Is this Indians team viable enough to … ummm … win?

Is this Indians team viable enough to … ummm … win?
June 12th, 2008 by Pat McManamon

Attended the Indians game last night, as anyone who saw today’s Beacon Journal and read about Indians and aardvarks and limbo now know. As I sat in the press box and looked at the field on a beautiful sunny day and saw a stadium barely half full and a team that just lacked some essential elements, I thought about the difference in atmosphere from the end of last season to this one. And it’s not just the won-lost record.

A year ago, there was excitement, energy and a belief that the Indians could win. This season there are slumped shoulders and a lack of excitement that is tangible. It’s bizarre. These are the same players and the same team as a year ago – minus some injured guys. But it is what it is.

GM Mark Shapiro addressed the state of the team prior to the game, and even he sounded baffled. Not by injuries. Those are part of the game, and a constant lament, it seems, of the local teams. But of the dropoff in performance by some of his players. More on what he said later.

The lack of energy and aura or whatever you want to call it is just there. And you’d hate to think it’s caused by the team not believing it can win. That would not be a good thing.

There does come a point, though, when attrition makes a team nonviable. Especially a team in a small market like this one. A team like the Yankees or Red Sox or one of those money mongers loses a guy … they can buy another part. Which they usually do. A team like Cleveland loses a guy, they have to suck it up and hope someone is in the minors. At this point, the team’s minor leagues have been pretty much depleted, so there’s little left to do but hope for a trade – and the worst thing to do is make a trade out of desperation.

When Victor Martinez left Wednesday’s game with an elbow injury in the first inning, the Indians lineup no longer looked viable. It’s good enough to win now and then, but not compete for a division title. Travis Hafner has been long gone. Martinez needs an MRI today. Nobody is hitting. The bullpen is sucking wind. And two starting pitchers are out.

It’s a fair question to ask: Does this team have enough left to win this season?

Here are some highlights from Shapiro in his interview prior to the game:

On the problems: “Probably the magnitude and depth of those things has been beyond anything we could have foreseen.”

Hopes: “We’ll fight hard and believe in what can happen this year and simultaneously prepare for next year and years beyond.”

Nature of problems: “Not just injuries and injuries to important guys, it’s been injuries combined with some disappointing performances combined with no real positive surprises.”

On Hafner: “Our hope is that the injury is something that’s contributing.”

On when he knows it’s time to think about 2009: “I can’t tell you what moment that is, I can’t tell you what number that is or what day that is. What I can tell you is when that happens we need to already know if the right value is out there to compel us to add players or to sell players.”

On possible trades: “Because of what’s happened to us, we’ve been consistently active probably since the second week of April.”

On looking back: “I don’t see anything in the offseason that could have counteracted (what’s happened).”

On the bullpen: “We can’t win with these guys performing as they have up to this point.”

On his frame of mind: “I still enter every night believing that we’re entering that point where this team is going to on a sustained run and reel off a bunch of victories and get right back in this thing. I go through other points in the day when I question how that’s going to happen when I look at some of the things that have happened to us.”

As for those who want to tar and feather Shapiro, count me out. A year ago Shapiro built a team that went to the playoffs, and almost the World Series. His philosophy worked when everyone was doing what they were supposed to do. Did some players overperform? Probably, but that’s what happens in a good year. Just like in a bad year some people underperform. Shapiro was smart last year, which means he’s not stupid this year. Things have not gone well. But in this market, this team, there’s probably not a better guy to rebuild things next year than Shapiro.