First Step For Guardians Offense? Get On Base!

Baseball is the one major sport that is not governed by time. There is no clock. Games can last for 1:55 or for 4:05. As the great Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver once said, in this sport, you can’t run out the clock.

What is the timing mechanism for baseball? Each team gets 27 outs. It’s not over until they use all of them. If someone ever asks what is better, a 1.000 slugging percentage or a 1.000 on base percentage, the correct answer is the latter.

Slugging 1.000 simply means goes 1 for 4 with a home run, while is a team gets on base 100% of the time, the game never ends.

We point this out because as of today, the Cleveland Guardians rank last in the American League in on base percentage at .297, and if you are not getting on base, guess what you are doing? Making outs.

It’s kind of a trend as well. Last season, the Guardians were 8th in the league in OBP. In 2023, they were 10th. The year prior, it was 6th place, but in ’21, they ranked 13th. In the shortened season, they were 9th.

The last time they ranked in the top five in the AL in this category? That would be 2018, when they had four players who got on base more than 35% of the time: Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, and Yandy Diaz.

Diaz was traded after that season, and the company line was he didn’t hit for enough power. That was the first time we felt the Cleveland organization did not value getting on base.

If you’ve seen Moneyball, the movie and of course before that the book chronicling the Oakland A’s success without a large payroll, you can certainly remember the scene where Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, talks about players, and if backed up by Peter Brand (really Paul DePodesta) played by Jonah Hill, who keeps repeating “he gets on base”.

Right now, the Guardians have one player with an on base percentage over .350 and that’s Ramirez. Steven Kwan is next at .334, followed by Carlos Santana at .319, Kyle Manzardo at .317 and Daniel Schneemann at .308.

By the way, the league average is .314

In a sport governed by the counting of outs, the Guardians fill their lineup most nights with players who make a lot of them.

We have people who wonder about our obsession with walks, and really, it’s quite simple. If you are drawing a walk, guess what you aren’t doing? Making an out.

Ramirez is 16th in the AL and Santana is 17th in drawing walks, and frankly if Ramirez didn’t feel the responsibility to carry this lineup offensively, he would draw a lot more. He swings at pitches out of the zone because his job is to drive in runs.

Kwan is next and he’s 33rd, and with his knowledge of the strike zone and bat control, that’s too low. He should not have any problem having an OBP over .350.

The top five teams in runs scored in the AL are the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Tigers, and Mariners. Four of those teams are in the top five in getting on base, and the Mariners are currently sixth.

So when the Guardians’ front office discusses what they can do to help the offense in 2026, maybe they should call the Browns and get DePodesta on the phone so he can repeat “he gets on base”.

Sometimes, Looking Within Is Needed

Lately, there has been a great deal of conversation about possible trades for the Cleveland Cavaliers this summer and also about the roster makeup of the Cleveland Guardians.

This led us to think about the front offices of both teams.

Both of those teams are very successful, at least by Cleveland terms. The Cavs won a title nine years ago, and basically rebuilt the team following the 2017-18 season, LeBron James’ last season in wine and gold, to a point where they had the best record during the regular season in the Eastern Conference this past year.

They’ve been to the NBA Finals five times during the 21st century.

As for the Guardians, they have made the playoffs six times in the last nine years and of course went to the World Series in 2016 and played in the League Championship Series a year ago.

All of that success said, both groups can fall prey to perhaps the biggest weakness any organization can make, and that is overrating the talent they have.

It’s easy to do, we get that. When you draft a player, you do a crazy amount of research on them and in your mind, project what they can be when they mature and gain experience. When the progress is either slower than expected or simply cannot happen, coaches even talk them into scenarios where the player can flourish.

Isaac Okoro is the manifestation of that currently. Okoro was the fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft. He was over drafted in our opinion because you shouldn’t take a defensive minded wing that high (and yes, we said that at the time).

Okoro scored 9.6 points per game as a rookie and that remains his career high. For his five years in the league, he’s at 8.1 per contest. He’s become a respectable three-point shooter during the regular season, making 36.3%, 39.1% and 37.1% the last three seasons.

In the playoffs, it’s another matter. In three playoff years, he’s scoring 5.3 points and shooting 29.7% from distance. Those kinds of numbers keep you off the floor in the post-season.

Cleveland signed him to a three-year extension after his rookie deal ended and now would like to move him to free up space under the cap. But the cold reality comes from other teams, who don’t value the player at that salary. It has been reported the Cavs might have to throw in a draft pick or player for another team to make a deal.

The Guardians have the same problem at times. They keep hoping players will finally “figure it out” at the big-league level. We were asked a couple of days ago what we like in certain hitters coming through the farm system and we replied knowledge of the strike zone.

We understand the organization is trying the develop hitters, outside of Steven Kwan, who is last good hitter that came through their system? Obviously, Jose Ramirez, but no one else except for Francisco Lindor, who they traded when he was approaching free agency.

In their search for power, they are taking long looks at guys who have extreme strikeout rates, and those guys usually don’t have long careers. Pitchers figure them out.

We understand it is tough at times to admit a mistake has been made. That’s human nature. But it can hold a business or a sports team back if that can’t be done.

The Diminishing Skill Of Getting On Base

When the famed Baseball Abstract came out in the 1980’s, Bill James introduced the concept of OPS, writing that a player was a great offensive player if he could get on base 35% of the time while maintaining a .450 slugging percentage.

The reasoning was the player had the ability to get on base frequently and the slugging percentage measured how the player could advance runners, getting extra base hits, which is measured by slugging.

That made an 800 OPS the gold standard for hitters. That number started to be regarded as the measure of offensive success, but that led to younger baseball analysts thinking players with a .300 on base percentage and .500 slugging percentage were great hitters.

Those players generally tend to be guys who swing for the fences in most at bats, with high strikeout, low walk rates (hence the low on base percentage). Joey Gallo is the poster boy for us, with people telling us Gallo was an offensive force, piling up 800 OPS figures with batting averages of .209 (.333 OBP, 2017) and .206 (.312 OBP, 2018).

We know it is not fashionable to say this anymore, but no one who hits under .220 is a good hitter.

In 2024, the major league average OPS is 714, an on base percentage of .313 paired with a slugging percentage of .401.

Just a few years ago, good teams had several players that fit the .350/.450 model. For example, the 2015 Kansas City Royals that won the World Series had Eric Hosmer, Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, Kendrys Morales, and Ben Zobrist.

The 2016 Indians had Jose Ramirez, Tyler Naquin, and Carlos Santana who did it, while Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor were very close.

Right now, the Arizona Diamondbacks lead the majors in runs scored and they have three such batters: Ketel Marte, Jake McCarthy, and Joc Pederson. The Yankees have scored the next most runs and they have just two in Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.

We watch the Orioles when they were in town and thought their lineup was pretty solid top to bottom, but they also have only two in Gunnar Henderson and surprisingly Ryan O’Hearn.

This year’s Guardians’ team, 13th in the big leagues in runs scored have just one in Steven Kwan (382/480/862). The next closest is kind of a surprise in David Fry (369/441/810). The Guards are 17th in on base percentage at .310, just below the league average.

The reason for that is that Kwan and Fry are the only Cleveland players who can get on base at a 35% or better clip. Among players with over 200 plate appearances, they do have three hitters who are slugging .450 or better–Ramirez, Josh Naylor, and Kwan.

Our point is the Guardians do not have a lot of real good hitters and the offense could be better if they had more hitters who got on base more often. On the other hand, the art of getting on base seems to be on the decline in the sport, and that’s a shame.

As James also said, the game is measured by the number of outs, not a time clock (pitch clock not withstanding). A 1.000 slugging percentage can be achieved by going 1 for 4 with a home run. If you have a 1.000 on base percentage, your team keeps batting in the first inning.

Guardians Seem To Have Changed Philosophy On Hitting

About 10 years ago, the Cleveland Guardians developed a philosophy about hitting. The theory was it was easier to teach a good contact hitter to hit for power than it was to instruct a power hitter to make more contact.

The prime examples were Jose Ramirez, who hit a grand total of 13 home runs in the minor leagues (216 in the majors) and Francisco Lindor, who’s high in the minor leagues was 11 dingers, and by his second full year in the bigs, belted 33.

Kyle Manzardo, who came in the Aaron Civale deal, also fits this profile. He struck out in 18% of his plate appearances last season and hit 17 homers.

As everyone is aware by now, the Guardians were last in the major leagues in home runs in 2023, so what moves they have made have involved getting power, but they are getting players with high strikeout rates and low walk rates.

Why do we focus on this? Because generally, those players can be pitched to, meaning pitchers aren’t dumb and if they realize they can retire a hitter without throwing him a strike, then they probably won’t.

Not to pick on Amed Rosario, but how many times did we watch him strikeout without the pitcher throwing a ball in the strike zone? We realize the game has changed (not all changes are for the good) and hitters sell out to hit more home runs, but sometimes you can score without getting a hit. Can’t do that with a strikeout.

It’s not impossible for a hitter to succeed with that profile, but it isn’t the norm.

For example, Oscar Gonzalez struck out almost six times as much as he walked in the minor leagues. His first year in the bigs, he hit .296 with 11 homers, but he did fan 75 times with just 15 walks.

His next year? He hit .214 with two round-trippers and struck nine times more than he walked (46:5). It will be interesting to see how the Yankees will handle him.

This off-season, the Guardians elevated Johnathan Rodriguez to the 40 man roster. He has hit 55 home runs the past two minor league seasons, including 29 last season at the AA and AAA levels. He did strike out in 29% of his plate appearance last season in the minors. That’s the bad news.

The good news is his walk rate was the highest of his minor league career. Perhaps that’s a good sign.

The same is true with Estevan Florial, acquired from the Yankees the day after Christmas. Florial hit 28 dingers at AAA last season with a career high 66 walks. He did strikeout in 30% of his plate appearances in the minors a year ago.

The Guardians do a lot of touting of Gabriel Arias, because he has a very strong exit velocity when he hits the ball. However, that’s the problem. He whiffed in 32.8% of his at bats for the Cleveland a year ago.

In addition to being last in the majors in home runs last season, the Guardians also struck out the least. However, it is possible hit for power and not whiff excessively.

Of the top ten in the lowest number of strikeouts last year, five teams made the playoffs, including the Braves, who led the majors in home runs with 307, and Houston, who were fifth in the bigs in runs scored.

We have our doubts that the new power with high strikeout rates will work for the Guardians. We think they should focus on getting more men on base, a higher on-base percentage.

Of the teams with the 10 worst OBP in the sport in 2023, none made the playoffs. Maybe there is a correlation there.

Thank You, Terry Francona

Terry Francona managed his last home game as the Guardians/Indians’ skipper last night and what a fun 11 years it has been. Six post-season berths, one American League pennant, and currently sitting at 920 regular season victories.

He is respected by pretty much everyone he comes in contact with, and unfortunately this 2023 Guardians didn’t have a better finish to the season.

We remember being very surprised that he would take the Cleveland position after winning two World Series in Boston, but thrilled we were getting a winner.

We are sure there are some who is glad he is leaving, and even Francona himself has said maybe the next guy will be better. As former Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove once said, two things everybody thinks they can do better than everyone else are cooking a steak and managing a baseball team.

We have said Francona is not infallible, he made mistakes, just like every other manager. He gave some players too much of the benefit of the doubt, and sometimes that patience lapsed into stubbornness. But many times, the skipper was right, and the player he waited on started producing.

He’s what they call a “baseball lifer”, he spent his whole life in the sport, and we’ve all seen the picture in the dugout at the Father/Son Day in Cleveland in the early 60’s. He grew up in the game. And with his dad playing here and him managing here for 11 years, he’s a Cleveland guy.

That alone should be cause for celebration.

And for all the talk that he loves veterans, let’s not forget during his tenure here, he broke in Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Steven Kwan, and really Josh Naylor too. And his first pitching staff here featured Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Danny Salazar, and a very young Corey Kluber.

He had Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, and Trevor Bauer on the World Series team of 2016, and brought along Shane Bieber to be the latest ace, with perhaps Tanner Bibee getting ready to take his place.

He’s done a pretty good job with young players too, and always has if you look at his time in Philadelphia (Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu) and Boston (Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis).

Let’s also remember how masterful Francona was in the 2016 post-season, when he guided the Indians to the ultimate game despite losing Carrasco and Salazar for pretty much the entire playoffs.

He and Joe Torre changed how bullpens were used in the postseason, and now all managers use that strategy come October.

And think about the relationships with his players. When the Pirates were in town earlier this season, Carlos Santana ran over to the Guardians’ dugout after the top of the first inning to give Francona a hug.

We are sure there are a few players who don’t like Francona, but they are few and far between.

We are sad about his departure because it marks the end of an era in Cleveland baseball. It has been noted that the only two teams with better records since Francona has been at the helm are the Yankees and Dodgers. Let that sink in a bit.

Say what you will, but that’s a pretty good run.

We would like to say thank you for 11 great seasons of baseball. In an interview given last week, Francona sounds like he still would like to be part of the organization going forward, and that sound right.

Since he was a little kid, he seems like he’s been one of ours.

Does The Guardians’ Front Office Succeed In “Big Trades”?

The other day we talked about the possible trade of Cleveland Guardians’ starting pitcher Shane Bieber. One of the reasons some folks say the Guards should deal Bieber is that they always do well in these types of trades.

Do they? Let’s take a look at the last three major transactions the Cleveland front office has made.

When evaluating the move, we aren’t going to focus on the performance of the player the Guardians traded away, simply going to talk about the return.

The latest move was dealing Francisco Lindor to the Mets along with Carlos Carrasco for Andres Gimenez, Amed Rosario, and two minor leaguers, Isaiah Greene and Josh Wolf. At the time of the deal, we said the key for Cleveland was Gimenez, who turned into an All-Star last season, and seems like a very good player at the least.

Rosario is a journeyman, likely playing his last season with the Guards. He’s a starter here, but there has been plenty of debate as to whether or not he should be.

We’d give Cleveland a slight edge, mostly because Gimenez has emerged as a potential star.

Then we have the Mike Clevinger deal, which considering he was probably Cleveland’s third starter (behind Bieber and Carrasco) at the time of the deal, was a tremendous haul.

Two of the pieces acquired, Austin Hedges and Owen Miller, have already moved on. Josh Naylor has been excellent, an everyday middle of the order bat, and a team leader. Cal Quantrill is currently out with a shoulder issue, but he’s a solid third or fourth starter on a good team.

We have our doubts about Gabriel Arias, tremendous with the glove, but struggles at the dish. Perhaps another solid piece is coming in lefty Joey Cantillo, currently at AAA, but at the AA level had a 2.13 ERA in 93 innings with 134 strikeouts.

This was a big win for the Guards. They got an impact bat, and solid starting pitcher and possibly more to come in Cantillo

The other trade was moving Trevor Bauer in a three team move to Cincinnati. The return was Yasiel Puig, Franmil Reyes, and two minor leaguers, pitchers Scott Moss and Logan Allen (not the one currently with the Guards).

At the time, we thought the deal was made more for the following season than it was for 2019, a year Cleveland won 93 games and missed the playoffs.

Just four years later, there is nothing left from this deal.

Reyes provided pop for two and a half years here, but we are sure the organization wanted him to be the middle of the order slugger the Guardians are still looking for. He experienced a drastic fall off in production last year and is currently with Washington at the AAA level.

Puig finished the season with Cleveland and moved on. We don’t think Terry Francona and he hit it off. Although he didn’t hit for the power that was expected (slugged just .423), he did get on base to the tune of a .377 OBP.

Allen was a solid prospect but had a 5.45 ERA in 69.1 innings with the Guardians. He’s currently with the Rockies organization and has a 6.70 ERA in AAA. Moss isn’t pitching in professional baseball to date this season.

The Guards certainly didn’t win this one.

Our conclusion? The Guardians have done alright for themselves in these deals but haven’t “killed it”. Gimenez and Naylor are big parts of the current team, with the former having the possibility of being a multi-time all-star.

Make no mistake though, the Cleveland front office has done a solid job getting back good players for potential free agents they have no plans to sign. However, they still haven’t received the slugger they seem to have trouble developing, nor have they received a top-of-the-line starting pitcher.

New Minority Owner For Guards, New Hope For Fans

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced it Thursday, the Cleveland Guardians have a new minority owner in David Blitzer, who reportedly owns about 25% of the team.

This should be good news for baseball fans in northeast Ohio, although it did bring out a number of the Dolan defenders on social media.

Let’s face it, for most of the time the Dolan family have owned the team, they have been run on a shoestring budget. And since we are firmly in the camp that no Major League Baseball team is struggling to stay solvent, that means the Cleveland owners have made a lot of money having the Indians/Guardians as an asset.

Does the family have some positive attributes as owners? Of course. They are notoriously great in hiring good management and letting the baseball people run the organization. Team president Chris Antonetti and his front office are the envy of many teams, and recently, other organizations have targeted the Cleveland baseball people for high management roles.

You have to think the owners do step in when it comes time to pay the better players who were drafted and/or developed by the baseball people when the time comes.

Since the Dolans’ have controlled the purse strings, the franchise has traded C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, and Francisco Lindor because the team would not pay the going rate for talent like theirs.

Defenders point to the Jose Ramirez deal as proof the owners were willing to spend, but as we have said before, we can’t give the Dolans credit for Ramirez staying. They were lucky that one of the best players in the sport decided to leave a considerable amount of cash on the table to stay with the franchise.

No doubt the atmosphere, created by the folks the owner hired, was important to Ramirez, but if Ramirez had wanted to be paid like the superstar he is, he’d be wearing a different uniform today.

It isn’t just spending on players’ salaries that has been lacking by the current ownership. Hopefully Blitzer, who has been involved in professional sports for some time, talks to the controlling owners about doing a better job promoting and marketing the Guardians.

The Dolans have complained about attendance, but it has seemed for years that their belief seems to be winning is the only thing that matters. The local television ratings have been among the best in the sport, but it doesn’t translate to putting folks in the stands.

Has anyone ever bothered to find out why?

There are also reports that Blitzer has plans to develop the area around Progressive Field in order to bring in money from other areas. This is similar to what the St. Louis Cardinals’ ownership did.

Quite frankly, it seems like a great idea.

We would also like to see a more fun gameday experience at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Professional sports are entertainment and going to a game should be a fun time and affordable for families.

Get fans in the park, show them a good, fun time, and they will come back, particularly if the team in winning, that’s seems to have been ignored for some time with the Cleveland franchise.

So, forgive us if we aren’t holding a parade in honor of Larry and Paul Dolan. On the other hand, here’s hoping having a new minority owner means the pocketbook will open up more often.

At least, it is encouraging off the field news for the Cleveland baseball franchise. It’s been a while since that could be said.

Ramirez’ Place In Cleveland Baseball History

A few years ago, we wrote a piece talking about Francisco Lindor’s place in Cleveland baseball history if he were to play his entire career here, or at least a sizeable portion of it.

Well, we had the wrong player. Jose Ramirez is one of the best players in the game, and he wants to spend his entire career in a Cleveland uniform.

So, let’s look at some of the all time Cleveland counting stats and see where Ramirez will wind up statistically for the franchise.

The franchise leader in games played is Terry Turner, who played 1619 games with Cleveland, the last in 1919. Ramirez has played in 1026 as of today, and if he averages 140 games through the end of 2028 when his contract ends, he will surpass that total easily.

Napoleon Lajoie is the club’s all time leader in hits with 2047 and he last wore a Cleveland uniform in 1914. Ramirez has 1038 currently. Assuming he gets 100 more hits this season, he would need to get about 150 hits per season to pass the man the team was once named after.

Jim Thome’s 337 home runs is the current standard and Ramirez has belted 176 as of now, averaging almost 28 per season in the last five full seasons. After this season, the switch-hitting third baseman will need slightly over 20 homers a year to break the franchise mark.

As for RBIs, the all-time leader is Earl Averill with 1084 and Ramirez has 591 to date, averaging 90 a year in the last five full seasons. At that pace, he will pass Averill, but as we know that depends on his teammates and other teams choosing to pitch to him.

Averill is also the leader in total bases (3200) with Ramirez currently at 1885. Jose has averaged 290 total bases in the last five full seasons, so he should pass the 2000 mark before the end of this season.

Keep in mind using the last five full seasons includes the 2016 season in which Ramirez only hit 11 homers and knocked in 76 runs. His power surge started the following season when he belted 29 dingers.

Ramirez has 256 career doubles and the franchise leader is also the all time in this department, Tris Speaker, who had 486 of his two-baggers in a Cleveland uniform. Ramirez gets a lot of hustle doubles because of his speed, but his total has dipped since he started belting balls over the fence.

He had a league leading 56 in 2017, but the past few seasons, he’s been around 30-35. At that pace, he gets in the top five all time, but no higher.

In terms of WAR, Ramirez is already in 10th place at 36.9, and at the pace his current season is on, he will likely be 9th by the end of this season, passing the aforementioned Turner. Being conservative, he will be in the top five in franchise history during the 2024 assuming he stays healthy.

Many of Cleveland’s all time leaders in these counting statistics come either from the 90’s teams (like Thome) or more than 80 years ago, so it will be refreshing to see Ramirez’ name at the top.

No doubt he will be one of the greatest, if not THE greatest player to ever wear a Cleveland baseball outfit.

You are witnessing one of the best ever here.

On Offering Big Money In Sports.

With all of the big money in professional sports today, many of the people not working in front offices are in a big hurry to spend.

For some players, like LeBron James, it’s a no brainer to give them the most money they can get as early as they can get it. People like James are destined for greatness, and their teams should do what they can to tie them up for as long as they can.

However, for most of the players, there should be no rush to bestow huge contracts upon them. Why not get as much information as you can about the athlete before entering into a huge financial commitment for the team with the person.

We understand that sometimes the player takes the lack of the big deal as disrespect. However, remember, most athletes do not have the same loyalty as say, Jose Ramirez did with the Guardians.

The Cavaliers have a decision this summer with Collin Sexton and it has been debated on several fronts. Sexton is a restricted free agent, which enables the Cavs to match any offer he receives from other organizations.

Sexton averaged almost 25 points per game in 2020-21, but played just 11 games last season with a knee injury. So what should Koby Altman’s contract offer be? We know there are a lot of Sexton fans out there that would say he should get the most money Cleveland can offer.

That’s probably because it isn’t their money.

The max deal for a player after four seasons is around $30 million per year. Personally, there aren’t many players coming off a season in which they played just 11 games, that we would offer that kind of cash to. And we understand, there isn’t any reason Sexton shouldn’t be able to come back from his medical issue.

Last year, we wondered what would the market be for Sexton, and quite frankly, we still have that thought. Would any other team offer him anywhere near that kind of cash?

That’s way we would let Sexton go out and see what is available to him. Let him go and see what the market is for him, and the Cavaliers would still have the ability to keep him at a reasonable salary. Remember, the NBA is a salary cap sport, although we know there are many loopholes, and Altman could be creative to give the team room.

We heard a few people the other day discussing locking up Guardians’ pitcher Triston McKenzie on a long term deal after he dominated Houston.

What’s the rush?

We think McKenzie is a very good young pitcher. He will be 25-years-old soon and might be the Guardians’ best pitcher right now.

However, he’s thrown less than 200 innings in his career and is under the team’s control through the 2026 season. And let’s face it, pitchers’ careers are more volatile than everyday players.

A few years ago, we advocated for Cleveland to sign Francisco Lindor at any cost. In his last couple of years here, Lindor seemed to embrace the “launch angle” movement and became less effective hitting. He went from a .280-.300 hitter to a .230-.250 hitter.

Is he reaching the value of the deal he signed with the Mets? We believe most would say no.

We know the owners of these teams are billionaires and none of them (not even the Dolans) are in danger of living in poverty. However, players and agents use what one person gets as the basis for someone else.

And for teams in a salary cap sport, overpaying a player can become an albatross. There is nothing wrong with getting as much information as you can before offering an athlete a boatload of money.

It’s the smart thing to do.

Just Five Years Ago, Cleveland Baseball Was Riding High

In 2017 the Cleveland Indians completed a season in which they won a club record 102 games, but lost in disappointing fashion to the Yankees in the AL Division Series in five games. That after taking a 2-0 lead in the series.

They had two of the best players in the game in Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and that duo was just 23 and 24 years old, respectively. The pitching staff was led by two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and another future Cy Young Award winner in Trevor Bauer.

The payroll for that season ranked 18th in all of baseball at $114 million (according to BaseballReference.com), and the Tribe drew slightly over 2 million fans, an increase from ’16. They were 3rd in the AL in runs scored.

Following a World Series appearance the year before, it certainly seemed like the franchise was headed for a long tenure at the top.

After that season, Carlos Santana, Jay Bruce (a late season pick up in ’17) and Bryan Shaw left via free agency, with Yonder Alonso signed to replace Santana. The payroll increased to $143 million, ranking 13th in baseball, and attendance dropped slightly to 1.9 million.

They remained 3rd in the AL in runs scored.

They did trade for former AL MVP Josh Donaldson to bolster the roster in September.

The team’s record fell to 91-71, understandable since they set a club record the year before. And they were swept in the ALDS by Houston.

After that season, many of the players well known to fans began to leave. Michael Brantley, Cody Allen, Andrew Miller, Josh Tomlin, and Brandon Guyer all were free agents.

Yan Gomes was traded for Daniel Johnson and Jefry Rodriguez. Edwin Encarnacion and Yandy Diaz were moved in a three way deal that brought back Santana and Jake Bauers.

The Gomes move hasn’t paid dividends, mostly because Johnson doesn’t seem to be in good favor with the front office. And while Diaz is a regular with Tampa, now a perennial contender, Bauers was a bust and was let go.

Santana did have a very good 2019, but then departed as a free agent after 2020.

In 2019, the team finished second in the AL Central with a 93-69 record, but missed the playoffs. The payroll ranked 11th at $151 million, but attendance dropped to 1.7 million. And they fell to 7th in scoring runs.

During the year, the front office moved Trevor Bauer in a three team deal which netted the Indians, Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig.

Reyes is a fixture in the shaky lineup today, providing power, but still isn’t a polished hitter, striking out a lot, but doesn’t get on base enough.

Kluber was moved after the season, but no one can complain about this one. Emmanuel Clase is the closer and last season had a tremendous year. Kluber is now on his fourth team since leaving Cleveland.

The 2020 season was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Tribe did make the expanded playoffs, losing in a three game series to New York, 2-0, but the once potent offense dropped to 13th in the American League in scoring.

During that season, the front office dealt another mainstay in Mike Clevinger, and they hope that move sets the foundation of future success. They received starter Cal Quantrill, starting catcher Austin Hedges, and 1B/OF Josh Naylor, who is a regular, as well as prospects Gabriel Arias, Owen Miller, and LHP Joey Cantillo.

Even with the trades of Kluber, Bauer, and Clevinger, the starting pitching has still been solid. Shane Bieber won a Cy Young, and Quantrill and Triston McKenzie, a farm system product, show signs of being special.

And of course, Lindor was moved prior to last season (with another starting pitching mainstay, Carlos Carrasco) for four players, two of them deep in the minors, but also INF Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez, who really don’t appear to be standouts for now.

It was only five years ago when the Cleveland baseball team had everything going for it. Right now, it seems like 50 years ago. If the Clevinger deal doesn’t work out like the front office thought, it could be awhile before the offense is good enough to contend.