With the World Series wrapping up this week, the hot stove league in baseball will start in earnest following the Fall Classic. Much like the regular season, it appears baseball fans in Cleveland won’t have much to look forward this winter either, it terms of the activities of the hometown team.
It looks like another quiet winter for the Tribe, except for Snowdays at Progressive Field during the holiday season.
In terms of that activity, let us praise the Dolan’s. If let’s say, the Steinbrenner family had thought of it, having snow related activities at the baseball field would have been heralded as genius.
Since the frugal Dolans thought of it, having ice-skating and a snow ramp for people to have fun at the ballpark during the winter is sneered upon. Just another thing that looks embarrassing for the city.
It says here that in the next few years, several other northern cities will do the same thing with their outdoor facilities. After all, the building is just sitting empty for several months. Why not do something that will create revenue?
And as we all know, this franchise needs all the money it can get to acquire and keep players. Okay, so we couldn’t let the Indians ownership go completely unscathed.
After two consecutive 90 loss seasons, it’s time for the revamped front office to start the process of moving the Indians back into contention in the American League Central Division.
By the way, let’s just say it doesn’t create a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings for the organization when the team’s former farm director decided to pass on the Cleveland managerial job last year, and then decided to skipper a team in the same division as three of the best teams in baseball. Yes, that would be John Farrell, new pilot of the Toronto Blue Jays.
It’s nice that Baseball America rated the Indians’ draft last summer as the best after one year. However, it would be a good guess, based on the way the Tribe develops talent, that none of the guys picked will arrive in Cleveland before 2012, and the closest to the majors is obviously first round pick Drew Pomerantz.
In fact, the last three amateur drafts have been good. But now the players picked in the 2008 draft have to start showing up at the major league level. The World Series isn’t determined by who has the best farm system or winning minor league championships. It’s time to see some of these guys.
Or you can use some of these prospects in trades. Look at the potential logjam the team has at 2B with Jason Donald, Jayson Nix, Jason Kipnis, Cord “Jason” Phelps, and even Luis “Jason” Valbuena. Certainly, at least one of those guys could be dealt to get some pitching.
And as we saw in the post-season, pitching is what wins. You have to score enough runs in the regular season to qualify for the playoffs, but once you are there, you have to have the ability to stifle the opponent’s bats. That why the development of guys like Pomerantz, Alex White, Carlos Carrasco, Hector Rondon, etc. are so important.
That said, it would still be nice to see a guy like Phelps get a shot at third base. There is no question that Lonnie Chisenhall is the future there, but if Phelps can get some big league experience at the hot corner, it makes him more valuable to the team or in a trade if say, Kipnis can handle second base.
If the Tribe is going to be idle this off-season, at least make a commitment to play the kids. And get more pitching! They cannot depend on anyone in their current starting rotation. There simply isn’t any track record to feel comfortable in 2011.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 