Travis Hafner

The Cleveland Indians can’t possibly be much worse than they have been each of the last two two seasons. After going 65-97 in 2009, Cleveland improved slightly last season winning 69 games. They once again finished in fourth place in the AL Central, but could be looking at a last place finish in 2011.

Ever since Travis Hafner's power was sapped after the 2007 season, his contract has become more and more of a burden for the Cleveland Indians. $13 million for the 2004-2007 Hafner, who averaged 32 HR with a .410 OBP, a 156 OPS+, and a 4.5 WAR, isn't bad. $13 million for the 2008-2010 Hafner, who averaged only 11 HR with a .353 OBP, a 114 OPS+, and a 1.0 WAR, is horrible. The Indians cannot begin to be able to pay Hafner's salary for his current level of production.

The Designated Hitter—home of the offensively talented and the defensively challenged players. By not having to play the field many players have been able to prolong, or even make, a career through offensive contributions alone. 

As sportswriter Bill Simmons would put it, the Indians are in life or death territory, as in whenever an Indians fan dies, you count back to see if they got to be alive during the last World Series win. Since that last win came in 1948, there are far too many Indians fans dying before they get a chance to see their team on top.

With that in mind, the Cleveland Indians need to be doing everything possible to win the World Series. Rebuilding is a necessary part of this, but the current Indians roster is littered with players that aren't going to help the Indians get back on top.

In the midst of a clearly dismal season for the Cleveland Indians, a complete overhaul of the organization is well underway.

After trading key players like CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, and Victor Martinez last season, the Indians entered the 2010 season with a sense of optimism and many new faces filling out the roster. Those good feelings from opening day seem like years ago for many fans who have watched the Tribe fall to a disappointing 21-36 on the year.

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Tribe fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the Indians each week throughout the season.

This week, we devise strategies for defeating Minnesota and Oakland, discuss the best and worst stadiums in the American League, and just this once, we cut Mark Shapiro a break.

I would like to thank this week's participants Dale Thomas, Scott Miles, and Jon Sladek for their contributions. This discussion is open to all, so please feel free to comment below and pitch in your thoughts on the questions we're addressing this week.

36 hours into Manny Acta’s first spring training as manager of the Indians, and he’s already nestled himself a nice, warm place in the back corner of Cleveland’s media doghouse.

That didn’t take long, did it?

On one of the youngest teams in the majors with question marks for most of the team, Acta has curiously already ended all speculation and named Russell Branyan the starting first basemen.

“He’ll get a majority of the time at first base,” said Acta. “We didn’t sign him to be a backup guy.”

The Cleveland Indians may be rebuilding again, but it's hard not to be optimistic when CHONE predicts the team to win at least 81 games and finish second in the division.

Let's take a closer look at those projections, using WAR—Wins Above Replacement.