The Cleveland Indians are an organization under fire. The team has been a disappointment the past two years, and their fans are angry. They have played well since the all-star break for the second straight year, but that is fooling no one. The fans want answers, but all we are getting are excuses. That might be biggest reason for the angst.
The organization is in full cover your butt mode. They can give you all kinds of reasons as to why the 2008 and 2009 seasons went down the toilet, and they can tell you how the system is unfair. However, they haven’t told you that they are going to change the way they do business.
Since there are a lot of bad feelings out there among the fans, the front office, including the owners, should be laying low and waiting for the public’s attitude to become less edgy. In other words, stop the spinning and the talk about revenue streams. The Dolans should be kept quiet.
No one wants to hear about the $16 million they are losing this year. In fact, I would be asking them how much money they made in previous years. They certainly didn’t have a press conference to announce profits since they’ve owned the ballclub. If they are going to cry about the losses, then tell us how much has been made over the years.
Nor should the front office tell us about the team playing better over the past three weeks. Once again, the Tribe is winning when it doesn’t matter. The Indians are still fifteen games under .500 when being at that mark would make them contenders. There aren’t many people getting excited about winning series against the Central Division leaders. In fact, it’s depressing because it just shows that those teams aren’t very good.
Also, stop patting yourselves on the back about the high ceiling of the prospects obtained in the recent deals. You traded a Cy Young Award winner and an all-star! You should have at least received some good prospects.
Following a 93-win season in 2005, three of the last four seasons have been disappointing. Most of the players have changed. The only regulars remaining from that ’05 team are Grady Sizemore, Jhonny Peralta, and Travis Hafner. The manager is still there. So, when the front office tells you they have tried everything to see why the Indians haven’t played to expectations, they haven’t. Sometimes, firing the manager works (see: Rockies, Colorado).
The folks at WTAM (the Indians’ flagship station) will tell you what a great baseball man Eric Wedge is, and their afternoon drive time host will say Wedge will get a job instantly if Cleveland lets him go, but the reality is the guy has been here for seven years and has a .500 record. He’s been to the post-season once. That host even said Paul Dolan called him after a comment that Mark Shapiro lied to him. Think the Dolans want to control what’s said about their team?
Why isn’t Matt LaPorta on this team? Don’t the Indians need to find out if he can help them before next April? The company line is that the team needs to find out about Andy Marte. If this is so, why isn’t Marte in the lineup everyday?
Those are the questions the fans want answered.
I hope I am wrong about the Indians. I want them to be good. I still watch the games. I want them to be contenders in 2010. However, I’m tired of hearing excuses and spin. Make the team better. We want results, not clichés and rhetoric.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 