Many people may not believe this, but once upon a time, the Baltimore Orioles were a symbol of baseball excellence.
From 1963 through 1983, the Orioles were the model of how to run a baseball organization.
In that time span, Baltimore failed to win 85 games at the big league level just three times, and two of those seasons occurred in years where the schedule was shortened by labor issues (1972 and 1981).
Only in 1967, a year after the won the World Series, did the O’s fail to reach the .500 mark, finishing at 76-85.
They ran their baseball operations with a philosophy called “The Oriole Way”, and all the minor league teams were run stressing fundamentals and the correct way to do things.
Whether you agree or disagree with the way they ran their organization, you cannot argue with its success.
The Cleveland Indians seem to run their organization with their own set of ideas and philosophies, however, the track record for success just isn’t there.
In the 12 years the Dolan family have owned the team, and Mark Shapiro has been running the organization, the Tribe has won more than 85 games, exactly four times (2000, ’01, ’05. and ’07).
You could argue that the first two of those years were done with holdovers from the club that dominated the AL Central in the 1990’s.
The reason for looking at this was provoked because the Tribe looked within to replace Tim Tolman and Tim Belcher on their coaching staff, going to Tom Wiedenbauer as the new first base coach, and bullpen coach Scott Radinsky will take over for Belcher.
Minor league pitching coordinator Dave Miller will replace Radinsky as bullpen coach.
This is not to denigrate the abilities of any of these men. They are all fine baseball men, and you have to credit the success of this year’s relief pitchers, the strength of the team, to Radinsky.
However, for a team that hasn’t enjoyed a lot of success recently, you would think they might consider looking outside the organization.
Yes, they did go outside for Acta, but he also seems to be on the same page as both GM Chris Antonetti and Shapiro, at least publicly.
There is no diversity within the organization that we are aware of. Certainly, inside closed doors there may be plenty of disagreements on philosophy and talent evaluation. However, there isn’t any curiosity about what other, more successful, organizations are doing.
It’s one thing to be firm in your beliefs, it’s another not to look at alternatives when you aren’t getting results.
Why not look at an organization who emphasize putting the ball in play at the plate? The Texas Rangers were last in the American League in striking out. They were also third in the AL in runs scored and are in the World Series for the second straight year.
Instead, the Tribe brass look at the value of players, and are considering invoking contract options because of what the market holds.
Antonetti and Shapiro need to stop worrying about these things and start looking at what constitutes a winning organization.
They, of course, will claim that we don’t understand the financial constraints they are under. However, Tampa Bay isn’t a big spender and have made the post-season three of the last four years.
Why not look at their organization and perhaps hiring someone from a team that has been successful.
One thing is true. Based on the last twelve seasons, whatever philosophy the Indians are using isn’t working.
Instead of going with the status quo, perhaps looking at a new approach would be in order.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 