The Pro and Cons on Tito’s Managing

Ever since Terry Francona became the manager of the Cleveland Indians after the 2012 season, he has more or less been the face of the franchise, which is kind of unusual for the manager of the team.

He came to the team with the cache of winning two World Series titles in Boston, breaking the infamous “Curse of the Bambino”, the first world title in Beantown since 1918.

And in his first season with the Tribe, he took a team that finished with 68 wins in ’12, and led them to a spot in the Wild Card game, leading the Indians to 92 victories, a whopping 24 win turnaround.

Last season, Francona had his squad in contention until the final weekend of the regular season, finishing with 88 wins, the first consecutive winning seasons for Cleveland since 2000-01.

There is no question Tito is a player’s manager. He keeps everything in the clubhouse for the most part, and his players love that. And from reading the book about his years in Boston, he likes to have veterans around to police the locker room, feeling constructive criticism means more coming from one’s peers than always from the skipper.

So, there is no question here, that the atmosphere Francona has created in Cleveland has a great deal to do with changing the culture, and contributes to the team’s success.

Even this year, it would have been understandable if the Tribe would have folded its tent, especially when they fell 10 games below .500 in early August.

However, they have roared back into the fringe of contention and as we enter play tonight they are 4-1/2 games out of the second wild card, and only three games back in the loss column.

The point that this team never gives up is the strongest recommendation we can make for Francona’s managing style.

In terms of in-game tactics and lineup construction, well, that’s another story.

Last week, in a key game against Kansas City, trailing 2-0 in the ninth inning, the Indians got the first two runners on base. Francona then pinch hit Mike Aviles for Jerry Sands, and anyone watching the game knew a bunt was coming.

We could see the strategy if it were a tie game (a fly ball would win it), or even down one run (can score tying run with an out). However, down two runs, it is a horrible mistake.

You had three outs remaining, and you gave one up on purpose.

Aviles did bunt, and didn’t advance the runners. Soon, the game ended in a 2-0 defeat.

The Indians lead the American League in sacrifice bunts with 44, a statistic that drives sabermetric people crazy. We kind of agree. Giving up outs is crazy.

Francona no doubt has his favorites, and it usually a veteran player. He has somehow given Aviles almost 300 at bats, despite a 623 OPS, a mediocre figure by any standard.

And his lack of usage for newly acquired Chris Johnson, a career .300 hitter vs. left handers, seems odd too. If we were in charge, Johnson’s name would be in the lineup everyday right now, with Giovanny Urshela struggling.

We have addressed Francona’s stubbornness in the past, his patience has developed into that at times.

His recent bullpen strategy has developed into that lately, as set up men Zack McAllister and Bryan Shaw have struggled since the beginning of August, yet the skipper hasn’t tried any alternatives.

He’s also been tentative in bringing along young players save for Francisco Lindor and Urshela, but that’s because he had no alternatives.

If he does, the young guy, whether it be Tyler Holt, Jesus Aguilar, or even Zack Walters (not a fan) gets sporadic at bats, which usually results in no production.

We would agree that the clubhouse presence is more important to this team than the lack of strategic performance, at least for this organization.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t drive us up the wall.

Tribe Can’t Sit on Recent Success This Off-Season

The Cleveland Indians played their best 27 game stretch of the season (1/6th of the year) going 17-10 over that time, and remaining on the fringe of the wild card race, just five games behind.

The problem right now is the number of contests in dwindling to a precious few, so the Tribe will need to be even better than 17-10 over the balance of the schedule to have even a chance.

The biggest news over the span of these games was the deal that sent underachieving and overpaid veterans Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher to Atlanta. Immediately, the team started playing better.

Why? Because of what we’ve been saying all along, replacing Bourn with even a decent player would help the team and the resurgence of Lonnie Chisenhall, the continued development of SS Francisco Lindor, and the addition of Chris Johnson (who came from the Braves in the deal) has helped.

Bourn, and his 608 OPS were replaced by Abraham Almonte, who was acquired from San Diego for reliever Marc Rzepczynski, and has improved the hitting with his 857 OPS.

Lindor’s OPS is 785, much better than Jose Ramirez, who was playing SS and had a figure of 542. And Chisenhall’s second half OPS of 897 is far superior than the man he replaced, Brandon Moss, who had a 695 figure.

Once again, the Tribe’s over patient approach got them in a rut that will be very difficult to escape.

The pitching got better as Josh Tomlin and Cody Anderson has turned the fifth spot in the rotation into a more that serviceable turn.

The staff ERA has now improved to the 4th best in the American League.

The bullpen has sprung some holes, mostly from the home runs allowed by set up men Zack McAllister and Bryan Shaw, who combined have allowed 13 dingers on the season.

The recent good play has fans the happiest they have been all season, but the worst thing the front office can do is buy in to this stretch of winning baseball.

In our view, Cleveland has four everyday spots that should be etched in stone going into the winter: LF Michael Brantley, 2B Jason Kipnis, C Yan Gomes, and Lindor, who the front office still needs a possible replacement around in case of a sophomore slump.

That would leave CF, RF, 1B, 3B, and DH as spots to fill.

In center, although Almonte has been very good defensively, there is no evidence he can hit like this on a regular basis. In right, Chisenhall has done nothing more than prove he is streaky, although his defense has been surprisingly good.

At 3B, Giovanny Urshela’s bat concerns us that he cannot hit enough to be a regular, and Carlos Santana has been better lately, but still doesn’t provide the offense needed at a premier offensive position.

We would like to leave the rotation as is, but GM Chris Antonetti may have to move a starter to get the bat needed. The Tribe is developing some depth with Tomlin, Anderson, currently disabled T.J. House, possibly Gavin Floyd, and youngsters Ryan Merritt and Adam Plutko ready to help in 2016.

The bullpen is wide open, and we would be open to dealing one of the three back end guys (Cody Allen, McAllister, and Shaw) with the bounty in the farm system, guys like Shawn Armstrong, C.C. Lee, Tyler Sturdivant, Trey Haley, and lefty Giovanni Soto ready to help next season.

The point is the front office cannot get complacent and believe this kind of play will occur all year in ’16 with these players. They have to improve the roster, simple as that.

If not, they might have the same problems that started this season and will discourage the fan base even more.

Our View of Shapiro Based On What He Didn’t Do.

Well, the Indians made it official today as team president Mark Shapiro announced he would be leaving after the year to be the president and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays.

There is no question that Shapiro is an exceptional human being. He has created a caring atmosphere with the front office employees and players alike. And all in all, no one can really complain about that.

However, as we wrote last week, baseball (really, all professional sports) is judged solely on wins and losses, and it is there that we find Shapiro’s record lacking.

In 14 seasons where the Princeton graduate has either been the GM or the president of the Indians, there has been only four winning seasons and two post-season appearances.

Our opinion of the executive is based more on what he didn’t do, rather that what he did.

You see, every GM who has been around a long time will make good trades and bad trades. And perhaps, Shapiro would be judged better if one of his earliest moves, trading Bartolo Colon for Grady Sizemore (all-star), Brandon Phillips (all-star, just not here), and Cliff Lee (Cy Young Award winner) wasn’t so successful.

And maybe he would have more support had he not followed John Hart as GM, and whether you like Hart or not, he was in charge during perhaps the greatest era of baseball in Cleveland history.

But when we said he will be judged here for what he didn’t do, we mean that when the Tribe was in the hunt, Shapiro never made the big splash move.

In 2005, the White Sox got off to a great start, but the Indians were in the wild card hunt at the All-Star break. The Indians made two in-season deals, the first moving Alex Cora to Boston for Ramon Vazquez, and the last was dealing Jody Gerut to the Cubs for Jason Dubois.

Not exactly blockbuster moves. The Tribe missed the playoffs by two games, and would have made the post-season by winning just one game during the last weekend of the season.

In 2007, Cleveland was a game out of first at the break, and 1-1/2 out on July 27th, when Shapiro acquired 40-year-old Kenny Lofton for minor league catching prospect Max Ramirez, who was well regarded at the time as a hitter.

Lofton did hit .283 the rest of the season, and contributed, but it was hardly a “going for it” move.

Contrast those moves with those made by Hart at the deadline, who traded for Ken Hill (’95), Kevin Seitzer (’96), John Smiley and Bip Roberts (’97), etc. Not all of those moves worked, but there was the feeling the front office was doing everything it could to bring a title to Cleveland.

To be fair, we don’t know what deals were available to Shapiro at the time. Perhaps teams were asking for way too much for marginal players. But with baseball being the sport that it is, if you get in the post-season, you pretty much have the same shot as anyone else does. Market size no longer matters.

We have said this in regards to Terry Francona, there is a fine line between patience and stubbornness and Shapiro’s patience toward some players has hurt the team at times. Eric Wedge was kept on as manager well after he became a cliché with his “grinding” mantra.

And the franchise kept playing guys like Aaron Boone and the David Dellucci/Jason Michaels platoon after it was proven not to work. That lack of urgency still permeates the franchise, with Michael Bourn and the non-promotion of Francisco Lindor this season as prime examples.

Perhaps it was lack of support by ownership or maybe overconfidence in his building of the franchise, but people can criticize Mark Shapiro on his trade record all they want. To us, it was the moves not made which make up his legacy.

Does Tribe Need Tito To Be Tougher?

Cleveland Indians’ manager Terry Francona has a public persona that is all about being a player’s manager.

He seems to run a loose ship, letting the players play and very, very rarely takes one of his guys to task in the media. We assume that he does discuss mistakes with his squad privately, and we only say that because we are not in the locker room.

In reading the book about his tenure in Boston, Francona is very protective of his players, and depends on veterans to help police the locker room, something he doesn’t seem to have right now with the Indians.

Jason Giambi fulfilled that role in the clubhouse the last two seasons.

However, we have seen several things over the past few weeks that makes it appear Francona may need to get tougher with his troops at least privately. And some of these mistakes, most in fact, were done by veterans.

Francona has been publicly critical of Carlos Santana’s defense at first base recently, and when asked why Chris Johnson was getting most of the time at first instead of Santana, Tito replied that he told the player he needed to be the best defensive player at that position to be out there.

It is no secret that Santana has been subpar defensively all year.

We understand that the Tribe has had a disappointing season, and we are in the “dog days” of the season, but we have seen other mental errors by older players that should be addressed, particularly with young players like Francisco Lindor and Giovanny Urshela being on the roster.

It doesn’t seem like a good example is being set.

While many alluded to the horrible call on the double play ball in Saturday’s game, and it was a complete joke, no one is discussing the base running by Jason Kipnis.

Kipnis was on third after Lindor’s single moved him there with one out.

Why wasn’t Kipnis running on the ball Michael Brantley hit to first base in that situation? You have to at least get a run if the Yankees were going to turn two on the play.

Brantley beat the play at first, so there were still first and third with two out. It was a bad baserunning mistake.

Perhaps not as bad as the one the next day by Mike Aviles, who tagged up on a fly ball to left by Carlos Santana and didn’t slide to try to elude a tag on the throw to the plate. We aren’t sure Aviles would have been safe had he went to the ground on the play, but he certainly would have had a better chance.

With the Tribe struggling to score runs all year, these are glaring mistakes, and they are mental errors, not physical ones.

Then we have yesterday’s game in which apparently the Indians forgot that Cubs’ starter Jon Lester doesn’t like to throw to first with a runner on.

Cleveland didn’t have many base runners, they had just six hits and a walk on the day, but they didn’t attempt a stolen base until Lester left, and he was replaced by former Indian farmhand Hector Rondon.

Again, we don’t know what happened in the clubhouse, but we hope Francona addressed these blunders with his ballclub.

It’s one thing to have a poor record, it’s another to appear to be going through the motions.

If Shapiro Leaves, What is His Legacy?

The report came during Thursday’s pre-season game between the Browns and the Bills, so it kind of went under the radar at the time, but it got legs on Friday morning, at least in Cleveland.

Fox Sports/MLB Network correspondent Ken Rosenthal came out with the story that the Blue Jays are targeting the Indians’ president Mark Shapiro to be their new team president.

Shapiro has been with the Tribe a long time, since the early 1992 working under John Hart, and served as the Tribe’s GM from 2001 or 2002 (depending on the source) through 2010, when he was promoted to president, with Chris Antonetti promoted to general manager.

From ’93-’98, Shapiro was the head of minor league operations, and was responsible for a fertile farm system that promoted many players who contributed to the success the Tribe had in the late ’90’s through 2001.

Hart is the GM of record for 2001, but it is said Shapiro was running things that season as Hart was stepping down following the year. However, according to record, Shapiro was GM for nine season, turning in a 704-754 record (a .482 winning percentage).

In that time, there were two winning seasons, and one playoff appearance in 2007.

Since Antonetti was his hand-picked successor, in the 13 seasons of the Shapiro regime, the Indians have a .488 winning percentage, four seasons over .500, and two playoff appearances.

Shapiro has an incredible reputation around baseball and has been mentioned by several people as someone who could be the commissioner of baseball at some point in time.

However, he seems to have more support outside of Cleveland than in it. This is mostly because he took over after perhaps the best era in the history of the franchise, and has not been able to sustain success.

The problem with the Indians since Shapiro has been in charge, either as GM or president, is they are always in a building phase, because they can’t repeat winning.

A 93-69 record in 2005 was followed by a 78-84 record in 2006.

After winning the AL Central in 2007 with a 96-66 record, the Tribe fell to 81, 65, and 69 wins over the next three seasons. It’s difficult to build fan support when you can’t repeat success.

It was in this span that Shapiro dealt two Cy Young Award winners, C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee, the latter even though he was still under club control for a full year after the deal, and also moved professional hitter Victor Martinez. Those players were moved in the 2008-09 season.

The Indians would not have back-to-back winning seasons until the past two years (2013 and 2014), but they will not make it three in a row this season.

Shapiro likes a stable organization, which is good if you are successful, but the record shows differently. He held on to Eric Wedge as manager for several seasons beyond where he should have.

His relationship with Terry Francona enabled him to bring the two-time World Series manager to Cleveland, and that has worked out brilliantly.

However, there has always seemed to be a lack or urgency under Shapiro’s leadership here. The organization never seized the opportunity to win when they were in contention.

In 2007, the big move was to bring back 40-year-old Kenny Lofton, which helped the Tribe down the stretch, but wasn’t a real impact deal. In 2013, the big trade was getting lefty reliever Marc Rzcepczynski.

Shapiro also has to be responsible for the abysmal drafting record of the team when he was GM. The only first round choice of consequence from 2002-2010 was Jeremy Guthrie, who is a journeyman at best, and pitched in just 16 games for the Indians.

So the reputation around the game for Shapiro isn’t based on a lot of winning or success. He is by all accounts a tremendous human being, and that is great. He has reflected well on this franchise.

Still, baseball is a business where you are measured based on wins and losses, not on humanitarianism.

Perhaps he is given credit for keeping the Indians fairly competitive with a payroll usually in the bottom third of the sport. However, the Rays and A’s are in the same predicament, with much more success. Tampa has four post-season appearance from ’08-’13 and six straight seasons over .500.

Oakland in the same time span as Shapiro’s GM/President years here, has six playoff appearances, and nine winning seasons.

The bottom line is the Indians probably need a breath of fresh air through the offices on Carnegie and Ontario. It’s time for a change.

Maybe a fresh viewpoint is exactly what the Cleveland Indians need going forward.

Looking Toward ’16 During Last Six Weeks

The Cleveland Indians are currently holding auditions for the 2016 season, all able-bodied players in their system should have a chance to state their case to be on next year’s Opening Day roster during the last six weeks of the season.

If the Tribe were putting an ad in the sports pages, that is what it would probably look like.

You would have to think that among the everyday players, only Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley and Yan Gomes are for sures to be here next April. Although, Francisco Lindor is making a pretty good case for himself as well.

However, with players who do not have a track record should be required to earn their spot. So, if Lindor came to Goodyear not in the best shape, or he hits .150 in the exhibition games, it’s not a guarantee that he makes the squad.

Our guess is that Carlos Santana will be moved elsewhere because the Tribe doesn’t want to pay him $8 million next year for the production they have received. And we believe Mike Aviles and Ryan Raburn will be free agents after the 2015 campaign.

Chris Johnson will likely be back because of his $9 million deal for 2016, but that’s a tradeable deal so that is not etched in stone.

Giovanny Urshela has been impressive defensively, but we aren’t sure he will hit enough to play everyday. And if Jose Ramirez continues to hit like he has since his call up, Terry Francona will have to find a spot for him, unless, of course, GM Chris Antonetti uses him to bring back a legitimate bat.

So, the tryouts are really at the following positions: 1B, 3B, CF, RF, DH.

Even if Lonnie Chisenhall hits well down the stretch, the front office cannot be fooled by that. Chisenhall was tremendous in the first half last season, but hasn’t done much since.

Fans will get a good look at players like Jerry Sands and Abraham Almonte in August, and many at bats will be given to guys like Tyler Holt, Jesus Aguilar, James Ramsey, and Zack Walters in September.

Can Sands be the Tribe’s version of J.D. Martinez?

Can Holt and Aguilar contribute if given steady playing time, something they haven’t received in any of their big league stints?

Can Almonte and Ramsey at least be steady enough to hold down the fort until Bradley Zimmer arrives in Cleveland?

Can Walters ever make contact?

There is no doubt Antonetti will need to find some veterans to fill in at the beginning of the year, but those players should be given one or two-year deals, at mid-range dollars.

The team’s foray into the big time free agent market should be over.

Most all-star type players don’t hit the market until they are past 30 years old, so what you are buying is the player’s declining years. Even Los Angeles’ Albert Pujols isn’t the same player he was in St. Louis, and the Angels will want to get out of that deal soon.

If we were the brass, we would start working on a 10 year deal with Lindor, so he will be here through age 31. We will that strongly about his talent, and because of his unproven talent, it would not cost the franchise $200 million to do it.

Think of the deal Evan Longoria signed in Tampa during his first year with the Rays.

So the positions that are open will need to be filled with either youngsters or whatever return you get in dealing Santana and/or Ramirez, and/or some pitching.

Even if the Tribe doesn’t want to move a starter, they have some bullpen depth, and should really open next year with at least three new faces in the relief corps.

And yes, we would consider moving Cody Allen for the right price. As former GM John Hart once said, closers grow on trees.

The organization cannot be fooled by any success the Tribe has over the last six weeks. They have several spots to fill before the 2016 season begins.

As we said before…let the auditions start.

The Santana Dilemma

As the Cleveland Indians look toward the 2016 season, they know they are set in several positions.

Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley have put together seasons, this year and last year respectively, that would merit MVP consideration. Kipnis won’t finish as high the third place position Brantley had in 2014 because the Indians’ record doesn’t figure to be as good.

And the starting pitching has at least four spots in cement, barring a deal for a legitimate bat, with Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, and Danny Salazar anchoring the rotation.

You also have to figure that Francisco Lindor’s showing in his first big league experience gives him a leg up on the SS position, and Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez give the Tribe a solid catching duo.

That leaves RF, CF, 3B (has Giovanny Urshela done enough?), and DH as wide open spots heading into the off-season.

Notice that we haven’t talked about first base.

The incumbent, Carlos Santana elicits much debate among Cleveland baseball fans regarding his worth as a key component to the Indians.

On paper, Santana is a pretty good offensive player having a poor season, although the stat based people will tell you he is just fine. Even with his .223 batting average in 2015, he still is above league average according to OPS.

Still, since belting 27 home runs and knocking in 79 runs in 2011 at age 25, Santana really hasn’t blossomed into the hitter that season seemed to indicate he would be.

He had hit more than 25 homers just once in that span (last year with 27), and knocked in over 80 runs just once, also 2014 with 85. That’s not quite the production you would expect from someone at a premier power position.

The switch-hitter had more value when he spent most of his season behind the plate. The kind of offense he provided as a catcher was well above average for the position. As a 1B/DH, his numbers are just so-so. And his biggest value on offense is his ability to take a walk. He struggles with men on base, mostly because he appears to be too anxious to hit a long ball.

That’s weird because of his normal patient approach.

The lack of run production stands out in the AL Central where Miguel Cabrera, Eric Hosmer, and Jose Abreu play the same spot. Here are their OPS–

Cabrera    1.034
Abreu         .861
Hosmer      .851

The production the Indians receive from their first baseman pales by comparison.

Cleveland owes Santana $8 million for 2016, and the question is can they afford to pay that much cash for below average (for his position) production.

The guess here is that Santana’s days in an Indian uniform are numbered.

For one, we are hearing the switch-hitter being criticized on the air by both radio and television announcers, which can mean that the front office personnel are feeding the media their dissatisfaction.

Secondly, Santana’s defense isn’t strong either. While work with the glove isn’t a high priority for a first sacker, the Tribe seems to be putting a new-found priority on defense, and may be looking for someone who can improve that spot.

The reality is that Carlos Santana is a solid offensive player, but he’s not a middle of the order bat, which is what the Indians need him to be. If their lineup was strong enough to bat them sixth or seventh, that would be fine, but right now, it is not possible.

So this winter, when GM Chris Antonetti looks for a big bat to help the ’16 batting order, he will be looking for one that can play first, while he dangles Santana to get help somewhere else.

The White Flag Flies Atop Progressive Field

The Cleveland Indians have now completed 2/3s of their season, and the last 27 games (1/6 of the season) were a disaster to put the team in the mode of looking toward next season.

1st 27 games: 10-17
Game 28-54: 16-11
Game 55-81: 12-15
Game 82-108: 11-16

As you can see only in that second set of 27 contests did the Indians play good baseball, and in those other 81 games, or half the season, their record is 33-48.

That’s a pace to lose 90 games, which is where the Tribe could be headed at the end of the season. That would be the fifth such season under the Dolan/Shapiro/Antonetti triumvirate, which is one more season than they have been over the .500 mark.

Yesterday’s trade in which GM Chris Antonetti unburdened the franchise of two bad contracts in Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher for Atlanta’s bad deal in 1B/3B Chris Johnson, only emphasized what a disaster this season has been.

Johnson has a .280 lifetime average, but has slumped horribly from his 2013 campaign where he hit .321 with the Braves. He’s a high strikeout, low walk hitter, but has been pretty successful vs. lefties in his career (.313 average, 788 OPS).

And yes, we know, the Tribe pitched in $10 million in the deal to make it happen, so to be sure, we will hear how the ownership is willing to spend money. However, we would prefer that the spend cash to get good players, not to make bad ones go away.

The pitching staff now ranks in the top half of the American League, which was expected at the beginning of the season, but the offense has been putrid, as the Indians rank 12th in the AL in scoring, 12th in home runs, and 10th in batting average. They are 9th in OPS as a team.

Before the July 31st trading deadline, Antonetti started to clean house, moving a slumping David Murphy to the Angels, and a disappointing Brandon Moss, who hit a few homers but little else, to the Cardinals. The Moss deal actually netted Cleveland a pretty good prospect in southpaw Rob Kaminsky.

So, the Tribe is now is spring training mode, trying to see if Lonnie Chisenhall can play right field, and giving auditions to guys like Jerry Sands, to see if he can be their version of Detroit’s J.D. Martinez.

It would not be a shock to see Ryan Raburn moved before the end of the season to a contender to open up another spot on the 25 man roster to look at yet another young player. That’s really all the Indians have left at this point.

They can see if Johnson can take over Raburn’s role in ’16, since Cleveland has to pay him $9 million.

They can see if Jose Ramirez can rebound from a bad start to the year, and become a viable utility player, or re-establish his trade value. Remember he is still just 22 years old.

They can look at potential centerfielders, hopefully this means Tyler Naquin when he comes off the disabled list in Columbus. Tyler Holt got a whopping 20 at bats, so we wonder who will be in center tonight. Hopefully, it’s not Michael Brantley, whose defense is no longer adequate for the spot. It will probably be Abraham Almonte, just acquired from San Diego.

The Tribe owes it to the pitching staff to put a good defender out in the middle of the outfield. So, a promising season has come down to playing out the string and finding out if any of the young players will be able to be contributors in 2016.

This sad baseball season has only one-third of it left. At least for the Cleveland Indians. MW

How The Cleveland Media Covers Our Teams

We refuse to be political here, but everyone knows when it comes to news, the liberals watch MSNBC for their slant, while the conservatives favor Fox News.

That got us to thinking…what kind of bias do the people who cover Cleveland sports have? We will look at it team by team, in our humble opinion, of course.

Cavaliers. Right now, Dan Gilbert’s franchise is the favored child by the writers and broadcasters, because they present the best hope for a title on the North Coast, which would be a great story.

However, make no mistake, there is bias. Whenever there is any problem with the team, there is no question that David Blatt is probably the root of the issue, at least according to those who cover the team.

Blatt is a man full of confidence, which doesn’t sit well with the media. So, they will constantly pick on his problem with being called a rookie NBA coach, and because he can be condescending to them at times, they love to point out any errors he may make.

There is also a slant toward LeBron James, who is the best basketball player in the world, but he is a human too, and is not infallible. There are those who question James on how he relates to Blatt, but for the most part, James is right, and Blatt has no clue.

Browns. The most popular word to use to describe Cleveland’s professional football team is “dysfunction”. The GM and coach aren’t on the same page. The owner meddles. What will be the story if the Browns improve once again in 2015.

GM Ray Farmer is another guy who exudes confidence and that turns off some reporters as well. So, they like to point at his draft record, which isn’t sterling when it comes to first round choices.

However, it is kind of comical when 8th overall pick CB Justin Gilbert is passed over for first team reps in practice by last year’s 4th round selection Pierre Desir, Farmer takes a hit because Gilbert doesn’t get the nod.

Who do they think found Desir? Santa’s elves?

Mike Pettine is a serious man, and seems like he will be a solid NFL coach, but he is down to earth with the media, and in turn, you never hear a peep about him being at fault if the team goes 3-13.

And the scribes turned against owner Jimmy Haslam this week when he made some comments about reporters being accountable for their stories.

Guess some people should play along so the media will like them.

Indians. For a franchise that has produced just four winning seasons in 15 years, and just two playoff appearances, you don’t hear a lot of criticism being thrown toward the Dolan family, and the front office.

Our opinion is the guys at the top at Progressive Field are genuinely nice people, so they seem to get a free pass.

No one questions them about their horrible record at drafting in the 00’s, or why they seems to do nothing to put a team over the top when in contention.

The Indians are very media savvy, and seem to feed reporters with facts that make the organization look favorable, and they are reported without question.

But it is very quiet this summer despite being picked to win the AL Central Division for the first time since 2007.

We guess it pays to be nice.

Again, these are our perceptions about how the teams are portrayed locally. It would be nice if the personalities involved didn’t seem to have as much to do with how the coverage is slanted.

Sometimes “Conflict in Front Office” Is Good.

The other day, we wrote about how the Cleveland Browns get no credit for trying something different, when the Cleveland Indians are a stand pat organization, and they get criticized for not making any changes.

There is another way the two organizations are different as well, and it has to do with the relationship between the front office and the head coach/manager.

On the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, it’s a Kumbaya fest. Everyone seems to be on the same page and have the same opinion. In fact, it is difficult to tell who is doing the talking sometimes, be it president Mark Shapiro, GM Chris Antonetti, or Terry Francona.

They always seem to be in lock step, at least publicly.

On the other hand, the media loves to report about the discord between Browns’ GM Ray Farmer and head coach Mike Pettine. It is further proof of the team’s “dysfunction”.

The reality is behind the scenes, there should be some disagreement between the coach and the person who picks the talent, because they should be coming at it from two different perspectives.

The coach or manager is trying to win, and win right now. That’s the way he gets to keep his job, and also, he is ultimately the person who the wins and losses are assigned to.

When the Browns have a 4-12 record, no one is saying that Ray Farmer’s squad has that record. It goes on Pettine’s record.

The general manager has to look at not only this year’s team, but also the future of the franchise, and if football’s case, salary cap implications.

Many coaches fall into the trap of favoring veterans with little upside because they are dependable, instead of going with a young player, who may have a bigger upside.

Think about the Indians in this situation. Terry Francona likes to have his bench filled with veterans like Ryan Raburn, Mike Aviles, etc., instead of keeping younger players like Tyler Holt or Jesus Aguilar.

In baseball, the GM has to weigh the positives of major league experience against not playing. For young players, they need to play. No one gets better by watching extensively. If that occurred, there would be a lot of fans who would be suddenly able to play professional sports.

When a team is in a situation like the Cavaliers are, it is easy for the coach and GM to be on the same page, because there, the goal is clearly stated. The Cavs are trying to win a title now, and everybody is “All In”.

However, in other situations, there is a different point of view for both the front office and the coaching staff, and that is healthy. It’s why you also don’t want to have a coach/GM in charge.

We remember Butch Davis proudly saying that all of his draft picks made the team. Of course, they did, because he was in charge of keeping them or letting them go.

Now, you don’t want the two people is total disagreement to the point where they cannot work together either. But, they should not be in lock step with each other.

To be sure, there have to be players that Farmer likes, that Pettine doesn’t, and vice-versa. It’s healthy and necessary in a winning organization.

The Indians seem to have a “group think” approach, and that’s not working well for them.

So, don’t be concerned that Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine don’t see eye to eye on everything. They have two different points of view.