Careers cut short: Grady Sizemore

Grady Sizemore was a rare five-tool player that franchises only dream of, but didn’t think he would be out of baseball when he was 32. Sizemore had a multitude of injuries that led to that reality even though his time with the Cleveland Indians brought them to the 2007 American League Championship Series when he hit a fifth inning home run off Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling in Game 2. Photo by AP Photo/Charles Krupa).

Jack Butler

We begin our story on June 27, 2002, when the Cleveland Indians traded Bartolo Colón and Tim Drew to the Montreal Expos in exchange for Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, Lee Stevens, and Grady Sizemore. Stevens retired following the 2002 season while Phillips wasn’t part of Cleveland’s plans and sent him to the Cincinnati Reds at the beginning of the 2006 campaign having a successful 11 career in the Queens City. Lee and Sizemore were the important pieces for a rebuilding club that from 2004-2005, Cliff went 32-13 with a .456 ERA and in 2005 Grady had his breakout year hitting .289 with 22 HR, 81 RBI, and scoring 111 runs along with 22 stolen bases and exceptional defensive in centerfield.

In 2006, Sizemore had his best statistical season playing in all 162 games, leading the MLB with 134 runs and 53 doubles to go with 11 triples, 28 home runs, 76 RBI, and another campaign with 22 steals. Sizemore earned his first trip to the All-Star Game and finished 11th in the AL MVP voting despite having the highest WAR by a position player with a 6.7 WAR. The young centerfielder continued to produce in 2007 for the Tribe where he once again played in 162 games putting up 118 runs, 34 doubles, 5 triples, 24 home runs, 78 RBI, 33 stolen bases, second All-Star appearance, and first Gold Glove. Sizemore led the Indians to the AL Central Division Title for the first time since 2001 and were set to play George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees in the American League Division Series.

The series began on October 4, 2007, and it was a close contest for four and half inning until the Cleveland bats got to Chien-Ming Wang in the 5th for 5 runs. The Indians added three more insurance runs – 2 in the 6th and 1 in 8th. Sizemore struggled at the plate going 1 for 4 with a single but played clean in the field. Game 2 known as the Bug Game took place the following evening at Jacobs Field and is one of the greatest contests ever held during Progressive Field’s 28-year history. It was a classic pitchers duel between Fausto Carmona and Andy Pettitte with the Yankees striking first on a Melky Cabrera solo homer, but the Indians got to Joba Chamberlain in the 8th to tie it at 1. Sizemore led off the frame with a walk then a wild pitch advanced him to second and Asdrúbal Cabrera bunted Sizemore to third. With 2 outs, up came Victor Martinez where Chamberlain threw a wild pitch to allow Sizemore to tie the game.

Carmona struck out the eventual AL MVP Alex Rodriguez to end 9 masterful innings, but no team scored until the 11th when Travis Hafner ripped a walk-off to the alley in right center to give the Indians a 2-0 series lead on the mighty Yankees. Cleveland would win the series 3 days later at Old Yankee Stadium to advance to the American League Championship Series for the time since 1998 who were set to face the 96-66 Boston Red Sox.

Cleveland jumped to a 3 games to 1 series lead but squandered their chance to clinch at home after CC Sabathia was outpitched by the soon-to-be ALCS MVP Josh Beckett. The series moved back to Fenway Park for Games 6 and 7 where the Red Sox outscored the Indians 23-4 in those games winning their second AL pennant and then second World Series in 3 years. That was the closest Sizemore got to playing in the Fall Classic whose production was neutralized by Boston to limit him to a .222, 1 HR, 2, RBI and a .313 OBP.

Sizemore reached new highs in home runs, RBI, and stolen bases in 2008 with 33 bombs, driving in 90 runs, and swiping 38 bags to have his 3rd All-Star selection, second Gold Glove and only Silver Slugger. What’s crazy is that if you look at similarity scores for his age 25 season, he’s most like Barry Bonds but it’s unfortunate that Sizemore injuries caught up to him as he played in 106 games in 2009, 33 in 2010, and 71 in 2011. He missed 276 games over that 3 year stretch when not only missing 9 from 2005-2009 which goes to show how durable he was until he got hurt. We’ll never know what numbers Sizemore puts up if injuries don’t occur, but let’s appreciate him as one of the greatest players of his era even if it only was for a short 4 years.