After last season’s drive to the playoffs fell short, people realized that the Cleveland Indians would not have the same team that finished the 2005 season with a 93-69 record. There were free agents who would leave, and trades that would be made. How would GM Mark Shapiro reconstruct the team?
The players you hear about most often on talk shows are Kevin Millwood, Bob Howry, Arthur Rhodes, and Coco Crisp. Most reasonable supporters of the team realize that Millwood would sign elsewhere because he wanted a four or five year deal. Virtually all major league teams give out that long of a contract to starters with the same frequency that they take poison.
Granted, Millwood is hurling in an extreme hitter’s park, but his numbers currently show a 10-7 record with an ERA of 4.62. He has allowed 24 more hits than innings pitched this season. He clearly is the ace of the Rangers’ staff, but he also is not pitching as well as he did for the Tribe in 2005. The man who supposedly replaced him, Paul Byrd has struggled in his last two starts, but has put up comparable numbers to Millwood. Byrd is only under contract through next season, whereas Millwood has four years left on his deal.
Arthur Rhodes, at age 36, has had a terrible season for the Phillies, his second bad year in the last three. Rhodes is 0-3 with a 5.67 ERA and one save in Philadelphia, and has allowed 61 base runners in 33-1/3 innings. Scott Sauerbeck washed out in trying to replace Rhodes in the Tribe bullpen, but Rhodes has not been much of a loss. Getting Jason Michaels for him has to be rated a good deal by Shapiro.
Speaking of Michaels, the man he replaced is not having a good season either. Coco Crisp showed up on trade rumor lists before the deadline, so clearly the Red Sox are not enamored with him. Coco is batting .272 with 4 HR and 20 RBI in ’06, and missed considerable time early in the year with a broken finger and kidney stones. Having a hand injury can hurt a hitter all season, and it appears that Crisp is no exception as his slugging percentage has dropped 80 points from last year. Michaels has a higher on base percentage and higher slugging percentage this season than Crisp.
Only Howry has comparable stats to 2005. He is currently 3-3 with 3 saves and a 3.35 ERA for the Cubs. That said, his ERA is almost a run higher than his 2.47 mark of ’05. There is no question the Tribe misses having Howry available to pitch the eighth inning, but he also has three more years remaining on his deal. Let’s say Howry’s ERA jumps a run again next year. Will the Cubs be happy to pay him $4 million for an ERA of over 4? Paying players based on a career year is a huge mistake, is that the case with Howry? We will find out in the next three seasons.
Mark Shapiro gets paid to make these decisions before he can see how the moves turn out. Based on these four players seasons in 2006, he made the correct call on three out of four, and the Howry decision was based on how many years the reliever signed for. That’s why the biggest free agent to be Larry Dolan needs to sign is his General Manager. Baseball America recently included Shapiro in an article of 10 men who will impact baseball in the future. Let’s hope that future includes continued employment by the Tribe.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 