Now that the fire sale has been completed, the Cleveland Indians are using the rest of this 2006 baseball season to evaluate the players in their system to come up with a strategy for being competitive in the AL Central. Terry Pluto of the Akron Beacon Journal got a chance to talk to owner Paul Dolan this week.

Here were the key quotes from Dolan.If a team doesn't have a budget that at least matches that of the frugal Twins, it has no chance to compete consistently in the division. ''I agree,'' said Dolan. ''We will spend more money next year. We plan to be aggressive. We will probably spend more than we will anticipate taking in, but I won't say how much. It's too early to know.''Dolan said next year's payroll will be ''north of $60 million.'' 

While it is refreshing to know that Dolan is going to spend more than this season in order to try and compete with the teams that have consistently added solid players by adding payroll, I am not sure that he is in the right ballpark.

The Cleveland Indians have a $51 million payroll on paper after all the trades used to blow up this year's team. So, what does this mean for next year's team? Well getting "north of $60 million" in today's game means two to four players. Does that mean two bullpen guys at $4-5 million a piece?

While the bullpen has been a big part of the problem this year, I really don't think this team is two players away. Unless they mix in a trade for some bonafide elite talent to infuse at key spots on this team, they are destined to finish behind at least two teams in the Central division for the immediate future.

First, Peralta must move to 2nd base or be traded. He is a liability at short and while he is young, it is my experience that players don't learn to play defense at the major league level. If they didn't have it coming out of the minors, then they won't have it in the majors.

Solve the problems at third base. Maybe it is Andy Marte. Maybe it is Kevin Kouzmanoff. Maybe it is a free agent. It is not Aaron Boone. As much as I like Boone for being such a good guy and a great teammate and citizen, he isn't effective enough to play third base on a team that is trying to contend. Those are harsh words for a nice guy, but they need to be said.

The bullpen is officially in shambles. The Indians have no closer in sight. Closers are one of the hardest things to get in free agency. As a result, the Indians should just work on getting the best possible reliever(s) available and try to figure the rest out later. They need quality arms first before they can figure out who fits in to what role in the bullpen. I know it is hindsight, but how much do they wish they would have paid the $4 million that Bob Howry got in free agency this past off-season?

Finally, they need to at least reduce Eric Wedge's comfortability as Cleveland Indians Manager. I like Eric Wedge and I think he can be a good manager, but it seems to me that he shouldn't get quite as much unconditional support from the front office as he seems to get all the time. I don't want his job threatened every five minutes, but I do want him in a position where he will instill a sense of urgency in his team. This year's Cleveland Indians team has played poorly this season and a lot of it seems to be a lack of focus. You can't always blame the manager, but by the same token, you can't always let him off scott free, either.

And while we are talking about Eric Wedge, I am a little suspect of his talent management. I don't blame him for losing patience with a firecracker like Milton Bradley, but what about Brandon Phillips? He made Wedge's dog house and subsequently was traded and has been pretty impressive as in Cincy. In 109 games he has a .291 batting average with 11 homers, 57 RBI, and a .342 on-base percentage. Are you telling me there was no place in the lineup for this guy, especially with the difficult year that Jhonny Peralta has had at short?

But don't read this wrong. It isn't all doom and gloom for the Indians' future. They still have some solid young players in key positions. They aren't nearly as far off as their record this season would indicate. They just aren't as close as their record last year indicated.