The top 10 challenges for the Cleveland Indians as spring training looms
Published: Sunday, February 13, 2011, 3:50 AM Updated: Sunday, February 13, 2011, 11:09 AM
By
Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians and Yankees don't have much in common besides playing in the American League. Still, there are ties that bind.
They're not perfect. The Indians lost 93 games last season and if the Yankees had it all figured out, Bartolo Colon wouldn't be going to camp with a chance to win a job in their starting rotation.
What we have here are two teams, just like their 28 partners, who have questions about what lies ahead. Spring training begins this week. The 162-game regular season follows.
The Yankees' payroll, pushing $200 million, will provide the answers to most questions. The Indians' payroll of between $45 million and $50 million is hardly enough to solve the concerns facing manager Manny Acta and first-year GM Chris Antonetti.
Just in case they've forgotten, here are 10 of the biggest questions facing the Tribe in 2011.
1. How much can a healthy Grady Sizemore improve an offense that finished 26th in the big leagues with 646 runs?
Best case scenario: Sizemore's left knee is sound and he returns to his old form when he averaged 116 runs and played 160 games per season from 2005-08.
Worst case scenario: Sizemore's knee isn't fully healed and the Indians' second-highest paid player at $7.5 million is idle for much of the year.
What will probably happen: As a precaution Sizemore doesn't join the Indians until mid-April, but regains his skills. The Indians trade him to a contender before the July 31 or Aug. 31 trading deadlines rather than exercising his 2012 club option for $9 million.
The trade turns Sizemore's option for 2012 into a player's option. He can become a free agent or accept the option. It could make him harder to trade unless he's playing well and a team really needs him.
Stat attack: If Sizemore was healthy last year and contributed his average number of runs over the course of a full season -- minus the 15 he did score last year -- the Indians would have gone from 26th to 13th in runs scored in the big leagues.
(
Correction: Sizemore's impact on last year's offense would have improved the Indians from 26th in runs to a tie for 19th in runs with the Angels. The original equation subtracted only the 15 runs Sizemore scored last season from his average of 116 runs per season from 2005 through 2008. It did not include the 66 runs his replacements in center field scored last season.)
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