The boom period for the Cleveland Indians of the last 50 years started with an idea hatched by a younger John Hart. The story goes that Hart, frustrated by the team’s arbitration process with lefthander Greg Swindell (both because the process required the team to badmouth its star and the fact that the Indians couldn’t pay the hefty pitcher his fair market value), convinced ownership that the only way to compete was to lock up the team’s best prospects before they became stars. This would work for both sides, Hart figured, because the players would appreciate the long-term security prior to having earned it, and, if the Indians guessed right, they would have a team of potential all-stars at below market rates.

Of course, Hart had a lot of other theories as well, such as “any idiot can play left field” and “a number one pitcher is an overrated concept.” While idea number one bought the Indians seven seasons of being a World Series contender, ideas two and three assured at least an additional decade plus without a championship.

Mark Shapiro, a Hart disciple, is trying to make history repeat itself. Wednesday, the Indians signed center fielder Grady Sizemore to the largest deal in the history of baseball for a player with less than two full seasons of major league experience. This contract comes on the heels of an off-season that saw the Tribe give out contract extensions to Travis Hafner, Jhonny Peralta, and Victor Martinez. The Indians tried, and as of the opener last night, had failed to lock up pitcher Cliff Lee for a few years before the end of the 2006 season.

Those five players compare favorably to Kenny Lofton, Albert Belle, Carlos Baerga, Charles Nagy, and Sandy Alomar Jr., the cornerstones of Hart’s initial plan to make the Indians go from joke to juggernaut. Over a period in which the Tribe was a fixture in the playoffs, the Indians management surrounded the core of youngsters with the right mix of free agent and veterans to amass two World Series appearances and six division titles.

Whether or not the new youth movement can meet or exceed the achievements of the old five will largely depend on Larry Dolan. The successful Indians teams of the late 1990s were usually among the top five in payroll, adding expensive free agents like Matt Williams and Roberto Alomar to fill in gaps created by the departures of other stars. This isn’t to say that Dolan needs to carry a payroll of $100 million in order for the team to win a championship. He does, however, need to watch more than just the bottom line when considering whether to assent to any requests Shapiro makes at the trading deadline.

Is the strategy risky? Sure. It was risky in the early 1990s. Remember, however, that Belle, Lofton, and Baerga had never produced a full major league season with anywhere near the productivity of Hafner, Martinez, Peralta, and Sizemore did last season. Nothing in baseball is guaranteed, but Martinez is already considered one of the best catchers in baseball. Hafner is considered a legitimate MVP candidate. Peralta is a talented young shortstop with power to all fields. None of those three types of players grow on trees.

Sizemore may have the least experience of the five players, but in three years, he could be commanding $15 million or more on the open market. He’s that good already, and has that much potential to be even better. He can hit for power, has speed, and will only get better defensively.

As in the early 1990s, the Indians have locked up a core of young players that will keep the proverbial “window of opportunity” to win a World Series open for a few years.

Whether lightning can strike twice, and whether the force of the bolt is enough to lead to a parade in Public Square in early November, depends on how well the general manager and the owner do at surrounding that core with the right mix of other players.

Post a comment or get a hold of me at adamh164@yahoo.com