State of the Indians: Part 1 of ??

Hi everyone and welcome to Tribe Ball!

From now until free agency begins after the World Series, I’m going to go through the organization to see what’s going on, what needs to be addressed and what direction the Indians might go in as we head towards the 2010 season.  I, for one, do not envy Indians GM Mark Shapiro.  He’s got a long road to hoe to get our favorite Featherheads back into contention again.  So if you’re Mark Shapiro, where on Earth do you go from here?

You’ve just axed the manager partially responsible for the Indians resurgence in the 2000s.  He was two years removed from taking this team to just one game away from the World Series – something you hadn’t sniffed since 1997 – and now he’s out on his ear.  (By the way, you’re still paying his 2010 salary.)  You’ve got a core of young players that got a whole lot younger during the season because you traded away most
of your payroll commitments.

Of course, the ones you couldn’t trade away are now terrorizing you like the latest installment of Saw.  Travis Hafner is owed around $40 million from 2010-12 (including the buyout for 2013).  You’re also on the hook for $11.3 million over the next 2 seasons for Fausto Carmona – remember when he was looking like a great reason to let CC go?  All joking aside, that’s the worst of it.  Beyond 2010, the Indians are committed to only Hafner, Carmona and Grady Sizemore.

Of course, the first step is to get the right manager.  Shapiro says he doesn’t have to get a popular guy, just one that can win.  Easier said than done when you’re looking at a team that might have an average age of 24 as it stands now.  The Cleveland Plain Dealer lists a handful of potential finalists including former Nationals skipper Manny Acta, Bobby Valentine, Don Mattingly, Torey Lovullo and Travis Fryman.  The latter two are from within the organization, having managed Columbus (AAA) and Mahoning Valley (A) respectively last season.

Of the five, Valentine is the most intriguing to me.  My understanding is that his experience in Japan has been focused on fundamentals and basics of the game.  That could be an important tool with a young, promising group of players.  The real question is will Valentine and Shapiro see eye to eye?  The same article linked above also notes that Shapiro wants to have a manager in place before the end of the World Series, but would wait until after the playoffs if it meant getting the right manager in place.

We’ll see where the managerial search leads.  I’ll come back with some roster analysis later this week.

Tags: manager, Shapiro