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Thursday, April 5
Cleveland Indians preview

ESPN.com

POWER RANKINGS


	With Lofton, Vizquel and Alomar in front of him, Juan Gonzalez will be looking at lots of RBI chances.

Strength of schedule
.499, 11th in AL
Lineup ranking
2nd in AL
Pitching ranking
4th in AL
Prediction
1st in AL Central

The lowdown
2000 record: 90-72 (2nd in AL Central)
Runs scored: 950, 2nd in AL
Runs allowed: 816, 5th in AL

Three key issues for 2001
1. Will Juan Gonzalez come close to repeating Manny Ramirez's production in the cleanup spot?

2. How is the back end of the rotation shaping up after Bartolo Colon, Chuck Finley and Dave Burba?

3. Will the trend continue? Lost World Series in 1997, lost ALCS in 1998, lost Division Series in 1999, missed playoffs in 2000.

Three key facts
1. Free agent signee Juan Gonzalez is coming off his worst season since 1994, hitting .289 with 22 homers and 67 RBI in an injury-plagued 2000.

2. Roberto Alomar struggled during the first half of the season, his batting average dropping to .260 on July 17, but he rebounded to hit .379 over his last 65 games, including .421 in September.

3. Dave Burba has won at least 15 games in each of the last three seasons and last season reached the sixth inning in 25 of his 32 starts.

RETURNING 2000 STATISTICAL LEADERS

AVG	T. Fryman	.321
HR	J. Thome	37
RBI	J. Thome T. Fryman	106
RUN	R. Alomar	111
SB	R. Alomar	39
WIN	C. Finley D. Burba	16
SV	S. Karsay	20
ERA	B. Colon	3.88
Complete 2000 Statistics: Batting \| Pitching

Tim Kurkjian's scenarios
Best case: Juan Gonzalez nearly matches Manny Ramirez's numbers, Bartolo Colon becomes an ace, C.C. Sabathia dazzles as a rookie, Russell Branyan hits 35 homers and the Tribe wins the World Series.

Worst case: Gonzalez gets hurt, manager Charlie Manuel loses control of the veteran players, the rotation is a man short and the Indians lose in the first round of the playoffs.

ESPN.com's lineup analysis
Player	Comment	Pos. rank*
K. Lofton, CF	He's lost a step, but still quality leadoff guy	6
O. Vizquel, SS	Fielding numbers were down last year	5
R. Alomar, 2B	Still the best all-around 2B in AL	1
J. Gonzalez, RF	Career-best OBP: .378; Ramirez last year: .457	5
J. Thome, 1B	Gets his 100 runs, 100 RBI every year	4
E. Burks, DH	Knees may hold up better if he's full-time DH	3
T. Fryman, 3B	.321 mark was 42 points above career average	3
W. Cordero, LF	Russ Branyan may end up with ABs here	13
E. Diaz, C	It was time for Sandy Alomar to go	10
ESPN.com's pitching staff analysis
B. Colon, RHP	This is the year he finally wins 20	4
C. Finley, LHP	ERA between 4.16 and 4.43 6 of past 7 years	8
D. Burba, RHP	Has gone 46-25 since joining Indians	15
C. Nagy, RHP	Karsay, Wright, Woodard all in 4-5 mix	50
Middle relief	Shuey, Rincon, DePaula lead the way	4
B. Wickman, CL	Not high profile, but does the job	7

	Position average (AL rank):	5.55 (2nd)
	Pitching index (AL rank):	4.50 (4th)

* Position rank, compiled by ESPN.com's baseball staff, compares each AL team's strength at that position, including platoons, based on players' total projected value (offense, defense, durability) for the 2001 season.

AL position players and bullpens ranked on a 1-14 basis, with 1 being best.
AL starting pitchers ranked on 1-56 basis, with 1 being best. Cumulative rankings of starting pitchers are combined with bullpen and closer for overall pitching index, with more weight given to starters.
In both rankings, 1.00 is the best possible score, 14.00 the worst.

Click here for AL position-by-position rankings.

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