Opinion

By Gerry Fraley

updated 7:18 p.m. ET Nov. 12, 2008

Baseball awards season serves as a reminder that the Cleveland Indians can get back to contender status in a hurry.

Left-hander Cliff Lee won the AL Cy Young Award on Thursday. And Grady Sizemore already received his second Gold Glove, giving the Indians a top-flight center fielder who had a slugging percentage of better than .500 this season.

Lee and Sizemore headline a core of talent that can lift the Indians from this season's lackluster .500 performance — if that core is given the necessary help.

A year ago at this time, Indians general manager Mark Shapiro made a significant strategic error by deciding not to tinker with a club that fell one win short of reaching the World Series. The Indians' 2008 showing served as a reminder to every general manager that if you are just standing still with your club, others are shooting past you.

It will take more than the firing of bullpen coach Luis Isaac, who had been with the franchise for 44 years, to get the Indians back into the playoffs.

Shapiro did not ask for it, but here's a handy to-do list for the Indians this offseason:

Get faster

Cleveland executives cling to the notion that speed is overrated. They are in the minority on that.

The World Series clubs — Philadelphia and Tampa Bay — had a high amount of speed. So did the other teams — Boston and the L.A. Dodgers — that reached their respective League Championship Series.

All four of those clubs ran the bases aggressively and could create runs, a skill the Indians lacked. Cleveland ranked 12th in the AL in stolen bases with 77 and went 23-42 in games in which it didn't homer.

The Indians need more speed for their defense, too. In the opinion of several scouts, Cleveland ranked among the worst defensive teams in the majors because it also was among the slowest teams in the majors.

Balls that should have been caught went through the gaps. Sizemore earned his Gold Glove the hard way, by having to range nearly from foul line to foul line.

Fix the bullpen

Philadelphia rode the NL's best bullpen from start to finish. Tampa Bay made its leap from worst to first because its bullpen dramatically improved.

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On the flip side, Cleveland ranked 13th in the AL with a 5.11 ERA. That was one spot behind Detroit and one spot ahead of Texas. Detroit was the league's most disappointing club, and Texas, as usual, was never a factor.

That the Indians finished with a .500 record hints at what this team could do with just a workmanlike bullpen. Cleveland relievers were 19-25 with that shoddy 5.11 ERA. By comparison, Tampa Bay's bullpen went 31-17 and cut its ERA by more than two runs to 3.55 (Rays relievers had an AL-worst 6.16 ERA in 2007).

The first step for Cleveland is to settle on a true closer. The position was unsettled all season, and the Indians had an AL-low 31 saves to go with 20 blown saves. The answer cannot be righ-thander Rafael Betancourt, who mysteriously lost the sink on his fastball. The Indians must ease him back into pressure spots.

Add contact hitters

As previously mentioned, the Indians were slow. On top of that, they didn't make much contact. That is a bad combination.

Cleveland had the AL's third-highest strikeout total with 7.49 Ks per game. They had three players among the AL's top 12 in strikeouts: catcher Kelly Shoppach (133), Sizemore (130) and shortstop Jhonny Peralta (126).

Those wasted outs made this an inconsistent offense. The Indians could explode at times but then go silent for an extended stretch. They scored more than 10 runs in a game 18 times, but ranked sixth in the AL with 4.97 runs per game.

Other issues to address

The Indians must decide whether to play Peralta at shortstop or at third base, and whether to play Victor Martinez at catcher or first base. And they cannot allow themselves to be held hostage again by designated hitter Travis Hafner's lingering and mysterious shoulder problems.

There are enough good pieces already in place for Shapiro and Co. to make something of this team next season.

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