Shapiro Shaping Indians as Playoff Favorite in '09

Mark Shapiro may be one of the most underrated General Managers in the game today. Shapiro has been the Cleveland Indians GM since the 2002 season. In 2002 and 2003, he oversaw the deconstruction and subsequent rebuilding of the Indians. He took a team who had just finished a tremendous run from 1995 through 2001 and restocked the organization to return it to competitive form in 2004. Since then, the Indians' payroll went from a low of $34.3 million in 2004 to a payroll of $78.9 million in 2008. Shapiro has built the Indians "the right way" utilizing the draft and making good baseball trades rather than make expensive free agent signings. Instead, Shapiro signs the middle-tier players who offer a limited yet serviceable ceiling while costing little. Unfortunately, the 2008 season was quite a disappointment for the Indians as they finished with just an 81-81 record, ranking them third in a very weak American League Central Division. This was especially disappointing considering the Indians were just one game away from a World Series appearance in 2007. Luckily for Tribe fans, Shapiro quickly realized that 2008 was not going to be the Indians' year as he began to rebuild and strengthen the franchise during the season.