Cleveland Indians
 

The Indians came into 2000 as heavy favorites to repeat as division champions.  They were coming off 5 straight years of complete domination in which they finished each season an average of 16 games ahead of their closest competitor.  But a record number of injuries derailed the Tribe and an upstart White Sox team gave them a taste of their own medicine.  This offseason, the news didn't get any better as they lost their best hitter, Manny Ramirez, to free agency.  Still, their are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Indians chances to regain the Central crown.
 

Offense

Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar would each make a terrific leadoff hitter for any team.  The fact that they are on the same team and batting 1-2-3 makes it a virtual certainty that the heart of the order will come up with someone on base to open every game.
This is significant because teams that score first win about two thirds of the time.  Lofton opened last year recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered in the 1999 playoffs.  It wasn't until the second half that he showed that he was fully healthy, hitting .294 and getting on base at a .386 clip.  Behind him will be Vizquel and Alomar, who get on base a collective 38% of the time.  To replace Manny Ramirez and David Justice, whom they inexplicably traded to the rival Yankees midseason, the Indians brought in Juan Gonzales and Ellis Burks.  Both are a shade inferior offensively to the guys they are replacing but are capable of production at a high level.  Both players are more injury-prone than their predecessors so the Indians may need to find some potent back-ups as well.  Strikeout and home run machine Russ Branyan is the likely candidate.  At his current rate, if given 550 ABs this season, Branyan would hit 46 homers and strike out 217 times, almost 30 more than the major league record.  Travis Fryman and Jim Thome provide above average production from the infield corners.  Replacing the departed Sandy Alomar Jr. behind the plate will be Ed Taubensee, who was once traded for Kenny Lofton.  Both players are roughly equivalent offensively when healthy, but Taubensee is much more likely to stay injury-free.  The Indians are taking a big chance with guys with injury histories like Gonzales, Burks and Taubensee.  However, if they can stay healthy, there's a good chance this team could score over 900 runs.  RATING: 75
 

Defense

Without question, the Indians have the best middle infield defense in the majors.  Alomar and Vizquel hold a nightly clinic on how to play great defense.  Lofton is also an excellent fielder.  Fryman is above average as is Burks.  However, Gonzales and Thome are not, and Taubensee, unlike Alomar Jr., is one of the worst in the majors at throwing out runners.  Einar Diaz, Taubensee's back-up, may see more time due to his defense.  RATING: 65
 

Starting Pitching

The Indians signed Chuck Finley before last season because they were hoping he could continue his dominance of the Yanks (3-1, 1.51 ERA over the last 3 years) in the playoffs.  He never got that chance.  At 38, he's already showing signs of age, posting his lowest strikeout rate in 6 years.  Bartolo Colon is just one injury-free season away from being the second best starter in the AL.  Dave Burba has quietly been the Indians most consistent performer for the past 3 years.  The number 4 and 5 spots in the rotation can be filled by a number of candidates including Charles Nagy, Jaret Wright and Steve Karsay.  Nagy has to be admired for his determination, as he is pitching with no cartilage in his elbow due to a number of injuries and surgeries he's had there.  However, his long term outlook isn't good.  Wright is likely to begin the season on the shelf as he is still recovering from shoulder surgery.  Karsay, who has a great arm, pitched primarily out of the bullpen for the past few years, even serving as the team's closer for the first half in 2000.  With the injuries to Nagy and Wright, he'll get an opportunity to start.  Another possibility is young CC Sabathia, a power lefty who has dominated hitters at every level he's played in the minors.  Still just 20 years old, he will probably start the year in either AA or AAA, but it would not be at all surprising to see him in the rotation by the end of the year.  Steve Woodard was one of the unluckiest pitchers in the majors last year, as he faced more of the opposition's aces than anyone.  Even so, he received 5.55 runs of support, more than enough to post a winning record had he pitched well.  If Finley can stave off Father Time for one more year and Bartolo Colon can stay healthy for 33-35 starts, the Tribe's starting pitching questions will sort themselves out.  RATING: 60
 

Bullpen

The Indians have a deep and experienced bullpen led by gritty Bob Wickman.  Just looking at the secondary numbers, Wickman is an awful closer.  His hits allowed and strikeout to walk ratios shouldn't get him out of little league.  However, he has brilliant knack for inducing groundballs and with the defense of Alomar and Vizquel getting the lions share of those opportunities, that's the best way to get outs in Cleveland.  Setting him up are Paul Shuey, Ricardo Rincon, Scott Radinsky and Sean DePaula, all of whom throw hard.  Steve Reed gives the Indians relief corps a different look, releasing the ball at an almost underhand position.  Shuey, Rincon, Radinsky and Reed each have closing experience.  Cleveland's pen ranks amongst the deepest in the majors.  RATING: 70
 

Management

Charlie Manuel had a tough year last year.  He was ejected from their Opening Day game almost as soon as it started and it didn't get much better.  The Tribe went through more than 30 pitchers last year yet they still managed to win 90 games and finish just one game out of the playoffs.  He doesn't have Ramirez in his line-up this year, but Burks and Gonzales aren't exactly stiffs as long as they can hold up.  Given that the Indians went through the wringer and still nearly came up with a playoff berth... well, there's little evidence that Manuel is a bad manager.  However, it'd be nice to see what he can do with a healthy team before giving him the stamp of good manager.  GM John Hart has both a reputation as a brilliant GM and a goober.  When he started signing young players to long term contracts before when they became arbitration eligible, he introduced the way all successful teams would do business in the future.  However, his trading skills have left a lot to be desired.  For several years, the Indians were one 'ace' type starter - be it a Randy Johnson or a Curt Schilling - from becoming a dynasty.   Had he made any one of those rumored trades, we'd probably be talking about the historic greatness of the recent Indian's teams rather than those of the Yankees.  When he has made a deal, he's often come up on the short end of the stick, in some cases by a large margin.  While Ricardo Rincon is a solid lefty reliever, he is no where close to as valuable as Brian Giles would have been as an offensive force.  And while Dave Burba has been solid in the rotation, there's a good chance that Sean Casey will be the best hitting first basemen in the NL not playing the majority of his games in Colorado.  History indicates that if the Tribe needs to make a deadline deal for their playoff push, that there's as good a chance that Hart either won't make the deal or will get taken in a deal as there is that he'll help the team significantly.  RATING: 55
 

Conclusion

The Indians have the talent to win the World Series.  They have two major obstacles in their way: 1) the Chicago White Sox and, 2) injuries.  If they can avoid the latter to a great extent, the former won't be as daunting.