CLEVELAND — It’s been a tur­bulent year for Grady Sizemore.

Playing with a left elbow injury for much of the 2009 season, the Indians center fielder struggled to a career-low .248 batting aver­age, before the ailment shut him down and required surgery. He also needed surgery on his abdominal wall.

As he recovered from the med­ical procedures in the offseason, Sizemore was dealt another blow when semi-nude pictures of him surfaced on the Internet.

Needless to say, Sizemore, a three-time All-Star and winner of two Gold Glove awards, is hoping a better 2010 is around the cor­ner. Health-wise, he thinks it is.

“I’ve been cleared to go for a while now,” said Sizemore, who spent the offseason at his home in Arizona. “I’ve been throwing, running, everything feels good.

“It’s been a slow progression, but I feel strong and I’m confi­dent in the doctors and the training staff and their pro­grams, that they’ll have me ready for spring training.”

Sizemore left Goodyear, Ariz., last year prepared for the regular season. But things went sour quickly when he developed soreness in the elbow. It was determined that Sizemore would likely require surgery, yet Cleveland’s best overall player remained on the field, despite the Indians being well out of contention.

“I wanted to play as long as I could and help the team,” said Sizemore, who was finally shut down in early September and underwent both surgeries shortly after. “We stuck with it as long as we could, made sure we weren’t making it any worse. We were in a safe spot for most of the year, hoping the surgery at the end of the year would be good and speed up the recovery for the offseason. I think it has.”

That’s good news for first­year manager Manny Acta, who is counting on Sizemore being the same offensive and defensive catalyst he has been for much of his Indians career. Sizemore said he spoke to Acta briefly this offseason.

“I’m excited to work with him,” Sizemore said. “He seems like a good guy. I’ve heard nothing but good things about him. I’m looking forward to working with him and the rest of the coaching staff.”

What Sizemore wasn’t look­ing forward to was dealing with tumult in the personal depart­ment as he recuperated from surgery. But that’s what he got when pictures he took of him­self that were intended for his girlfriend found their way to the Internet in November.

It was an embarrassing moment for a soft-spoken player that had kept a low pro­file since arriving in Cleveland via a trade from Montreal dur­ing the 2002 season.

“It’s tough,” Sizemore said. “It was a situation where it was a private matter. Personal photos were stolen illegally. I’ve always tried to represent myself and the Cleveland organization as best as possible.

“To put everybody through this is a terrible feeling. It was just meant for me and my girl­friend. It just happened to work out the way it did.”

In today’s day and age, ath­letes are under the microscope more than ever, with their pri­vate lives open to the public, sometimes no matter how much they try to prevent it from happening. Sizemore thought he had taken the nec­essary steps to keep the photos private.

“You always have to be care­ful, but like I said, this was something that was stolen out of an e-mail account,” he said. “We weren’t flaunting (the pic­tures), showing them to our friends or anything like that.”

Sizemore said he has moved past the incident, but he’s not sure others will do the same.

“I’m not going to speculate what people are going to do,” Sizemore said. “I’ve put it behind me. I’m looking to move forward and get ready for this year.

“I always feel like I want to prove myself to my teammates on the field. I don’t feel I have to prove anything more than I have in previous years. I’m just trying to get healthy, get back on the field and help my team.”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

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