It never fails. Every season teams emerge from the darkness and depths of failure. An offseason spent throwing money at free agents pays off, a rookie pitcher surprises, or a young squad suddenly matures.
This season, there are a handful of teams capable of making some noise after being relatively quiet the past few years. They might not win the World Series or make the playoffs, but they’ll improve. We’ll call them the sleepers, and here’s three about to wake up:
Cleveland – A painful three-year makeover, necessitated by finances, is complete for the Indians, who would have been in the playoff chase late last year if not for the bullpen blowing 28 saves.
Arizona – The Big Unit is gone, and hopefully so too are the memories of a 111-loss season. The D-backs’ overhaul is centered around the middle of their order with Luis Gonzalez followed by Troy Glaus and Shawn Green, two more free agent newcomers who give Arizona a power trio of pop.
Seattle Mariners – First-year manager Mike Hargrove thinks his club, which added Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson in the offseason to beef up a lineup that ranked last in the AL with 136 homers and 698 runs, can hang in the AL West.
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“If we pitch well and score the runs that we should score, I think we have a very good chance of contending,” Hargrove said.
Jamie Moyer needs to recapture some of his 2003 magic, when he went 21-7.
One thing the Ms can count on is Ichiro Suzuki. The speedy leadoff man set a major league record with 262 hits last season. He’s poised to become the first big leaguer to get 200 hits in each of his first five seasons. And who knows, maybe he’ll make a run at .400, too.
AP-ES-03-31-05 1306EST
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