Cleveland Indians Schedule | Roster
Manager: Charlie Manuel
1999 record: 97-65, AL Central champions, lost to Boston in first round.
Who's new: LHP Chuck Finley (free agent/Angels), RHP Scott Kamieniecki (free agent/Orioles), RHP Bobby Witt (free agent/Devil Rays), RHP Scott Sanders (free agent/Cubs), LHP Alan Newman (free agent/Devil Rays), OF Lance Johnson (waivers/Cubs).
Who's gone: RHP Mike Jackson (free agent/Phillies), RHP Dwight Gooden (free agent/Astros), DH Harold Baines (free agent/Orioles), OF Wil Cordero (free agent/Pirates), C Tyler Houston (free agent/Brewers), LHP Paul Assenmacher (free agent/Braves).
Hot shot: RHP Danys Baez. Defected from Cuba and could compete for spot in rotation. Has sharp curve and good fastball, but might need a couple of months in AAA to acclimate himself to new country and learn off-speed pitch.
Hot spot: The battle for interim CF position between Lance Johnson and Dave Roberts. Whoever wins, it'll be only until Kenny Lofton returns.
They'll dethrone the Yankees if: Chuck Finley continues to be the Yankee killer that he's been his whole career (16-9 vs. N.Y.), and Bartolo Colon, Charles Nagy and Dave Burba pitch in the playoffs the way they did for most of the '99 regular season.
Bottom line: Cleveland needs to be comfortably ahead in the late innings, because they don't have a closer (RHPs Paul Shuey and Steve Karsay will try to fill the void) and the rest of the bullpen (LHP Ricardo Rincon and RHPs Kamieniecki and Steve Reed) won't remind anyone of the Nasty Boys Reds of a decade ago.
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