position where there’s a new starter this year, Cleveland improved. Nick Swisher slides into first base. If you find yourself chuckling “heh…Nick Swisher…that guy’s no good,” his average season from 2009-2012 saw him doing this: .267/.367/.482, 26 HR. Offensively, he’s been worth about 3 wins per season. And he’s consistent. Remarkably so. He’s an upgrade over the possibly deceased Travis Hafner (checking……nope. He’s still alive).

Mark Reynolds is a wholly incompetent fielder, but he hits home runs. He gets to be the DH here.

Cleveland took the declining and injury-prone Shin Soo-Choo and turned him into a 22 year old potential star in Trevor Bauer and a very good defensive outfielder (and very frustrating hitter) in Drew Stubbs. Pair all these guys with incumbents like Carlos Santana, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Jason Kipnis and you’ve got a good offense right? That’s what I thought.

Then, out of nowhere, the Indians sign Michael Bourn to a four-year deal, giving them the American League’s best defensive outfield.

(By the way, if you find yourself wondering why I care so much about outfield defense, remind yourself of my blog when Delmon Young is trying to chase down a ball in the gap at Citizens Bank Park that will inevitably be a leadoff triple.)

That’s the good stuff….

The bad stuff is in the rotation. Cleveland needs one of their starters to take a big step forward if they’re going to contend in the Central. That’s a lot of reliance on guys like Justin Masterson, Brett Myers (who beat his wife in Boston once and is a terrible human being for it), and Ubaldo Jimenez.

And so that’s really it for Cleveland. A lot of words to get to the conclusion that they’ll only go as far as their pitching takes them. If the Indians pitchers, including their bullpen, have a season like the Orioles did last year, Cleveland could win the division. I think they’ll get close.

Predicted Finish: 84-78