If Tribe Is Done, They Didn’t Do Enough.

Earlier this week, Indians’ president Chris Antonetti announced the signing of free agent 1B/DH Mike Napoli to a one year contract, and then said the Tribe is pretty much done when it comes to adding talent this off-season.

Let’s hope he is being coy.

Because if the front office is finished with the roster for the 2016 season, they haven’t done enough to improve the offense.

Getting Napoli and Rajai Davis are okay moves, and in a vacuum, you can’t complain about either player, especially because they were both brought in on one year deals.

Cleveland was 11th in the American League in runs scored last season, and will be missing their best hitter, Michael Brantley, for at least the first six weeks of the season.

Yes, we know that Francisco Lindor will be with the team all season, and Yan Gomes, a Silver Slugger winner in 2014, will hopefully be healthy for the entire season.

That will help the offense without a doubt.

Still, the Tribe didn’t get the impact bat, they so desperately need. They have a lot of players who will be put in the middle of the order in Cleveland, but for good offensive teams, they would hit somewhere between 6th and 9th.

That can work, but it requires every hitter in the lineup to have a solid season. There can’t be more than one spot where you aren’t getting offense.

We feel they will be better offensively in 2016, but not enough to put the Indians in the 90+ win conversation they need to win the division and avoid the one and done wild card game.

There is no question they have the pitching to contend and stay in the race. They finished 2nd in the AL in ERA, and their top four rotation hurlers might be without peer in the league.

But without better hitting, the Indians are going to lose too many games, 2-1 and 3-2. Games where they get excellent starting pitching and waste it.

Why not do something about it?

In a sport without a salary cap, it is funny to hear discussions about the Indians and talk about a $90 million payroll ceiling. Let us remind you that it is a self imposed figure.

There is nothing to prevent the Dolans from spending more than that figure except their own economical restraints.

Right now, the market is flush with free agent outfielders, and Terry Francona would have to start Davis, Abraham Almonte, and Lonnie Chisenhall out there if the season started today.

The Indians may have played the market correctly, and may be able to get a quality outfielder at a lower year commitment, something that is preferable for a smaller market team.

There was talk yesterday that Justin Upton may take a one year deal with Texas. And you know there is nothing bad about a one year contract.

So, the price tag for guys like Yoenis Cespedes and Gerardo Parra may not be as high as originally thought, and the trade value of players like Marcell Ozuna and Carlos Gonzalez may also be coming down.

We hope the Indians can take advantage of this and go out and get another solid bat to help length the lineup.

We hope that Antonetti was just being coy with the media and his people are still working feverishly to upgrade the hitting.

The Cleveland Indians can’t waste another year of excellent pitching without making the playoffs.

That would be a shame.

Browns In No Position To Gamble

The big shake up in Berea is now two days old, and quite frankly, we are still shaking our heads.

There is no question at all that Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer needed to go. The rumors of discord between the two appear to be true, and owner Jimmy Haslam felt he needed his coach and GM to be on the same page.

However, we are still stunned at the direction that Haslam chose on Sunday.

When your franchise has floated in the abyss for 16 years, and 10 loss seasons becoming the norm, the smart and prudent thing would seem to be hiring a football guy, someone who has been involved in rebuilding projects.

Instead, Haslam chose a lawyer. Sashi Brown may be a brilliant man and has been around football for awhile, but that doesn’t make him the ideal choice to get resurrect the Cleveland Browns.

As we have said, the house staff for rich and famous people are around money all the time, but it doesn’t make them rich.

We have seen people out there, contrarians, saying there are several ways to accomplish building a winning football organization, and there is no question that is true.

But it would seem to be prudent that if you are trying to change the culture here and develop a winning team, you should hire someone who is a football man and has a history of evaluating talent.

The way it appears now is that Haslam is trying to be Jerry Jones, with the ultimate control over the franchise. He seems to want the head coach of the team reporting to him, not a general manager or a head of football operations.

Since Jimmy Johnson left Dallas after a disagreement with Jones, how many Super Bowls have the Cowboys won? Just one, a couple of years after Johnson left, with the talent that he accumulated.

It appears that the owner doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, and that is a major problem.

Again, no one is saying that it won’t work for sure. Heck, winning the lottery is a way to get rich. It just isn’t a high percentage way to do so.

And that is how we feel about the Cleveland Browns’ “plan”.

They hired Paul DePodesta, a former major league baseball executive as a vice president today.

This smacks of trying to show everyone how smart they are. They have a new, exciting way of building a football team. Maybe it will work, maybe it will fail miserably.

The reality is that Haslam is conducting a scientific experiment with our football team. It’s a risk that may payoff with a string of playoff appearances, or it could blow up in their face and extend our current misery by several years.

If the ownership had tried getting a solid, successful, football man in place and it failed, we could understand trying a different approach. But they never did that.

We will keep our fingers crossed, but right now, we don’t see how this power structure works.

The tried and true method is usually just that for a reason. We wish Jimmy Haslam had done that at least once.

Browns’ Upheaval Not Off To Promising Start.

The Cleveland Browns’ 28-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers was the least news making event of the day for the beleaguered franchise.

The rumors started over the weekend that GM Ray Farmer and coach Mike Pettine would both lose their jobs following today’s game, regardless of the result.

It turns out that Farmer was informed he was out prior to the game, while Pettine wasn’t officially told until his club finished the season with a 3-13 record and 18 losses in the last 21 games.

Farmer’s mistakes were well documented by the media, but as we have said many times, we believe there is some talent on the roster. The former GM’s weakness was not getting a playmaker on offense outside of RB Duke Johnson.

Pettine’s issue was stubbornness, an unwillingness to not change schemes and personnel that were obviously not working. The run defense has been poor since the day he was hired, and several stories have come out, including one quoting former Bills and Colts’ GM Bill Polian said the Browns’ defensive concepts were too complicated.

And while offensive coordinator John DiFilippo and quarterback coach Kevin O’Connell were given credit over the course of the season, they too seemed to abandon the run too often, including today where they threw twice as much as they ran even though they were getting close to four yards a pop on the ground.

The Johnny Manziel issue reared its ugly head last night when it was reported he was in Las Vegas, and then didn’t show at Berea this morning for a mandated examination as part of the concussion protocol.

We have supported giving Manziel a full shot at the starting quarterback spot going into next year, but no more. The young man obviously doesn’t take being a starting quarterback in the NFL seriously and we would dissolve ties with him as soon as possible.

His cloud can no longer linger over this franchise.

However, it is very concerning how the new hierarchy in Berea will play out.

Owner Jimmy Haslam once again has decided against putting a football man in charge and letting that man make the football decisions.

Haslam instead announced Sashi Brown, a lawyer and salary negotiator for the Browns as the vice president of football operations.

Brown will play a part in hiring the coach, along with the owner, his wife Dee, and a high powered recruiter who has helped NFL teams in the past.

Then Brown and the new coach will hire the general manager.

If that sounds different, it’s because it is.

As for a new coach, we will reiterate that the Browns do not need another first time head coach.

They need someone who will instill discipline and accountability throughout the entire organization and the forty man roster.

They must rid themselves of the excuse makers that permeate the roster. They need to find players who aren’t tolerant of losing, even if some of those players are headed Pro Bowl players.

The thing that disturbs us is that the Browns are in the football business, yet Haslam seems to be giving more power to lawyers and accountants, who are studying game films to learn about the game.

Why not hire people who already know about the sport? Wouldn’t they know what is needed to move this franchise in the right direction?

Haslam made the correct move in ejecting Pettine and Farmer from positions they weren’t capable of handling.

However, we don’t like the first step in solving the problem. If Haslam owned a law firm, or an investment group, Sashi Brown might be a great choice.

He owns a football team though, so we will keep a jaundiced eye on who they will hire to guide this team back into the winning column.

Cavs Still Searching For Proper Rotation

It is hard to believe that the NBA season has reached the 30 game mark, and Cavaliers’ coach David Blatt is still searching for the proper player rotations.

This is what happens when you have had the injury problems the wine and gold have suffered through over the summer, during training camp, and even more since the season commenced.

The recent additions of Iman Shumpert and then Kyrie Irving to the active roster have caused the head coach to reshuffle minutes, and as of right now, he’s still searching for a healthy medium.

Those two missed all of camp and the exhibition games. Timofey Mozgov has struggled with off-season knee surgery, and even LeBron James missed the last two weeks of training camp with back issues.

Since the season started, JR Smith and Mo Williams have both missed some time with bumps and bruises too. Even Matthew Dellavedova sat out one game with a bad calf.

That has caused Blatt to have to scramble to find a rotation that works on a night to night basis.

Even going into tonight’s game against Denver, Blatt will not have Irving available because the Cavs don’t want him playing in back-to-back games just yet.

That means Dellavedova will start and probably Williams will get more time.

Dellavedova is a different type of player than Irving, and that’s what make it tough for the coach and the players.

Blatt moved Tristan Thompson into the starting lineup for Mozgov last night, which takes a rim protector off the floor, but they get a better defender away from the hoop instead.

That also forces a change in the substitution pattern.

The good news is the Cavaliers have three and a half months to have everyone be healthy (cross your fingers) and develop a rotation Blatt can go to on an every night basis.

The problem with Williams is Blatt doesn’t trust him defensively. He said they moved him out of the starting lineup because of the inevitable return of Kyrie Irving, but really it was starting point guard torching the Cavs with penetration.

That was the reason for our indifference in signing Williams in the off-season. He’s not a good defender and in the playoffs, that’s what the wine and gold’s success was built on.

The other player usually mentioned when playing time is discussed is Anderson Varejao. The Brazilian’s problem is the Cavs have three solid big men in Kevin Love, Thompson, and Mozgov, and when Cleveland goes small, they shift James to power forward.

It simply doesn’t leave a lot of time for the veteran.

Our guess is that the coaching staff is taking it slow with Varejao because of his long history of injury and he will get more time as the season goes on.

He can still rebound and defend, and he has a pretty reliable jump shot from the elbow. Those are all things any team can use.

It is tough to be patient for fans because they have been waiting so long in northeast Ohio, but the constant shuffling of players because of injuries is partly to blame for the Cavs’ inconsistency.

There is still more than half of the season to go, and our guess is Blatt will settle on a rotation that will work and the Cavaliers will go on another hot streak.

More Head Scratching Decisions For Browns

We decided to look at today’s 17-13 loss by the Cleveland Browns to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium chronologically.

The first thing that made us shake our heads was the news that Justin Gilbert and Terrelle Pryor were inactive.

Gilbert wasn’t listed on the injury report although he did miss the last two games with a concussion, so maybe the coaching staff didn’t feel he was fully recovered.

What we thought at the time was we were going to see more of Johnson Bademosi at CB, which didn’t make us warm and fuzzy.

As for Pryor, why is he on the roster if you aren’t going to take a look at him at WR in these last couple of meaningless games.

Dumb, dumb, dumb decision.

Then we saw that Dwayne Bowe, he of the five catches and $9 million contract, was named a captain for the game, because the Browns were playing his old team.

It is not possible to send a more idiotic message to the rest of your players. Another example of the lack of accountability that surrounds this franchise.

Once again, Mike Pettine chose to defer after winning the coin toss.

If Cleveland had a strong defense, there would be no problem with this move, but Jim O’Neil’s troops have been a sieve most of the year.

Why would you want to put your weakest unit on the field first? Pettine chooses to do just that week after week after week.

And on the first possession of the game, Kansas City marches 65 yards in 11 plays, eating up half of the first quarter in taking a 7-0 lead before the Browns touched the football.

When the Browns did get the ball, Johnny Manziel was having trouble completing passes. He missed Gary Barnidge wide open, having to throw early because of pressure.

We figured the Johnny bashes would have a field day with that.

The Browns finally got on the board with a Travis Coons’ field goal from 45 yards after an innovative play by Manziel was called a penalty for an illegal forward pass.

On first sight, it looked like a lateral, and on instant replay, it didn’t look like enough evidence to overturn, which the officials did.

It took away a first down inside the KC 20.

It then appeared like the Browns’ defense didn’t realize that Alex Smith could run with the ball. He gashed the unit for over 50 yards in the first half, with 29 of them coming after Barkevious Mingo whiffed on a sack.

As for the secondary, Tramon Williams got flagged for pass interference on a deep throw and got beat on turn in pattern by a TE.

Really, Gilbert can’t play worse than this.

We counted at least six missed tackles in the first half, which ended with Cleveland trailing 17-3.

In the second half, it looked like Pettine realized he had a mobile quarterback too.

Manziel ran for 34 yards on the half’s first play and wound up with 108 yards rushing for the day.

We don’t approve of this every week, but on a day where the wind was gusting (how many times did the ball blow off the spot?), the QB and offensive coordinator did what they had to do to move the ball.

The Browns had 232 yards on the ground, with Isaiah Crowell getting 88 more on 16 attempts.

Cleveland had a 21 play drive in the half where Manziel ran or threw on 10 of the plays. He and Crowell were carrying the attack.

The downside was the Browns had two chances to win the game in the last six minutes, but couldn’t get the ball in the end zone.

The first drive ended at the Chiefs’ 30 with two long passes after a first down run. There was still three minutes left, abandon the running game.

Cleveland got the ball back with 1:52 left at their own 30, and picked up three first downs, but the game ended on a completion across the middle.

Things could have been handled better.

All that is left for the Browns is to knock the Steelers out of the playoffs with a win at First Energy Stadium next week.

The bigger news will be made the next day, the NFL’s Black Monday.

One Word NOT Into Action: Accountability

It is ludicrous that any member of the Cleveland Browns’ defense is parading around the locker room wearing a wrestling championship belt after the team allowed 182 yards rushing against Seattle.

It is not as crazy as knowing that the belt was awarded to rookie NT Danny Shelton by his own coaching staff.

And it was reported the several other players received trinkets for “playing like a Brown”, we guess, even though the Browns lost by more than 14 points for the sixth time in the last eight games.

By this point in the season, with a 3-11 record, and 16 losses in the last 19 games, wouldn’t the little internal “prizes” given out by the coaching staff have gone away?

It seems that even through all of the losing, it’s still fun and games in the Browns’ locker room.

This is yet another example of the fake tough guy persona that Mike Pettine has cultivated.

At least one Cleveland sports talker even points out after Pettine’s daily press conferences how well the head coach handles himself and how the points he makes are well thought out.

This host thinks Pettine should be brought back as coach because he seems to understand what is going on here.

We could not disagree more.

We have said this before, but what this football team really needs is accountability and toughness.

The next coach of the Browns needs to come in with a mindset to really change the losing culture that permeates the locker room.

He needs there will be consequences for dumb penalties, missing blocks, missing tackles, etc.

And that penalty will be a reduction in playing time, and that would start in training camp.

No more “veterans day off” for anyone wearing a Browns’ uniform, and that includes nine time Pro Bowler Joe Thomas.

If you want to limit him in practice a few times per year because of his age, that’s fine, but eliminate giving anyone the entire day off.

It is crazy that two players, young players at that, were given the day off yesterday for personal reasons. Outside of a death in the family or a medical emergency, they should have been there.

Does anybody think this stuff happens in New England?

And the new coach should demand that players report to training camp in July in shape. Most analysts who still think rookie Cam Erving is not a bust say he needs to get stronger (we agree with this).

The real question is why isn’t he stronger? After the Browns picked him in the first round, why wasn’t he told that he needed to get bigger and stronger to play offensive line in the NFL?

And last, but not least, stop the excuses with injuries. Every single team in the NFL has them and the good team overcome them.

If someone gets hurt, for example, Joe Haden, you can’t just keep everything the same and hope for the best.

The Browns don’t have the depth that other NFL teams have, and that is a problem with the personnel department, but the coaching staff has to look at the players remaining and put them in the best position to succeed.

That’s coaching after all.

You have to develop the mentality that we have to win football games, and there are NO excuses.

We don’t see that in Berea.

The Cleveland Browns are in need of a real tough, no nonsense coach and coaching staff. It’s too bad if the players don’t like it, but after all, they don’t win, their experience is losing.

That has to change before this organization starts to move forward.

Shouldn’t Be Manziel Vs. McCown

In Cleveland, we don’t have quarterback controversies, we have quarterback fights.

It’s not enough to say you prefer one signal caller over another, you have to point out that the other guy is god awful as well.

That’s what has happened for many when discussing this year’s passing duo–Johnny Manziel and Josh McCown.

If you are a Manzealot, you have to show your contempt for McCown, while if you prefer the veteran, that means you have to point out that Johnny Football is a punk who can’t stop partying.

The reality is (and we have said this all along) quarterback play hasn’t been to the problem for the Cleveland Browns this season. Both Manziel and McCown have played well.

Quite frankly, that both have played well is a miracle. The offense hasn’t been able to run the football at all this season, and the offensive line hasn’t performed up to expectations.

The wide receiving corps is filled with slot receivers, and some of those guys have had problems catching the ball when it has been thrown to them.

The only reliable weapon for either passer has been TE Gary Barnidge. Brian Hartline was starting to come on before he broke his collarbone in the win against the 49ers.

Looking at passer rating, smack dab in the middle of this statistic in Brian Hoyer (ironic, huh?) at 93.0. McCown rates just ahead of Hoyer at 93.3, while Manziel is a very respectable 85.9.

The difference between the two is Manziel’s touchdown rate is lower than the veteran and his interception rate is a bit higher.

Both guys have done a solid job, and we would even point out that McCown has done better at putting points on the board.

So why play Manziel if McCown has performed admirably? Because there is only one man on the roster who has a chance to be a better than average starting QB in the NFL, and that is the second year man out of Texas A & M.

He’s a first round draft pick and he just turned 23 years old. His future is ahead of him. McCown will be 37 next season, and let’s face it, he is what he is, he’s not getting any better.

Since the Browns will have one of the top five picks in next spring’s draft, the subject of drafting another quarterback, the almighty “franchise QB” will be discussed ad nauseum.

However, we don’t think any of the guys currently mentioned (Paxton Lynch, Jerod Goff, Connor Cook) are rated among the top ten players in the draft, so we would pass if we were the Browns.

Besides, it should be obvious to everyone that Cleveland’s biggest problem is their defense, which has allowed 30 or more points in nine of the 14 games they have played.

If you want to improve the team quickly, don’t you have to go with the best defensive player available?

Remember that if the Browns’ defense gave up 20 points in every game this season, they would be a .500 football team. That’s where this team needs to improve.

We would have no problem if the Browns go into the 2016 season with both Johnny Manziel and Josh McCown on the roster with another rookie drafted in the second or third round as well.

The reason to play Manziel is to see what he can do, it’s not because McCown played terribly.

Still Want to Support Pettine?

After the Cleveland Browns defeated an equally terrible San Francisco team a week ago at home, there were some, particularly in the media, who were giving coach Mike Pettine an endorsement to return in 2016.

Do you still think that today?

After today’s 30-13 loss to Seattle, you would have to say this looked like the same team we’ve seen over the last two months.

The defense allowed 30 or more points for the 9th time in 14 games, and there was poor tackling, poor defense against the run, and dropped passes galore.

But, quarterback is still the issue with this football team, right?

Perhaps the funniest thing was Pettine’s attitude this week, acting like he was doing a good job, making comments about the 49ers effort in the middle of the week, and making comments which could have been construed as negative about a QB who has appeared in the last two Super Bowls.

While the coach’s comments on Russell Wilson are true, the point is why make them at all? Nothing positive was going to be made by them.

Maybe Pettine has the same issues with self-control as he accused his own passer of having?

Maybe Johnny Manziel should bench the coach for two games.

Seattle gained 182 yards on the ground, above the usual 150 Jim O’Neil’s defense gives up. A man with the same first name as my wife’s friend, Christine Michael, gained 84 yards in 16 carries.

Also, the defense allowed the Seahawks to convert 9 of 12 third down situations, and the ‘Hawks’ punter, Jon Ryan, was only used once.

And again, all the media talks about is the QB.

This has been a problem since game one, and there hasn’t been an adequate solution found after 14 games.

In fact, outside of the quarterback position, what other unit has improved since 2014? The correct answer is none, and that’s why Pettine and his staff should be dismissed on January 4th.

There are plenty of other things that confound us too.

For example, why does Pettine and O’Neil continue to use Johnson Bademosi at cornerback? Pierre Desir was the staff’s darling during training camp, but now he is buried behind a special teams ace.

Bademosi made his bones in the NFL on special teams, and isn’t putting players in positions where they can’t succeed a sign of poor coaching?

As for Manziel, all week we heard how he was going to have an issue with turnovers and it will show he can’t play in the NFL.

He showed just the opposite.

He led the Browns to a touchdown (7 yard pass to Gary Barnidge) on the opening drive (by the way, that’s why you shouldn’t defer on the coin toss), and overall had a solid game, hitting 19 of 32 throws for 191 yards.

He did throw an interception on the Browns’ last possession, which we are sure will be held up as why he isn’t good enough.

He had four passes dropped, which to be fair was a problem for Josh McCown too.

And did you hear Fox analyst Charles Davis talk about draft options for Cleveland? He said it on local radio here earlier this week and said it again on the game broadcast.

He doesn’t think there is a college QB who should be picked high in next year’s draft. We believe the same thing.

With the defense being as pathetic as they have been this season, don’t the Browns have to take a defensive player?

Manziel has showed us enough to say he should be the starter going into the off-season based on the progress he has made during this season.

We aren’t saying he is the next Tom Brady or Brett Favre. We are simply saying he has shown he can be an NFL starter, and deserves the opportunity to have that job.

Meanwhile, the Pettine regime will have just two remaining games, both against teams in the playoff hunt.

3-13 looks like reality to us.

Tribe’s Signing OK, Still Need More

The Cleveland Indians finally entered the real hot stove league yesterday with the signings of free agents Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis to one year contracts.

First, there is no such thing as a bad one year deal, because even if the player is outright terrible, the Tribe will be out of it after the 2016 season.

We like the Napoli signing better, because he’s been more productive throughout his major league career (lifetime 837), and although he had a bad first half in 2015, he rebounded to post a 908 OPS after being dealt to Texas.

And he’s a solid defensive first baseman, much better than Carlos Santana.

Yes, he does strike out a lot, but he also has a career on base percentage of .355, meaning he also can take a walk.

We have problems with high strikeout, low walk players, such as Zack Walters.

Jim Thome and Travis Hafner fanned a lot, but they also draw tons of walks.

Davis is a good depth player, and can hit lefties, but he’s an aging speed guy whose increase in OPS over the past couple years seems to have come from playing half the time in spacious Comerica Park.

His road OPS in each of the last two seasons is below 700, meaning he wasn’t a good offensive player on the road.

And he is not a good on base percentage player either.

The Tribe will probably use him in a platoon role, and maybe he can help there, but our guess he will have to be used sparingly to be effective.

While both signings are fine on their own, the Indians still need a middle of the lineup presence to be a good offensive team.

Right now, the Tribe has a lot of guys who should be hitting in the #2 and #6-#9 spots in the order, but someone will have to hit leadoff and someone has to bat fourth.

Mike Hargrove said it well when he was the manager here. If you have a leadoff man and a cleanup hitter, the rest of the batting order takes care of itself.

Right now, the Indians have neither, meaning Terry Francona will have to put someone ill fit for those spots in there.

Really, Jason Kipnis should be hitting either #2, #3, or #5 or #6, but he is forced to be used at the top of the order.

Only Michael Brantley hits where he is best suited among the top five batters. He is the best hitter and bats third.

Guys like Carlos Santana and Napoli should hit sixth or seventh in a good batting order.

And putting them in a spot for which they aren’t suited makes them a failure in fans eyes.

That’s why you probably have to move a starting pitcher to get that kind of middle of the order bat.

Although we would prefer to not move Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier in one of these deals, we wouldn’t hesitate to use any other prospect for the right player.

For example, we like Mike Clevenger’s potential. However, the reality is he has not thrown one pitch in a major league game. He might be a very good starter someday, but then again, he might not be.

One thing we do know is the Indians have a very good starting rotation and some depth in that area. So, you have to take advantage of that and sooner than later.

And just because other teams went for it last year and failed (San Diego, the White Sox), doesn’t mean the Tribe shouldn’t either.

The Royals won the World Series and signed Kendrys Morales in the winter and traded for Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist at the deadline.

It is doubtful they’d have won without those players.

Yesterday’s signings help the 2016 Indians, but the front office shouldn’t think this team is ready for Opening Day.

There is plenty of work to do.

There’s A Long Way To Go, But C’Mon Tribe!

Baseball’s winter meetings are a beacon in a long winter without the sport we love.

The meetings are filled with activity, rumors, and teams trying to cure weaknesses for the upcoming season.

Except if you are a fan of the Cleveland Indians, who seem to view the conference as a necessary evil.

To be fair (please don’t jump on us Indians’ social media), there is plenty of time for president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff to do something to improve the product on the field for the Indians, but it would be nice to get something done now.

The Tribe is trying to sell some six pack tickets for the 2016 season, and to be sure, it would be easier to move some seats if the ballclub generated some excitement.

Instead, we have another year of hearing about improvements to Progressive Field, which the real fan doesn’t care much about.

Look, although baseball is a sport and success is shown in the standings and getting to the post-season, the Tribe is also in the entertainment business and nothing sells in Cleveland like winning.

It is no secret that the Indians need to improve the offense, especially since it appears Michael Brantley, their best hitter, will miss at least the first month of the 2016 season.

And while the front office and Terry Francona have pointed out they don’t want to move one of their starting pitchers, unless they sign a free agent (unlikely), how else will they get the stick they need.

Yes, if you make it to the post-season, you need to have lockdown pitching, however, unless you can score runs, it is difficult to make it to the playoffs.

The Giants have won three World Series in the last six years, but in two of the three other years, they didn’t make the playoffs because they didn’t score enough runs.

They ranked last in the NL in 2011 and 10th in the National League in 2013 in runs scored.

Unless the Indians can get at least one legitimate hitter this winter, Tribe fans can look forward to a lot more 2-1 and 3-2 losses, and folks telling everyone what the team’s record is when they score three runs or less.

All they have done so far is bring in retreads like Shane Robinson (lifetime 615 OPS), Collin Cowgill, who hit .188 last season (633 career OPS), and Joey Butler (742).

That only excites the people who clamor for these low risk type signings, because after all, you might catch lightning in a bottle.

So far, it’s back to the “wishin’ and hopin'” mentality.

That doesn’t sell tickets, and then the front office will wonder why despite three consecutive winning seasons (although last year is kind of an asterisk because of the rainout), attendance continues to wane.

Fair or not, the perception around this city is the Indians aren’t serious about winning.

Perhaps the worst thing to happen to this regime is the Royals going to back-to-back World Series, and going all in to get there each season.

Tribe fans look longingly at the Royals and ask “why not us?” Did they mortgage their future, perhaps. They look at having another 2-3 year window to grab another title.

Why can’t the Indians’ front office look at their pitching staff and realize if they can get to the playoffs they have a good chance.

Instead, they basically do nothing.

Yes, there is still time for the Cleveland Indians to get the bat they so desperately need.

Meanwhile, their fan base, although loyal, keeps getting smaller and more impatient.