Reason for optimism: Improvement to the offense led by three new faces should be just what's needed to complement the league's best rotation.
Reason for pessimism: Above average production from the three new additions would have been a sure thing ... in 2011.
Cleveland's long-suffering fans are used to season summaries such as this one from 2015: Fewer wins than the prior season, a third-place finish and a defense that once again squandered the work of a dominant rotation. In other words, a 2014 redux, right? Not beneath the surface.
Let's start with the record: The Indians might have won four fewer games in 2015, but they improved their run differential by 13 runs. As often cited in these previews, that tells only the story of actual runs scored and runs allowed. In terms of the component performance that determines the expected output of runs scored and allowed, the Indians were the third-unluckiest team in the majors and the unluckiest team in terms of runs allowed.