Indian Summer or Indian Bummer?

 

May 10th, 2005

By CRS Staff

 

The Indians off-season signing of Juan Gonzalez was more than just another roster move, it was symbolic of what the team has become in the Larry Dolan era.  Gonzalez, in his second tour of duty, played for the Indians in 2001.  What Gonzalez & the Indians have in common is that neither have really done anything since.  After a 2001 season in which he hit .325 with 140 RBI’s, Gonzalez has mostly been injured.  In Cleveland what has mostly been injured is the once mighty pocketbook of Chief Wahoo.  For a team that once competed with the likes of the New York Yankees & Boston Red Sox in highest league payrolls, the Indians now find themselves in closer company with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  Along with Gonzalez, several of General Manager Mark Shapiro’s other notable free agent signings like Kevin Millwood, Alex Cora & Jose Hernandez, all share one thing in common - great upside, below market price (OK, so Millwood cost the Indians $7 million, but had he been healthy last year he’d likely have ‘New York’ or ‘Boston’ on the front of his uniform this season).

 

To be fair, nobody’s blaming Mark Shapiro, even if he has been stockpiling middle infield/utility types this winter like most Clevelanders do firewood.  By most accounts he has done an admirable job filling holes on the roster with limited dollars, stocking the roster with guys who nobody else would overpay for.  Even during the big spending days of John Hart and Dick Jacobs the Indians always seemed to have some sensibility when it came to signing free agents, even if Hart did blow a few million dollars here and there on washed-up pitchers (Jack McDowell, anyone?).  The Indians now have a solid nucleus of position players led by the gifted and now braided Victor Martinez, with possibly the best 1-2-3 pitching combination they’ve had in years in C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook (if he pitches like he did last year) & Millwood (if he doesn’t pitch like he did last year).  Throw in attempted comeback guys like Bob Wickman & Aaron Bleeping Boone, and the Indians have more question marks than Jeff Garcia does women fighting over him (by the way, I think it's safe to say Garcia has soiled his reputation faster than anyone this side of Kobe, but that's a topic for another column).

 

Either way, Indians fans head into the 2005 season with legitimate hope the team could win the A.L. Central, sometimes better known in July as the AAA farm club for the rest of the major league teams.  Even if the A.L. Central crown means being a sacrificial lamb to the Beasts of the East come playoff time, it sure beats closing Jacobs Field down before October.  Let’s hope that more of Shapiro’s budget pick-ups pan out, because if they do, the sparse Jacobs Field crowds of recent memory will be gone faster than you can say Juan-gone.