The Only Way A Bauer Deal Makes Sense

The rumors keep swirling around Major League Baseball about the Indians trading Trevor Bauer, and quite frankly we don’t understand it.

Yes, we understand that Bauer is going to get a significant increase in pay for 2020 through the arbitration process, and is going to be a free agent following that season.

We hear the arguments about dealing Bauer and improving the team now, and if you can do that, we are all ears. We have said it many times before, we would trade anyone for the right price.

And maybe someone will pay that price for Trevor Bauer, we just don’t think anyone will.

That’s because the right price for Bauer would include getting a major league starting pitcher in return. That’s what the Indians need unless they decide to do the mind boggling task of giving up on a season in which they are on pace to win more than 90 games.

No one has been more critical of the Indians’ offense than us, and the series against the Twins showed the need to fill holes in the lineup, even with Jose Ramirez starting to resemble the guy who finished in the top three of the MVP voting the past two seasons.

However, trading Bauer for someone who can impact the lineup right now and not getting a MLB caliber starter as part of the package is just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

If you deal Bauer, you have a shortage of starting pitching in our opinion.

One of the reasons the Indians are in possession of a playoff spot right now is their pitching, which ranks second in the American League in ERA, and the strength of that staff recently is the ability to trot Bauer, Mike Clevinger, and Shane Bieber out there every three of five games.

Moving Bauer creates a void in that strength. Without him, your rotation is Clevinger, Bieber, Adam Plutko, rookie Zach Plesac, and who? Another rookie in Aaron Civale?

Can you win enough games to make the playoffs with this rotation?

And spare us the “we’ll get Corey Kluber and maybe Carlos Carrasco back soon” talk.

If you can tell us how Kluber will pitch when he comes back, then please supply us with the next numbers for the MegaMillions drawing. Kluber was up and down before he was injured, and he is basically starting his season over.

Could Kluber be the pitcher he has been for the last five years? Sure. Is it worth gambling a playoff spot on that chance? Of course not.

We understand the offense is still below par, so go out and get a rental bat, even though we know the front office doesn’t like to do that. Let’s say you can get a Nicholas Castellanos for a prospect not currently in the Cleveland top ten?

That way you boost the offense without touching the rotation.

Or you can get a young starter with some big league experience in exchange for Bauer. We don’t think a team will do that with Bauer eligible for a big payday in ’20 and free agency in ’21.

Maybe you make two deals, one for a starter, say Marcus Stroman, and then move Bauer somewhere else.

That would be more prudent so you can continue to compete this season.

The Minnesota Twins are a good team, but they no longer have a 10 game lead in the division, it’s now three. You can’t weaken the strength of this team, which is starting pitching.

If you make the team better, then make the deal. But if you are going to weaken part of the team to fix something else, that doesn’t make sense.

Tribe Front Office Shouldn’t Be Satisfied With Recent Winning.

The Cleveland Indians resume play on Friday night, and they go right into the fire with a three game series against the division leading Minnesota Twins.

The Tribe is 5-1/2 games behind the Twins at the All Star break, and while it is a big series to start the second half of the season, unless they get swept, it shouldn’t change what their plans are going into the trading deadline.

Even if Minnesota takes two out of three, the Indians will be 6.5 games out, and will still be very much in the wild card race, and with the following schedule filled with games against Detroit, Kansas City, and Toronto, Terry Francona’s squad should still be in the think of it when the calendar turns to August.

Last season, the top five scoring teams in the AL made the playoffs. Looking at the runs scored in the league right now, the top four teams are squarely in the race, with Seattle being an also ran, ranking fifth.

Tampa Bay and Cleveland rank 9th and 10th, respectively, meaning if history holds true, the Tribe front office should still be looking to improve the hitting.

In our opinion, although the Tribe’s offense has been much better the last 30 days, the front office cannot be complacent or satisfied.

Jason Kipnis had a very good stretch in the middle of the month, but has gone just 4 for his last 23, and is a liability against southpaws right now. He also struggles against power pitchers, hitting just .176 against them.

Jose Ramirez has slashed .353/.514/866 over the last 28 days, but can anyone be convinced he has returned to the guy who finished in the top three of the MVP voting in each of the last two years?

And then you have the young guys, can they hold up after opposing pitchers make adjustements?

Oscar Mercado has been a big boost to the lineup, but he had a rough week going into the break. Is that the beginning of hitting a rookie wall? We can say the same about Jake Bauers, who despite some early patience at the plate, now has a 80:28 strikeout to walk ratio.

That doesn’t bode well down the stretch.

If Mercado slumps, does the lineup have enough length to continue to put up the runs required to win in the AL?

That’s why we would still look to add at least one bat at the deadline. A veteran hitter would be nice, so that if Mercado continues to hit, and Bauers keeps providing some pop, then the added bat can be much needed depth.

We are also worried about the back end of the bullpen, especially with Brad Hand’s struggles (yes, we know he was damned near perfect up to this point) recently.

Nick Wittgren has done a fine job, but over the last month has allowed six runs in nine innings, serving up three of the five home runs he’s allowed this season.

And we still are worried about Tyler Olson’s effectiveness.

Nick Goody has looked good recently, but in today’s game, where the power arm out of the bullpen is king, the Indians don’t really have one. They could use a guy who can pitch the 8th (moving Wittgren to the 7th) who can blow away hitters.

What will the Indians do? We don’t know, but Frankie Lindor did kind of put pressure on the front office to add to the roster.

The point is, the organization shouldn’t and can’t be satisfied. They shouldn’t make a bad move, but they do have some depth at the farm to be able to help the big league club.

Halfway Through, Tribe Still In A Race.

After finishing the first third of the season right at the .500 mark, the Cleveland Indians went 17-10 in their next 27 games to sit at 44-37 at the halfway point of the season, an 88 win pace for the entire campaign.

Here is how the season has gone in groups of 27 games (1/6th of the schedule):

First 27: 15-12
Next 27: 12-15
Third 27: 17-10

After 81 games, the Indians sit just a game and a half behind Texas for a wild card spot, tied with Oakland, and are a half game ahead of Boston.

So, the Tribe is still in the midst of a playoff hunt, but the bigger question is how hard will the organization go after it.

The Indians have dropped to 4th in the American League in ERA after back-to-back shellackings at the hands of the lowly Baltimore Orioles, but have moved up to 10th in the league in runs scored despite being shutout in consecutive games by a pitching staff with the worst ERA in the league.

And playing in a major hitter’s yard.

Jason Kipnis has had a rebirth in the last couple of weeks, but is it sustainable? Jose Ramirez has a 918 OPS and a .306 batting average in the last 14 days. Is this yet another sign that the two time top three MVP finisher has turned the corner?

What we are trying to say is if they want to make a run at the playoffs, the front office still needs to improve the offense.

Right now, Cleveland’s third or fourth best hitter on most nights is Roberto Perez, who is having his best offensive season (14 home runs, 825 OPS), but how long will that keep up, especially considering Perez plays a position where the schedule takes its toll on your body.

Are young players the answer? Well, Oscar Mercado has been a revelation to date, helping lengthen the lineup with a .307 and 812 OPS, but should that mean a wholesale influx of people from Columbus.

To date, and we know it is very early, Bobby Bradley has not. After going 2 for 6 in his first two games with a couple of key RBIs, he has been the all or nothing hitter we feared, going 1 for 14 with six strikeouts.

Again, it’s an extremely small sample size, but what the Tribe needs is not more swing and miss hitters that occasionally run into one, but more guys who get on base, and hit doubles and triples with an occasional long ball.

Cleveland is 11th in slugging, and 12th in doubles, and tenth in triples and home runs.

Again, using Mercado as an example, he has nine doubles and four homers, to go with his .352 on base percentage.

And it’s why we’d like to see Mark Mathias (.358 OBP, .459 slugging) or even Daniel Johnson (.350 OBP, .518 slugging) get a shot with the big club.

We touched on some of the power arms for the bullpen in the organization earlier this week, and that is another area we would like to see improved in the second half.

We feel guys like Tyler Olson and Adam Cimber can’t be trusted to get big outs in important games and that puts a bigger load on Brad Hand and Nick Wittgren, who probably should be a 7th inning guy, not an 8th inning one.

But it comes down to the front office and a commitment from ownership to go after a post-season spot.

And to those who say the Indians can’t beat New York or Houston? They may have a slim chance of that, but they have no chance if they don’t qualify for the playoffs.

Tribe Decision To Cut Salaries Is Still Mind Boggling

Really, it can’t be said enough.

What exactly was the ownership of the Cleveland Indians thinking when they decided to trim the payroll for the 2019 baseball season? It is quite mind boggling to say the least.

Yes, the ballclub was getting older, but it had made the post-season for three consecutive years, and even though the Tribe was swept in three games by the Houston Astros in the Division Series, the last two games of the series were close for most of the contests.

The Indians led in the sixth inning of Game 2 before Houston got two on, one the result of swinging bunt, before Terry Francona took out Carlos Carrasco, who was pitching a shutout, after 77 pitches.

Andrew Miller allowed the two runs to score, and the Indians wound up losing 3-1.

Cleveland held a lead in Game 3 after six, before the bullpen, including Trevor Bauer, who made two errors in the inning, allowed 10 runs in the last three frames.

Yes, the team was showing some age, but they still had Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and an excellent starting rotation to build around.

Why not allow the front office, your baseball people, to keep the payroll the same as the previous two seasons? After all, the Midsummer Classic, the All Star Game, would be at Progressive Field this summer. Wouldn’t the excitement of a playoff team and a huge showcase cause attendance to rise?

Instead, a winter of pretty much inactivity soured the fan base. So did allowing fan favorites like Michael Brantley and Yan Gomes go, especially without replacements.

We understood the moves at the time, but we thought the plan was to re-allocate the payroll, bringing in some younger players with upside instead of the aging veterans.

It turned out, it was just a payroll dump.

When the season began, the offense was a huge question mark, at least to many fans, but the front office and the Tribe zealots said the hitting would be fine.

Granted some of that optimism was based on Ramirez returning to form, and that has left a huge gap, but even if he were performing at the same level as a year ago, this would still be a below average attack.

Don’t believe the BS that the team was losing money either. There are plenty of stories out there how major league baseball teams are awash in cash.

And if you own a professional sports team, yes, you want to make money, and we understand that, but you have an obligation to win! Especially when you own a team that has gone without a title in 71 FREAKING YEARS, and you are close to that elusive championship.

We have been around for three MLB All Star Games, and we don’t think there has ever been less buzz about the event being here. And it’s because the fan base has been deflated by the ownership.

Also, they see another organization in Berea going for it. Trying everything they can to get to the playoffs and win the Super Bowl for the first time.

The season is one-third over and we still can’t get our heads around this decision. It’s patently stupid.

And the people who are suffering are the tried and true baseball fans of Cleveland, who have watched this team get painfully close to World Series titles twice in the last 22 years, only to come up empty.

With the season hanging in the balance, the history of the Dolan ownership is to spend when they are front-runners, not to get back in the race. So, if Francisco Lindor will only be here through 2021, and Trevor Bauer is gone after 2020, you’ve wasted a year where the Indians have them.

What a mess. And really, how can anyone defend this decision?

Talking Tribe Lineup Change

Former Indians’ manager Mike Hargrove used to say that two things everybody thinks they can do better than you are cook a steak and manage a baseball team.

Those Tribe squads that Hargrove managed were so loaded offensively, it probably didn’t matter what order the skipper put them in, they were going to score a lot of runs.

This season’s edition of the Cleveland baseball team cannot make the same claim. They are 13th in the American League in runs scored, so lineup construction is very important, or at least it should be.

Terry Francona’s batting order is curious to say the least.

For example, the Tribe has one hitter with an on base percentage over .400 and one hitter with a slugging percentage over .500.

Logic would tell you it makes sense to have the man who gets on base batting before the player with extra base power, but that’s not how the Indians do it.

Francisco Lindor has a slugging percentage of .513 but he leads off on a daily basis. Carlos Santana gets on base 40.9% of the time (he also has a .488 slugging percentage) and he bats third right now, and hit 4th for much of the year.

Lindor also led off last season when he had the third best OBP on the team (behind Jose Ramirez and Michael Brantley).

We understand Francona wants to A). get Lindor as many at bats as possible and B). likes the shortstop to set a tone in each game, but he is the team’s best hitter, and the new age baseball people will tell you the best hitter should bat 2nd.

The manager has used Santana in the leadoff spot before, but for much of this season, the switch-hitter has been the only source of offense.

Jose Ramirez has been hitting in the #3 or #5 hole all season long, even though he has a 600 OPS. The struggling third baseman is second on the team in walks, so we thought perhaps a switch to the top of the order would have him concentrating more on getting on base, rather than driving the ball.

The Indians have informed us that Jason Kipnis has reached base in 17 straight games, going 17 for 67 (.259) with nine walks. This is a big improvement, but he’s hardly tearing the cover off the ball.

Again, Francona’s logic in hitting the second baseman there is that he’s comfortable. We understand the feelings of the players should be taken into consideration, but the Indians need to make the most of their run scoring opportunities.

What would we do? Here is the lineup we would put out there vs. a right-handed pitcher:

Ramirez 3B
Santana 1B
Lindor SS
Bauers DH
Luplow RF
Kipnis 2B
Perez C
Martin CF
Mercado LF

We know Francona has a problem with hitting all the switch-hitters together, but again, dire circumstances. The rest of the lineup features an alternating left and right.

If Mercado keeps performing, he can be moved higher in the order, but having him right before Ramirez, Santana, and Lindor should help the offense.

We hesitated with Bauers at the #4 spot because he has struggled as of late, but he has done well working the count, and can hit left-handed pitching.

Something has to change to get this out of the funk, and patience has to be thrown out of the window.

Mostly though, this change was designed to get Lindor at the plate with runners on base, instead of coming up at least once a game with no one on. And Santana gets on all the time, so it makes sense.

The Ramirez change is done hopefully to shock him back into being Jose Ramirez. Again, let him focus in getting on base, so maybe it stops him from chasing.

There have been too many games where the quantity of hits and walks isn’t producing runs. Mainly because there are guys not producing mixed in with those who are.

Maybe next week, we’ll tell you about a good way to cook a steak.

How Long Of A Leash Will Some Tribe Players Get?

When you rank last in the league in runs scored, shouldn’t patience go out the window?

We have always said people in the front office have to be more patient than fans. Heck, many fans want to cut players because they go hitless in two straight games, or even worse, strikeout with the bases loaded in a one run game in the bottom of the ninth.

Baseball professional always talk about the numbers on a guy’s baseball card. What they mean is players who have reached a certain level will almost certainly return to those levels.

It’s why the Tribe brass isn’t panicking about Jose Ramirez’ slow start, even though it extended from the last six weeks of last season.

Last year, Paul Goldschmidt, a frequent MVP candidate, hit .144 (14 for 97) in May. He rebounded to hit .364 with 10 home runs in June.

That’s the way baseball is.

However, there should be a sense of urgency when you have played roughly a fifth of a baseball season, and your team in last in the AL in runs scored, which is the tale of the Cleveland Indians’ 2019 season right now.

Surely, it is easy to have patience with Jose Ramirez, who is 26 years old, and coming off a season in which he finished in the top three in the MVP voting. He may have been the best hitter in the league from the beginning of the 2018 season until the middle of August.

However, when a player gets past his 30th birthday, and he goes into a slump, it is natural to wonder if it is indeed a slump, or the beginning of a decline.

In the Indians’ case, if the offense was rolling, and everyone except for one player was producing, it would be easy to overlook the struggling player and give him time to work out whatever issue he is having at the plate.

But when they are only one or two hitters putting up decent numbers, there comes a time where the manager simply can’t wait anymore. And save your overly patient Tito comments for the time being.

Which leads us to ask, how long does the rope go for two non-performing veterans right now, Jason Kipnis and Carlos Gonzalez?

Since the end of the 2016 season, Kipnis has hit .227 with a 688 OPS. That’s below average production.

CarGo has just two extra base hits in 65 plate appearance this year, and last season had just 17 non-singles in 265 times at bat. Compare that to 35 in 239 times at the dish in Coors Field.

The question of whether or not the veteran outfielder was a product of the thin air in Colorado seems appropriate.

Keep in mind, Kipnis is 32 and Gonzalez is 33.

We get that it is not fair, but that’s the way it is in baseball today. Young players get the benefit of the doubt. Studies have shown ball players reach their peak between ages 27 to 29.

Once you reach 30 years old, there is additional pressure to maintain your production in order to keep a roster spot.

So, if the Tribe’s offensive struggles continue, at what point do they move on from the two veterans?

In Kipnis’ case, there really isn’t any alternative. The club’s best middle infield prospect in the high minors, Yu Chang, is hitting .151 at AAA. Does journeyman Mike Freeman start getting at bats in place of Kipnis? Not likely.

As for CarGo, the shadow of spring training sensation Oscar Mercado looms. If he starts hitting like he did earlier in the season, can the club afford to leave him in Columbus?

And if they bring him up, whose playing time decreases?

The point is the overall malaise of the offense doesn’t afford the opportunity to be patient for Terry Francona and the front office.

It’s not fair, but it’s reality.

Tribe Season Review To Date: 27 Games In.

The late, great Mike Hegan used to say if you win three out of every five games, at the end of the year, you have 96 wins and you are probably in the playoffs.

Right now, the Cleveland Indians have completed 1/6th of the 2019 baseball season, and until the last two games in Houston, they were doing exactly what Hegan said. They were sitting at 15-10.

Even with the two defeats at Minute Maid Park, the Tribe hits the 27 game mark at 15-12, meaning they are still on a pace for 90 wins.

That’s the good news. The bad news is we have no freakin’ idea how they have achieved that record.

Really, we do. It has been pitching, pitching, and more pitching, particularly the starters, who have stifled some pretty good offenses. The Astros boast one of the sport’s best lineups and Cleveland held them to 12 runs in the four game series.

Tribe pitchers are 3rd in the league in ERA, and lead the AL in strikeouts per nine innings, and have the lowest rate of home runs allowed.

All that despite a slow start for Corey Kluber and a couple of hiccups for Carlos Carrasco, the two most veteran members of the rotation.

The question that still plagues Terry Francona and his team is will they score enough runs to make the post-season?

Cleveland ranks worst in the AL in slugging percentage and second to last in on-base percentage. It’s tough to generate a lot of runs if you can’t get guys on base and need two or three more hits to drive them in.

For the new age statistic people, the Indians have the worst WAR among non-pitchers in the Junior Circuit. They have over league average WAR at just three positions: Catcher, first base, and centerfield.

Now, we think shortstop and third base will take care of themselves with the return of Francisco Lindor and the return to form for Jose Ramirez, who is starting to come around, slowly but surely. And the catching is based more on the defense than any hitting being done by Roberto Perez and Kevin Plawecki.

The other spots? Quite frankly, we don’t see a lot of hope.

Even worse, are there any in-house solutions?

Right now, we feel comfortable with five hitters in the lineup, and to us, you need seven to have a solid offense.

Those five are Lindor, Ramirez, Carlos Santana, Leonys Martin (vs. righties), and Jake Bauers. They put together major league at bats.

Right now, Carlos Gonzalez is a lighter hitting version of Melky Cabrera–no walks, no pop. He has one extra base hit in 47 plate appearances.

Jason Kipnis is showing thus far that he is closer to the last two seasons than his outstanding 2016 campaign. He’s in a 1 for 22 slump after starting 7 for 20. In the past few years, he’s a feast or famine type guy, and when it’s the latter, he doesn’t help you.

There are hitters around baseball with 10 or more home runs on the season. Six of them to be exact. Martin leads the Indians in extra base hits with nine. Only Santana has more than six, he has seven.

It’s tough to score runs this way.

Oscar Mercado may be able to help, but remember, he’s never had a major league at bat. Expecting him to come up and be a consistent bat might be a pipe dream.

The organization has to hope Gonzalez and Kipnis regain the pop in their bats, but is that realistic?

And assuming Lindor and Ramirez return to form, aren’t the Indians in the same place as they were last year with a very top heavy offense?

It’s still early, but it’s not if that makes sense. Francona and the management have to find runs somewhere. Either that, or the pitching will have to continue to be overwhelming throughout the remainder of the schedule.

That might be very difficult.

Tribe Fans Get Doused By Dolan’s Cold Shower

Man, it is tough to be a fan of the Cleveland Indians right now. The team has lost its last six post-season games, and after three straight division titles, the aura around the team is negative.

With Opening Day coming up on Thursday, and the home opener arriving in just six days, the thoughts of northeastern Ohio should be that of anticipation of another post-season berth, and a chance to end a 70 year World Series drought.

Instead, the focus is on the team’s finances. In the past few weeks, Paul Dolan has done several interviews with local media, and in each one, has pointed out the team is losing money on a yearly basis, and the organization made a conscious decision to cut the payroll for players after the 2018 season.

Keep in mind, last year’s roster had arguably the best starting pitching in the game and two MVP candidates (and top ten players in the sport) in Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez.

This flies in the face of the famous statement from the Dolan family that they will spend when it is appropriate. Isn’t it appropriate now?

We have said this before, but Paul Dolan isn’t good at doing the whole media thing, so it would behoove the front office not to have him make the rounds.

Whether it is true or not, and quite frankly, we find it doubtful that an owner of a major professional sports team is losing money in this day and age, fans don’t care. The owners don’t announce when they make a profit, so they shouldn’t announce when they are losing money.

If that is the case, then sell the team to someone else, and let them worry about it.

What is very odd to us is the support around the city the ownership gets from some fans. Those people do understand they are taking the side of a multi-millionaire claiming to be losing money.

Dolan told fans in a piece in The Athletic that Tribe fans should enjoy Lindor while you can, a clear indication the franchise was not going to try to keep him on a long term deal when he becomes a free agent following the 2021 season.

Can you imagine the outrage if Jimmy Haslam said Baker Mayfield would likely only be a Brown until his rookie contract was up? Or Dan Gilbert said he was going to let LeBron James walk away without a serious contract offer?

Yes, James left twice, but not because the Cavs owner wanted him to go.

The other thing about the comments is the timing. Why make these comments right before the season is about to begin? We don’t think Dolan is trying to destroy interest in his team, but the outrage we’ve seen over the past two days cannot be construed as positive.

We have always thought the reasons for people to own a sports team are to win, to make money, or to have fun. Dolan admitted it was fun after the ’16 season, in which the Indians made it to Game 7 of the World Series.

But if you are losing money and aren’t actively trying to win, what kind of fun is it?

We also doubt that the attitude in the clubhouse will be the same as it was toward fictional owner Rachel Phelps in the movie Major League. It has already been reported that players found Dolan’s comments to be disingenuous.

Fans of the Tribe want a winner. They’ve enjoyed the past 25 years of good baseball since Progressive Field (nee Jacobs Field) opened. But there is one thing missing, and that hasn’t happened since 1948.

They would like the owner to want what they want. Oh, and for the franchise to keep Lindor.

Tank Or Not To Tank For Cleveland Teams?

After it was announced that Manny Machado signed a $300 million contract with the San Diego Padres, the conversation around town quickly turned to Francisco Lindor, and the possibility of the Cleveland Indians keeping him after he can become a free agent following the 2021 season.

Being Cleveland, we heard many fans saying if the Indians weren’t going to try to sign the star shortstop, then they should trade him now and start rebuilding for the future.

Which brings us to the question of the day: Tank or not to Tank?

With the Indians having the starting rotation they have along with two of the best position players (Lindor and Jose Ramirez) in baseball, a total rebuild is the last thing on the minds of the front office.

Especially with Lindor still here for three more seasons.

Now, if prior to the ’21 campaign, Lindor’s agents make it clear he will not re-sign with the Tribe and the team gets off to a poor start, dropping out of contention, you might see a deal for the guy who is arguably the best position player in team history.

However, no team is going to give up a chance to win a championship, and if the Indians win the AL Central they will have that shot, to start rebuilding.

Let’s look at two instances of rebuilding jobs in our own town–

The Cavaliers didn’t intend to tank this season, but when you lose LeBron James, drop your first six contests, and then lose your best remaining player for basically the entire first half of the season, you change your way of thinking.

Once you hit the end of November with one of the NBA’s worst records and Love is still going to be out until February, GM Koby Altman had to try and get one of the first picks in the June draft, and hopefully you get Zion Williamson with the first choice.

The Browns were stuck in mediocrity for most of the last 15 seasons, when then GM Sashi Brown decided to gut the roster, purging it of veterans and trying to go with young players who can hit their prime together.

We don’t believe he envisioned 1-31 over two seasons, but Hue Jackson’s guidance took care of that, and earned the Browns a franchise quarterback, and a franchise pass rusher.

In both cases, the circumstances (poor start and Love’s injury for the Cavs, an extended period of crap football for the Browns) dictated the tank.

Tanking isn’t guaranteed to work. While people point to the Cubs and Astros in baseball, both of those teams drafted very well, with Chicago getting Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, and the Astros drafted George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Alex Bregman in the first round in a three year span.

Let’s say the Cavs wind up with the worst record and the fourth overall pick, do they subject their fan base to another year like this? It’s also tough for the front office/ownership to sit through.

And for the Browns, they tried a whole bunch of things. They tried helping young players by supplementing them with veterans. They tried getting veteran quarterbacks, getting players with local ties.

None of it worked.

Why not try what the Dallas Cowboys did when Jerry Jones bought the team and hired Jimmy Johnson. Gut the roster, accumulate draft picks, and see if that works.

We started to see the fruits of this plan, aided by hiring a good talent evaluator in John Dorsey, this past year.

If you decide to tank, here is the difficult question no one wants to ask–What happens when you don’t get the first overall pick?

You have to have a back up plan. If you don’t, you lose your job. That’s why more teams don’t do it.

Bad Winter For Supporters Of Tribe Ownership

If you have been a proud supporter of the Dolan ownership of the Cleveland Indians, this has been a tough winter for you.

The goodwill that came from hiring Terry Francona as manager after the 2012 season has been used up and once again, fans are questioning the ownership’s commitment to winning.

And when we say winning, we mean winning a World Series.

Perhaps the Dolan family got caught up in the emotion of getting to Game 7 of the Fall Classic in 2016, and gave Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff more to spend in the next two seasons, but that appears to be short lived.

A few days ago, Antonetti said in a story by Paul Hoynes in The Plain Dealer that we was told to trim the payroll. This is what has been feared all off-season. We figured the front office was just re-allocating money from declining veterans to younger players with upside.

However, we were fooled.

The ownership’s mantra has always been that they will spend when the time is right, and most fans figured that is when they had a chance to win. Most fans have to be scratching their collective heads wondering why the time isn’t right now!

The Indians have two of the best position players in the sport in Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez. They have arguably the best starting rotation in baseball.

When MLB Network aired it’s Top Ten Starting Pitchers Right Now, three Cleveland Indians’ were mentioned: Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and Trevor Bauer. You could easily put all three in the top 15.

They are trimming the payroll when almost everyone who comments on the sport is proclaiming their outfield situation a mess. Their current set up would appear to be Tyler Naquin in LF, a platoon of Leonys Martin and Greg Allen in CF, and maybe Jordan Luplow or Oscar Mercado in RF.

Now, we like the centerfield situation. Martin is a solid bat against right-handed pitching and we have always liked Allen’s potential. We like him better than Bradley Zimmer, which may be heresy for some.

Since the end of July 2016, Naquin has accumulated 335 at bats, batting .248 with five home runs and 35 RBI. That’s not good enough for a team that should be viewing themselves as a World Series contender.

Luplow has very good minor league numbers, but he has less than 100 at bats at the big league level, and is hitting under .200 in those plate appearances.

Mercado has never had a big league at bat.

Couple those two positions with Jake Bauers (very good potential, but a .201 hitter and 726 OPS) and Roberto Perez, a lifetime .205 batter in the majors (638 OPS), and you have a lineup that would appear to have problems scoring runs.

As we always say, we aren’t expecting the Cleveland payroll to reach the same levels as the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers. Why cut $15 million off the payroll going into the season where the front line talent is there?

We don’t believe for a single minute that the Indians are losing money, and we understand people own businesses to make cash.

In professional sports though, there is an obligation to win, particularly if you own a team that has the longest span without a championship in that respective sport.

Where is the commitment Indians’ fans deserve from the ownership? Let alone the commitment players like Lindor, Ramirez, Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, and the rest of the players should be getting.