Cleveland IndiansIf not for the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves would surely be looked at as historic underachievers. Both teams have made a routine of making the postseason and between them, they have one championship, the only one in which they faced each other. Last year, the Indians looked like it might be their turn to win it all. They had an offense that scored over a thousand runs - only the third time that had ever happened in MLB history - and all they needed was one more top starting pitcher to get them deep into the playoffs. GM John Hart could have had then Angels ace Chuck Finley for a few mid-ranked prospects. He decided not to make the trade and the Indians were eliminated from the playoffs by the Red Sox. This offseason the Tribe signed Finley as a free agent, but did John Hart make that move too late?
The Indians offense was historically good last year. Centerfielder Kenny Lofton is probably the premier leadoff man in the game. His balance of on base and speed is unparalleled and he throws in a dash of power. At 33, he has a couple more years of this level of productivity and might make himself into a candidate for the Hall of Fame. A certain Hall of Famer, Roberto Alomar, is a phenomenal offensive second baseman. Like Lofton he has both speed and on base, but he definitely adds power to the mix. Behind them is a very good group of sluggers, each capable of hitting 40 homers and getting on base at a .400+ clip: Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome and David Justice. Travis Fryman and Sandy Alomar Jr follow and while they are not the offensive titans that the previous three are, they are both capable hitters. Shortstop Omar Vizquel rounds out the lineup like it began, with speed and on base. If the Tribe can avoid serious injuries, they're capable of matching last year's output. However, that might be tricky. Lofton is coming off shoulder surgery and both Justice and Alomar Jr have long histories of injuries. The Cleveland farm has produced Richie Sexson and Alex Ramirez to fill in the voids should there be a need in the outfield, and while both have above average talent, neither is an adequate replacement for Ramirez, Justice or Lofton. The infield is rather thin with only prospect Enrique Wilson to stopgap any injuries to the middle infield. Uberslugger Russ Branyan might hit 60 homers if promoted, but he might also set a new record for strikeouts in a season and/or a new record for lowest batting average. Einar Diaz, who has fairly average offensive tools, would fill in should Alomar Jr go down behind the plate. If the Tribe can stay healthy, and it's a big if, they'll once again have the best offense in the AL. GRADE: 75
Defense up the middle is not a problem for the Tribe. Vizquel, Lofton and Robby Alomar are considered amongst the best in the game at their positions. Alomar has lost some of his range over the years, but he positions himself well and still manages, along with Vizquel, to turn some phenomenal plays occasionally. Alomar, Jr is a solid receiver and does about average at shutting down the running game, although last year he wasn't good in that respect. Ramirez and Justice are iffy propositions in the field. Both have above average arms but neither gets good reads nor has good range. Fortunately, Lofton plays between them. Fryman ranks near the bottom of the league in range but is very good fielder with the balls he gets to and usually makes strong accurate throws. Thome began his career as a third baseman but has made the transition to first rather well: he was a terrible third baseman and now he's an average first baseman. GRADE: 60
Pundits have been saying for years that the Tribe needed to trade for an ace. Trades for Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson and others have been rumored for years, but always the sticking point has been the prospects. Now they have the lefty Finley, who although a little long in the tooth, is still good for 200 quality innings and a veteran presence in the playoffs. Behind him they have two hard throwing right handers with all the makings of becoming ace starters themselves. Bartolo Colon took a giant step in that direction last year by winning 18 games. But for a guy who hits 97 on the gun with great frequency, he still gives up too many baserunners. Jaret Wright is the same way. When they are on, they can dominate any line-up. But their youth lends itself to inconsistency. Perhaps under the tutelage of Finley, they can realize their enormous potential. Dave Burba was the ace of the Reds staff a couple of years ago and gives the Tribe a 4th quality starter. Everyone seems to forget Charles Nagy when discussing the Tribe starting rotation but all he's done is win 80 games over the past 5 years. The Indians can match up pretty well versus anyone in starting pitching. GRADE: 65
The Indians had a phenomenal bullpen each time they went to the World Series. This year's version has some questions but might end up better than it's predecessors. The closer's job is open and will probably be handled by committee. Paul Shuey and Steve Karsay both throw high octane fastballs and good curve/slider breaking balls. They will probably get the lion share of save opportunities. Behind them are lefty Ricardo Rincon, journeymen Scott Kamieniecki and Steve Reed and the ageless Bobby Witt. Rookie Sean DePaula will see some time also. All of these guy bring hard stuff from a lot of different angles, making it very difficult for hitter to get comfortable. GRADE: 60
The Achilles heel of the Indians might be the very guy who put them together. John Hart has done a fantastic job of developing talent from within, and then signing that talent to long term contracts so he could keep the nucleus together while he built market strength. He understands building a franchise from nothing probably as well as anyone. However, he doesn't appear to be particularly adept at building a championship team. He's reluctant to part with mediocre prospects, even refusing to part with Russ Branyan in exchange for Padre ace Sterling Hitchcock this spring. He's also had a difficult time identifying the truly good prospects when he does trade. He dealt first base phenom Sean Casey for Dave Burba and offensive dynamo Brian Giles for Ricardo Rincon. While he got decent value in return in those deals it's abundantly clear that the Tribe got the short end of the stick. Mike Hargrove was fired after leading the team to 5 straight division titles. So what kind of pressure does that put on new first-time manager Charlie Manuel? Since he hasn't managed before it's difficult to speculate what kind of job he'll do, but there's no doubt he'll be passionate: in two of his first three games at the helm, he was ejected for arguing with the umps. GRADE: 50