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How do you judge the Indians' performance in 2001? On the one hand, they nearly unseated a 116-win team in the first round of the playoffs; on the other, they didn't. They also overcame dreadful starting pitching to win 91 games and the AL Central, but they still have nothing to show for winning the division six times in seven years. The team has known for years that they needed better starting pitching, and to that end they invested a great deal in veteran lefty Chuck Finley to take them further in the playoffs. In hindsight, that doesn't look so smart. With GM John Hart stepping down, it appears the team is at a crossroads. Will this mark the end of the "all bat, no pitch" Indians?
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Starters in 2001
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Sabathia/Colon
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Others
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W-L
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31-17
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29-33
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ERA
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4.22
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6.14
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H/9
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8.2
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11.5
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Best Pitcher: Who in March really would have guessed that rookie southpaw C.C. Sabathia would be the answer to this question? Sabathia surprised some by sticking in the rotation out of spring training, and just kept winning games. His 17-5 mark is somewhat dimmed by his rather human 4.39 ERA, but this is a guy who won 10 games after the break and held opponents to a .228 batting average. That's not too shabby. Bartolo Colon came out in spring training talking about winning 24 games. Didn't happen.
Best Position Player: So many good choices, but we'll take Roberto Alomar any day. The future hall-of-famer had perhaps his finest season, hitting a career-high .336, slugging a career-best .541, and driving in 100 runs for the second time in his career. His defense speaks for itself, but in case you don't watch highlights, Alomar made just five errors this year, and perhaps 10 times that many incredible plays. Gotta love Jim Thome and his 49 homers, and Juan Gonzalez returned with a vengeance, but Alomar is the man.
Grading The Manager: A tough year health-wise for Charlie Manuel, but professionally he remained at the top of his game. Managing a team whose starting rotation is thinner than John Rocker's patience, Manuel still was able to get enough out of guys who were really struggling -- Dave Burba and especially Finley -- to get the division title. With John Hart stepping down, it's hard to know whether Manuel will be part of a purge or not. We'll give him an A and our best wishes for his health.
Most Improved: How 'bout that Marty Cordova? Nobody expected him to keep up his production when he came out and hit .338 in the first half. Still, no one is complaining after he finished the season with 20 homers in just over 400 at-bats and a .301 average.
Biggest Weakness: Oh that pitching staff. It's hard to believe the team won 91 games, with just two starters carrying almost all of the weight. Steve Woodard was a serviceable stopgap, as was Jake Westbrook for a time, but the fact is that after Sabathia and Colon this team had truly horrendous starting pitching all year long. Finley was worse than his 5.54 ERA looked; take away his solid September, when the division title was all but theirs already, and he had a 6.44 ERA on the year. That's Burba (6.21) country.
Gaining Momentum: The team would never have made it as far as they did without the outstanding showings by rookie relievers David Riske and Danys Baez. Riske was called up in June and while he has had nothing but success in the minors during his career, few expected him to be quite as good as he was, allowing more than one earned run just once in 26 appearances and holding opponents to a .206 average. Baez, a future closer, was even harder to hit; foes batted just .191 against him. The team will surely build around these two and starter Ryan Drese.
Kicked Off The Island: Rocker. Rocker. Rocker. So much talent, so much trouble. The enigmatic closer came to Cleveland and quickly fell apart, walking 25 batters in 34 2/3 innings and losing hold of the closer job to Bob Wickman. With the emergence of Baez, he's not needed here anymore. Also, Russ Branyan may be wearing out his welcome. His power numbers fell this year (20 homers in 315 AB), but he still struck out an alarming 132 times. In 550 career at-bats, he's now whiffed 229 times.
Bill Konigsberg is an assistant editor at ESPN.com.
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