Cleveland Indians 2003 Season Preview

By Adam Ulrey

Class act Ellis Burks

The Indians are starting over, after putting together a decade of excellence for the fans of Cleveland. For all the good that former GM John Hart did, in the end he did damage to this franchise that will take current GM Mark Shapiro a couple of years to solve. They had to watch the most popular player in Indians franchise Jim Thome walk away. They simple couldn't pay him what the going rate on the market. But if you're an Indians fan don't fret, because with Shapiro at the helm they'll be back real soon. He made some tough decisions last year, trading a lot of the veterans to get young players who could play right away to help re-build the Indians. This year with new manager Eric Wedge in the dugout you'll see a very exciting team that will play with heart. The whisper out of spring training is that most GMs feel this will be a better team than most people realize. They have restocked their minor-league system and ESPN's Peter Gammons believes that when they get good they will be good for a long time.

The infield spot that will be the toughest to replace is the bat and the presence of Thome. But in the off season Shapiro made a good move by trading for Travis Hafner a big strong left-handed bat built in the same mode as Thome. He has hit 20 or more homers four years in a row down in the minors and shows the ability to hit many more in the big leagues. Brandon Phillips, arguably the best player in the minor leagues, will most likely be the opening day starter at second. Even though he is a shortstop, he will have to convert to second, because Omar Vizquel will still be at short. He has the whole package both speed and power. Vizquel will be back at short, doing what he does best, field. There are very few, if any, that are in the class of Vizquel when it comes to playing defense. What might surprise is that besides his defensive prowess he has over the years developed into a pretty fair hitter. I truly believe that when he leaves the game he should become a Hall of Famer. Yes you heard me, just compare the Gold Gloves and the offensive numbers and across the board he'll have better numbers than Ozzie Smith and is every bit as good with the glove that Smith was. Take some time to compare their offensive stats and you'll be amazed. Third base will be handled by nomad Bill Selby, who seems to be with Cleveland every other year and former Twin Casey Blake. Both are solid with the bat and in the field. Josh Bard will handle the bulk of the catching until phenom Victor Martinez is ready to take over full time. Bard is above average though, and showed last year to be a solid bat at the bottom of the order. The one veteran on this team will be DH Ellis Burks, who has put together a really nice career, and in his two years has been everything the Indians could have asked for. He's hit 60 homers and driven in 160 runs in his two years, all while hitting just under .300. He's the ultimate pro; when asked if he would like to be traded to a contender he said he would like to stay. For his career he has 345 homers, 1177 RBIs and a lifetime average of .293.those are outstanding numbers for a career and he hopes to play a couple more.

The outfield will be lead by Matt Lawton, who has been hitting like he did two years ago, before his shoulder injury of last year. If he can come back to full strength his bat will be a welcome addition to this young lineup. Lawton saw his average and speed drop off because of the shoulder injury, but still played through it for as long as he could. He ended up with 15 homers and 57 RBIs. In center will be Milton Bradley who is crushing the ball this spring and Wedge has been very pleased with what he's seeing. Bradley has under achieved for most of his career, and the Indians hope this is the year he turns it around. He batted just .250 and as a led off hitter had a bad OBP of just .317. He has all the ability to be a player who can hit 20 homers and also steal 20+ bases. In left field will be Karim Garcia who years ago was thought to be the next great Dodger, but it never happened. He might have found a home in Cleveland after driving in more runs than anybody in baseball after the middle of August. He ended up with 16 homers and 52 RBIs in just under 200 at bats. He will be counted on to drive in runs from the fifth spot in the order. Look for both Ben Broussard and Shane Spencer to get a ton of at bats floating between the outfield, DH and first base. Both have been having terrific springs and are look at as vital cogs to the offense.

The Indians will shine in a year or two with the load of pitchers they have throughout their organization. The big man C.C. Sabathia will head the pitching staff with his 13 wins and 4.37 ERA. He tended to be around 30 pounds over weight and that caught up with him over the year, but came into camp with almost all of that weight gone. The Indians went out and brought in two cheap veterans for one year to bridge the gap before the young pitchers are ready. Jason Bere who two years ago had a nice comeback year, but last year the injury bug hit him and basically last year was a waste. Brian Anderson, the former Indian, comes back home and he couldn't be happier about it. He spent that last five years in Arizona, pitching for the Diamondbacks. He went 41-42 over in the NL and looks forward to pitching in his hometown again. Ricardo Rodriguez, who came over from the Dodgers in the Paul Shuey trade, was a steal. Shapiro was shocked when he was able to pry this guy from the Dodgers. In seven starts last year for the Indians he was 2-2. The fifth starter is between three young guys in left hander Billy Traber, Brian Tallet and the big right hander Jason Davis. With all this young pitching we still haven't mentioned maybe the best of the bunch in Cliff Lee, another lefty the Indians got from the Expos in the Bartolo Colon trade.

The bullpen will miss closer Bob Wickman, who had rotator cuff surgery, and will be out for the year. They have an ace in the hole though with Danys Baez to take his spot. He was 10-11 with six saves and an ERA of 4.41. When he was moved to the closer late in the season he shined. The bullpen will have a lot of questions to be answered. There are the two veterans who will help out in terry Mulholland and Dave Burba. But the Indians will count on David Riske, Carl Sadler, Jerrod Riggan and Jake Westbrook to handle most of the load. It will be a weakness unless some of the kids surprise.

Look for this team to surprise some people and finish third, but don't be shocked if they finish second. Under Wedge one thing is clear in spring training you will play hard for him or you'll be riding pine. This is exactly how you build a team that is not that good. You don't pick up old free agents, instead you build from within and play your young guys. Look for this team to be a factor as soon as next year.

Disagree? E-mail Adam Ulrey.