The Dolan family yesterday signed an important free agent to be, GM Mark Shapiro to a five year contract. Shapiro may be the most important person in the Tribe organization and he will now be with the Indians as their General Manager through the 2012 season. Since Cleveland has not won a title since 1964, Shapiro has many critics, since he is just another guy who hasn’t won to the blood thirsty fans. Outside of this area, he is seen as one of the better GM’s in all of baseball. His continued employment with the Tribe should put a smile on the face of all Indians fans.
Yes, Shapiro has made mistakes. All GM’s do. The Roberto Alomar trade to the Mets didn’t provide the tremendous bounty Shapiro thought it would bring, but he learned not to sign players to long term deals (Matt Lawton) until he had a chance to take a good hard look at them. However, he has built the farm system into one of the sports’ best. Besides Jeremy Sowers, who arrived last year, the Tribe has Adam Miller, Tony Sipp, Trevor Crowe, and Brian Barton listed on many experts list of prospects ready to make an impact.
He used a farm product, Kevin Kouzmanoff, in a trade to get a young second baseman in Josh Barfield. He was not afraid to deal Bartolo Colon, and he acquired Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee in that deal. He managed to get some serviceable pieces in trading some marginal players like Ben Broussard and Eduardo Perez last season. Lest you forget, Shin-Soo Choo and slick gloved shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera came over from Seattle in those separate trades. Where many GM’s would have tried to get the team to a .500 record, Shapiro looked to the future. Ask people in Pittsburgh and Baltimore if their GM’s would have made that type of move.
All fans would like their team to have an unlimited payroll. The reality is most teams are in the same boat as the Cleveland Indians. Shapiro has done a great job of getting the most bang for the buck. He understands who has long term value and he also knows which veterans are not worth big dollars. While most were clamoring for the Tribe to resign 2B Ronnie Belliard, Shapiro saw a player who is in decline. Belliard didn’t sign with anybody until just prior to spring training. And for those still talking about Brandon Phillips, we will see what kind of year he has this year. He is projected for about a .265 average with 15 HR’s. That’s not the second coming of Joe Morgan.
Any Indian fan has to feel good today knowing that Mark Shapiro will be running the baseball operations here for the next five years. The Tribe organization will be run professionally and with a very good player development system. Mid to small market teams have to have that to compete. Look at the Twins and the A’s. With Shapiro, the Indians will join that list of small market squads that compete year in and year out.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 