Mark Shapiro can analyze each individual play, each managerial move, each statistic thrown his way that relates to the American League Championship Series. But in the end, the general manager's analysis of his Indians' loss to the Red Sox in seven games comes down to that final thought.

"The best teams played, and the best team won," Shapiro said Wednesday. "That's my overriding feeling."

Never mind that the Tribe had a 3-1 lead in the series with a chance to clinch at home in Game 5. Shapiro used his annual postseason postmortem with reporters at Jacobs Field to assess what he still can't help but feel was a successful season.

The 96 wins the Indians strung together in the regular season and the Division Series victory over the Yankees back up that feeling.

"You're disappointed and feel some sense of bitterness," Shapiro said. "But if you're not the team that wins the last game, no matter what level you get to, you feel that sense of bitterness and disappointment. The backdrop is we had 96 wins, experienced the postseason for the first time in a long time, clinched a series in Yankee Stadium and took the Red Sox to Game 7."

The upside Shapiro and his front-office staff will take into the winter is that the vast majority of the Indians roster is under contract for 2008.

Of course, on the flip side, the nagging concern is that the Indians squandered a unique opportunity that might not come back again.

"I don't think that way," Shapiro said. "I can't afford to be that negative. I know how hard it is to get back there. I know the magnitude of the accomplishment. But I prefer to look at what this team did this year, who these guys are, and how young they are and the fact that the bulk of this team is going to continue to be together for a while. The goal is going to be to go to Spring Training with a team that has a chance to go back there."

And that's the goal Shapiro and company will work toward this offseason.

Still, expect it to be a relatively quiet winter.

This week, the front-office decision makers are meeting with the club's scouts to discuss what is expected to be a thin free-agent pool.

Next week, Shapiro and his staff will sit down with manager Eric Wedge to discuss more pertinent matters, such as whether or not to exercise the '08 club options on starting pitcher Paul Byrd and relievers Joe Borowski and Aaron Fultz. The Indians will have 10 days after the completion of the World Series to make those decisions.

Major League Baseball isn't expected to interview Byrd about his admitted use of human-growth hormones until after the Series. That situation could have an impact on whether or not the Indians pick up his $8 million option for next year.

"It's completely in the hands of MLB," Shapiro said of the Byrd issue. "Until I hear back from them, it will not be something I'm involved with."

If Shapiro is involved in the free-agent market, expect him to be looking for a corner-outfield bat or some relief depth. But if an impactful move is made, it would more likely be made from the trade market.

"My basic desire is to not make many changes," Shapiro said. "I'll look to offset where there could be volatility or regression in performance by bolstering this group wherever we can."

The Indians don't have many spots to fill. Left field could be open, as Kenny Lofton will be a free agent, but the Indians do have in-house options David Dellucci, Jason Michaels, Ben Francisco and Shin-Soo Choo to consider.

Every other position on the field is seemingly accounted for.

"One of the greatest benefits of heading into an offseason without the need to fill definitive spots is we can take an opportunistic view of the offseason," Shapiro said. "We can look at trades that might make us better, and we can go into free agency without the need to fill a certain spot. We'll examine a lot of things -- most of which we will not act on, but some of which we could."

The hot-button issue, then, will be ace left-hander C.C. Sabathia, who is eligible for free agency after 2008. Shapiro, who usually holds off on long-term contract extension talks with his players until Spring Training, hopes to work out a deal with Sabathia before pitchers and catchers report to camp.

"My hope and expectation would be that it's not an issue when we get to Spring Training," Shapiro said. "I don't believe in black and whites. But it is something we'd like to address, one way or another, prior to getting to Spring Training."

If all remains essentially the same with the Indians, they're expected to have an Opening Day payroll of around $80 million next year, with the bump largely attributed to the raises built into the contracts of their players with multiyear deals.

Shapiro isn't yet sure how the postseason run will affect the Indians budget for next year. About 5,200 fans took advantage of the club's "Playoff Payoff" program that guaranteed playoff tickets to those who make a deposit on '08 season tickets, but it's not yet known how many of those people are opting for full-season ticket plans, versus shorter plans.

"There are a number of different ways those revenues can play out," Shapiro said. "What we're able to do with corporate partners and advertising sales is meaningful. All those things are of incremental importance in this market to our team."

It's a team Shapiro hopes can take the experience of coming within a win of the World Series in '07 and turn it into the fully realized goal of a championship in '08.

But for now, the better team won.

"Inexperience may have played a factor [in the outcome], but talent was the ultimate factor," Shapiro said. "I don't want to take anything away from the Red Sox. I think they were the better team. We played seven games, they won a seven-game series and what that meant to me was they were the better team."