 |
| |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Cleveland Indians
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com There's been no standing pat for the Cleveland Indians. No sireee. The American League Central champs might have been tempted to keep a 91-win team intact. Might have stuck with having one of the better-hitting teams in the league with a better-than-decent pitching staff. But, in a word ... no. New general manager Mark Shapiro, charged with slashing payroll, slashed and burned the old Indians. What's left is a team without its major stars -- and best players -- and with a list of questions that may well nag the Indians throughout the season. Let's start with Roberto Alomar, the Hall of Fame-track second baseman and half of baseball's best double-play combination. He's gone. Along with his .336 average, his 100 RBIs, his .541 slugging percentage and his flawless defense. Gone in a trade to the Mets. Gone, too, is Juan Gonzalez, who wowed Indians fans for a year (.325, 35 homers, 140 RBIs) but who proved too costly to keep. Texas snapped him up. And longtime Indians leadoff man Kenny Lofton, who struggled mightily last season, now will be patrolling center field for the Chicago White Sox. Outfielder Marty Cordova -- gone to Baltimore. Reliever John Rocker -- hello, Texas. In exchange, the Indians have a young prospect, outfielder Alex Escobar, the team's big prize in the trade of Alomar (though Escobar will be hard-pressed to get anywhere near a starting lineup). The Indians have former Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson, considered beyond washed up in many circles. He's scheduled to start in left. The Indians did get former Minnesota outfielder Matt Lawton in the Alomar deal, too, and he will pay more immediate dividends than Escobar. At least Lawton is expected to start. The offense and defense took the big hit in the offseason bloodletting, but luckily for the Indians, they still have the makings of a decent pitching staff. With Rocker gone, Bob Wickman now is the unquestioned closer. He had 32 saves last season. Solid Bartolo Colon and last year's rookie phenom, C.C. Sabathia, are 1-2 in the rotation, with Chuck Finley and former reliever Danys Baez following. The four combined to go 44-27 in 2001. There are health questions with the rotation, as always, it will be interesting to see how Sabathia rebounds from a busy rookie season. Baez is certainly unproven. But the pitching is the key. No longer will the Indians -- who hit .278 (second in the AL), were second in runs and smacked 212 homers (third) -- bash their way past opponents. It's a whole new game in Cleveland. No standing pat now. Up for grabs: Both Ellis Burks and Russ Branyan will get cracks at DH, but the real competition in camp may come in the outfield. Anderson will start in left, but anything close to last year (.202 in 430 at-bats and only 23 extra-base hits) will get him yanked. In center, Milton Bradley takes over for Lofton, not a bad tradeoff defensively. But at the plate, Bradley will have to show a little more moxie. He's a .222 hitter in his brief career and is a 150-strikeout season waiting to happen. Spring chicken: The Indians would like nothing better than to plug Escobar into a starting role in the outfield, given what they gave up for him. They're more likely to take it slowly with what they see as their five-tool star of the future. Escobar strikes out too much, but that's what spring training is all about -- instilling the fundamentals. If someone in the outfield falters, especially if the Indians are in a race, Escobar may have to come of age in a heartbeat.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
