Go behind closed doors in the Cleveland Indians? front office as award-winning sportswriter Terry Pluto analyzes the team's controversial recent moves to scrap a roster of popular stars and rebuild a new kind of contender. Granted unprecedented access to the team's top management and financial data, Pluto delivers an up-close account of how decisions were made to radically reshape the franchise. Indians fans grew accustomed to winning in the mid-1990s. They had an owner with deep pockets, a brand-new ballpark, and a team of high-priced all stars who delivered a division championship nearly every year. But that glorious ride ended with a jolt of reality after savvy owner Richard Jacobs sold the franchise at the top of the market in 2000. New owners Larry and Paul Dolan and new general manager Mark Shapiro faced a challenge: an aging team, a mounting payroll, and a shrinking budget. First they made mistakes. Then they made bold changes. Stars such as Manny Ramirez, Roberto Alomar, and Jim Thome were gone, replaced with roster of unproven youngsters and veteran rehab projects. Fans were alarmed and dismayed. Then, in 2002, Shapiro boldly predicted that the Indians would return to contend for the playoffs after just three years of rebuilding. Critics scoffed. Yet at the end of the 2005 season, the Indians were indeed back in contention, one tantalizing game away from a return to the playoffs. The core of an exciting young team was beginning to take shape, and Shapiro was voted American League Executive of the Year as his team won an impressive 93 games despite a payroll ranked in baseball's bottom five. How was it done? In his familiar clear writing style, Pluto carefully explains the manyrisky moves made by management and tells which ones have paid off, which ones haven?t, and why. This rare behind-the-scenes look at a modern front office will intrigue fantasy leaguers and fans fascinated by baseball dealmaking. It will be an eye-opener for Indians fans who may still be wondering, What happened to my team?

Terry Pluto, a sports columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal, has twice been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the nation's top sports columnist for medium-sized newspapers. He is an eight-time winner of the Ohio Sports Writer of the Year award and has twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He has also been inducted into the Press Club of Cleveland Hall of Fame. He is the author of 22 books, including The Curse of Rocky Colavito (selected by the New York Times as one of the five notable sports books of 1989) and Loose Balls, which was ranked at number 13 on Sports Illustrated's list of the top 100 sports books of all time. He was called ôPerhaps the best American writer of sports books,ö by the Chicago Tribune in 1997. He lives in Akron, Ohio.