Hart Gambles Indians’ Future to Improve Now

The Cleveland Indians, back in the playoff picture despite a summer of devastating injuries, insist they never lost hope--nor Hart.

In fact, no one was more active at the non-waiver trade deadline than General Manager John Hart. He might have put some of Cleveland’s future at risk attempting to salvage a season in which the Indians have been forced to employ a major league-record 30 pitchers and play without Manny Ramirez, their leading run producer, for extended periods.

“It’s almost a miracle to even be where we are,” Hart said on the eve of a weekend series in Seattle.

The Indians trail the Chicago White Sox by 8 1/2 games in the American League Central, a division they have won for five consecutive years, but are only one game behind the Oakland A’s in the wild-card race.

They will play the A’s six times in nine games starting Monday and will also play three games against the Angels, whom they lead by one game in the wild-card pursuit, before the month ends.

“We’ve improved by five games in the wild card and by three in the division since the deadline,” Hart said. “We have to play every game now as if it’s a playoff game. Our goal is to get to the postseason. We haven’t ruled out the division, but we don’t have much room for error. The reality is that we’re probably talking about the wild card.”

The Indians have been forced to cope with injuries before, never, though, to this extent. Former Angel Chuck Finley, now an Indian, wondered recently if he had stumbled into a tryout camp.

Eight of the 12 pitchers with whom the Indians left Florida have been on the disabled list, forcing Hart to conduct a “pitching free for all” in which he force-fed prospects, signed minor league free agents and recycled a string of released pitchers who in many cases made only one appearance with the Indians before being released again.

That only five AL teams have more wins than the Indians seems to be a miracle indeed, particularly considering that starters Jaret Wright and Charles Nagy were basically lost for the season in May, fellow starter Bartolo Colon went down for a month in the first half and left-handed relievers Tom Martin and Ricardo Rincon have been idled for weeks.

In addition, Ramirez, who drove in 165 runs last year, has battled a hamstring injury that has some in Cleveland management wondering if the right fielder, having rejected a six-year, $75-million offer from the Indians, isn’t playing it safe and protecting his free-agent status--unwilling to risk a more extensive injury.

The Indians have used nine right fielders since Ramirez last played there on May 29.

“We made a very fair offer to Manny but he has an appetite to go on the market,” Hart said. “We’re hopeful he’ll be able to contribute over the rest of the season. We’ll see what happens after that.”

Faced with the rare possibility of a meaningless second half in a sold-out Jacobs Field but constrained by a payroll already at $70 million, the GM gained a measure of financial flexibility on June 29 by trading David Justice to the New York Yankees for Ricky Ledee, freeing $4 million this year and $14 million over the next two years.

Then, at the deadline, he 1) traded Ledee to Texas for first baseman David Segui, 2) sent power-hitting Richie Sexson and young pitchers Paul Rigdon and Kane Davis to Milwaukee for closer Bob Wickman and starters Jason Bere and Steve Woodard and 3) swapped infielder Enrique Wilson and outfielder Alex Ramirez to Pittsburgh for Wil Cordero, who had left the Indians as a free agent last winter.

Bere and Woodard, although 7-14 with the Brewers, have provided more reliable alternatives than the revolving door replacements for Wright and Nagy; all-star Wickman has allowed closer Steve Karsay to move into a setup role, strengthening a bullpen that Hart says is now as “good as we’ve ever had;” and Segui and Cordero provide improved contact in the mid to bottom of the Indian lineup.

If the Indians sacrificed a measure of their future in trading Sexson, Rigdon, Davis, Ramirez and Wilson, if they have to make the playoffs to justify it, as some in the industry have suggested, Hart said, “Check what the Yankees, Arizona and Atlanta did. If you’re going to be aggressive at the deadline, you’re going to have to give up young players. We’ve had a terrific run, but we were looking the dragon in the eyes. We’re sold out all season and we have a covenant with our fans to play meaningful games in August and September. If we don’t make these moves, we’re done by mid-August.”

The Indians have survived while trading young players of the stature of Jeromy Burnitz, Brian Giles and Danny Graves.

Will they be hurt by these recent moves? That remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, a frustrating season has produced clubhouse friction as illustrated by a fight between Russell Branyan and Kenny Lofton, a shouting match between the Alomar brothers, Sandy and Roberto, the refusal of Colon, who believes he has received conflicting advice from pitching coach Dick Pole, to take instruction from Pole without another Hispanic player present, and general sniping at Manager Charlie Manuel for pampering and coddling veteran players.

There was even some negative clubhouse reaction to the recent trades, and Hart agreed that “this has been our most difficult year since we began the run of championships. However, even with all of the injuries we still had hope. I’ve been here for 13 years and there were a couple years when we were building the team that we had no hope. That was tougher.”