In Sunday’s issue of The Plain Dealer, columnist Terry Pluto clubbed fans of the Cleveland Indians in the heads with his comment that the Tribe’s front office wasn’t going to equal last season’s payroll for this year’s team.
Many of us who thought the Indians were simply re-allocating payroll, meaning moving some high salaried veteran players to bring in some younger guys with more of an upside were living in a fantasy rule.
By the way, we don’t doubt Pluto has this correct. He’s one of the most respected writers in the country, and has very good contacts within the Tribe organization.
So, all of the critics of the ownership of the city’s baseball team can claim to be correct in believing this was a payroll dump all along.
Once again, it appears the Dolan ownership is hitting supporters of the team with the idea of spending money when fans buy tickets.
We understand the Indians have been very successful on the field over the last three season, reaching the World Series in 2016, and making the playoffs in each of the last two years.
Attendance jumped from 1.39 million in 2015 to 1.59 million in ’16, and then to 2.05 million after winning the pennant.
The number of paying customers did dip last season to 1.93 million. However, this is still 340,000 more people than visited Progressive Field in 2016.
It seems all ownership looks at is the slight dip from ’17 to ’18, and not the gain made from 2015, when attendance was a half million less than last season.
Look, we understand ownership probably went to the max in regards to payroll a year ago, but when you have a chance to win a World Series, which the Indians do, make no mistake about it, cutting the amount of money you want to spend on players seems counter intuitive.
First of all, the Indians have two of the best players in the game on the roster in Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and a starting rotation that is the envy of every other team in the sport.
As for this year’s attendance, we would project a bump because of the All Star Game being in Cleveland this season, and also because the Cavaliers won’t be a factor this spring.
In the past four years, the Tribe has been kind of an afterthought as the Cavs made their way through the post-season, which had them playing into June.
That won’t be the case this year, which we would imagine would free up some sports entertainment dollars for the Indians, if the organization would give people a reason to be excited.
News of a reduction in the payroll isn’t going to get people in northeast Ohio excited about the Indians. Signing a free agent or making a trade to improve potentially the least productive outfield in the game might garner some interest.
And starting to put out comments like the payroll is going to be cut because attendance dropped in 2018 certainly isn’t going to fuel positive interest.
We have said this before, but fans don’t care about whether or not the Dolan family makes a profit. To them, success is measured by wins on the field, and after 2016, when the Indians were this close to their first world title since 1948, they want progress in the post-season.
They want the front office to go for it.
We understand the financial limitations operating a team in this market, and we believe most fans get the Tribe can’t spend with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers.
There is still a month before the Indians gather in Goodyear for spring training. Let’s hope management spends some of the cash saved to improve the team from last year.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 