Still, Lofton's feelings were ambiguous. Whether all of those things affected his performance, not even he is certain. But Lofton must have felt he had something to prove. I was not in that comfort zone. Manager Mike Hargrove has a different explanation for Lofton's struggles, at least in part.
Teams can alter the composition of their rosters significantly in one season.
When Lofton came back to Cleveland, the players who greeted him were not necessarily the players to whom he'd said his goodbyes. Eddie Murray, for example, something of a mentor to Lofton, had been dealt to Baltimore. But whatever insecurities Lofton felt last season, they seem to be gone now. Recognizing what might have gone wrong in 1998 might help Lofton to avoid those pitfalls this season. One part of Lofton's game that didn't suffer in 1998 was base stealing.