Listen to the PodcastMark Shapiro succeeded John Hart on November 1, 2001 and is now in his third season as Executive Vice President and General Manger of the Cleveland Indians. He has been with the Indians organization for 13 years.
Shapiro has revitalized the organization over the last two years with a series of shrewd trades that have added more than 20 upper-level prospects into the system. Some are players we are seeing at Jacob's Field — players like Jody Gerut, Cliff Lee, Travis Hafner, and Alex Escobar. Some are names we will see as future stars — players like Grady Sizemore and Francisco Cruceta. Hopefully, these trades will pave the way for the next sustained championship run as the team looks to rekindle the successes of the late 1990s when the team won six division titles and had eight winning seasons.
Shapiro and his staff's hard work has not gone unnoticed as the Indians were named the "Organization of the Year" for the second consecutive season by USA Today's Sports Weekly and were named by Baseball America as having the #1 farm system in professional baseball.
Shapiro discusses managing change in a challenging environment.
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