Disconnect Between Tribe and Fans Grows

The Cleveland Indians’ organization just doesn’t get it.

They don’t get the ever growing disconnect between the front office and the fan base.

Yes, the current team is flawed, they are a .500 team with over two-thirds of the schedule in the books.  On the other hand, there are plenty of teams in the same boat, so as this is written they somehow are just four games out of a post-season berth.

They continue to operate under the premise that was stated by the current ownership many years ago, that is they will spend money when people start showing up to Progressive Field.

Compare that to the buzz surrounding the Cavaliers, who likely will put a title contender on display at Quicken Loans Arena, and the Browns, who drafted the most talked about rookie in the NFL last May.

They are shiny pieces, attractive to the eye.  The Indians are like a gray sweater.  They simply just don’t, or perhaps don’t know how to make a splash with the area’s baseball fans.

They made two good baseball decisions this week, trading two players who will be free agents this fall, and who weren’t producing as expected for the club either.  They picked up two young players who may help the Tribe in the next couple of years instead of letting them leave for nothing.

Still, the fans expected them to take a shot at making the post-season for the second consecutive year, a feat not accomplished by the current ownership or management team.

Instead, they claimed they couldn’t or weren’t willing to get a deal done.

Team president Mark Shapiro, GM Chris Antonetti and the Dolan family are good people, well liked by the media in northeastern Ohio.  Therefore, there wasn’t really much of an outrage when other teams around the Indians in the standings made move to improve their teams while the Tribe didn’t.

There seems to be an agreement between Shapiro and Antonetti and the ownership that the executives won’t bring up the lack of cash available and the Dolans won’t hold them accountable for the lack of success.

We even heard a member of the media floating the ridiculous contention by the organization that Tampa Bay wanted Danny Salazar, Carlos Santana, and Francisco Lindor for former Cy Young Award winner David Price.

Really? What did Tigers’ president Dave Dombrowski do, hypnotize Rays’ GM Andrew Friedman to convince to accept just Drew Smyly, Nick Franklin, and an 18-year-old prospect?

The fact of the matter is, there haven’t been enough results by this regime since the turn of the century.  Just three playoff spots, the first done with holdovers from the division and pennant winners of the mid-90’s, and one of those a one game wild card game.

To be fair, the Indians would have made the playoffs as the wild card under the old rules.

You have to go for it when you have the chance.  Now, we aren’t advocating dealing Lindor, who may just be the sport’s premier prospect, for a play who would spend a half season, or even a year and a half in a Cleveland uniform.

However, the Tribe does have middle infield prospects and power bullpen arms that could’ve been used to fill a weakness.

We have said it before, they didn’t need to get Price or Jon Lester, they just needed to get someone better than Justin Masterson, T.J. House, Josh Tomlin and Zack McAllister.

Instead they picked up another middle infielder, who likely will be moved elsewhere and has shown no strike zone judgment in the minor leagues, and yet another left-handed bat in an organization already top heavy from that side of the plate.

After making the post-season and winning 92 games a year ago, a way to bring fans back to the ballpark would have been to make the playoffs again.  Show them that last year was no fluke.

It could happen, but it isn’t likely when you have two shaky starters, and that’s crossing your fingers on Salazar, who has been solid since returning to the majors.

It appears the only team Antonetti improved at the deadline was the Columbus Clippers.  Somehow, the front office doesn’t understand the disappointment of its fan base.

 

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 31st 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.

MW