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Shapiro on Sportsline.com

Scott Miller has a story on the bullpen FA race at Sportsline.com with a lot of comments from Mark Shapiro.


"I knew it would be a rough winter going in," Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro said Tuesday. "I wasn't much of an econ guy in college, but I took one class and they taught us supply and demand.

"I could tell demand this winter was going to out-strip supply."

Still ...

"When contracts of that magnitude get done, you're always a little surprised," Shapiro said.

* * *

Now Shapiro is out looking for a closer -- he is believed to have scheduled a visit with Hoffman in San Diego later this week, and re-signing Wickman remains a possibility -- and somebody to replace Howry. Not to mention a starting pitcher -- re-signing Kevin Millwood is one option, or looking for someone to replace him is another.

He did not expect to bring back his 2005 bullpen intact, but he sure will feel better when he bags an arm or two.

"If we brought the exact same guys back, I wouldn't feel as good," Shapiro said. "The more you study bullpens, the more you realize that there is a volatility from year to year."

* * *

What's going on?

"The general health of the industry, and a lot of bad contracts are working their way out of the system," said Shapiro, whose Indians will increase their payroll by somewhere between $10 million and $12 million in '06. "It was kind of obvious what could happen."

Now that it is happening, the races are on.

There is some urgency for certain clubs to get deals done before the start of the winter meetings Monday in Dallas, because the prices only increase during that annual player auction.

"It should be an interesting couple of weeks," Shapiro said. "There will probably be a series of contracts, then some panic, then some more bad ones. It's a natural part of the process. And the bad contracts end up creating opportunities."

* * *

"I think every guy out there is an option for us," Shapiro said regarding the closers still left on the shelves.

Cleveland's growing payroll should help. But truth is, it is no guarantee. Just because a club has money to spend this winter doesn't mean somebody else will be willing to take it.

"That sounds great," Shapiro said of his club's expected $10 million to $12 million payroll increase for '06. "But there are a couple of things. One is, we have raises already built-in internally.

"And the other thing is, other than about three teams, everybody else's (payroll) is going up, too."  

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