Too Early For Panic, But Tribe Fans Can Be Concerned

It is not a secret that the Cleveland Indians haven’t played great baseball thus far this season. They are sitting at 7-10 on the season, but right now the American League has nine of its 13 teams within three games of the .500 mark.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the entire season went that way, because there aren’t many bad teams in the junior circuit. So, while the Tribe is struggling, only two teams (Oakland and Texas) have won more than 10 games already, s0 it is hardly time to panic.

We realize that Cleveland is a football town, and it has a football mentality. Last year, there were many fans who wanted the Indians to trade for prospects when the team was five games out of a playoff spot in late July, when the trade deadline hit.

Of course, Terry Francona’s bunch played much better down the stretch and made the playoffs, winning 92 games.

We are saying once again that it is a long season. The Indians have played a little more than one-tenth of their schedule, so there is no need to be going crazy about the Tribe’s play thus far.

None of the Indians’ key players have been hot thus far, and no matter what the team’s harshest critic has to say, it is doubtful that Nick Swisher will hit .174 this season, nor will Carlos Santana hit .153. It’s probably amazing that Francona has Cleveland at 7-10 with the paltry production of these two important players.

However, we did say that the four key players for the Indians this season were Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, Swisher, and Michael Bourn. Through 17 games, only Kluber has lived up to expectations. Sure, he is 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA, but those numbers are affected by his first start. He’s had three pretty good starts since.

Salazar was cruising in his last start on Thursday, giving up one run in his first four innings. The Indians got him a lead, and he suddenly couldn’t find the strike zone, walking the first two Tiger hitters, and then giving up a three run homer to Ian Kinsler.

That makes three consecutive outings where the youngster couldn’t get through six innings.

Bourn has been hurt, missing the first 13 games of the year with a hamstring issue, but he hasn’t shown any signs of changing his approach, striking out five times in his first 13 at bats.

The centerfielder hit .232 after the All Star Game last year, with an on base percentage of under .300, unacceptable for a leadoff hitter. He needs to cut down on his swing and put the ball in play, using his legs more. If he doesn’t start producing soon, his contract could become an albatross for the organization.

Outside of Kluber and Zack McAllister, the starting rotation has also been questionable. Justin Masterson has been good twice, which is only half of his starts. Carlos Carrasco has a big start this afternoon, mainly because Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer are breathing down his neck to take his spot in the rotation.

If Carrasco doesn’t do well today, he likely will be moved to the bullpen with one of those two being called up to make a start Friday. We believe that’s why Jason Giambi reactivation was moved to Monday, so the front office can decide who gets sent down, a position player or a bullpen arm.

Let’s wait another 10 games, when the Tribe has played 1/6th of their schedule to make any rash comments. The likelihood is that the American League will still look the same, a jumbled group of teams with similar records.

No Emotion Needed From Gilbert Now

There was good news from the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday as the players cleaned out their lockers and the front office had meetings.

No one got fired.

Yes, we’ve advocated that changes have to come for the organization, which has gone from 19 wins in the first season after LeBron James left for free agency, to 21 in year two (strike shortened), and then 24 in year three, to this year’s disappointing 33-49 record.

However, here’s hoping yesterday’s inactivity was due to everyone in the front office, including owner Dan Gilbert, taking a deep breath and not making any rash decisions.

In Cleveland, and probably Detroit, we all know that Gilbert is an emotional creature. His famous rant after James made his decision is derided throughout the NBA, but was applauded by his fan base. That could be a reason attendance hasn’t dropped off drastically despite four straight seasons of mediocre basketball.

It was reported this past week that Gilbert is irate about the lack of a playoff spot this season, and insiders think major changes are in the work this summer. But as of right now, nothing was announced.

It was just last off-season that former GM Chris Grant, with the owner’s approval, hired back former coach Mike Brown, and didn’t even interview anyone else. That’s the type of emotional decision that needs to be avoided this time.

Now, there have been rumors that the wine and gold want to bring in a president of basketball operations to oversee the front office and decided the fates of interim GM David Griffin and Brown. That’s a solid decision.

However, two frontrunners for the post that have been mentioned are former Pistons Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. The Pistons happen to be Gilbert’s boyhood team, so hiring either of them despite questionable records as coaches/executives would be thinking more with your heart than your head.

The owner is the Board of Governors meeting this weekend and should be picking the brains of the other basketball minds there to decide what would be the best course of action for his team. George Karl is another name that has been bandied about for the lead hoops position, and in our opinion would be a tremendous hire, even if he never played for Detroit.

We think Karl is one of the country’s best basketball minds.

Even so, this is a decision that has to be well thought out and not rushed into. There is a long time between now and the NBA draft, when free agency and trades are consummated. It’s a two month window.

As for the coach, Gilbert shouldn’t let the big contract he and Grant gave Brown be any consideration.

While the team did gain nine games in the win column, there is no question it was a disjointed season, filled with many streaks.

Brown thinks the team seemed to improve in the second half of the season, but January had a six game losing streak, followed by a six game winning streak, which was following by a 15 game stretch in which Cleveland won just four games.

Whenever, it appeared the team was “getting it”, playing team basketball, it was followed by a period in which they executed like they just met each other that very afternoon.

We aren’t going to speculate what that means, but it doesn’t show the players were buying in.

If this summer’s decisions are made with a cool, calm, calculated mind, then the future of the Cavaliers may indeed be brighter. Emotional decisions have gotten them to where they are now.

Raptors Did What Cavs Couldn’t

Four years ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost LeBron James to the Miami Heat via free agency and the team went from a perennial NBA power to a team that has been in the draft lottery every year since.

That same season, another team lost a premier free agent to the Heat and that team has recovered very nicely despite not having as good of a record as the wine and gold had the year before James left.

That would be the Toronto Raptors, who lost Chris Bosh, and yet they will enter the playoffs as the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference. And they did it despite not having the top pick in the draft twice since Bosh departed.

The Raptors won just 22 games the first year after their star free agent left, compared to the 19 games the Cavaliers won in the first season of the post-James era. So, there wasn’t much difference that first season.

The following season, Cleveland added first overall pick Kyrie Irving and the fourth choice in Tristan Thompson, who was selected one pick ahead of Toronto, who picked center Jonas Valanciunas, who sat out the following season because of a contractual situation in Europe.

The Raptors went 23-43 in the strike-shortened season, while the wine and gold were just two games behind, finishing up at 21-45.

In year two of the post-superstar era, Toronto traded for guard Kyle Lowry and drafted Terence Ross with the eighth overall pick in the NBA draft. Cleveland chose Dion Waiters with the fourth overall pick.

The Raptors also traded for Rudy Gay using Jose Calderon and former first round pick Ed Davis, and saw a player picked before Bosh’s last season with the team, DeMar DeRozan, blossom into a budding star.

Toronto jumped to 34 victories last season, while the young Cavaliers went 24-58, mostly because they won just four games the last two months of the season.

This past off-season, led by new GM Masai Ujiri, the Raptors traded former first overall pick Andrea Bargnani to New York for Steve Novak, some expiring contracts and draft picks. They also added Tyler Hansbrough as a free agent.

With DeRozan’s emergence, they were also able to deal Gay to Sacramento during this season, for John Salmons, Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson, and Chuck Hayes, who have contributed greatly to the team’s success this season.

Cleveland also added some veterans to the roster this year in Luol Deng and Spencer Hawes, and the team improved over the second half of the season, playing .500 ball, but a horrible first half of the season has them currently with 12 less wins than the neighbors to the north.

The key move for Toronto looks to be trading a starter and a first round pick for Gay, and then swapping him out for some key role players once DeRozan replaced him as the primary scoring option.

That is to say, they traded from strength. They had Lowry, meaning Calderon was superfluous, and DeRozan’s play made Gay expendable as well.

The Cavs had plenty of talent tied up in two positions (point guard and power forward), but hasn’t used it to their advantage.

Hopefully, even though they started rebuilding at the same time, the Cavaliers are a year behind the Raptors and the 2014-15 season will signal the wine and gold’s return to Eastern Conference prominence.

However, the Cavs can tell you about the “process” all they want, but another team went out and started winning games.

It’s another reason to take a good hard look at the organization this summer.

Yes, Browns Need a QB, but Do They Need One at #4?

The prevailing debate among Cleveland football fans is the quarterback position and how it relates to this May’s NFL Draft.

Local sports talk shows have been discussing it since the end of the season, and the bad news is, there is still five weeks of draft talk to come.

Should the Browns take a passer with the fourth overall pick? If you don’t believe they should, then people think you believe the Browns don’t really need a QB, and they should settle for Brian Hoyer because he’s a hometown guy.

First, we feel Cleveland should draft a quarterback in 2014, but we don’t feel any of the passers coming out, including the “big three” of Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater, and Blake Bortles, are worthy of the fourth selection.

We have said this before about all professional drafts. The idea of the draft is to make poor teams better, to upgrade their talent level.

Drafting a player who may be the 15th best talent in the selection process with the fourth pick is just stupid. And moving a player that many spots up the board because they play a certain position defeats the idea of the draft.

You are just pushing better players down to the better teams, which in turn makes them stronger.

Look at how this year’s playoff teams acquired their quarterbacks:

Denver-Peyton Manning: signed as free agent, although he was the first overall pick in 1998
New England-Tom Brady: most famous sixth round pick of all time
Cincinnati-Andy Dalton: second round pick
Indianapolis-Andrew Luck: first overall pick in 2012
Kansas City-Alex Smith: acquired in trade, but was the first overall pick in 2005
San Diego-Philip Rivers: fourth overall pick in 2004.

Seattle-Russell Wilson: third round pick in 2012
Carolina-Cam Newton: first overall pick in 2011Philadelphia-Nick Foles: third round pick in 2012
Green Bay-Aaron Rodgers: first round pick (22nd overall) in 2005
San Francisco-Colin Kaepernick: second round pick in 2011
New Orleans-Drew Brees: second round pick

So, out of the twelve playoff teams, five had their quarterbacks drafted in the first round, but two of those (Manning and Smith) are no longer with the teams that originally drafted them.

Three of the first round picks (Manning, Luck, and Newton) were all considered no-brainers for the first overall pick. They were highly decorated college players, and no one debated Rivers as a top ten selection either.

Smith was considered the best QB in a mediocre lot, and he’s already on his second team, but to be fair, he’s turned into an efficient player and he’s been a winner as of late.

Three more players were drafted in the second round, and one of those (Brees) is likely headed for the Hall of Fame, and Kaepernick has played in a Super Bowl and two other NFC Championship games.

While there are zealots who will tell you that Manziel, Bridgewater, and Bortles will become great NFL players, there are also scouts who have their doubts. That’s why you can’t take them at #4 if you are the Browns.

With that pick, GM Ray Farmer has to take a player who can start immediately and be an All-Pro in a couple of years, regardless of position.

Why not pick up Derek Carr or A.J. McCarron or Jimmy Garoppolo in the second or third round and develop them for a year or two behind Hoyer?

When the Browns had decent quarterback play last season, they won some football games. If Hoyer plays smart, and Cleveland has a solid running game, they should escape the 10 loss season streak.

They don’t need to play a high stakes game of poker. Besides, it’s not like quarterback is the only hole on the roster to fill. The team needs offensive line help, another wide receiver, linebackers, and secondary help.

Why not fill one of those spots with a player who has a higher floor.

Yes, the Cleveland Browns need a quarterback, but there is plenty of evidence that you don’t have to take one in the top five to win in the NFL.

Tribe Should Get Deal Done with Masty

No one knows how to throw a wet blanket on growing enthusiasm like the Cleveland Indians.

After a September that woke up the interest in the team enough that the wild card game was attended by a sellout, boisterous throng, the front office’s biggest splash this off-season was signing OF David Murphy, who hit .220 for Texas last season.

And now, with the Tribe compiling the sport’s best record in exhibition play and fans looking forward to Opening Day next week, comes the word that talks on a long-term contract with starting pitcher Justin Masterson have broken off.

There are pros and cons on Masterson, the biggest con being that he has spent four years in Cleveland as a starter, and has had two solid seasons (12-10, 3.21 ERA in ’11, and 14-10, 3.45 ERA in ’13) out of those four. The other seasons were 6-13, 4.70 ERA in ’10 and 11-15, 4.93 ERA in 2012.

He’s been inconsistent, although when he has had pitching coaches who stress pounding the strike zone (Tim Belcher in 2011 and Mickey Calloway in 2013), he has been successful.

The other thing you can’t take away from the big right-hander, who just turned 29 years of age, is that he’s an innings eater, throwing an average of 199 innings per season in those four years.

Masterson was willing to sign a shorter term deal with the Indians, which would be club-friendly, but at a fair market value. That way the Tribe would be protected from a long-term commitment.

Our premise is there is nothing bad about a one-year deal because the club is out of it after one season. For example, did the Brett Myers signing really have an adverse effect on the Cleveland Indians? Of course not.

So, a three-year deal even at the reported $17 million per year, isn’t the crippling deal that the Travis Hafner contract became. Hafner’s five-year contract was a bust because of injuries over that span.

A three-year deal is reasonable and manageable, especially for someone with the durability of Masterson.

The fact of the matter is this is the baseball climate the Indians are playing in, and the amount of money the guy who has started each of the last three Opening Days for Cleveland is the market value, whether the front office likes it or not.

Homer Bailey received a six-year contract with Cincinnati over the winter at a similar dollar per year figure, and Masterson’s numbers are comparable if not better.

And most baseball people consider the best starting pitchers on the market after the 2014 season are James Shields, Max Scherzer, Jorge De La Rosa, Jon Lester, and…Masterson.

So, he’s going to get a big deal from someone after this season.

The Indians are still living in the moral high ground concerning free agency, apparently one of the last teams to do that.

They will tell you that Masterson hasn’t proven he can put two solid seasons back to back, and that’s why they can’t make that kind of financial commitment. However, the days of teams paying for past performance are in the past.

Today, teams have to pay based on what’s going to happen over the next three years.

The point is this is the market value for solid starting pitchers. The really good ones (Kershaw, Verlander, etc.) get $22 million per season.

If the Dolan ownership can’t pay the market value for players, then their really isn’t a bright future for Indians’ fans as long as the current ownership is in place.

To have that pointed out once again right before the start of the season is another kick in the teeth for Indians’ fans. And another reminder that an ownership that is unable to pay market value for players should think about selling the team.

Releasing Veterans is Just Business in NFL

We sometimes need to be reminded that professional sports are a business.

The Cleveland Browns reminded everyone of that this week when they released longtime linebacker D’Qwell Jackson rather that pay him a roster bonus that would have had him get over $9 million for the 2014 season.

Jackson has been a solid citizen and a great representative of the Browns since being drafted by Cleveland in 2006. He fought back after missing a year and a half with a torn pectoral muscle and resumed his place as a team leader and a solid player on the field.

However, he was due to be paid as an elite player in 2014, and quite frankly, Jackson is not a Pro Bowl type player.

If there was no salary cap, the Browns could take care of a good soldier, a player who wore the Cleveland uniform with pride and distinction.

And we understand the Browns have a ton of room under the cap right now, but if you are going to pay someone at the rate elite players are getting, they have to perform at that level.

Right now, D’Qwell Jackson is just not an impact player.

And now there are rumors that defensive lineman Ahtyba Rubin could be the next player to draw his release from the team.

The argument is the same. Rubin is a solid player, but he won’t be making the Pro Bowl any time soon, and he is due to be paid like someone who is an All Pro.

If the release of Jackson and Rubin help the Browns keep Alex Mack, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and T.J. Ward, who went to Hawaii for the first time in 2013, both of whom are free agents, then it is well worth it.

Obviously, new GM Ray Farmer, with a fresh set of eyes, wants to upgrade the talent on the Browns, and if you have to get rid of two solid players to keep two real good ones, plus keep cap room to add more good ones, then it really is an easy decision.

Northeastern Ohio sports fans are very loyal, particularly to players who have been here for a while. That’s why there is affinity for the Indians of the late 90’s, and the Browns of the late 80’s.

From a practical standpoint, it is not as though Jackson and Rubin have played during the glory days of the franchise. They’ve been on mediocre football teams, ones that have consistently lost ten or more games for the last six seasons.

Why wouldn’t the team look to replace them with younger, less expensive players that have a bigger upside? That’s being a smart general manager.

As we always say here…the only thing worse than being a bad football team is being a bad, old football team.

The Browns are one of the youngest teams in the NFL, but that shouldn’t preclude management from trying to replace players who are no longer getting better because of age with younger guys.

You can blame the Browns for insensitivity, but the player’s union should share the brunt as well because they have priced average veteran players out of jobs.

If Rubin is indeed released, there is no question that both he and Jackson will catch on with other teams, but at much lower salaries than they would have received from Cleveland.

This is a lesson on sports with salary caps in the 21^st Century. It stinks for good guys like D’Qwell Jackson and Ahtyba Rubin, but that is the reality.

To Tank? Or Not to Tank?

The usual sports season in Cleveland goes as follows: Training camp, followed by exhibition games, the excitement of Opening Day, and then deciding if and when the old home team should go into full tanking mode.

Yes, there are exceptions, such as last year’s Indians, when the season concludes with a post-season berth, but even the Tribe went through a discussion about whether or not the team should start selling off assets.

It seems that anytime a Cleveland professional team reaches the halfway point in the season and are more than three games out of a playoff spot, the knee jerk reaction of many people is that the team should look toward next season.

Even in the NBA, it is beneficial to make the playoffs, especially if you have a young team whose future is ahead of them.

There are several things at play in determining whether or not a team should throw in the towel, and the relative age of the squad is first and foremost among them.

The only thing worse than being a bad team is being a bad, old team.

While we all know the Indians made it to the wild card playoff game last season, but in late July, Terry Francona’s team was sitting at 52-48 and had just the eighth best record in the American League.

The July 31^st trade deadline was coming up, and there were plenty of fans and people in the media who felt GM Chris Antonetti should think about dealing Asdrubal Cabrera and others for more prospects.

Obviously, they were wrong.

Now, you have people longing for the Cavaliers to get back in the draft lottery even though they were five games out of the playoff spot. That was a week ago. After four straight wins, they are 3-1/2 games out.

Yes, this is a good draft, but there doesn’t appear to be a LeBron James type player. So, you might get a player who will be an all-star one day, but he likely won’t be at that level for a few years.

Moreover, the Cavs are already a very young team. Does it make sense to add yet another young player? Or would they be better off getting some valuable playoff experience?

Since making the playoffs would be a step forward for the franchise, they should go for it. If they were stuck in a quagmire of first round losses over a three or four-year span, then they might be better off getting into the lottery.

So we come to the rules for when to tank and when not to. In football, since there are only 16 games, and virtually no trades are made, you can’t really tank. However, you can decide to play young players and hope they get better for the future.

In baseball, when it is clear you are out of the race, let’s say you are 15 games out of a playoff spot at the All-Star break, then you should trade older veterans and potential free agents for prospects to help with the club’s future.

If you are within five or six games of the last spot, why not try to improve the team and take a shot at getting in the post-season? Once you are in the playoffs, you have a decent shot at winning. That’s the way the sport is. Heck, the Cardinals won 83 games in the regular season a few years ago and won the World Series.

In basketball, again, if a team is clearly out of the playoff race, then they should try to get in the draft lottery. If there is a franchise player available and you probably can’t advance if the post-season, then you should tank.

However, if you are a young team on the way up and there’s no elite player in the draft, why not take a chance and try to make the playoffs.

We realize that younger fans lean more toward looking at next season, while older fans want to win now.

However, if you have a chance to make the post-season, you should take it. There are times to blow everything up and there are times to push forward.

In Cleveland, the reflex action too often is to tank a season.

Tribe Off-Season Strategy is Bounce Back Seasons by Veterans

Although it doesn’t look like it outside your window if you live in the Cleveland area, baseball is just around the corner. Pitchers and catchers report to Goodyear, AZ on Tuesday.

The Indians are coming off a surprising season, going from 69 victories in 2012 to 92 wins and a berth in the wild card game at the end of the season.

The question is simply this: Can the Tribe do it again and remain the one beacon of hope in the darkness that is professional sports in our city?

Right now, most fans we speak to feel the same way, that the Tribe isn’t as good right now as they were at the end of the 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay on October 2nd.

Now, to be fair, there still is time to improve the ballclub, remember that Michael Bourn wasn’t signed until shortly after the Tribe was already in camp, but it appears the Indians will lose two starting pitchers (Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir) to free agency, and haven’t done anything to replace either.

Wouldn’t it be nice if just once, the Indians’ management said they were going to go the extra mile and add let’s say $15 million to the payroll and go for it? Using that money to bring in another proven top of the rotation starter or a proven bat to put in the middle of the lineup would be a refreshing change.

As of right now, Baseball-Reference.com lists Cleveland as having the second lowest payroll in the division, ahead of only Minnesota, and only slightly ahead of them.

Instead, they went with the usual low risk, high reward signings. Players who have good career track records, but are coming off poor seasons and/or injuries. After all, it worked last season with Ryan Raburn and Kazmir, so why not try the same thing with Shawn Marcum and Jeff Francouer?

This year’s strategy appears to be hoping that players who have performed well at the big league level, but had off seasons in 2013 will rebound to their normal levels. The players in this category would be Nick Swisher, Bourn, Asdrubal Cabrera, and newcomer David Murphy.

Swisher, who will be 33 this season, hit .246 with 22 HR and 63 RBI (763 OPS) last season while battling a shoulder injury. His career norms are .255 with 28 HR and 88 RBI (820 OPS), playing half of his time in the bigs in hitter’s parks (Chicago and New York). He figures to be slightly better because of the shoulder and perhaps pressing a tad with the new contract.

Bourn is 31 and hit .263 with 6 HR and 50 RBI (676 OPS) in 130 games a year ago, stealing 23 bases. His average season numbers are .271, 5 HR and 43 RBI (700 OPS) and 48 steals.

We have said this before. Unless Bourn changes his game to more of a contact approach (he struck out 132 times in ’13), it is doubtful he will improve. His career best OPS is 739, which is about the average major league regular.

Cabrera might be the best chance for a rebound since he is 28 years old and is eligible for free agency. However, he is two years removed from his best year in 2011. He hit .242 in 2013 with 14 dingers and 64 RBIs (700 OPS), compared to his norms of .273, 14 homers and 73 RBI (748 OPS). With a higher batting average should come more runs driven home.

Murphy will be 32 this season and hit just .220 with 14 home runs and 45 RBI (656 OPS) compared to usual numbers of .275, 16 HR and 69 RBI (778 OPS). However, he is moving from a great hitters park in Texas to a pitcher’s park in Cleveland. In fairness, he doesn’t have the extreme splits other Rangers’ hitters have at their home park.

It will be interesting to see which, if any, of these hitters can bounce back in 2013 because it seems the Indians’ off-season strategy for success is based on them being better.

Again, wouldn’t it be nice if they actually just spent a little more cash one year?

Has Tribe Done Enough This Off-Season?

The last time the Cleveland Indians made the playoffs prior to 2013 was in 2007, when Eric Wedge led the Tribe to the American League Championship Series, losing to the eventual World Champion Red Sox (managed by Terry Francona) in seven games.

After that season, then GM Mark Shapiro basically hibernated. The lone transaction of note was acquiring utility infielder Jamey Carroll from Colorado.

Later in spring training, Shapiro added left-handed reliever Craig Breslow on waivers from the Boston Red Sox.

That was it.

Many fans and baseball experts were critical of the Indians for not following up a Central Division championship season by strengthening the ballclub.

That brings us to 2014.

After a terrific month of September that sort of ignited baseball interest in Cleveland, GM Chris Antonetti hasn’t made a big splash in terms of getting help for his baseball team.

The biggest moves were signing OF David Murphy and reliever John Axford as free agents and trading OF Drew Stubbs for lefty reliever Josh Outman.

That won’t have fans flocking for ticket booths.

Now, we liked the Murphy pick up because it appears that the 2013 season was a blip on years of being a solid hitter, and Stubbs was superfluous because of that signing. Axford’s had some good years as a closer, but didn’t have the job last season. But it isn’t enough to have people excited about the Tribe.

Nor does it offset the loss of starting pitcher Scott Kazmir and the real possibility that Ubaldo Jimenez, the team’s best pitcher down the stretch, will be elsewhere this season.

The organization will explain things away with the usual discussion about the economics of the game, but they won’t tell you where the money from the sale of SportsTime Ohio and the new televsion contract is, and skipper Terry Francona will tell everyone that this team can and will compete for the division title this season.

And truth be told, Antonetti has done a good job bringing some low risk, high reward free agents such as pitchers Shaun Marcum and David Aardsma, and OFs Jeff Francoeur, and Nyjer Morgan.

He did the same last season in getting Ryan Raburn, Kazmir, and Jason Giambi, and those moves worked out pretty well.

We still believe the Tribe will sign another starting pitcher before spring training begins, now that the Yankees have signed Masahiro Tanaka, thus freeing up the market for starters.

That’s why we said it’s a possibility that Jimenez will be gone.

Maybe the attitude brought here by Francona and the veteran leadership he brought in last year will indeed allow the Indians to battle into the playoffs in 2014.

Still, if the team slips back to the .500 mark, people will point to the relative inactivity by Antonetti as the reason for the decline in the Tribe’s win total.

While we agree with not trading the system’s top two prospects, SS Francisco Lindor and OF Clint Frazier, the organization is ranking in the middle of the pack among all major league farm systems, meaning there are players desirable to other teams.

Why not trade one of these pieces to get another proven bat or another starting pitcher, players who could vault the Tribe into the favorite role in the division?

Instead, they have chosen the conservative route once again. The path that doesn’t get a fan base excited.

There seems to be a parallel to 2007. Let’s hope for a different result the season after a playoff berth.

Time for Tribe to Honor Albert Belle

Over the last few years, the Cleveland Indians have honored several of the players from their playoff teams of the late 90’s by putting them into the club’s Hall of Fame.

Sandy Alomar Jr. was the first to go in, fitting because he was the first piece of the puzzle when the Tribe traded for him after the 1990 season.

Kenny Lofton and Charles Nagy quickly followed him and last year, Carlos Baerga received the honor.

And there is no doubt that Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez will be inducted some day very soon, but their playing days ended too recently to be considered.

However, there is one name that is missing. The central figure for the first few years of the winning seasons including the strike shortened 1994 season and the American League Championship team of 1995.

It is time for the Indians to put Albert Belle in the franchise’s Hall of Fame.

We realize Belle’s departure from Cleveland as a free agent after the 1996 season was not exactly friendly and he antagonized the fan base when he came back to the lakefront as a member of the White Sox in subsequent visits. But you can’t ignore the fact that he’s one of the best players ever to wear an Indian uniform.

The slugger hit 242 home runs with the Tribe, leaving town as the franchise leader (he was passed by Jim Thome), and hit .295 with a 949 OPS in 913 games as a member of the team.

He led the American League in runs batted in three times with Cleveland, as well as leading the AL once in home runs, doubles, and runs scored once in his tenure here.

And in his last three seasons on the north coast, he finished second twice and third once in the MVP voting.

Of course, baseball historians will wonder years from now why Belle didn’t win the award in 1995 when he batted .317 (8^th in the league) with 50 HR (led league) and 126 RBI (tied for AL lead) on the best team by far in the junior circuit.

He hit at least 34 home runs the last five seasons in Cleveland, and knocked in at least 100 runs in those seasons as well. The significance of that is the 1994 season, the strike season, lasted only 113 games.

Yes, Belle was a controversial figure to be sure. He was suspended early in his career for different issues, and was once sat down because of a corked bat.

However, we also may have been the most studious players in the game when it came to his craft. He studied opposing pitchers and made adjustments.

In game five of the ’95 World Series, Belle went to school on new Hall of Famer Greg Maddux’ pitching him away and homered to right field in the first inning.

There is no question when you went to an Indians’ game in those days; you waited in your seat for Albert Belle to come to the plate. If you were at home, you made sure you were watching when Belle was hitting.

He was a “must see” player.

The Indians haven’t announced their honoree for the 2014 season yet, and the lately the antagonism between the Tribe and Belle has softened, so maybe he will get the nod.

But if they aren’t considering Albert Belle, they should. And we have a feeling when Belle is inducted, the fans will respond with a thunderous ovation.

Cleveland is a forgiving city, and they want to open their arms for the most exciting player to wear a Tribe uniform over the last 50 years.