Things used to be so easy. You stumbled into the Pepsi section on the grocery store aisle, and you weren't faced with choosing between Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Twist (lemon flavored), Diet Pepsi Twist, Pepsi One, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi and whatever else those crazy taste testers have been up to lately.

The Indians apparently tried to shop shortstop Omar Vizquel in an attempt to lighten their payroll. (Allsport)

You walked into the electronics store looking for a stereo, and all you needed was a turntable, receiver and a couple of speakers. You weren't faced with CD players, DVD players, MP3 contraptions, cassette players, CD burners and whatever else was just a glint in Circuit City's eye only a few years ago.

Same with baseball's AL Central, where once upon a time the Cleveland Indians were built to last and everyone else was simply an annoyance, like the magnetized strips that must be removed before leaving a store these days. You weren't seriously faced with the Chicago White Sox, the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals or, God forbid, even the Minnesota Twins.

But the sun sets, the calendar flips and suddenly, welcome to 2002. Listening to Ryan Adams -- alt-country, what would Bachman-Turner Overdrive have said about that? -- on our CD player while hooking up the DVD player, Pepsi Twist in one hand and the latest Stats Inc. books in the other, we can see the future on our nifty new HDTV -- and with Roberto Alomar donning a Mets cap, it looks a lot like the Twins and White Sox in the AL Central.

Believe it or not.

"We won our division," Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel says, stubbornly clinging to the past. "We're the Central Division champs. I feel it's up to us to keep it going."

It is, but when management is more insistent on downsizing than the people over at Enron, it sure doesn't make a manager's job any easier. The Indians' payroll will be reduced from $92 million in 2001 to about $75 million in 2002, which is why Alomar, a future Hall of Famer, was shipped out of town and why, before that, new Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro was talking shortstop Omar Vizquel in conversations with other clubs.

The Indians moved swiftly in signing free agent Ricky Gutierrez to plug into the hole left by Alomar at second, and while that was a good move, Gutierrez is no Alomar. And outfielder Matt Lawton, obtained from the Mets in the Alomar deal, won't produce the numbers of Juan Gonzalez, who is said to be close to a deal with the Mets.

The Seattle Mariners received deserved kudos last summer for winning their division despite the losses, in consecutive years, of Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.

Now, Manuel will have a chance first-hand to see what Mariners manager Lou Piniella has experienced when he embarks on a new season having lost RBI-machine Manny Ramirez and Alomar in consecutive seasons -- and, almost certainly, Gonzalez.

"I feel like we've lost a tremendous player," Manuel said the day Alomar was dealt. "The last three years, he's been a reason why we've been as successful as we have. That's a tough loss.

"But after I think about it, the players we got back (Lawton, right-handed reliever Jerrod Riggan, top prospect Alex Escobar, and two other minor-leaguers) ... I listened to our scouts, to our general manager, and I had a whole different feeling. We opened a hole at second base by losing a great ballplayer, but at the same time we filled spots in the outfield, bullpen and we got some depth in our pitching."

But no longer are the Indians as feared as they once were -- not by a long shot. Over the past few seasons, and this winter in particular, the Indians have come back to the pack in the AL Central. Between 1995 and 1999, the Indians won five consecutive division titles, most of them convincingly. Former manager Mike Hargrove usually was able to begin setting his playoff rotation by, say, mid-August.

As for the new-look Indians, with Vizquel, first baseman Jim Thome, third baseman Travis Fryman and outfielder Ellis Burks still in the lineup, they will score some runs. Behind C.C. Sabathia, Bartolo Colon and an aging Chuck Finley, they will win some games.

But the White Sox, the only other club to win an AL Central title (in 2000) since the division was born in '95, will be better in 2002. And assuming the Twins aren't contracted (in Bud Selig's own personal fantasy league, the Commish continues to publicly insist contraction remains an option for '02), they have the talent to win, too.

In Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee, Paul Konerko, Ray Durham and, of course, a healthy Frank Thomas, the Sox have the ingredients to score. And with young arms Mark Buerhle -- one of the AL's best discoveries last summer -- Jim Parque, Jon Garland and acquisition Todd Ritchie, the Sox can pitch.

In Minnesota, the Twins discovered during the first four months of 2001 that they can play -- then, in the final two months, they learned how long a season can be. If they build on that experience, as they should, a strong cast led by Eric Milton, Joe Mays, Brad Radke, Doug Mientkiewicz, Corey Koskie, Cristian Guzman and David Ortiz could deliver them to where they thought they were going last summer.

"The White Sox are going to be better," Manuel says. "I look at our division, and I liked the White Sox at the end of the year (in 2001). Frank Thomas was hurt, and their young pitchers got a lot of experience in the second half of the year. They've got a lot of young arms who got great experience in the big leagues. Offensively, the White Sox are a strong ballclub. They're definitely going to be a contender for the Central Division title."

The division's other Manuel, White Sox manager Jerry, wasn't exactly disappointed by the news when he heard the Indians had traded Alomar.

"Great news," he said, smiling, at baseball's winter meetings in Boston last month. "I should have just gotten back on the plane (for home). I didn't need to do anything else. Maybe call Sandy (Alomar, a catcher for the White Sox in 2001) and have him tell Robbie good luck."

Seriously, Jerry Manuel added: "Historically, we've played Cleveland pretty good. It does create some disparity in our division anytime anybody loses an MVP-type player.

"It should be wide open. I think Detroit will improve. Minnesota will improve. Kansas City has a good nucleus. It should be wide, wide open. It will probably go down to the last week of the season."

The Indians effectively have removed 375 RBI from their 2001 lineup this winter, bidding farewell to Gonzalez (140 RBI), Alomar (100), Marty Cordova (69) and Kenny Lofton (66).

For a club attempting to defend its division title, those numbers are troubling.

For a manager entering the final year of his contract, they could end up being disastrous.

"Look, I managed in the minor leagues for 10 years," Charlie Manuel says. "I got what (the big league club) gave me, and things worked out.

"I'm going to put in 100 percent, 140 percent, whatever it is. If I do my job, my status in baseball will take care of itself. I love this game. And you know what, I'm planning to stay with it for a long time."

The Sheff Shuffle

We hope somebody gave new Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Dan Evans a Gary Sheffield Mood Ring for Christmas this year, because the only way Evans is going to wind up better off than former Dodgers GM Kevin Malone is if he can navigate through the storm clouds that Sheffield so often sends the club's way.

And to do that, he's going to need some help.

Sheffield leveled a few more blasts at the Dodgers via Los Angeles Times beat reporter Jason Reid on Tuesday, quickly bringing to mind the rotten tomatoes he dumped on the Los Angeles camp last spring.

This time, Sheffield is upset that Evans allegedly told the outfielder he is not being shopped, then immediately phoned other GMs and started the shopping process after hanging up with Sheffield.

"When somebody tells you something and then they hang up the phone and you know it's not the truth, it's one of those things where you wonder to yourself what you have to do to get the truth," Sheffield told the Times. "You try to be a man about it and make phone calls to the organization, just to get a direct answer, and you basically don't get a straightforward answer.

"It becomes frustrating to the point where you ask yourself, 'Do I really want to be with this organization?' I don't want to be with an organization that constantly tells me one thing and then does another. I'm not going to sugarcoat that one bit. I deserve enough respect not to be told things like that."

What Sheffield is referring to is Evans' wild pre-Christmas shopping spree, in which, according to several sources, the GM nearly dealt Sheffield to Oakland in what would have been a three-way deal with the A's and Toronto. When that fell through, sources say, Evans and Oakland GM Billy Beane discussed a deal in which Sheffield, pitcher Luke Prokopec and reliever Mike Trombley would have gone to Oakland for outfielder Jermaine Dye and closer Billy Koch.

A reason to think this year's outburst might end differently from last year's is that Sheffield was noticeably quiet, both on and off the field, during the final two weeks of September. Dodger sources told SportsLine.com that Sheffield was pouting after manager Jim Tracy juggled the batting order and put rookie Paul Lo Duca behind him. Sheffield apparently didn't think Lo Duca would provide enough protection, and his sour mood was noticeable to teammates.

Given that, it seems difficult to imagine that the Dodgers can risk bringing him back in 2002 and take a chance that he would divide the clubhouse.

Then again, Evans was close to trading him in early December but failed, and the market has shrunk considerably since then.

El Duque and the market

The New York Yankees have had several trade discussions involving pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez already this winter, and it's difficult to believe those won't be intensified now that the Yanks are set to add David Wells to their rotation.

Wells and lefty Sterling Hitchcock will be working under two-year contracts, and with Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte, the Yankees' rotation is pretty much set, leaving Hernandez as the odd man out.