After a fast start to his career, Grady Sizemore is now trying to find his identity

After getting off to a fast start to his career, Grady Sizemore has been hampered by injuries over the last 2 years, being limited to just 139 games in 2009-2010

Prior to the 2009 season, coming off a dazzling 2008 campaign that resulted in 30 homers and 30 stolen bases, to go along with the gold glove in center, Grady Sizemore was thought to be one the top 5 best all around players in the game.  He was picked by many, including myself, to win the MVP award as it was expected that he would continue to improve, considering he was just 26 years old.

But boy have things changed in the last two years.  Injuries have hampered the last two years for Sizemore, making him, as well as the Cleveland Indians, irrelevant.  In 2009, Sizemore saw his season end after just 106 games when he elected to have surgery on an injured left elbow that had been bothering him the whole season, limiting his numbers to a .248 AVG to go along with .788 OPS, down nearly 100 points from the year before.  He did, however, have 18 HR, 64 RBI, and a .343 OBP.  Sizemore rehabbed his elbow in order to be ready for the 2010 season, just to see his 2010 campaign cut even shorter, being limited to just 33 games before having to undergo microfracture surgery on his left knee.  He had been hitting just .211 to go along with an OPS of just .560- just 27 points higher than what his career high slugging percentage was (.533 in 2006). 

Because of the dismal last two years for Sizemore, it has become hard to remember just how good he was up until the injuries set in.

After coming to Cleveland in a 2002 trade that sent then-ace Bartolo Colon to the Montreal Expos (remember them?), bringing Sizemore to the Indians along with Brandon Phillips and Cliff Lee, he spent parts of 3 years in the minors from 2002-2004, hitting .304 with 22 HR, 149 RBI, and a .843 OPS between 3 levels.  After being a late season call-up in 2004, he would emerge as one of the best centerfielders in the American League and one of the most recognizable names on the Indians.  In the four years between 2005-2008, he averaged 180 hits, 27 HR, 81 RBI, 41 doubles, 29 stolen bases to go along with .281/.372/.868.  To go along with that, he had 2 gold gloves (2007-2008), a silver slugger in 2008 as well as leading the Indians to within one game of the World Series in 2007 before blowing a 3-1 ALCS lead to the eventual World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.

Of course, over the past couple years, injuries have slowed Sizemore's career, being limited to just 139 games over the last two seasons after averaging 160 in his first 4 full seasons.  Targeted for a mid-April return, Sizemore should be able to rejuvenate his career and pickup where he left off in 2008, and could also be great trade-bait for a rebuilding Cleveland team, who could get good value for Sizemore if hes showing signs of his pre-2009 form during the summer.