5 reasons for Indians fans to be thankful

CLEVELAND — It is the season of giving thanks and the Tribe gave its fans plenty of reasons to be thankful this year. Cleveland won its division, captured a pennant and took part in one of the great World Series showdowns in baseball history.

The Indians came up just short in the Fall Classic against the Cubs, but there are a number of reasons for Tribe fans to be hopeful about Cleveland’s chances for creating more October memories in seasons to come. Here are five reasons for fans to be thankful about how the Indians are situated for this offseason and the future:

1. The rotation is talented, affordable and locked up for several years

Cleveland’s five-man staff of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin projects to be paid around $24 million combined for the 2017 campaign. There are six pitchers (Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, David Price, Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez and CC Sabathia) who will earn more individually next season. Kluber is signed through 2019 with club options for ’20 and ’21, Carrasco is signed through ’18 with club options for ’19 and ’20, and Tomlin is signed for ’17 with an ’18 club option. Salazar and Bauer are eligible for arbitration this winter, and are both under control through 2020.

2. Jose Ramirez and Michael Brantley should both be back in 2017

The loss of Brantley for most of last season due to injury could have been a huge blow to the offense. That was until Ramirez stepped up and turned in an eerily Brantley-esque showing. Ramirez hit .312/.363/.462 with 11 homers, 46 doubles, 76 RBIs, 84 runs, 22 steals and a 4.8 WAR (per Fangraphs) in 152 games in ’16. One year earlier, Brantley hit .310/.379/.480 with 15 homers, 45 doubles, 84 RBIs, 68 runs, 15 steals and a 3.7 WAR in 137 …

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