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Indians camp report
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- Five things to know about the Cleveland Indians:
1. They may have finished one win short of their first World Series appearance since 1997, but maybe it wasn't quite the agonizing experience for the Indians that you might have expected. "The biggest disappointment I've been through here was 93 wins in 2005 and not getting in (to the playoffs), being cognizant of what it means for our market," general manager Mark Shapiro says. "Last year we gave a great team a crack, and they blew it open." Did the Red Sox ever. "We were back to work the next day," Shapiro says. "We didn't give ourselves time to brood."
2. Bucking the modern-day trend of even changing things up on a winner, the Indians made relatively no significant moves with a team that won 96 games and the AL Central title last season. The only move of note was signing Japanese free agent Masahide Kobayashi, 33, to a two-year, $6.25 million deal. He'll see a lot of sixth innings, before premier set-up men Rafael Betancourt and Rafael Perez and closer Joe Borowski enter the game. Shapiro on his lack of changes: "No. 1, the personality of our team, our guys are not going to get complacent. Two, we had the second-youngest position players in the game last year, and the upside of Cliff Lee, Jeremy Sowers, Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore ... certain guys can provide us with a boost internally. And three, we examined every alternative but for Johan Santana. It was a weak free agent market, and in every trade talk, they wanted pieces off of our big-league club." The Indians have varying levels of trade discussions regarding pitcher Danny Haren (Oakland dealt him to Arizona), third baseman Miguel Cabrera (from Florida to Detroit) and outfielder Jason Bay (who remains in Pittsburgh).
3. The only two open jobs on a locked-in team are the fifth starter's slot and one bullpen spot. Lefties Lee, Sowers and Aaron Laffey are competing for rotation jobs behind C.C. Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd. Lee, who won 18 games in 2005 and worked 200-plus innings in '05 and '06, should have the inside track unless he pitches himself off the team. He strained an abdominal muscle early last year, spent most of April on the disabled list and never could catch up.
4. How do you get a near-300-pound body ready for the season? Sabathia, preparing for an encore season to his Cy Young award, spent most of the winter following the same workout regimen he's followed for three years: Two-a-day sessions, with weights and cardiovascular work from 8-10 a.m. and cardiovascular work mixed with throwing and more running from 2-4 p.m.
5. Though Kobayashi is slated more for mid-game relief, he is one of only three Japanese League pitchers with more than 200 career saves. Remember this if Joe Borowski (45 saves last summer) falters. First impressions on Kobayashi? "No matter where you are in drills, he seems to be very good at the fundamentals," pitching coach Carl Willis says. "His fastball may be better than I thought. He's got a really good slider. We've only seen him once in a game so far, but he got out of a situation and that tells me a lot about his confidence and heartbeat."