CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It was the kind of trade that makes general managers famous and puts World Series banners on the top of their ballparks.

On June 27, 2002, Mark Shapiro, then the general manager of the Indians, sent Bartolo Colon to the desperate Montreal Expos for Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore. The Indians threw in Tim Drew, a failed No. 1 pick, and took back veteran Lee Stevens to balance what was left of Colon's $4.5 million contract.

The immediate reaction in Cleveland was negative -- extremely so. Phillips, Lee and Sizemore were prospects. Phillips, 20, was the most experienced with just 37 games at Class AAA. Lee, 23, was 7-2 at Class AA. Sizemore, a high-school quarterback who turned down a scholarship to play for the hometown Washington Huskies, was 19 and hitting .258 with no homers at Class A.

Colon was the Indians' No.1 starter with a legitimate 99 mph fastball. He would win 20 games that year and a Cy Young award in 2005.

In a larger sense, the trade ended the most concentrated run of winning baseball in Indians history. When Shapiro traded Colon, it meant he was starting over. Phillips, Lee and Sizemore were going to be the cornerstones of a new era.

Nine years later, they are gone. Sizemore was the last to depart, limping into free agency Monday when the Indians didn't exercise his $9 million club option for 2012.

The gold standard

When John Hart, Shapiro's predecessor, acquired Kenny Lofton from Houston for Willie Blair and Eddie Taubensee on Dec. 10, 1991, he was touched by magic. Hart acquired what could be the best leadoff hitter/center fielder in franchise history for trinkets. Four years later the Indians were in the World Series for the first time in 41 years.

The Indians won six AL Central titles and two pennants in seven years from 1995-2001. There were a lot of good players already in place, and Hart would add more, but there can be little argument that Lofton was his signature trade. Shapiro's deal was three times better.

Consider what Phillips, Lee and Sizemore have accomplished since making their big-league debuts with the Indians. Phillips and Sizemore have combined for two 30-30 seasons, seven seasons of 20-plus homers, three seasons of 90-plus RBI, six seasons of 100-plus runs and nine seasons of 22 or more steals. They combined to win five Gold Gloves, two Silver Slugger awards and make five All-Star teams.

Lee is a three-time All-Star who has won 119 games since making his first big-league start on Sept. 15, 2002. He went 22-3 in 2008 to win the Cy Young and give the Indians their first 20-game winner since Gaylord Perry in 1974. He is also one of the best postseason pitchers in the decade, going 7-3 and appearing in two World Series.

Yet Shapiro's Indians only made the postseason once.

The difference, of course, is that Phillips and Lee didn't accomplish all those things with the Indians. While that meant Shapiro's cornerstones never bore the full weight of sustained success, it cannot diminish the value of the trade. Among general managers, it is the gold standard for dealing a highly-paid veteran nearing the end of his contract for the ripest fruit of another team's farm system. It is why teams from the filthy rich Yankees to the poorest small-market club guard their prospects with cutlasses and a brace of pistols.

A ton of information

The branches of the Colon trade

Here’s a look at what happened to the players involved in the trade in which the Indians sent

TRADED

Played independent ball 2007 and 2008.

Free agent after 2002 season.

Played 18 games with Class AAA Indianapolis in 2003.

Just to keep things straight following the genealogy of the Bartolo Colon trade to Montreal, here are the players who are still with the Indians: Chris Perez; Carlos Carrasco; Jason Knapp; Jason Donald; Lou Marson.

—

Related stories

Shapiro replaced Hart as GM after the 2001 season. In December, in his first big deals, he sent future Hall of Famer Robby Alomar to the Mets for Alex Escobar, Matt Lawton, Jerrod Riggan, Earl Snyder and Billy Traber. Lawton was the best player out of the bunch and he was only so-so.

The deal was done like many others Shapiro had witnessed as Hart's assistant. A bunch of baseball people sat in one room, going through scouting reports and stat books. They raised their hands to give opinions. The Indians wanted some big leaguers, some prospects and some in-between players because they were trying to contend and rebuild at the same time.

Shapiro was not happy with the way the trade was conducted or the results. By the time July arrived, he had much better idea what he needed to do when it came to trading Colon.

First, he had clarity. The Indians were rebuilding from top to bottom. They no longer were trying to please everyone, they simply needed as many talented prospects as possible. They had time as well. After identifying possible trade targets, Indians scouts saw each player several times. Shapiro wanted fresh information and he got it by the ton.

It was no accident that the Indians settled on the Expos. In December of 2001, Expos owner Jeff Loria sold them to MLB and purchased the Marlins from John Henry, who was buying the Red Sox. Many of the Expos' front office and baseball people followed Loria to the Marlins. Others simply left and joined other teams.

Tony LaCava, Montreal's director of player development, joined the Indians before the 2002 season as a scout. Dave Malpass, a former Montreal scout who recommended that they draft Lee, was already working for the Tribe. That kind of inside information gave Shapiro a big edge.

The Indians knew more about the players in the Expos system than a lot of the new people MLB hired to run the team on and off the field. Indians manager Manny Acta was one of the newbies, hired to be the third-base coach and infield instructor on manager Frank Robinson's staff.

"When that trade was made, we knew about Brandon Phillips because he'd been in big league camp," said Acta. "We knew a little about Cliff Lee because he 7-2 at Double-A. But no one knew anything about Grady Sizemore."

The Expos were in a vulnerable position. They were almost contracted following the 2001 season. The Colon deal may have been an attempt to keep them afloat or make them attractive enough to entice a buyer. At the end of the 2004 season, they were moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Nationals.

Expos GM Omar Minaya was under orders from MLB not to take on any more salary. Colon still had money left on his contract, so to offset that Shapiro agreed to take back Stevens' $4 million contract. It's a common tactic these days in deals, but it was rare in 2002 and lent a creative touch to Shapiro's work.

Shooting stars

Phillips made his big-league debut on Sept. 13, 2002. Lee made his two days later. Sizemore wouldn't arrive until July 21, 2004.

The Indians waited four years for Phillips to become the star that he is today with Cincinnati. They gave him 804 plate appearances, 459 in the big leagues, but it never happened. He butted heads with former manager Eric Wedge, who in 2006 picked Ramon Vazquez as his utility infielder over Phillips, who was traded to Cincinnati on April 17 of that year.

Lee pitched well with the Indians, going 83-48 with a 4.01 ERA. He won 18 games in 2005 to go along with his Cy Young season in 2008. Yet in 2007, when the Indians fell a victory short of the World Series, Lee was a non-factor. He missed spring training because of an abdominal injury and spent most of August in the minors because he wasn't pitching well. He did not make the postseason roster.

On July 29, 2009, with ownership fretting over losing a possible $16 million, Lee was dealt to Philadelphia. He had one year remaining on his contract.

Sizemore, from 2005-08, looked like the second coming of Lofton. He had more power, a little less speed, but the same raw game-changing talent in center and the leadoff spot. Injuries, however, cut deep into his game over the last three years. Finally, they made him expendable.

View full size

Left in the ashes

What did the Indians get in return from a trade that was intrinsically great, but never delivered in the won-loss column?

There will be no return for Sizemore unless he's re-signed. His injuries limited him so much over the last two years that he didn't qualify as a Type A or B free agent. If a team does sign him, the Indians won't get any compensation.

The Indians' return for Lee consists of two injured pitchers in Carlos Carrasco and Jason Knapp, utility man Jason Donald and backup catcher Lou Marson. Carrasco is probably the best of the bunch. He had one good month last year, but will miss next season with Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Knapp, supposedly the key to the deal, is coming off his second major arm surgery and is a long shot to ever pitch in the big leagues.

Phillips, the least productive of the three in an Indians uniform, brought the best return. Just pay attention because you could get lost in the turns. The Indians received Jeff Stevens from the Reds for Phillips on April 17, 2006. They traded Stevens and two other minor leaguers to the Cubs for infielder Mark De Rosa on Dec. 31, 2008. On June 27, 2009, they traded De Rosa to St. Louis for Chris Perez and Jess Todd.

Perez is not fun to watch in the ninth inning, but he knows how to save a game.

Still, as Hart once said, closers can fall out of a tree. A Gold Glove second baseman, a Gold Glove center field and Cy Young winning left-hander, not so much.

On Twitter: @hoynsie