Piece by Piece is an offseason long series that covers the Cleveland Indians organization and their outlook in a position-by-position process. Today's position is first base.

What is that they say about people not walking through a door?

Jim Thome is not walking through that door!

And if he did, he'd probably walk literally right through the door.

That was the kind of power Jim Thome had (and still does) when he was at first base for the Cleveland Indians in the glory days of the 90's. He was your prototypical first baseman, power bat, run producer, middle of the order anchor. You look around the league and there are few that are elite, Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, until Fielder arrived in Detroit, Miguel Cabrera, Paul Konerko, Joey Votto, Ryan Howard, Mark Teixeira. So hard to find, yet so valuable if you happen to have the luxury. Most teams can't afford that type of player though, so they opt for cheaper, yet still effective options.

The Indians as of late have opted for... Well they've not opted by choice, but have fallen down a path where they have no option. If you can't get a big slugger, you try and find a solution. Some teams go for a solid player, while others may focus on a more defensive minded guy that can give you some production and look to fill that power void elsewhere.

Now that isn't to say the Indians haven't tried to get themselves a first baseman, even a prototypical one, but they certainly haven't done a good job with their efforts of trying, to say the least.

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You have to give the Indians some credit. They've struck really early the past few offseasons, making trades right off the bat when they know who they want. Last year it was Derek Lowe, now it is Mike Aviles, who has just been traded twice in a matter of days.

There is another statement that the Indians are making with the early move that they've made to acquire utility man Mike Aviles, who they traded reliever Esmil Rogers for this past weekend. They're making a bold statement that they're ready to compete for the AL Central. 

Sure they did that last year too when they acquired Derek Lowe, but there was an expectation to. After two straight collapses of disappointing years, a fired manager, and the upcoming contract statuses of several players, there is a belief that trying to contend is the wrong move.

But the Indians are going for it and something as simple as acquiring a utility player tells us just that.

So let's look at the trade that has ignited a fire to this offseason and, at least in my opinion, has got the Indians off to the right start, if they do in fact decide to go for it.

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The golden boy. The face of the franchise. In Cleveland, even this sort of idyllic archetype is really just a sitting duck—susceptible to a miserable fate somewhere between the extremes of "burning out" and "fading away." At just 30, Grady Sizemore finds himself in that wicked limbo; his career as a Cleveland Indian over, and his baseball future shrouded in doubt. The road from budding superstardom to career retrospectives shouldn’t be this short. But we’ve seen it all before.

The Center and the Center Fielder

Grady Sizemore and former Cavaliers big man Brad Daugherty both made their pro debuts at the age of 21 and played their final games (at least for now in Sizemore’s case) at 28. That’s eight seasons a piece in a Cleveland uniform—following remarkably similar career trajectories that carried the eventual fates of their respective franchises right along with them.

Of course, it wasn’t Father Time, or “diminishing skills,” or any easily identifiable on-field tragedy that pushed these popular stars out of the limelight. It was the slow, gradual betrayal of their own bodies—the same muscle and bone that they’d each spent their lives crafting into machines of their trade. Once the pictures of durability, Sizemore and Daugherty wound up as Cleveland’s unlikely poster children for how fleeting athletic success can be—and how damaging the loss of a central star can prove for a team.

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Piece by Piece is an offseason long series that covers the Cleveland Indians organization and their outlook in a position-by-position process. Today's position is shortstop.

When you talk about shortstop, it used to be a black hole. Ever since Omar Vizquel left, it was Jhonny Peralta and then, everything else. There was no one ever waiting in the wings as it was assumed Peralta was the present and future.

That quickly soured as Peralta's defense left much to be desired and when upstart second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera burst onto the scene in late 2007. The acquisition of Cabrera from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Eduardo Perez was one that beefed up the Indians shortstop depth and gave them a potential future at the position beyond Peralta.

Eventually, the clamoring to move Peralta to short was so loud the Indians did just that and eventually, Peralta was traded. Since then it has been Asdrubal Cabrera, but with him having suffered injuries, there was always the question of who could take over. The Indians have used the likes of veterans such as Jamey Carroll when need be or young options like Jason Donald, but never has the shortstop position been so deep as it is right now.

With its depth currently, it puts the position in a little bit of limbo. With options coming down the pipeline, do the Indians strike while Cabrera's value is at a very high level and infuse their organization with young players at other positions, or do they hold onto their stud All-Star shortstop for another year.

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