Shapiro can watch as his Indians try to build momentum for the season ahead of them, and he's counting on that season being a lot more successful than the 68-94 season of a year ago.

Regardless of how this new season unfolds, fans will see Shapiro's handiwork on everything. For at this point, the Indians are the team that Shapiro, 36, has built -- for better or for worse.

No longer can Indians fans point to John Hart, Shapiro's predecessor, and see Hart's architectural renderings on this baseball team. So much has changed since the Hart days ended in 2001, and those changes have been Shapiro's.

Before the Tribe's 14-2 loss Tuesday to the Astros, Shapiro sat down with MLB.com and talked about the Indians, their direction and Shapiro's expectations for them. Here are his comments:

MLB.com: In terms of your timetable, where is your "Blueprint for Success"?

Mark Shapiro: A lot farther along than it was a year ago. It's more certain than it was a year ago, but where it truly is in terms of the timetable for being a contender or a championship team, I'm not sure, you know. (Five) Spring Training games don't give me the ability to look into the globe and tell you exactly where we are. Like I said, I think I'm more confident than I was a year ago. We're definitely farther along. We've identified probably five or six core players, and we have a group of about 15 other guys that I feel confident are potential core guys. That's pretty good. And then we've got another wave of talent coming right behind them that's going to be knocking on the door by the end of this year. So we've accomplished a ton in one year. It's just that we've still got a ways to go.

MLB.com: Has it gone as you had envisioned it, Mark? It's one thing to have a plan, but it's another thing to have the plan followed.

Shapiro: The majority of things have gone the way I'd envisioned it. You know, it can never happen fast enough, because you're impatient and you want to win; and you're competitive and you want it for the fans. But, ultimately, you've also got to have an understanding and a respect for the game - that it takes time for players to develop at the Major League level, and that it doesn't happen, you know, instantly. So you've got to be patient; you've got to be consistent, and we've stayed the course, which a lot of teams have a tendency to deviate from. That guy with MLB.com who wrote that article about us a couple of days ago -- Jim Molony -- I thought he made a lot of really good points. Teams tend to get impatient when they're going through this and deviate from it, and then you have no plan. We've stayed very consistent.

MLB.com: If you could go back and rewind or redo any part of your tenure as general manager, what would that one thing be that you'd redo?

Shapiro: It would be not having signed the multi-year deals -- any of them -- in that year that was a little bit of a transitional year with an unknown course my first year as general manager. It would still have been to make the Robbie Alomar trade, but it wouldn't have been to sign Matt Lawton to a multi-year deal. It still would have been to get Matt Lawton; I still like him as a player. It would still have been to sign Ricky Gutierrez, but it wouldn't have been to sign him to a multi-year deal, even if it meant losing him. It probably would have meant walking away from Bob Wickman and not signing him. So the multi-year deals at that juncture in time when I should have been more aware of how our club could have gone in either direction -- because it should have gone toward rebuild -- I shouldn't have done. It would have helped us to have that money right now and speed up our time frame.

MLB.com: Give me your thoughts on the farm system. Is it as deep as scouts keep telling me it is?

Shapiro: Our farm system is extremely deep, with a lot of alternatives and not many glaring weaknesses. It doesn't have a ton of impact players in it, but it's got a whole lot of Major League players.

MLB.com: You touched on this in the last question, but what are the weak links in your talent pool -- or in the organization in general?

Shapiro: Starting pitching is an area I'm never going to feel good about, especially at the upper levels right now.

MLB.com: People keep wondering about the financial soundness of the organization. Are they making a big deal about nothing or should finances be a worry for fans who care about the team's future?

Shapiro: I think if you look at it our owner has been investing and investing in the right place. He hasn't cut corners. If you look at what we spent in player development and scouting the last three years, we're among the first two or three teams in all of baseball. If you use that as an example, when the club justifies spending it at the Major League level, he will spend at the Major League level. But, right now, where we need it most, was player development and scouting. Because of that, because he's allowed us to run a first-class organization, I'm confident that when the time's right, we'll have the money to spend on big-league players, too. Right now, our club doesn't justify spending money. I can't recommend that.