Besides being a five-tool player, whose swing is one of the purest and least complex, Michael Brantely playing (nearly) everyday is vital because of the constancy he provides and the pressure he takes off his teammates. He rarely gets into lengthy slumps. And rarer still are the times when Brantely makes a mistake. On the field or off.

Joe Noga at cleveland.com tells us why the rest of the team views Brantley in the lineup as so significant