Fair or Not, Dolan’s Must Win Fans Back

The attendance on the Cleveland Indians’ last homestand brought up a discussion on why no one is going to the games for a team that is very much in the playoff hunt.

Some people thought it was the way the tickets are priced for different days and different series, and others thought the team wasn’t very exciting.

However, many of the fans we talk to bring up the ownership. They simply do not trust the Dolan family’s commitment to building a winning franchise.

While that may or may not be true, a wise man once said that “Perception is Reality”, and that is the uphill fight the Tribe ownership has to battle.

The Indians’ front office tries to fight that notion, and will site the free agent signings made over the last off-season, and amount of money spent on player development as examples that they are trying to win.

This winter, the ownership and the leadership of the franchise, led by team president Mark Shapiro should keep this in mind…actions speak louder than words.

Therefore, they shouldn’t complain in the media about the poor attendance during the 2013 season. They have every right to be disappointed. Fans have clamored for a winning team since 2007, and Terry Francona’s crew has delivered, only to be ignored by the populace.

Still, it will only inflame the ticket buying public already poor opinion of the ownership. So, the best course of action is not to say anything.

Instead, they should continue the same plan they did last winter, meaning continue to add to the roster and show the fans they are doing everything they possibly can to get into/back to the post-season in 2014.

Remember, the Indians have another off-season where a lot of cash comes off the books in the salary column.

Mark Reynolds and his $6 million deal will be gone, as well as the failed Brett Myers experiment and his $7 million contract.

It is doubtful that Chris Perez, who is making approximately the same amount as Myers will be offered arbitration either, meaning GM Chris Antonetti will likely part ways with the team’s closer.

And just in case you think it will be about Perez’s off field troubles or his controversial comments, it won’t. It will be a baseball decision. If Perez is still on the roster, he could earn up to $10 million next season.

He isn’t worth that based on his performance.

We understand that other players will get raises, in particular Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn, whose free agent deals escalate from the first year of their contracts.

They also have to try to keep Justin Masterson, who will be a free agent after next season, and try to keep one of their free agent starting pitchers, Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir.

They won’t have $20 million to spend.

However, that doesn’t mean they can’t continue to improve this baseball team.

That is what they have to do in order to win over their critics.

Yes, getting rid of the way tickets are priced currently will help. So will other things that can help the gameday experience.

But the biggest thing will be to gradually decrease the number of people who think everything about the Cleveland Indians is related to money, and make everyone understand that ownership is trying to bring a winner to Progressive Field.

Random Thoughts on Tribe

As the 2013 season seems to be going down the drain, here are some things we think about the Cleveland Indians.

While we aren’t ready to put a ribbon on this year because the Tribe still sits just 4-1/2 games out of the second wild card spot, despite a forgettable trip (at least so far) to Atlanta and Detroit, some things have happened in the last month that make us want to comment.

Even though he hasn’t won his last two starts because of the lack of hitting, Ubaldo Jimenez is making us change our minds about bringing him back to Cleveland. The two sides have a mutual option for ’14, and while most of the season it appeared it would be the Indians that wouldn’t want to pick it up, it may now be Jimenez that declines.

The right-hander made some mechanical adjustments recently and seems to have regained some life on his fastball. In his starts vs. the Twins and Braves, he routinely was hitting 94-96 MPH on the gun, a jump of 2-3 MPH.

Not coincidentally, he struck out 10 hitters in both games.

He’s having his best season since his 19-8 record in 2010 with Colorado, and with the price of pitching these days, if the Indians might be well served to pick up the option and add a year or two.

We wouldn’t go longer than three years because of the inconsistency that Jimenez has shown in his time in Cleveland, and that may not get it done. Still, if he finishes the year pitching like this, you have to try to bring him back.

Other interested find amongst this offensive slump is that Terry Francona may have found another relief pitcher in Carlos Carrasco.

As a starter, Carrasco seemed to over analyze things which caused him to think too much, and he looked like a victim of the “million dollar arm, ten-cent brain” syndrome.

On August 9th, Francona put him into a game against the Angels to save the bullpen and Carrasco threw five scoreless innings. He started against Minnesota five days later and was hit hard.

Since then, he’s been used strictly in relief and in three games has thrown 5-1/3 scoreless innings, even earning a win in the 14 inning victory vs. the Angels. Without the four days off in between starts and perhaps worrying about the results, Carrasco has thrived when he doesn’t know when he’s going to pitch.

He wouldn’t be the first successful relief pitcher to wash out as a starter.

With the hitters not coming through, the everyday players are getting a lot of criticism and the two free agents signed in the off-season, Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn are taking some heat.

Let us say this…giving a player big money doesn’t make them a better player.

We’ve discussed Swisher before. He is having an off-season, but in a normal year, he’s a .270 hitter who walks a lot, and hits 25 HR and knocks in 80-90 runs. Paying him a lot of cash isn’t going to make him a 35 HR, 120 RBI player.

The same is true with Bourn. He came here a great defensive centerfielder, but not a prototypical leadoff hitter in that his lifetime on base percentage was .336. He is down to .320 in 2013 because his walks are down (70 in ’12 and only 31 so far in ’13), but he’s not a Kenny Lofton type of leadoff man, getting on base close to 40% of the time.

Maybe he should change his approach a little because he strikes out a lot (a career high 155 times last year), and make more contact to take advantage of his speed, but he’s having a pretty typical Michael Bourn season.

You can’t be all over him for that.

All in all, it isn’t over yet for this year’s edition of the Indians, but it is starting to get late quickly.

Front Office Letting Tribe, Fans Down

The Cleveland Indians have many naysayers among fans and media, but the fact remains they have a solid chance to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

There are several teams in the mix for a post-season berth, and many of them have made moves to bolster their rosters for the stretch drive.

For example, the Yankees traded for Alfonso Soriano, who has belted 11 home runs for the Bronx Bombers since coming over in July.

The Rangers traded for Matt Garza, the Red Sox for Jake Peavy, and the Oakland A’s acquired INF Alberto Callaspo.

Even the Royals, who have since fallen to the wayside of the race, picked up Emilio Bonifacio from Toronto to help them.

Yesterday, the Pirates, gunning for their first post-season spot since Barry Bonds was on the team, went out and traded for Marlon Byrd and John Buck.

Those players mentioned aren’t going to the Hall of Fame, but they are upgrades over what their new teams had, so they are upgrades.

To this point, the Indians’ addition is lefthanded reliever Mark Rzepczynski, who has helped Terry Francona’s bullpen, but doesn’t add up to the other names listed so far.

With the Indians’ offense reaching the feeble stage in August, they rank last in the American League in batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage for the month, it is frustrating and puzzling that the Tribe front office hasn’t made a move.

Francona says all the right things, he is happy with his roster as constituted and they will get through this period where the offense is struggling.

However, he privately has to be telling GM Chris Antonetti that he needs someone who can hit or his club will fall short of advancing to the playoffs.

Other teams are doing something, why can’t Antonetti?

Getting a bat would send a message to the clubhouse that the front office is all in for this season as well. Former GM John Hart made it a point to make a deal at the deadline every year the Indians were in contention.

While you don’t want to mortgage the future to get someone who will likely be with the team for one month, but usually you can get these types of players for a middling prospect.

And the Indians have plenty of those.

For those who will say the Tribe is a year early in contending, just take a look at the Washington Nationals. Most experts felt it was a forgone conclusion they would make the playoffs in 2013, but it doesn’t appear they will.

So, you have to go out and improve this team right now, before it’s too late.

When the ownership wonders why people haven’t taken to this team, this is one of the reasons. It appears the front office doesn’t take the necessary steps to improve when everyone around them does.

And we don’t believe for one minute that when teams make deals with other teams they ask for low-end prospects, but they ask the Indians for guys like Francisco Lindor and Danny Salazar.

The pressure is on Antonetti to make this team better for the last 31 games. And the sooner the move is made, the better.

The bats don’t seem to be getting any more productive.

Tribe Bats Need to Pick It Up

The Cleveland Indians are entering a key part of their schedule starting tonight when the Twins come in for a three game series at Progressive Field.

Those are the only home games the Tribe will play until Labor Day, when the Orioles come in, and in between, the Indians visit Atlanta and Detroit for three game series, the teams with the best record in the National League and second best mark in the AL, respectively.

When the Orioles depart Cleveland on September 4^th, we should have a pretty good idea whether or not all 162 games on the schedule will be meaningful for Terry Francona’s squad.

To get through these dozen games, the Tribe will need to start scoring runs.

While the Wahoo’s have a 10-10 record for the month, they have done so scoring just 71 runs in that span, an average of 3.5 per night.

Teams that score that way on an everyday basis just don’t have a lot of success.

The White Sox are last in the American League in scoring, crossing the plate an average of 3.74 times per contest. They have the second worst record in the junior circuit at 52-74, and over the last 20 games, Cleveland isn’t even scoring at that level.

At some point, the bats have to wake up and starting tonight would be very nice.

Since the Tribe still ranks fourth in the league in runs scored at 4.60 per night, the law of averages says there should be a bushel of runs coming soon.

It would be very odd to score almost five times a game for the first 117 games and then only get 3.5 for the balance of the season.

Odd, but not impossible.

There are some encouraging signs, like Nick Swisher’s sudden power burst, hitting four bombs this month, his second best calendar month of 2013. He hit five in May.

Still, during August only three players are hitting over .250: Yan Gomes, Mike Aviles, and Ryan Raburn.

While Gomes has been getting more playing time as of late because he is hitting, you would have to say that none of this trio are regulars, meaning the guys who are playing on a day in, day out basis simply have to pick it up.

Some of the numbers are straight out ugly—

Lonnie Chisenhall: 6 for 44 (.136), 1 HR, 3 RBI
Asdrubal Cabrera: 12 for 66 (.182), 1 HR, 6 RBI and he had a decent trip
Carlos Santana: 14 for 71 (.197), 3 HR, 6 RBI
Michael Bourn: 18 for 82 (.220), 1 HR, 5 RBI, 5 SB with a whopping 25 strikeouts

And they aren’t taking walks like they did earlier in the season, either. Outside of Jason Kipnis (10), Swisher (9), and Santana (9), no one else on the roster has walked more than five times this month.

Even the usually reliable Michael Brantley is in a bit of a funk, hitting just .230 in August. He is easily the most consistent of the Tribe bats and he is struggling.

The Indians’ starting pitching has exceeded expectations for the most part, and although they have had some hiccups, it has been solid.

And even if that continues, the offense has to start producing more runs if the Tribe wants to stay in the race through Game 162.

It’s time for the bats to pick up their share of the load.