Tribe Front Office Not Exactly Appealing To Fan Base

The Cleveland Indians made some news this week, but not the kind the fans of the team wanted.

No, they didn’t sign a free agent bat, or trade a member of their deep starting rotation. But they did cause a stir because team president Chris Antonetti pretty much said the roster the Indians have now will be the one which will take the field in late March in Minnesota for Opening Day.

So, while the franchise isn’t in rebuilding mode, it does seem like they are no longer in “go for it” mode either.

Look, we understand the Cleveland Indians cannot have the same payroll as the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers. The market size simply doesn’t support that.

Last year, according to USA Today, Cleveland ranked 15th in the sport in money allocated to players salaries. Smack dab in the middle of all MLB teams.

They’ve shed the high salaries of Edwin Encarnacion, Michael Brantley, Andrew Miller, Yonder Alonso, Yan Gomes, and Cody Allen. The only high salary taken in this winter was Carlos Santana.

We agreed with many of these moves. Most of that group were aging players, their performance likely declining with the onset of Father Time. Unfortunately, it’s not like they’ve been replaced with young stud on the upswing.

Jake Bauers and Jordan Luplow could wind up being solid, if not very good, major league players, but in our experience, you can’t depend on two young players making quantum leaps to becoming solid contributors on a contending team.

Bauers has a career batting average of .201 in 350 at bats, while Luplow’s mark is .185 in less than 100 at bats.

And we know some of the money saved goes to increasing money to some of the Tribe’s stars. Francisco Lindor will make $10.5 million, Trevor Bauer around $12 million, and Corey Kluber will make an estimated $7 million more in 2019.

There’s too much risk in the current strategy. Would it be a shock if Bauers and Luplow don’t develop? Or Tyler Naquin can’t hit enough to play everyday? Or Jason Kipnis declines even more?

Even if only one of those happens, one would think the Indians are going to struggle to put runs up on the board.

Right now, they are assured of production at three spots: shortstop, third base, and wherever Santana plays.

With arguably the best starting rotation in the game, and two superstars in the lineup, why not spend at the same level as 2018? That’s the question for the Dolan ownership.

First, we would find it highly doubtful that the Indians lost money in 2018, or in any of the last five to ten years for that matter. The sport is flush with cash. They signed a new television deal that will provide all teams additional money in 2022.

Keep in mind, each team received $50 million last year when MLB Advanced Media sold some assets to Disney.

Stop blaming attendance too. While that took a slight dip in 2018, it is still 39% higher than the 2015 figure.

It figures to increase in ’19 because of the All Star Game being at Progressive Field this summer and there will be no Cavs playoff this year.

So, there’s no reason for ownership not to spend as much money as they did a year ago. Absolutely none.

A year ago, the Indians were on the same level as the Astros, Red Sox, and Yankees as the best teams in the American League. They’ve clearly taken a step back.

It’s not on the fans. It’s a decision made by the front office. If the Indians wanted to spend an extra $20 million in payroll in 2019, they could. It might not be prudent, but they could.

And there is no percentage of revenue teams must spend on payroll either.

Right now, the front office/ownership is showing they don’t want to go for it. And that’s something that should disturb the fan base.

What Options Remain For Tribe OF?

A couple of weeks ago, we talked about what free agents we wanted the Cleveland Indians to pursue this off-season. We felt Nick Markakis and D.J. LeMahieu were two guys who could be signed at reasonable deals and could help the Tribe.

Now, both are signed, Markakis to a very club friendly $6 million, one year deal, and the Indians still have a gaping hole in the outfield. Their options are getting slimmer by the week.

This has been rehashed before, so why not one more time. If the season began today, the likely outfield alignment would be Leonys Martin and Greg Allen in center, Tyler Naquin in left, and Jordan Luplow in right.

Doesn’t exactly sound like a threat to contend for the World Series winner, does it?

To be fair, we like Luplow’s potential. He had 36 extra base hits and 39 walks in 88 games at AAA last season (829 OPS), and slugged .535 at AA the year before that. He could be an interesting guy to watch in Arizona.

And we actually think there could be potential in the Martin/Allen platoon. Martin had close to an 800 OPS (799) against right-handed pitching a year ago.

There has been talk to getting a third baseman, which would move Jose Ramirez to 2B, and potentially move Jason Kipnis to left, but neither he nor Naquin would be another solid, proven bat this lineup badly needs.

Once again, right now, the Indians have three of those: Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Carlos Santana. Our opinion is you need six or seven to have an offense good enough to get you to October.

So, who is left on the open market, which is what the Indians’ front office will have to go to unless they decide to deal one of their starting pitchers.

Carlos Gonzalez has the highest OPS among attainable free agent hitters (Bryce Harper not included), but he hasn’t hit away from Coors Field since 2016.

Curtis Granderson is 38 years old and is at best a platoon player at this point in his career.

A. J. Pollock would be a great fit for Cleveland, but at 31 years old, he’s looking for a multi-year deal, and his price is probably out of the Tribe’s range, especially based on how they have been cutting the payroll this winter.

And it’s been reported he is signing with the Dodgers.

Adam Jones, who will play at 34 years old this upcoming season, has been linked to the Indians since last summer. Jones is coming off his worst season since he became a regular, and may be a candidate for a rebound season. However, his low career walk rate doesn’t hold much hope for that.

You also have Mike Moustakas, who could be signed and move Kipnis to the outfield, or Marwin Gonzalez, a multi-positional player who is looking to cash in his last two seasons. He took a big dip in ’18 though, looking more like the player he was earlier in his career.

Hopefully, the Cleveland front office is looking at Jones and/or Moustakas. They need to lengthen their lineup badly, and that duo could do that and at a seemingly reasonable price.

We would like Luplow and say, Jake Bauers, to make the leap and become solid everyday players. But you can’t depend on that when your goals are beyond winning the division, which with the top line talent the Indians have, should be the goal.

The fan base is becoming impatient, and that doesn’t help sell tickets.

Is The Tribe A Playoff Certainty in ’19? Maybe Not

In writing about the Cleveland Indians, we have referred to them as the favorites to win the American League Central Division, pretty much assuming they will get to the playoffs in 2019.

The question today is–based on the current roster, is that a correct assumption? Or are we thinking with our heart instead of the head.

Last year’s Indians scored 80 more runs than their closest competitors, the Minnesota Twins, a year ago. They allowed 127 runs less than the Twins.

They were the closest to the Tribe in both of those categories in 2018, and not coincidentally, the Twins finished second in the division, 13 games behind Cleveland.

Since the season’s end, the Indians have lost four of their top six hitters in OPS: Michael Brantley, Edwin Encarnacion, Yan Gomes, and Yonder Alonso. Replacing them are question marks.

They also have cut ties with the players with the three highest OPS figures among the non-regular players–Josh Donaldson, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Yandy Diaz.

While pitching may rule in a short series, you have to score runs to get to the post-season. In the AL, the top five teams in runs scored all made the playoffs, and in the National League, five of the top seven teams in runs scored advanced.

By the way, the Twins were the highest scoring team in the AL last season that did not make the playoffs, and they added C. J. Cron and Nelson Cruz to their lineup, while substracting Robbie Grossman and Joe Mauer, who retired.

Cron (816 OPS) essentially replaces Logan Morrison, who had the Twins’ lowest OPS among regulars, while Cruz (850 OPS) would rank as Minnesota’s best hitter, and had an OPS over 100 points higher than Mauer.

It would not be a stretch to say the Twins may score more runs than the Indians in 2019. We like Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler a lot, and the latter in particular should improve on his 2018 numbers.

Where the Indians have a huge advantage is in the starting rotation, arguably all five of the Cleveland starters could have better years than any of the Twins’ rotation members.

We like Jose Barrios, but right now he would be the fifth starter for the Indians.

Looking at the two teams, we would say the Indians are banking on their rotation’s ability to hold opponents’ hitters down, so they can win a lot of games 3-2 and 4-3. That’s difficult to sustain over an entire season, and puts a lot of pressure on the Cleveland bullpen, which is also in a state of disarray.

The Twins, led by former Indians’ assistant general manager Derek Falvey, haven’t been super aggressive this off-season, but they have made moves to improve their ballclub, which we can’t say about the Tribe.

Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff shouldn’t be comfortable about ruling the division again next season, especially with uncertainty at pretty much every spot save for shortstop, second or third base (depending on where Jose Ramirez plays), and first base/DH (wherever Carlos Santana is).

While the Cleveland starting pitching is the most impressive and best unit among the two rosters, the gap has definitely narrowed. And spring training is less than a month away.

We also haven’t mentioned the Chicago White Sox who are wooing free agent all-star Manny Machado.

Perhaps we should scale back our “certainty” that the Indians will get back to the playoffs in ’19. They have a lot to do to be considered a lock.

Cavs’ Turmoil This Year Not A Help To Sexton

It is no secret the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season hasn’t been as expected. While no one thought the Cavs would be returning to the NBA Finals for the fifth consecutive season, even the most negative fans would have thought they’d be sitting at 9-37 at this point.

But that’s what happens when not only does LeBron James depart, but your team is missing another all-star, Kevin Love, for basically the entire season.

All of the losing has caused fans to be very critical of some of the players, particularly the wine and gold’s first round draft pick, Collin Sexton.

It seems that many fans expected Sexton to be Kyrie Irving from the moment he took the court as a rookie. That’s a pretty unfair comparison.

Look, we don’t think the recently turned 20 year old point guard is having a good year. There are plenty of things he needs to address this off-season to be a starting caliber player on an NBA playoff team.

His assist to turnover ratio is 2.8::2.3, and his defensive win shares in the worst in the NBA.

However, if you look at the worst defensive win shares in the league, they lowest four all belong to Cleveland players: Cedi Osman, Rodney Hood, and Jordan Clarkson.

That’s because of the awful defensive concept the Cavaliers have used over the last two and a half seasons.

As for the assists to turnovers issue, the Cavs are second worst in the league in assists as a team, mostly because they don’t have a lot of ball movement in their offense. Our opinion is that’s a result of trying to control the shot clock in an effort to keep the pace slow.

That doesn’t mean Sexton is really a good passer either. At this point of his career, he’s more likely to look for his own shot than he is to seek the open man.

We’ve all seen the chart on social media showing Sexton’s terrible efficiency rating in comparison to the rest of the NBA players, but much of that is due to Cleveland’s terrible record and showing in games.

They get blown out a lot.

All of this doesn’t mean Sexton is a bust. First, no one should be labeled a bust 46 games into their career, especially someone who was thought of highly enough to be the eighth overall pick.

Make no mistake, most draft experts had Sexton going in the first dozen choices in the draft too. It’s not as though only the Cavaliers’ front office had him rated highly.

Actually, the one thing that has been better than advertised for the rookie is his shooting. He’s made 39% of his three point attempts (although he doesn’t shoot many), and is making 86.6% of his free throws, up 8% from his year at Alabama.

Let’s see how Sexton plays with a functional team before making the decision that the Cavs made a mistake.

A team with a coach that isn’t fired six games into the season. A team that doesn’t lose its best player four games into the year. A team that doesn’t have a revolving door at the #2 guard spot. A team that doesn’t try to play a small forward at the #4 position.

With all this going on, it’s not fair to make a judgment on Collin Sexton. Sometimes there is an underlying story beyond the analytics.

Tribe Bullpen Is Still A Concern Too

Another Cleveland Indian left the reservation yesterday with the announcement that Cody Allen is signing with the Los Angeles Angels as a free agent.

So, add him to the list of Michael Brantley, Andrew Miller, Edwin Encarnacion, Lonnie Chisenhall, Yan Gomes, Yandy Diaz, and we guess you can even include Josh Donaldson, as Tribe players who have departed since the end of the 2018 season.

Who has replaced them? Jordan Luplow, Jake Bauers, Kevin Plawecki, Max Moroff, Chih-Weh Hu, Jefry Rodriguez, and A.J. Cole.

One group isn’t a lot like the others is it?

Perhaps the front office has a big move up its sleeve, and perhaps it will be coming soon, but right now, you would have to be the biggest optimist in the world to think the Cleveland Indians are better today than they were when the season ended.

We understand why most of the players who are no longer here were let go. The Indians were getting old, and the front office needed to get younger players with upside.

It might work out that way in the end, but right now, the Indians might win the AL Central Division for the fourth consecutive year only because the rest of the division is in various states of rebuilding.

We agree with those who say a baseball team simply needs to get to the playoffs to have a chance, but with the current roster (and we know this won’t be the roster heading into the season, let alone the post-season), but clearly the Indians are behind their fellow playoff brethren, the Red Sox, Yankees, Astros, and probably the Rays and A’s too.

The outfield and bullpen are still a mess.

We have talked about the everyday lineup quite a bit, but the relief corps hasn’t improved since the end of last year, and it wasn’t a strength in 2018.

The best news is if those who say a bullpen is built from the closer back are correct, then Cleveland has a good foundation as they know their closer is Brad Hand.

The southpaw had 32 saves in ’18 and fanned 106 hitters in 72 innings.

Beyond that? Herein lies the problem.

Right now, who would be the set up men for Terry Francona?

Do any of these names inspire confidence? Adam Cimber, Neil Ramirez, Tyler Olson, Dan Otero? We didn’t think so.

Cimber was very good in San Diego and was thought to be an underrated piece coming over in the trade that brought Hand here, but he struggled with Cleveland, allowing 33 baserunners in 20 innings.

Besides, he’s a situational right-hander, and struggles against left-handed hitters.

Ramirez allowed nine home runs in 41 innings. That’s a lot. Otero allowed 12 gopher balls in 58 frames. So is that.

Olson is another lefty, the same as Hand. Francona likes Jon Edwards, who was a September call up, and had some moments after arriving, but he’s pitched eight innings in the bigs since 2015.

Maybe Ben Taylor or Rodriguez, who throws hard, or Cole can become reliable arms in relief, but that’s an awful large gamble for a team who is supposed to make a deep post-season run.

Stranger things can happen. But it’s a huge gamble for a team that should have World Series aspirations. If whoever breaks camp with the Indians doesn’t succeed right away, the front office will be shuffling the bullpen all year.

And perhaps they will be forced into a move made out of desperation.

It’s Up To Tribe To Cause Excitement In Team

The Cleveland Indians held their annual TribeFest last weekend, meaning spring training is just around the corner.

In about 30 days, the Tribe will convene in Goodyear, trying to defend three consecutive Central Division titles. The question is, who besides the players currently on the roster will be joining them.

Baseball seems to be in a bit of a holding pattern, waiting for the two marquee free agents, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, to sign.

While many teams have been bolstering their rosters for the upcoming season, the Indians have said thank you for your service to several mainstays from the past three years.

Gone are Michael Brantley (Houston), Andrew Miller (St. Louis), Edwin Encarnacion (traded to Seattle), Cody Allen (free agent), Yan Gomes (traded to Washington), and Yonder Alonso (dealt to the White Sox).

Carlos Santana is back, but otherwise, no one would recognize any of the players the front office has brought into the clubhouse.

Right now, the projected lineup appears to be dotted with holes, and the bullpen, a major area of weakness a year ago, hasn’t been approved.

Meanwhile, ownership seems to have taken the position that because attendance was down in 2018, they not only aren’t going to increase the payroll, they aren’t going to hit the figure they spent heading into the ’18 season.

That position is the root of the problem baseball fans here have with the Dolan family. They feel the front office should spend when they have a chance to win the World Series, not simply when they get an attendance boost.

With arguably the best starting rotation in the game, and two of the best position players in baseball, why not take a shot at ending a title drought at 71 years. This isn’t the time to draw a line in the sand with the people who buy tickets to watch your team.

Perhaps once Harper and Machado sign, the front office will spring into action and will the holes that exist in the everyday lineup, notably the outfield and the bullpen.

There are plenty of options still out there, and maybe the waiting will play into the hands of the Indians’ braintrust and they will get real good players at below market prices.

However, that approach doesn’t exactly sell tickets. With all of the excitement surrounding the Browns right now, shouldn’t the folks at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario want to muscle in on that spotlight?

We understand it is a business and they have a right to make a profit, but on the other hand it’s an entertainment business. People go to games as a night out, a recreational activity, so you have to give them a reason to travel to Progressive Field.

There was a buzz after the World Series, and the Tribe capitalized on it by signing Encarnacion as a free agent. During the season, they added Jay Bruce when Michael Brantley was injured, and dealt for bullpen help in Joe Smith.

After that season, Santana left and Yonder Alonso replaced him, which got no one excited.

Last year, the Indians made a splash in the bullpen getting Brad Hand from San Diego and picked up Leonys Martin at the deadline. The Hand move created buzz, but it was more about trying to fix a disastrous bullpen.

What we are saying is that it’s the responsible of the team to create excitement, it’s not up to the fans.

We would tell everyone about Frankie Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and the other all star caliber players wearing an Indians’ uniform.

Instead they complain about attendance and ask out loud why people don’t go to the games. That’s not going to help.

Cavs Need Size To Improve Defense Too.

In the past week or so, there has been a spotlight put on the defense played by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Or really, the lack of it.

Giving up 133 or more points in three of the last four games will cause that, especially when your team gives up 140 points in back to back outings versus New Orleans and Houston.

Among the reasons for the issues is the inexperience of the roster, but that is a lazy excuse because the Cavs’ problems in this area have extended since the championship season of 2015-16.

They ranked 21st in the NBA in the following season (2016-17), and dropped to 29th last season (2017-18), and now rank 30th.

In the first two of those seasons, Cleveland was a veteran team, led by LeBron James. No young players received more than 1000 minutes in either of those two seasons.

What was the reason for the poor results in those years?

We have in the past pointed the finger at assistant coach, Mike Longabardi, and though we still think his schemes are a main cause for the problem, there is another reason for the defensive issues.

The Cavaliers have a problem with height on the roster. Meaning they don’t have much of it.

In a sport where size matters, even in today’s game, the Cavs’ front office has basically ignored it since Tyronn Lue took over the team.

When the wine and gold won the title, they had Timofey Mozgov on the roster, a legitimate seven footer. By the end of the year, he wasn’t a factor, but he could provide an inside presence if needed.

Channing Frye (6’11”) and Tristan Thompson (6’10”) also received post minutes, and of course, Kevin Love (6’10”) was a mainstay at power forward.

The following season, Mozgov was gone, and the front office signed Chris Andersen to replace him. Andersen (6’10”) got hurt early in the year and never was replaced.

In the meantime, Golden State, who everyone praises for their small ball approach, had three players (JaVale McGee, Zaza Pachulia, and Kevin Durant) over 6’11” that received significant minutes.

This season, with Love out because of injury, only two players, Thompson and Ante Zizic (6’11”) rank in the top ten on the team in minutes, and Zizic is 10th.

Most nights, Larry Drew starts Cedi Osman, who is really a wing player, at power forward. Osman showed good defensive instincts a year ago for the Cavs, and Lue used him as a defender at the end of games last year, but he’s not a power forward, and shouldn’t be expected to guard players taller and thicker than him effectively.

Looking at the top teams defensively this season, the top rated teams are Oklahoma City, who have Steven Adams (7’0″) and Nerlens Noel (6’11”) along with other long players like Paul George, Jerami Grant, and Patrick Patterson.

Indiana, with Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis (both 6’11”) anchoring the middle, and they have Kyle O’Quinn and T.J. Leaf getting minutes as well.

Third is Milwaukee (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez, Ersan Ilyasova, and Thon Maker), and next is Utah with Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors.

For the Cavs, Zizic is kind of an afterthought for this staff, and Thompson made his reputation as a guy who can defend out on the floor better than in the paint.

Larry Nance Jr. can block shots, but his slight build makes him a bad matchup against true post players.

Our recommendation going further would be for the Cavs to get some big players, people who can guard the rim.

They need a new defensive plan, but without someone on the back line, it still could be problematic.

They can’t ignore size any longer.

Kitchens Gets The Gig!

The Cleveland Browns’ coaching search didn’t last all that long, and they stayed in house elevating Freddie Kitchens from offensive coordinator to the 17th full time head coach in team history.

Certainly, the performance of the offense in the second half of the season, after Hue Jackson was let go, was a factor in Kitchens getting the gig. And his connection with Baker Mayfield didn’t hurt either.

However, the biggest factor may have occurred when the former Alabama quarterback was given the reins to the offense when Jackson departed.

Kitchens made the players part of the process. By accounts, he went to the guys who have to go out on the field and execute what they liked to run and what they felt could be effective.

And then he started using those plays, and they worked. That got him the respect of the offensive players. It’s called leadership.

Good leaders aren’t tyrants. They include their subordinates in the process, only putting their foot down when they have to.

One of factors we believe makes a successful coach is taking what you have and getting the most out of your talent. And it helps if you can go to those guys and take into consideration what they feel they are good at, and not trying to fit the proverbial square peg into a round hole.

And it’s not like Kitchens is some inexperienced young guy either. He’s been a coach for a long time. He spent six years in the college ranks, and has been coaching in the NFL since 2006, with his longest tenure being in Arizona.

We feel some have dismissed him because he was here in Cleveland last season. Let’s say Kitchens was the offensive coordinator for half a season in Indianapolis and was part of the Colts’ resurgence. We think that would have made him a hotter commodity.

Since he was here, the excuses were made, like the offense clicked because Cleveland was playing opponents like Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Denver, all of whom ranked in the bottom 11 in terms of yards allowed.

However, the Browns played three other teams in the bottom ten under Hue Jackson, and didn’t move the ball up and down the field.

The Jets and Buccaneers had bad defenses too, yet the Kitchen led offense gained more yards against the Texans and Ravens than the Jackson/Haley one did against those foes.

GM John Dorsey spoke at the end of the season about the new coach being a “leader of men”, and that may be more important than the strategic things a head football coach brings to the table.

That being said, let’s say thank you to Gregg Williams, who galvanized the Browns and guided them to a 5-3 record in the second half of the season. After a three year period totaling four wins, the players needed to know what winning felt like.

Williams provided that.

No one knows if Kitchens will guide the Browns to the playoffs in the future, the same as no one knows how long the players will buy in to his message.

Bill Belichick was a defensive guru. Andy Reid coached the offensive line and tight end before moving to quarterbacks coach. Pete Carroll was a defensive backs coach before becoming a coordinator. John Harbaugh was a special teams coach.

The point is there is no set way to become a great coach in the NFL.

Freddie Kitchens seems like he’s comfortable with who he is, and that’s a big difference from the guy who was here at the beginning of this season.

Tribe Needs To Go For It, Not Reduce Payroll

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.

Cavs Need New Defensive Scheme…Now!

There is no question the Cleveland Cavaliers are shorthanded. They don’t have their best player in Kevin Love. Tristan Thompson just returned from missing games, and he is their second best player.

David Nwaba is the Cavs’ best perimeter defender and he has been more out of the lineup than in it for most of the season. And last night, Rodney Hood and Matthew Dellavedova missed the contest with injuries.

That left coach Larry Drew with nine healthy bodies. One of those, Jalen Jones, is a two-way player, and Pat McCaw just joined the team after signing as a free agent.

There is no question it is a very difficult situation for Drew.

The wine and gold have lost nine in a row, and six of the nine have been by 15 points or more. So, for the most part, the Cavaliers are getting boat raced on a nightly basis.

In only one of those games, a 95-87 loss at Memphis, did the Cavs allow less than 110 points. Not 100 points, a 110 points.

As a point of contrast, in the 18 games prior to and including Cleveland’s last win over Indiana, opponents were held under 110 points 11 times.

In this nine game losing streak the defense has been atrocious.

There is no question the Cavaliers are the NBA’s worst defensive team. They are worst in field goal percentage against, and the only reason they aren’t last in the league in points allowed is they are 29th (second last) in the NBA in pace.

They play very slow, which is by design because it is their best chance of pulling out a few wins.

The defensive issues aren’t anything new either. Cleveland ranked 29th in the NBA a year ago with a team that had LeBron James on it. The year before? They were 21st.

The last time the Cavs ranked in the top ten in the Association was in their championship season of 2015-16.

That’s when Tyronn Lue was in charge of the defense. Since then, Mike Longabardi has been in charge and it’s time for a change there.

Why now? There is no question the coaching staff will be blown out after the season and Longabardi will be replaced then. Why not wait it out?

This is a very young basketball team, and they aren’t learning basic, sound defensive concepts. Collin Sexton is statistically the worst defensive player in the league (by defensive win shares), and Jordan Clarkson is second worst.

The worst three defensive ratings on the team belong to Sexton, Dellavedova, and Cedi Osman. We know Delly can play defense, and Lue used to use Osman for defense at the end of games a year ago. All of a sudden he can’t defend?

Look at the last few games–

1/5 vs. New Orleans: 61 points against in first half, 72 in the second half
1/4 vs. Utah: 48 points against in first half, 69 in the second half
1/2 vs. Miami: 58 points against in first half, 59 in the second half
12/29 vs. Atlanta: 57 points against in first half, 54 in the second half
12/28 vs. Miami: 56 points against in first half, 62 in the second half

See a pattern, the coach sees what a team is doing in the first half, makes some adjustments, and they do worse after halftime?

We understand this season is a rebuild and should be the basement for awhile. But we are concerned about bad habits going forward.

We still believe Osman can play, and we think Sexton has ability. However, they could be harmed by what’s going on with this season.

It’s not too late to make a move. Use the second half of the season to lay a defensive foundation for the future. And hold the players accountable too.