By trading players who often have more than one year left on their contracts, the Indians have maximized the return in talent while, of course, saving more money. The moves have alienated some fans but spared the team from prolonged down cycles that have plagued Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Baltimore.

The Indians won 93 games in 2005 and 96 two years later, when they nearly returned to the World Series. But for a franchise that relies on attendance to generate much of its revenue, that season offered a sobering lesson.

The team drew fewer than 2.3 million fans in 2007, a drop of more than a million from the heady days of the sellout streak. Without a drastic change in their market, they cannot expect to draw more.

“Our economy’s starting to get better, but how much and how quickly and how will that translate to attendance? We’re not quite sure,” Antonetti said. “We’ll always have to have an efficient payroll. For us to be successful, we will have to get more out of less.”

So far, they have done that, with just three players making more than $4 million this season: starter Fausto Carmona ($6.1 million), Sizemore ($7.5 million) and designated hitter Travis Hafner ($13 million). Those three, along with shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and reliever Rafael Perez, are the only players from the 2007 playoff roster who remain on the team. Shin-Soo Choo, the skilled right fielder, played just six games in the majors that season.

“It’s tough, because you’re used to that group of guys from ’03 to ’08 pretty much, and a good majority of those guys are gone,” Hafner said. “It’s a whole new wave, so you didn’t really know what to expect. But you could start to see it in the second half last year. A lot of the young guys were starting to figure it out.”