Regular readers of this site can figure out our age by when we started following sports in northeast Ohio. The starting point for us was 1965, and we recently were thinking about our relationship with the Cleveland baseball team in that period.
From 1965-1990, the Indians were poorly financed and poorly run. The ownership and front office wanted to win, but they had no money, forcing management to trade many young players because they couldn’t afford them.
Think about players like Chris Chambliss and Graig Nettles, who became mainstays of a couple Yankee World Championship clubs. They had Dennis Eckersley, Buddy Bell, and Julio Franco who were all either great (Eck is in the Hall of Fame) or very good, but were traded for prospects or the dreaded “we’ll get three average players for one real good one” move.
From 1991-2001 were the halcyon days. Jacobs Field opened in 1994, and attendance was at a franchise peak for a sustained time. The Indians were well run, well financed, and ownership was motivated to break the at the time 40-year drought between post-season appearances.
Cleveland was in the top ten (some years top five) in payroll. Big name free agents signed here, first veterans like Eddie Murray, Dennis Martinez, and Orel Hershiser, and later coveted ones like Jack McDowell, Kenny Lofton, and Roberto Alomar.
And then we have from 2002 to the present. There is no question the team is well run. The front office, especially with Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff is charge does a solid job. Financially, in spite of the constant whining and moaning about the lack of money, they are solid, the biggest difference between now and the previous two eras is this ownership doesn’t seem to have an overwhelming desire to win.
One of our tried-and-true theories is the everyone likes to win. Who wouldn’t? It’s fun. However, there is a huge difference between liking to win and hating to lose. Our favorite athletes are the one who will do anything to avoid a loss.
As owners, the Dolans are the former, they like to win. However, we don’t think they are obsessed with ending the franchise’s World Series drought, which has now reached 76 years.
This comes up again because of a report that the Guardians payroll being reduced from the beginning of the 2024 season, after a season where the team won a playoff series and got to the AL Championship Series, baseball’s Final Four, if you will.
Also, attendance was up. After years of the ownership saying they would spend when the fans showed up (that’s not the way it works in business by the way), slightly over 222,000 folks went to Progressive Field in ’24, the 6th highest increase in the majors.
And they are spending less on players.
This is not to suggest the Guardians can spend like the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, and a few other big market teams. But reducing the payroll after a wildly successful season is a slap in the face to the fans.
It’s not like this Guards’ roster doesn’t have holes. Impartial observers see problems with both the everyday lineup and the starting rotation.
Even the staunchest defender the Guardians’ owners should be appalled by this development. We’ve already heard the excuse about the television broadcast deal, but it should not stop them from trying to get to another World Series.
We don’t know what will happen during the ’25 baseball season, and we have been a fan of this baseball team for 60 years. We want them to win. We’ve said it before, but wishing and hoping isn’t a plan. Get the payroll to the level of other teams of this size market, like Milwaukee or Kansas City.
Do something to make another team have the longest span since winning a World Series.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 