A Buckeye October, Part II

A Buckeye October, Part II

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Could this finally be the year of the I-71 World Series? Cincinnati vs. Cleveland in the October Classic? Ken Griffey Jr. vs. Bartolo Colon for all the marbles. Jim Thome facing off against Scott Williamson. Skyline Chili takes on Crooked River Beer. 

Considering neither team even made the playoffs last year, an All-Ohio World Series may seem like a bit of a stretch, but these two rosters definitely have the talent to make a legitimate postseason run. But as any baseball fan knows, talent doesn't necessarily translate into triumph and if the Reds and Indians run into the same problems that hindered them in 2000, it'll be another lethargic fall in Ohio.

In the first part of this two-part series, I took a look at the Cincinnati Reds' chances of reaching the World Series this season. Now I'll head north to check out the revamped Cleveland Indians and their World Series hopes in 2001.


It wasn't a pretty baseball season in Cleveland last year. Overconfident? Maybe. Cocky? Probably. Cursed? Most definitely.

The Indians headed into the 2000 season with a bit of a swagger. After winning five-straight AL Central Division championships, the team with arguably the most dominant offense in baseball added reliable lefthander Chuck Finley to the front of its rotation in the offseason. With Finley's presence, why shouldn't the Tribe have been confident? Since 1995, the regular season had just been a 162-game tune up for the Indians and their fans, merely a chance for a handful of minor leaguers to audition for postseason roster spots and for veterans to work themselves into playoff shape. Obviously the likes of the Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers weren't going to alter that formula in any way, right? 

Well, the Indians finished the 2000 campaign with a 90-72 record, good enough for fourth-best in the American League. But unfortunately, Cleveland finished five games behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central and one game behind the Seattle Mariners in the Wild Card race. Where did it go wrong?

Cleveland was 31-22 vs. the AL East, 25-15 vs. the West and 13-5 vs. National League opponents. But in divisional play, an area Cleveland had dominated for half a decade, the Indians sputtered to a 21-30 record. And considering Chicago and Cleveland were the only two teams in the division above .500, it was disappointing to say the least.

For the most part, injuries hampered this squad throughout 2000. New manager Charlie Manuel used a Major League record 32 different pitchers during the season -- many of them minor leaguers and career journeymen -- while starters Jaret Wright and Charlie Nagy missed most of year with various arm injuries. Then Manny Ramirez went down with a "minor" hamstring injury that ended up keeping him out of more than 40 games and quite possibly kept the Indians out of the playoffs while also prompting Manny's move to Boston in the offseason. Doesn't sound very "minor" to me.

So for the first time since 1994, Cleveland enters a season having failed to make postseason play the previous year. This team had several holes to fill in the offseason, most notably in the rotation and in the cleanup slot. Once again, GM John Hart didn't surprise anyone by ignoring the pitching problems and focusing his attention on offense. He brought in Ellis Burks to play left and DH, elected to not re-sign Sandy Alomar, traded for Ordinary Eddie Taubensee to backup catcher Einar Diaz, and then signed Juan Gonzalez as Manny's replacement. Not bad, but where's the pitching?

Hart believes 20-year-old C.C. Sabathia, a 6'7", 250-pound lefthander, is the kind of front-end pitcher he can use behind Bartolo Colon, who himself could develop into one of baseball's best, for several years to come. He's got a 95-plus MPH fastball and apparently has worked on a couple of complementary offspeed pitches, but is he ready to help out on the big league level now? Then there's Danys Baez, another young pitching prospect that everybody seems high on. But he doesn't look ready for the Big Show yet -- in an intrasquad game on Feb. 27, Baez lasted only one inning, throwing 35 pitches and surrendering five runs on five hits. Not exactly a great sign for a team needing someone to step up on the mound. Perhaps if Jaret Wright is fully healed from his recent shoulder problems, he could fit nicely in that four or five spot in the rotation, but all Indians fans have come to realize Wright is about the last guy on this roster to rely on.

And the bullpen scares me about as much as a naked picture of Bea Arthur would. First off, I'm pretty sure Arthur throws harder than closer Bob Wickman (although I think Wickman would dominate her in a pie-eating contest). Think back to the end of last season. The Indians were running neck-and-neck with Oakland and Seattle for the Wild Card berth and had the Minnesota Twins in town for a four-game series from Sept. 25-28. Wickman blew the series opener by allowing three inherited runners to score in the eighth inning, and Cleveland lost 4-3. Then after the Tribe won the next two games, Wickman gave up the winning run in the tenth inning of the series finale. Two games that should have been slammed shut by the "automatic" closer, but instead both wins slipped through the cracks and the Indians missed the playoffs by one lousy game. Yeah, that's the kind of guy I want at the back end of my bullpen. Give me Steve Karsay again. Give me Mike Jackson or even Bea Arthur. Hell, give me Jose Mesa... . OK, maybe that's a little drastic, but you get my point.

So as always, it looks like the offense will carry this team to wherever it ends up -- which hopefully will be somewhere deep into October. The top of the order is solid again, although Kenny Lofton showed signs of slowing down last season. If he regains even a fraction of his 1999 form, that only makes the rest of the lineup more dangerous. Robbie Alomar still is one of the best three-hole hitters in the Junior Circuit, and Omar Vizquel's ability to move runners along in that #2 slot is key. Plus, with these three manning the middle of the Cleveland defense, look for the Indians, with a helpful hand from third baseman Travis Fryman, to be the best defensive team in baseball again. 

But then three big question marks follow that fabulous leadoff trio, three gray areas that haven't been present in the past. First, can Juan Gonzalez fill Manny Ramirez's shoes in the cleanup slot? Obviously not. There are very few active players who can mash the ball like Ramirez, but Juan's one of the few who, when healthy, can come pretty damn close. Check the numbers:

1996: .314 47 homers 144 RBI
1997: .296 42 homers 131 RBI
1998: .318 45 homers 157 RBI
1999: .326 39 homers 128 RBI

If his cranky back cooperates, at only 31 and with Lofton, Vizquel and Alomar sitting on base in front of him, there's no reason to think Gonzo can't duplicate his MVP stats from the late-1990s. He may not have Cleveland fans asking, "Manny who?" but he could soften the blow a bit.

Then there's Ellis Burks and his angry knees. He's 36 and has only played in 384 games the past three seasons, so what can this senior citizen be counted on for? Well, Burks has been very productive over those last 384 games, hitting .305 with 76 homers and 268 RBI, and because he'll probably spend as much time in left field as he will as the DH, his knees shouldn't be quite as pissed off come September.

So you've got Juan's cranky back and Burks' angry knees, not to mention Lofton's agitated shoulder. What's the third and final major question mark regarding this Cleveland offense? Jim Thome and his hostile swing. (Did you like that? Cranky back, angry knees, agitated shoulder and hostile swing -- that's called personification: giving human qualities to inanimate objects. Guess those years of journalism school actually paid off, huh?) Anyway, once upon a time Thome used to be a .300-30-100 kind of guy who struck out fairly often but also drew 100-plus walks. Now he's a guy who strikes out even more, hits a few more jacks and still takes some walks, but he hasn't hit .300 since 1996. In fact, he hasn't even sniffed .280 in two years. But this year, with Ramirez gone and the average age of the team approaching that of your typical church bingo game, Thome will be asked to make more contact, strike out less and drive in a few more runs. If he can revert to his 1996 form (.311-38-116 with a .450 OB%), the rest of the lineup should stabilize.

It's become a cliché in sports but why not pound it into the ground one more time: The window of opportunity is closing fast on the Cleveland Indians. Wil Cordero and Einar Diaz are the only regulars in the lineup on the short side of 30 and while Colon still is only 25, Finley and Dave Burba are 38 and 34, respectively. John Hart geared this team up for one more run and maybe, just maybe it'll be enough to catapult the Tribe into the Series again. It's always tough to unseat the champs, especially when they wear those intimidating pinstripes and own the last three trophies, but someone's gotta do it sometime. This team just may have the talent and it certainly has the experience (read: age), so why not Cleveland and why not this year? There are thousands of people who desperately want to see the Indians finally win it all -- one of those thousands is writing this column and I know for a fact a few more will be reading it.


In the Bullz-Eye

Duke basketball. The Blue Devils dropped an all-important game to 16th-ranked Maryland this past Tuesday and in the process lost center Carlos Boozer to a fractured foot. He'll be out at least through the ACC tourney and could miss the NCAA Tournament as well. Duke obviously will have no problem getting in but a poor showing without Boozer in the ACC tournament would mean a low seed for the Big Dance, and without their starting big man the Dukies may not dance for very long.