Cleveland Indians' Tito Francona - Red Sox manager Terry's dad - made a run at .400 in 1959
by Mike Peticca, The Plain Dealer
Friday August 21, 2009, 7:08 PM
Cleveland Press Archives
Tito Francona gives some bunting tips to area youngsters while he was a star player for the Cleveland Indians.
About three weeks before the 1959 season began, the Cleveland Indians traded future Hall of Fame outfielder Larry Doby to the Detroit Tigers for a little-known outfielder-first baseman, Tito Francona.
Doby, 35, was nearing the end of a major league career that began on July 5, 1947. It doesn't matter that in his debut, he struck out as a pinch-hitter in the Indians' 6-5 loss to the White Sox in Chicago's storied Comiskey Park.
The significance of Doby's appearance, then and now, is that he became the first African-American to play in the American League. Jackie Robinson, the legendary Brooklyn Dodger, had broken major league baseball's color barrier on April 15 of that season.
Nearly eight weeks after being swapped for Francona, the White Sox purchased Doby from Detroit, and he completed his final season. Francona, meanwhile, was a spare part early in the season for a team that made a serious, though futile, run for the pennant; Cleveland's last genuine pennant bid until the strike-ending 1994 season, and then the 1995 American League championship campaign.
Associated Press
Cleveland Indians outfielder Larry Doby in Chicago's Comiskey Park on July 5, 1947, the day he became the first African-American to play in the American League.Through June 5, Francona - used primarily as a pinch-hitter - was 6 of 23 (.261). He was more busy at home. His wife had given birth to a son, Terry, on April 22. Terry Francona became a major leaguer, too, including a one-year stint (1988) with the Indians, and is the manager who has guided the Boston Red Sox to two World Series championships.
The Indians' volatile center fielder, Jimmy Piersall, struggled through the first two months of the 1959 season, prompting Tribe manager Joe Gordon to give the friendly yet competitive Francona, 25, a chance.
Tito comes through
Francona took full advantage. The left-handed hitter stroked 22 hits in his next 62 at bats, a .355 stretch that boosted his season average to .329.
Then, Francona really got hot. From June 25 through August 4, he batted .471, with 64 hits in 136 at bats, with 10 doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 37 runs batted in. His batting average was .416. He had peaked at .417 on August 2, but lost a point when he was 2-of-5 with a triple, homer and four RBI in the Indians' 8-2 win over the Washington Senators on August 4.
The smooth-swinging Francona couldn't maintain his remarkable pace, although he batted a solid .298 (53-of-178) the rest of the way to finish at .363. His last .400 batting average was going into the game of August 11. Nagging injuries didn't help Francona, and he was especially hampered during a 5-of-39 slump from September 9-18, dropping his average from .391 to .364.
That's the rule
Given the limited information resources, following baseball was quite different for fans when Francona flirted with 400. Tens of thousands of Indians fans, maybe, believed during the season's final days that Francona could at least win the batting title. Many were unaware that in the mid-1950's, baseball had changed its qualifying rule for official league leadership.
A 1961 Topps baseball card of Indians outfielder Tito Francona.Before, a player needed 400 official at bats to qualify. Baseball, though, changed the rule to a minimum of 3.1 plate appearances per games played by the individual's team. Thus, when a team played all of the 154 games it was scheduled for, 477 plate appearances were necessary for a player to qualify as the batting champion. For a batter, his walks, hit by pitches, sacrifice flies and sacrifice bunts do not count as official at bats, but they do count as plate appearances.
Francona finished with 145 hits in 399 at bats. Those unfamiliar with the rule change thought Francona, with 398 official at bats, needed just two more to qualify for the batting title going into Cleveland's final two games. Fans listening to Jimmy Dudley and Bob Neal announce the games on radio wondered what Gordon - who entered the Hall of Fame this summer as a former Indians' and Yankees' playing great - was doing, as he gave Francona just one more at bat in those last two games. What they didn't understand was that Francona needed an impossible 35 more plate appearances to qualify; he finished 34 short, with 443.
Ironically, the rule change from a required 400 official at bats to 477 plate appearances was prompted in part by the last batting championship for a Cleveland Indian. Second baseman Bobby Avila won the title in 1954, when he batted .341 for the American League champion Indians. The 400-at bat rule denied Ted Williams the title.
One of the sport's all-time greatest hitters and a six-time batting champion, Williams hit .345 in 1954. He totaled 526 plate appearances, but just 386 official at bats, so the title went to Avila. Fearful pitchers walked Williams 136 times. The rule, essentially, penalized Williams for his greatness. Williams is the last player to bat .400, hitting .406 in 1941.
Things change
Plain Dealer file photo
Star outfielder Rocky Colavito pictured at some time during his first stint with the Indians.The 1959 Indians finished 89-65, in second place, five games behind the White Sox. That last game of their season turned out to be a good-bye of sorts for two Cleveland legends. Outfielder Rocky Colavito was traded to the Tigers and pitcher Herb Score sent to the White Sox just prior to the 1960 campaign, as Indians general manager Frank "The Trader" Lane continued a trading spree that impacted the franchise for years.
Ironically, Colavito was dealt for Detroit outfielder Harvey Kuenn. Instead of Francona winning the 1959 batting title, it was Kuenn. His .353 average was 10 points south of Francona's, but he exceeded the 502-plate appearance requirement with 617.
Colavito returned to the Indians in a trade prior to the 1965 season. Score began a 34-year career as a radio/television announcer of Indians games in 1964.
Remembering
To recognize the 50-year anniversary of the event, The Plain Dealer's Bill Lubinger wrote earlier this summer about Colavito's four-homer game of June 10, 1959. Click here for his story and a video of him being interviewed about the story by The Plain Dealer's Mike McIntyre.
Score passed away last November 11. To read former Plain Dealer sports writer Bob Dolgan's story about Score's life and passing, with numerous photos and links to other Plain Dealer stories about Score, click here.
John Patsy "Tito" Francona, now 75, played five more years with the Indians. His next three seasons after 1959 were superb, especially 1960, when he led the league in doubles (36), and 1961, when he hit .301 and was named to the American League all-star team. The Indians sold Francona to the St. Louis Cardinals following the 1964 season, and he played for four other teams before closing his career
Friday, August 21, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Cleveland Indians trades were about cutting payroll, but most made sense: Terry Pluto
Cleveland Indians trades were about cutting payroll, but most made sense: Terry Pluto
by Terry Pluto, Plain Dealer Columnist
Saturday August 08, 2009, 8:55 PM
To the readers: This is a special edition of the Sunday notes. It's all about the Indians. I've been on vacation the past two weeks. Writing this from northern Michigan near Lake Superior, I decided to concentrate on getting you as much information on all the Tribe deals as possible. Next week, the Sunday notes will have the usual format dealing with all three Cleveland teams.
IT STARTED WITH MONEY . . .
1. Travis Hafner and Jake Westbrook make a combined $24 million this season, and their contracts will pay them $24 million next year. Yes, the Indians ranked 14th in payroll at the start of the season at $81 million, putting them near the major-league average. But $24 million of that last year went to Hafner and Westbrook, as it did this season and will again in 2010. No one is blaming those players. Both wanted to stay with the Indians, and both signed long-term deals -- as ownership committed to them. Then, both got hurt. Thanks to elbow surgery, Westbrook has made five big-league starts in two years. Dealing with shoulder problems and then surgery, Hafner has 394 at-bats over two seasons.
2. Team President Paul Dolan said Thursday that the team would lose $16 million in 2009. Insiders project a loss of another $10 million or more next season. They could have brought back Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez, but there would be no room in the budget to add any significant pieces or payroll. The Indians have not set a payroll figure for next season, but with their attendance ranking 27th in baseball, it's a safe bet it will be less than the $81 million this season -- even if ownership is willing to absorb some financial losses in 2010. The Indians correctly believed that selling tickets next season was going to be tough with or without Martinez and/or Lee on the roster.
3. The Indians looked at their 2008 team that was 81-81, followed by this season's team that went into Saturday night's game with a 47-62 record. They did not believe they could contend with the current roster. So it was not only time to cut payroll, but also to plan for the future. The team believes it could add almost zero to the team in terms of proven talent even with players such as Masa Kobayashi, Dave Dellucci, Rafael Betancourt and Mark DeRosa -- about $17 million -- coming off the payroll at the end of this season. The economics are that bleak for the Indians.
4. The Indians traded Betancourt to Colorado because he had a $5 million team option for next season. The Indians had no intention of picking it up, meaning Betancourt would have become a free agent. So they sent him to the Rockies this season, saving $1.3 million and adding a hard-throwing prospect named Connor Graham, who Rockies General Manager Dan O'Dowd said could possibly "be a back-end bullpen guy" in a few years. Graham is 0-0 with a 4.26 ERA in two appearances at Class AA Akron. The Rockies plan to let the 34-year-old Betancourt become a free agent after the season.
5. Ryan Garko is eligible to go to arbitration after the season. The Indians believed it would take a deal much like they gave Kelly Shoppach ($1.9 million) last season to prevent Garko from going to arbitration, where they believe he'd be worth $2 million. They were not going to pay him that, when they believe they have first base/DH replacements in Matt LaPorta, Andy Marte, Hafner and even someone such as hot-hitting Jordan Brown (.331 with 12 HR, 58 RBI, .902 OPS at Class AAA Columbus). That depth also was behind the Martinez deal with Boston. So they moved Garko to the Giants for Scott Barnes, a lefty who was 12-3 with a 2.85 ERA in Class A.
6. DeRosa was traded to St. Louis for relievers Chris Perez and Jess Todd. DeRosa is headed to free agency at the end of the season, and the Indians were not going to keep him. Perez is like Paul Shuey, Steve Karsay, Danys Baez and Eric Plunk, a guy with a 95-mph fastball who should be help in the bullpen. In the past, the Tribe effectively used this type of power arm. Todd has been tremendous in the minors, but doesn't have overwhelming stuff. The team received good value for DeRosa, and saved about $2.5 million. Finally, the Indians traded Carl Pavano to Minnesota for a player to be named.
7. No matter how the Indians explain it, money powered many of the deals. They traded Pavano not long before his bonuses for starts were about to kick in. They whacked at least $12 million off the payroll for this season in what was left on contracts to Lee, Martinez, DeRosa, Betancourt and Pavano -- and at least $25 million next year in contract obligations.
SOME OPINION
1. The Indians have about $7 million tied up in Kobayashi and Dellucci for this season, despite both being released. Dellucci is finishing up a three-year, $11 million contract, Kobayashi a two-year, $6 million deal. The Indians should really review the thought process that led to those signings, because $7 million should yield at least one productive major-league player. Kobayashi was 33 when signed; Dellucci was 32 and with a history of injuries.
2. Yes, the Indians traded young pitchers Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer and John Graub for DeRosa, then turned around and traded DeRosa for young pitchers. Stevens has been up and down with the Cubs. The odd part of the original deal was acquiring DeRosa, a second baseman with the Cubs, and moving him to third. This came after the Indians moved Jhonny Peralta to third base in winter ball. So they moved Peralta back to short, knowing DeRosa was a one-year rental. The obvious lineup to most fans was DeRosa at 2B, Asdrubal Cabrera at SS and Peralta at 3B from Day One of spring training. Somehow, the Indians missed the obvious and ended up making the moves during the season.
3. I liked the trades of Betancourt, Garko and especially DeRosa because all can be replaced next season, and maybe they can find some young pitching from the deals. As for Pavano, he's no loss because he was headed for free agency and not likely to re-sign with the Indians.
4. No way to know if the injuries to Westbrook and Hafner made the front office and ownership gun shy about firing out more large contracts to veteran free agents, but it had to be a factor.
5. Fans often say the Dolans should sell the team. Fine, who is your buyer? When Dick Jacobs put the Indians up for sale in 1999, there were two major bidders: the Ganley family and the Dolans. Ganley dropped out at about $220 million, but Goldman Sachs ran a blind auction and squeezed $323 million out of the Dolans. Yes, the Dolans overpaid. And just as the Dolans' television network, SportsTime Ohio, got going, the economy was crushed and it was hard to sell advertising on TV, radio or in newspapers. The cable TV station has been an asset, but not the tremendous cash cow that some projected.
6. Very few Midwestern teams are being sold. Dan Gilbert bid on the Milwaukee Brewers before purchasing the Cavaliers. His final bid was in the $200 million range. Why didn't he go higher, since he paid $375 million for the Cavaliers? Because the Cavs have LeBron James, and because they play in a league where there is a salary cap to help teams keep stars. Baseball's no-cap system makes franchises less attractive to savvy buyers such as Gilbert. The Indians would be a difficult team to sell in a depressed economy and in a city such as Cleveland, which is not a growing boomtown.
1. The Indians believe that within two years, when Martinez is a free agent after 2010, he will be more of a first baseman than a catcher. By then, he will be 32, and catching takes a physical toll. Lee will probably be able to sign a contract for at least $15 million annually after 2010 when he's a free agent. Martinez would be far more reasonable, but still cost at least $10 million a season.
2. It's possible Martinez would have controlled his own negotiations. He really did seem to love the Indians. But as we learned with other players in the past, what they say in public is one thing; what their agents say over the negotiating table is another. Remember that at the end of last season, CC Sabathia indicated he wanted to stay in the National League where he could bat, and he preferred the West Coast. So he signed with the New York Yankees of the American League, where there is a DH. The largest contract ever given a pitcher changed his mind.
3. Also part of the Martinez deal is that the Indians are strong behind the plate with Kelly Shoppach, Chris Gimenez, Wyatt Toregas, Carlos Santana and Lou Marson (added in the Lee deal with Philadelphia). They are desperate for pitching, so they sent Martinez to Boston for Justin Masterson, Bryan Price and Nick Hagadone. Masterson started Saturday night against the White Sox. Price and Hagadone are in Class A. Hagadone has a 95-mph fastball -- clocked as high as 98 mph -- even after coming off Tommy John surgery.
4. Word is, Boston would not include prized prospect Clay Buchholz for Martinez or Lee. The Yankees would have added Phil Hughes as part of a package for Lee. The man has been Cy Young caliber the past 1½ seasons, a strike-throwing, innings-eating, keep-the-score-close machine. But he was not considered overpowering and is underrated.
5. The Indians correctly perceived they had zerochance to keep Lee after 2010. They believed they could get more now for Lee than they would next season. They sent him to Philadelphia for pitchers Jason Knapp and Carlos Carrasco, catcher Marson and infielder Jason Donald. But the Phillies kept prized pitching prospects J.A. Happ and Kyle Drabek.
6. Knapp had a tired arm, but soon will pitch be at Class A Lake County. He has a 98-mph fastball at the age of 18. The Indians believe Donald, Marson and Carrasco all can help at some point in 2010, but none are having tremendous years in Class AAA.
7. The Indians can claim that they added 11 players in these trades, nine of them pitchers. All are under the age of 25. Five were among the top 100 prospects for 2009 as rated by Baseball America and ESPN. Odds are some of them will come through, but it is very hard to replace an All-Star catcher and a Cy Young award winner.
MORE OPINION
1. Why did the Indians need to add nine pitchers? Because their farm system has done a terrible job of producing pitchers. Since Sabathia was drafted in 1998, the Indians have had only threepitchers drafted, signed and developed by their farm system (not counting Latin players) who have made 50 big-league starts: Jeremy Sowers, Jeremy Guthrie and Sabathia. Scouting director Brad Grant has had only two drafts, so it's hard to judge him. But what happened in the previous years created a huge hole that the team needs to fill from the outside.
2. I like the Martinez deal because Masterson is a big-league-ready starter with a 93- to 96-mph fastball who has had success with Boston. He could be a major addition to the rotation. Martinez will be missed, but not nearly as much as Lee.
3. I can't buy the Lee deal. If the market was indeed soft for him now, then wait until next year. In the meantime, you actually have a No. 1 starter in the rotation to model strike-throwing and gutsy pitching to the kids on the staff. Kevin Millwood did this for Sabathia in 2005, which helped him take the next step up.
4. I knew nothing about Brandon Phillips, Lee and Grady Sizemore when they joined the Indians in the Bartolo Colon deal in 2002. The last thing I expected was Sizemore (batting .258 with 3 HRs in 256 at-bats at Class A) to turn into a power-hitting All-Star. Lee had very good stats in the minors, but no one dreamed he'd win the Cy Young. The Indians do have a good track record in dealing for other team's prospects, much better than drafting their own.
5. Maybe Carrasco (7-9, 5.25 ERA at Class AAA) or the 18-year-old Knapp (2-7, 4.01 ERA in Class A) become stars. But this deal lacked a Masterson, or even elite prospects such as Michael Brantley and LaPorta, who came in the Sabathia deal. I can't help but think the $9 million Lee was due next season was driving this deal, along with a fear that the economy and trade market would be even worse in 2010. They also point out that Johann Santana did not bring the Twins any immediate impact players in the trade with the Mets.
6. Bottom line: Given the dismal season, most of the deals didn't just save dollars, they made sense. But the biggest one -- the Lee trade -- came too soon.
by Terry Pluto, Plain Dealer Columnist
Saturday August 08, 2009, 8:55 PM
To the readers: This is a special edition of the Sunday notes. It's all about the Indians. I've been on vacation the past two weeks. Writing this from northern Michigan near Lake Superior, I decided to concentrate on getting you as much information on all the Tribe deals as possible. Next week, the Sunday notes will have the usual format dealing with all three Cleveland teams.
IT STARTED WITH MONEY . . .
1. Travis Hafner and Jake Westbrook make a combined $24 million this season, and their contracts will pay them $24 million next year. Yes, the Indians ranked 14th in payroll at the start of the season at $81 million, putting them near the major-league average. But $24 million of that last year went to Hafner and Westbrook, as it did this season and will again in 2010. No one is blaming those players. Both wanted to stay with the Indians, and both signed long-term deals -- as ownership committed to them. Then, both got hurt. Thanks to elbow surgery, Westbrook has made five big-league starts in two years. Dealing with shoulder problems and then surgery, Hafner has 394 at-bats over two seasons.
2. Team President Paul Dolan said Thursday that the team would lose $16 million in 2009. Insiders project a loss of another $10 million or more next season. They could have brought back Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez, but there would be no room in the budget to add any significant pieces or payroll. The Indians have not set a payroll figure for next season, but with their attendance ranking 27th in baseball, it's a safe bet it will be less than the $81 million this season -- even if ownership is willing to absorb some financial losses in 2010. The Indians correctly believed that selling tickets next season was going to be tough with or without Martinez and/or Lee on the roster.
3. The Indians looked at their 2008 team that was 81-81, followed by this season's team that went into Saturday night's game with a 47-62 record. They did not believe they could contend with the current roster. So it was not only time to cut payroll, but also to plan for the future. The team believes it could add almost zero to the team in terms of proven talent even with players such as Masa Kobayashi, Dave Dellucci, Rafael Betancourt and Mark DeRosa -- about $17 million -- coming off the payroll at the end of this season. The economics are that bleak for the Indians.
4. The Indians traded Betancourt to Colorado because he had a $5 million team option for next season. The Indians had no intention of picking it up, meaning Betancourt would have become a free agent. So they sent him to the Rockies this season, saving $1.3 million and adding a hard-throwing prospect named Connor Graham, who Rockies General Manager Dan O'Dowd said could possibly "be a back-end bullpen guy" in a few years. Graham is 0-0 with a 4.26 ERA in two appearances at Class AA Akron. The Rockies plan to let the 34-year-old Betancourt become a free agent after the season.
5. Ryan Garko is eligible to go to arbitration after the season. The Indians believed it would take a deal much like they gave Kelly Shoppach ($1.9 million) last season to prevent Garko from going to arbitration, where they believe he'd be worth $2 million. They were not going to pay him that, when they believe they have first base/DH replacements in Matt LaPorta, Andy Marte, Hafner and even someone such as hot-hitting Jordan Brown (.331 with 12 HR, 58 RBI, .902 OPS at Class AAA Columbus). That depth also was behind the Martinez deal with Boston. So they moved Garko to the Giants for Scott Barnes, a lefty who was 12-3 with a 2.85 ERA in Class A.
6. DeRosa was traded to St. Louis for relievers Chris Perez and Jess Todd. DeRosa is headed to free agency at the end of the season, and the Indians were not going to keep him. Perez is like Paul Shuey, Steve Karsay, Danys Baez and Eric Plunk, a guy with a 95-mph fastball who should be help in the bullpen. In the past, the Tribe effectively used this type of power arm. Todd has been tremendous in the minors, but doesn't have overwhelming stuff. The team received good value for DeRosa, and saved about $2.5 million. Finally, the Indians traded Carl Pavano to Minnesota for a player to be named.
7. No matter how the Indians explain it, money powered many of the deals. They traded Pavano not long before his bonuses for starts were about to kick in. They whacked at least $12 million off the payroll for this season in what was left on contracts to Lee, Martinez, DeRosa, Betancourt and Pavano -- and at least $25 million next year in contract obligations.
SOME OPINION
1. The Indians have about $7 million tied up in Kobayashi and Dellucci for this season, despite both being released. Dellucci is finishing up a three-year, $11 million contract, Kobayashi a two-year, $6 million deal. The Indians should really review the thought process that led to those signings, because $7 million should yield at least one productive major-league player. Kobayashi was 33 when signed; Dellucci was 32 and with a history of injuries.
2. Yes, the Indians traded young pitchers Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer and John Graub for DeRosa, then turned around and traded DeRosa for young pitchers. Stevens has been up and down with the Cubs. The odd part of the original deal was acquiring DeRosa, a second baseman with the Cubs, and moving him to third. This came after the Indians moved Jhonny Peralta to third base in winter ball. So they moved Peralta back to short, knowing DeRosa was a one-year rental. The obvious lineup to most fans was DeRosa at 2B, Asdrubal Cabrera at SS and Peralta at 3B from Day One of spring training. Somehow, the Indians missed the obvious and ended up making the moves during the season.
3. I liked the trades of Betancourt, Garko and especially DeRosa because all can be replaced next season, and maybe they can find some young pitching from the deals. As for Pavano, he's no loss because he was headed for free agency and not likely to re-sign with the Indians.
4. No way to know if the injuries to Westbrook and Hafner made the front office and ownership gun shy about firing out more large contracts to veteran free agents, but it had to be a factor.
5. Fans often say the Dolans should sell the team. Fine, who is your buyer? When Dick Jacobs put the Indians up for sale in 1999, there were two major bidders: the Ganley family and the Dolans. Ganley dropped out at about $220 million, but Goldman Sachs ran a blind auction and squeezed $323 million out of the Dolans. Yes, the Dolans overpaid. And just as the Dolans' television network, SportsTime Ohio, got going, the economy was crushed and it was hard to sell advertising on TV, radio or in newspapers. The cable TV station has been an asset, but not the tremendous cash cow that some projected.
6. Very few Midwestern teams are being sold. Dan Gilbert bid on the Milwaukee Brewers before purchasing the Cavaliers. His final bid was in the $200 million range. Why didn't he go higher, since he paid $375 million for the Cavaliers? Because the Cavs have LeBron James, and because they play in a league where there is a salary cap to help teams keep stars. Baseball's no-cap system makes franchises less attractive to savvy buyers such as Gilbert. The Indians would be a difficult team to sell in a depressed economy and in a city such as Cleveland, which is not a growing boomtown.
1. The Indians believe that within two years, when Martinez is a free agent after 2010, he will be more of a first baseman than a catcher. By then, he will be 32, and catching takes a physical toll. Lee will probably be able to sign a contract for at least $15 million annually after 2010 when he's a free agent. Martinez would be far more reasonable, but still cost at least $10 million a season.
2. It's possible Martinez would have controlled his own negotiations. He really did seem to love the Indians. But as we learned with other players in the past, what they say in public is one thing; what their agents say over the negotiating table is another. Remember that at the end of last season, CC Sabathia indicated he wanted to stay in the National League where he could bat, and he preferred the West Coast. So he signed with the New York Yankees of the American League, where there is a DH. The largest contract ever given a pitcher changed his mind.
3. Also part of the Martinez deal is that the Indians are strong behind the plate with Kelly Shoppach, Chris Gimenez, Wyatt Toregas, Carlos Santana and Lou Marson (added in the Lee deal with Philadelphia). They are desperate for pitching, so they sent Martinez to Boston for Justin Masterson, Bryan Price and Nick Hagadone. Masterson started Saturday night against the White Sox. Price and Hagadone are in Class A. Hagadone has a 95-mph fastball -- clocked as high as 98 mph -- even after coming off Tommy John surgery.
4. Word is, Boston would not include prized prospect Clay Buchholz for Martinez or Lee. The Yankees would have added Phil Hughes as part of a package for Lee. The man has been Cy Young caliber the past 1½ seasons, a strike-throwing, innings-eating, keep-the-score-close machine. But he was not considered overpowering and is underrated.
5. The Indians correctly perceived they had zerochance to keep Lee after 2010. They believed they could get more now for Lee than they would next season. They sent him to Philadelphia for pitchers Jason Knapp and Carlos Carrasco, catcher Marson and infielder Jason Donald. But the Phillies kept prized pitching prospects J.A. Happ and Kyle Drabek.
6. Knapp had a tired arm, but soon will pitch be at Class A Lake County. He has a 98-mph fastball at the age of 18. The Indians believe Donald, Marson and Carrasco all can help at some point in 2010, but none are having tremendous years in Class AAA.
7. The Indians can claim that they added 11 players in these trades, nine of them pitchers. All are under the age of 25. Five were among the top 100 prospects for 2009 as rated by Baseball America and ESPN. Odds are some of them will come through, but it is very hard to replace an All-Star catcher and a Cy Young award winner.
MORE OPINION
1. Why did the Indians need to add nine pitchers? Because their farm system has done a terrible job of producing pitchers. Since Sabathia was drafted in 1998, the Indians have had only threepitchers drafted, signed and developed by their farm system (not counting Latin players) who have made 50 big-league starts: Jeremy Sowers, Jeremy Guthrie and Sabathia. Scouting director Brad Grant has had only two drafts, so it's hard to judge him. But what happened in the previous years created a huge hole that the team needs to fill from the outside.
2. I like the Martinez deal because Masterson is a big-league-ready starter with a 93- to 96-mph fastball who has had success with Boston. He could be a major addition to the rotation. Martinez will be missed, but not nearly as much as Lee.
3. I can't buy the Lee deal. If the market was indeed soft for him now, then wait until next year. In the meantime, you actually have a No. 1 starter in the rotation to model strike-throwing and gutsy pitching to the kids on the staff. Kevin Millwood did this for Sabathia in 2005, which helped him take the next step up.
4. I knew nothing about Brandon Phillips, Lee and Grady Sizemore when they joined the Indians in the Bartolo Colon deal in 2002. The last thing I expected was Sizemore (batting .258 with 3 HRs in 256 at-bats at Class A) to turn into a power-hitting All-Star. Lee had very good stats in the minors, but no one dreamed he'd win the Cy Young. The Indians do have a good track record in dealing for other team's prospects, much better than drafting their own.
5. Maybe Carrasco (7-9, 5.25 ERA at Class AAA) or the 18-year-old Knapp (2-7, 4.01 ERA in Class A) become stars. But this deal lacked a Masterson, or even elite prospects such as Michael Brantley and LaPorta, who came in the Sabathia deal. I can't help but think the $9 million Lee was due next season was driving this deal, along with a fear that the economy and trade market would be even worse in 2010. They also point out that Johann Santana did not bring the Twins any immediate impact players in the trade with the Mets.
6. Bottom line: Given the dismal season, most of the deals didn't just save dollars, they made sense. But the biggest one -- the Lee trade -- came too soon.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Failed promises, lost season: Terry Pluto on the frustrated fans of the 2009 Cleveland Indians
Failed promises, lost season: Terry Pluto on the frustrated fans of the 2009 Cleveland Indians
by Terry Pluto/Plain Dealer Columnist Tuesday July 14, 2009, 7:12 PM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Maybe you are an Indians fan like me. Maybe you were really looking forward to this season, while having one eye on the rearview mirror from 2007.
That's when the Indians won 96 games, when they dumped New York in the first round of the playoffs and fell short by one game of going to the World Series. This team in 2009, it had to be more like that 2007 group than the Indians of 2008, right?
Those 2008 Indians had a 41-53 record at the All-Star break and finished a discouraging 81-81.
Yes, 2009 would be a new year, a year when the bullpen couldn't be as bad as 2008 -- when the relievers' 5.13 ERA was second worst in the American League. Hey, they signed a $10 million a year closer in Kerry Wood. They traded for some other relievers.
At least the bullpen should be fixed, right?
Wrong. Wrong! Wrong!
This season, everything went wrong. The bullpen is awful, the starting pitchers even more pathetic and the Tribe has the league's worst record (35-54) at the break. Having the highest ERA in the major leagues at 5.40 will do that. That 5.40 ERA is the highest in team history! The only other year the ERA was above 5.00 was 5.28 in 1987.
A rainy opening day -- and a loss -- should have told Indians fans Molly Marunowski (left) and Jessica Dell'Aquilla all that awaited the team in 2009."This is the most discouraging season I've ever experienced," e-mailed Berea's Terry Callaghan, adding that he was born in 1950. "I am so disgusted that I deliberately ignore them. When I go out to bars and restaurants where the Tribe is on TV, no one is paying attention. No cheers when they score, no groans when they lose."
Actually, Callaghan still does care, as he wrote several paragraphs about trades that should be made and people who should be fired.
What makes this a season of tears for Tribe fans is the team was supposed to win. On its Web site, eight of 20 ESPN baseball writers predicted the Indians to win the Central Division. So did I, insisting they'd win at least 91 games.
"There appears to be a big crack in the crystal ball or it's just full of smog," e-mailed Ron Zurowski. "I have 12 sets of tickets for the rest of the season that I intend to give away."
As for myself, I confess that I will go to more games this season. I still think Jacobs -- I mean, Progressive Field -- is a terrific place to watch a game. But I never thought the games would be ... well ... so awful!
Maybe you can understand why an unsigned email arrived with this heading: Tribe Ruins My Retirement! You can guess the content of the 60-year-old fan still pining away for former Tribe manager Charlie Manuel -- who moved to Philadelphia and won the 2008 World Series.
There was a game where Trevor Crowe ran from second base to third on a ground ball to short -- and was thrown out by 20 feet. There was a game with a runner on third base, one out. A grounder was hit to Jhonny Peralta at third. He calmly ignored the runner headed to the plate and tossed out the runner at first base, seemingly unaware of the number of outs, just like Crowe.
Whatever happened to that 2007 team?
Only two pitchers remain on the active roster from that playoff staff -- Rafael Betancourt and Aaron Laffey. In case you forgot (I did), Cliff Lee spent part of 2007 in the minors and was not on the playoff roster.
Cy Young winner CC Sabathia is with the Yankees. Paul Byrd is retired. Jake Westbrook has been out since last season with elbow surgery and 19-game winner Fausto Carmona is such mess, he's in the minors. So are Raffy Perez and Jensen Lewis, once reliable relievers.
This season, the Indians have been through 26 pitchers, closing in on the American League record of 32. A pitching staff that for the previous four seasons was in the top two of fewest walks in the league, now has walked the most.
"My wife won't watch the eighth inning, but I do," e-mailed Jerry Crawford from Las Vegas. He is a retired drama professor who signs his emails "The Real Chief Wahoo" and weeps over the Tribe each night with the MLB package on pay TV.
Ah, yes, the eighth inning, where the Indians have been outscored, 69-34.
Then Crawford adds to the torment by watching Seattle play, especially former Indians Franklin Gutierrez and Russell Branyan.
"They have been marvelous," wrote Crawford. "That figures."
"A season like this reminds me of a David Letterman Top Ten from a few years ago," e-mailed Herb Bell. "The subject was signs that your team is bad. The No. 1 answer was, 'Your team rhymes with Smidians.'"
Most nights, the Indians hit a bit -- but don't pitch.
But when 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee takes the mound, they forget to hit. His record is a deceiving 4-9 with a solid 3.47 ERA. He has lost five games despite allowing two or fewer earned runs over at least seven innings -- hey, that leads the league.
Poor Lee, the Indians have scored a grand total of 14 runs in his nine losses ... yet they've scored 22 runs in one game at New York, 15 against Oakland and 12 (in a loss) to Milwaukee. None of that happened with him on the mound.
"When I travel, I always take books about the Indians with me," e-mailed Barb Schopp from Mansfield. "This time, I'm taking a murder mystery."
Better than Barb wanting to kill some of the players and coaches. She makes trips to spring training most years to check out the Tribe.
"We're missing something this summer," wrote Schopp. "It's not just a good baseball team, it's all the fun that goes with a good team. That's what makes me blue."
by Terry Pluto/Plain Dealer Columnist Tuesday July 14, 2009, 7:12 PM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Maybe you are an Indians fan like me. Maybe you were really looking forward to this season, while having one eye on the rearview mirror from 2007.
That's when the Indians won 96 games, when they dumped New York in the first round of the playoffs and fell short by one game of going to the World Series. This team in 2009, it had to be more like that 2007 group than the Indians of 2008, right?
Those 2008 Indians had a 41-53 record at the All-Star break and finished a discouraging 81-81.
Yes, 2009 would be a new year, a year when the bullpen couldn't be as bad as 2008 -- when the relievers' 5.13 ERA was second worst in the American League. Hey, they signed a $10 million a year closer in Kerry Wood. They traded for some other relievers.
At least the bullpen should be fixed, right?
Wrong. Wrong! Wrong!
This season, everything went wrong. The bullpen is awful, the starting pitchers even more pathetic and the Tribe has the league's worst record (35-54) at the break. Having the highest ERA in the major leagues at 5.40 will do that. That 5.40 ERA is the highest in team history! The only other year the ERA was above 5.00 was 5.28 in 1987.
A rainy opening day -- and a loss -- should have told Indians fans Molly Marunowski (left) and Jessica Dell'Aquilla all that awaited the team in 2009."This is the most discouraging season I've ever experienced," e-mailed Berea's Terry Callaghan, adding that he was born in 1950. "I am so disgusted that I deliberately ignore them. When I go out to bars and restaurants where the Tribe is on TV, no one is paying attention. No cheers when they score, no groans when they lose."
Actually, Callaghan still does care, as he wrote several paragraphs about trades that should be made and people who should be fired.
What makes this a season of tears for Tribe fans is the team was supposed to win. On its Web site, eight of 20 ESPN baseball writers predicted the Indians to win the Central Division. So did I, insisting they'd win at least 91 games.
"There appears to be a big crack in the crystal ball or it's just full of smog," e-mailed Ron Zurowski. "I have 12 sets of tickets for the rest of the season that I intend to give away."
As for myself, I confess that I will go to more games this season. I still think Jacobs -- I mean, Progressive Field -- is a terrific place to watch a game. But I never thought the games would be ... well ... so awful!
Maybe you can understand why an unsigned email arrived with this heading: Tribe Ruins My Retirement! You can guess the content of the 60-year-old fan still pining away for former Tribe manager Charlie Manuel -- who moved to Philadelphia and won the 2008 World Series.
There was a game where Trevor Crowe ran from second base to third on a ground ball to short -- and was thrown out by 20 feet. There was a game with a runner on third base, one out. A grounder was hit to Jhonny Peralta at third. He calmly ignored the runner headed to the plate and tossed out the runner at first base, seemingly unaware of the number of outs, just like Crowe.
Whatever happened to that 2007 team?
Only two pitchers remain on the active roster from that playoff staff -- Rafael Betancourt and Aaron Laffey. In case you forgot (I did), Cliff Lee spent part of 2007 in the minors and was not on the playoff roster.
Cy Young winner CC Sabathia is with the Yankees. Paul Byrd is retired. Jake Westbrook has been out since last season with elbow surgery and 19-game winner Fausto Carmona is such mess, he's in the minors. So are Raffy Perez and Jensen Lewis, once reliable relievers.
This season, the Indians have been through 26 pitchers, closing in on the American League record of 32. A pitching staff that for the previous four seasons was in the top two of fewest walks in the league, now has walked the most.
"My wife won't watch the eighth inning, but I do," e-mailed Jerry Crawford from Las Vegas. He is a retired drama professor who signs his emails "The Real Chief Wahoo" and weeps over the Tribe each night with the MLB package on pay TV.
Ah, yes, the eighth inning, where the Indians have been outscored, 69-34.
Then Crawford adds to the torment by watching Seattle play, especially former Indians Franklin Gutierrez and Russell Branyan.
"They have been marvelous," wrote Crawford. "That figures."
"A season like this reminds me of a David Letterman Top Ten from a few years ago," e-mailed Herb Bell. "The subject was signs that your team is bad. The No. 1 answer was, 'Your team rhymes with Smidians.'"
Most nights, the Indians hit a bit -- but don't pitch.
But when 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee takes the mound, they forget to hit. His record is a deceiving 4-9 with a solid 3.47 ERA. He has lost five games despite allowing two or fewer earned runs over at least seven innings -- hey, that leads the league.
Poor Lee, the Indians have scored a grand total of 14 runs in his nine losses ... yet they've scored 22 runs in one game at New York, 15 against Oakland and 12 (in a loss) to Milwaukee. None of that happened with him on the mound.
"When I travel, I always take books about the Indians with me," e-mailed Barb Schopp from Mansfield. "This time, I'm taking a murder mystery."
Better than Barb wanting to kill some of the players and coaches. She makes trips to spring training most years to check out the Tribe.
"We're missing something this summer," wrote Schopp. "It's not just a good baseball team, it's all the fun that goes with a good team. That's what makes me blue."
Mea culpa! Lamentations of a columnist's faulty forecast for the Tribe: Terry Pluto
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Talk about clueless ... not only does that apply to the Cleveland Indians, but to me as I look back and weep about some of the things I wrote this spring:
1. Start with the starters. Start with me knowing the Indians would not have a good starting rotation. Start with me simply ignoring that, and writing that they'd win 91 games and the Central Division, anyway. And start with writing that Carl Pavano could be another Jason Johnson, a real bust in the rotation -- and he has been the team's second-best starter behind Cliff Lee and leads the team with eight victories.
2. Not only did I insist the Indians would contend for a title, I wrote Detroit "had no chance" to win the Central Division. Well, at the All-Star break, the Tigers are in first place, the Indians in last. And I picked Arizona to win the NL West. The Diamondbacks stink, too. I also may have told someone that John McCain would win at least 40 states.
3. MVP for this season? Grady Sizemore, no doubt. Only Sizemore is batting .235 with 13 HR and 47 RBI and needs elbow surgery. And I predicted Brandon Webb would win the NL Cy Young Award. He got hurt, too.
4. I wrote the bullpen could be one of the strongest parts of the team, and not just because they signed closer Kerry Wood for $10 million annually. I was sure Jensen Lewis and Raffy Perez would be strong as set-up men. Well, maybe they are ... at Class AAA Columbus. They allowed 12 homers in 65 combined innings with the Tribe, their combined ERA a shocking 8.04.
5. That strong Tribe bullpen? Its 5.13 ERA is the worst in AL. But it's better than the starters, whose 5.56 ERA is also the pits of the league. And I sort of hinted the pitching would at least be OK. With a track record like that, anybody want some of my stock tips? I was real high on Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac about a year ago!
6. I was sure Ben Francisco would be an upgrade over Dave Dellucci and Jason Michaels in left field, that Francisco would hit around .280 with 20 HR. Well, he's at .242 with 6 HR, 25 RBI. Francisco batted only .236 after the 2008 All-Star break, so there were reasons for concern that I ignored.
7. I wrote something about Anthony Reyes giving the starting rotation the same grit as Kevin Millwood did back in 2005 when he had the best ERA in the American League. Well, Reyes had a bad elbow before he joined the Tribe, and it just got worse as he had major surgery -- after racking up a 6.57 ERA.
8. Twice in spring training, I wrote about how Fausto Carmona was looking good and throwing strikes -- He was, really! -- then came the regular season. I don't even want to talk about this stuff any more.
9. I really liked John Meloan, a pitcher the Indians acquired in the Casey Blake deal from the Dodgers last summer. I thought he could help in the bullpen. I mentioned this in print more than few times. Probably about the same time I could have told you that you really want to buy stock in AIG. Anyway, Meloan had a 5.69 ERA at Class AAA Columbus, and the Indians have traded him to Tampa Bay.
10. I'm going to stop here. I'm not going to mention how I pushed for Trevor Crowe (he batted .165) to be the fourth outfielder, or how I thought Jake Westbrook (he's still recovering) would be back from arm surgery and in the starting rotation by the middle of June. I'll just say that from now on, you can just call me Nostradamus.
1. Start with the starters. Start with me knowing the Indians would not have a good starting rotation. Start with me simply ignoring that, and writing that they'd win 91 games and the Central Division, anyway. And start with writing that Carl Pavano could be another Jason Johnson, a real bust in the rotation -- and he has been the team's second-best starter behind Cliff Lee and leads the team with eight victories.
2. Not only did I insist the Indians would contend for a title, I wrote Detroit "had no chance" to win the Central Division. Well, at the All-Star break, the Tigers are in first place, the Indians in last. And I picked Arizona to win the NL West. The Diamondbacks stink, too. I also may have told someone that John McCain would win at least 40 states.
3. MVP for this season? Grady Sizemore, no doubt. Only Sizemore is batting .235 with 13 HR and 47 RBI and needs elbow surgery. And I predicted Brandon Webb would win the NL Cy Young Award. He got hurt, too.
4. I wrote the bullpen could be one of the strongest parts of the team, and not just because they signed closer Kerry Wood for $10 million annually. I was sure Jensen Lewis and Raffy Perez would be strong as set-up men. Well, maybe they are ... at Class AAA Columbus. They allowed 12 homers in 65 combined innings with the Tribe, their combined ERA a shocking 8.04.
5. That strong Tribe bullpen? Its 5.13 ERA is the worst in AL. But it's better than the starters, whose 5.56 ERA is also the pits of the league. And I sort of hinted the pitching would at least be OK. With a track record like that, anybody want some of my stock tips? I was real high on Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac about a year ago!
6. I was sure Ben Francisco would be an upgrade over Dave Dellucci and Jason Michaels in left field, that Francisco would hit around .280 with 20 HR. Well, he's at .242 with 6 HR, 25 RBI. Francisco batted only .236 after the 2008 All-Star break, so there were reasons for concern that I ignored.
7. I wrote something about Anthony Reyes giving the starting rotation the same grit as Kevin Millwood did back in 2005 when he had the best ERA in the American League. Well, Reyes had a bad elbow before he joined the Tribe, and it just got worse as he had major surgery -- after racking up a 6.57 ERA.
8. Twice in spring training, I wrote about how Fausto Carmona was looking good and throwing strikes -- He was, really! -- then came the regular season. I don't even want to talk about this stuff any more.
9. I really liked John Meloan, a pitcher the Indians acquired in the Casey Blake deal from the Dodgers last summer. I thought he could help in the bullpen. I mentioned this in print more than few times. Probably about the same time I could have told you that you really want to buy stock in AIG. Anyway, Meloan had a 5.69 ERA at Class AAA Columbus, and the Indians have traded him to Tampa Bay.
10. I'm going to stop here. I'm not going to mention how I pushed for Trevor Crowe (he batted .165) to be the fourth outfielder, or how I thought Jake Westbrook (he's still recovering) would be back from arm surgery and in the starting rotation by the middle of June. I'll just say that from now on, you can just call me Nostradamus.
All-Star Blog: Albert Belle makes a mid-summer phone call to talk Cleveland Indians, steroids
All-Star Blog: Albert Belle makes a mid-summer phone call to talk Cleveland Indians, steroids
by Paul Hoynes/Plain Dealer Reporter Tuesday July 14, 2009, 4:29 PM
UPDATED: 5:41 p.m.
Plain Dealer file
Albert Belle says baseball should reveal the names of all the players on the steroid list and get past the issue. ST. LOUIS -- It just isn't a baseball season unless Albert Belle calls.
Belle, the worst-tempered player and most intimidating hitter I've ever covered, called Monday while I was walking into Busch Stadium to get ready for the home run derby. Belle was frustrated with the Indians' first half and wanted to talk about former teammate Manny Ramirez testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
"If they're not going to take anybody's stats away, then what difference does a positive test make?" said Belle. "And what about those 101 players who tested positive and haven't been named yet? I say release all their names so we can get done beating this dead horse."
Regarding Ramirez, Belle said, "Manny is going to hit no matter what. He's a talented kid."
Belle played for the Indians from 1989 through 1996. He's No.2 on their all-time list with 242 homers. Jim Thome, a former teammate, is No.1 with 334.
In his 12-year big-league career, Belle hit 381 homers. Along the way, he had more temper tantrums than Billy Martin and Lou Piniella combined.
Some of those tantrums were directed at me. Realizing that Belle was calling from Scottsdale, Ariz., and I was in St. Louis, I asked him if he'd ever used steroids. I already knew he'd used a corked bat.
"I never did," said Belle. "I didn't need to. All you have to do is check the trainers' weight charts. Every year I'd come to camp weighing 225 to 230 and end the season at about 215 to 220."
I ventured to say that his temper tantrums could have been interpreted as 'roid rage.
Said Belle, "No, I was just an angry black man."
Regarding the Indians, Belle said, "I hope they don't blame Eric Wedge for all this. You've got to have players to win."
Belle was told Wedge's job was in danger. When asked if he would want to manage the Indians, "Unless they got me a lot of new players, I don't need a headache like that."
Five times Belle made the All-Star team during his carer. His last All-Star game appearance was with the White Sox. The game was played at Jacobs Field and Belle refused to pose for the team picture in the outfield because of his running feud with Indians fans.
"The first time you play in an All-Star game, it's great," said Belle. "After that, you can do without it."
Belle, 42, was forced to retire because of an injury to his right hip. It probably cost him a spot in the Hall of Fame. Now he may need some work done on his left hip as well.
"A couple of my friends called me and said you haven't ripped anybody on the Indians all season," said Belle. "I told them, 'He must be getting old.'"
We all do, Albert. We all do.
by Paul Hoynes/Plain Dealer Reporter Tuesday July 14, 2009, 4:29 PM
UPDATED: 5:41 p.m.
Plain Dealer file
Albert Belle says baseball should reveal the names of all the players on the steroid list and get past the issue. ST. LOUIS -- It just isn't a baseball season unless Albert Belle calls.
Belle, the worst-tempered player and most intimidating hitter I've ever covered, called Monday while I was walking into Busch Stadium to get ready for the home run derby. Belle was frustrated with the Indians' first half and wanted to talk about former teammate Manny Ramirez testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
"If they're not going to take anybody's stats away, then what difference does a positive test make?" said Belle. "And what about those 101 players who tested positive and haven't been named yet? I say release all their names so we can get done beating this dead horse."
Regarding Ramirez, Belle said, "Manny is going to hit no matter what. He's a talented kid."
Belle played for the Indians from 1989 through 1996. He's No.2 on their all-time list with 242 homers. Jim Thome, a former teammate, is No.1 with 334.
In his 12-year big-league career, Belle hit 381 homers. Along the way, he had more temper tantrums than Billy Martin and Lou Piniella combined.
Some of those tantrums were directed at me. Realizing that Belle was calling from Scottsdale, Ariz., and I was in St. Louis, I asked him if he'd ever used steroids. I already knew he'd used a corked bat.
"I never did," said Belle. "I didn't need to. All you have to do is check the trainers' weight charts. Every year I'd come to camp weighing 225 to 230 and end the season at about 215 to 220."
I ventured to say that his temper tantrums could have been interpreted as 'roid rage.
Said Belle, "No, I was just an angry black man."
Regarding the Indians, Belle said, "I hope they don't blame Eric Wedge for all this. You've got to have players to win."
Belle was told Wedge's job was in danger. When asked if he would want to manage the Indians, "Unless they got me a lot of new players, I don't need a headache like that."
Five times Belle made the All-Star team during his carer. His last All-Star game appearance was with the White Sox. The game was played at Jacobs Field and Belle refused to pose for the team picture in the outfield because of his running feud with Indians fans.
"The first time you play in an All-Star game, it's great," said Belle. "After that, you can do without it."
Belle, 42, was forced to retire because of an injury to his right hip. It probably cost him a spot in the Hall of Fame. Now he may need some work done on his left hip as well.
"A couple of my friends called me and said you haven't ripped anybody on the Indians all season," said Belle. "I told them, 'He must be getting old.'"
We all do, Albert. We all do.
Cleveland Indians' 20- and 30-something fans have no reason to fret, compared to older fans
Cleveland Indians' 20- and 30-something fans have no reason to fret, compared to older fans
by Mike Peticca, The Plain Dealer Tuesday July 14, 2009, 2:52 PM
Associated Press
Yes, Jose Mesa couldn't save Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, but the big right-hander had some highlight moments, too. Here, he pitches against the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the 1995 World Series, when he earned credit for the Tribe's 7-6, 11-inning win.
Any Cleveland Indians fan can find recent disappointment in, for instance, the Tribe's failure to turn its 3-1 American League Championship Series lead over the Boston Red Sox into a 2007 World Series berth.
Or, in the Indians' uninspiring 2008 season followed by the team's current malaise.
But, if you're just 20 years old, you may have some recall of 1995, when Cleveland played in the World Series for the first time in 41 years, and more memories of the Indians' improbable run to the 1997 Fall Classic. So what if Atlanta's Tom Glavine got the corner, and more, on almost every close pitch, and that Jose Mesa insisted on throwing that slider to Florida's Charles Johnson? At least, things got to that point.
You were in your mid- to late teens during the compelling - if ultimately frustrating - finishes of 2005 and 2007.
And, if you're 30, you could fully appreciate one of the best eras in Cleveland baseball from 1995 to 2001.
You've got it all over the older Indians fans, those who watched the Tribe finish at least 11 games out of first place in every season from 1960 through 1993, excluding the 1981 season, when a two-month players' strike broke the pennant races into two halves.
During the 34-season stretch, the Indians lost 387 games more than they won, and they finished a combined 768 1/2 games out of first place. They had just six winning seasons, the best at 87-75 in 1965, when they finished fifth in the 10-team American League, 15 games behind the Minnesota Twins.
Cleveland's second-best record during the span was 86-75 in 1968, 16 1/2 games behind the Detroit Tigers. The Indians finished third, their best standing in the 34 seasons. It was the last season before the American and National Leagues divided into divisions of six, and later seven teams. Yet, Cleveland was able to finish third just the one time, and fourth six times from 1960 through 1993.
Following are a few instances when Indians fans had something to cheer for, only to have their hopes stilled.
Yawn
Indians fans never saw their team play big games deep into the season. Probably the biggest September games the Indians played were in a twi-night doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium on Sept. 6, 1974. Despite having just a 67-67 record, the 1974 Indians were just 4 1/2 games out of first place in the mediocre AL East when the night began.
Here, thanks to baseball-reference.com, is what happened in the opener, a 2-0 Tribe loss, and the nightcap of the twinbill, a 1-0 Indians' defeat before 27,341 fans.
The Tribe finished the campaign 77-85, in fourth place, 14 games behind the Orioles.
Look out, Yankees
The New York Yankees of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Roger Maris were still a powerhouse, but the 1962 Indians swept a four-game series from them in mid-June. A Sunday, June 17 doubleheader capped the series and drew 70,918 to Municipal Stadium to watch the Indians down New York, 6-1, in the opener and 6-3 in the second game.
The Indians spent 19 days in first place from June 16 through July 13, but they lost 34 of 47 games in one stretch and finished sixth, 80-82, 16 games behind the Yankees.
Looked good
The 1965 Indians were fun to watch, in part because of the return of favorite Rocky Colavito. The Indians were 46-28, tied for first place with the Minnesota Twins on July 4.
Tony Tomsic, Plain Dealer file photo
Slugging outfielder Rocky Colavito led the American League in RBI in 1965.Here's the Indians' July 4 game, a 4-2 win over the Orioles with a crowd of 32,756 at the Stadium.
Alas, the Tribe faded to their 87-75, fifth-place finish, 15 games behind the Twins.
Total fold
The 1966 Indians opened with 10 straight wins and were in first place with a 4 1/2 game lead and 27-10 record on May 28. They were still 45-29, although 6 1/2 games shy of the lead, on July 2, but went on a 28-48 skid through Sept. 16. Cleveland finished 81-81, 17 games behind Baltimore, in fifth place.
A highlight was Sonny Siebert's no-hitter, a 2-0 win over the Washington Senators in Cleveland on June 10.
Never close
In 1968, when the Indians went 86-75 to place third, 16 1/2 games behind Detroit, they were within 2 1/2 games of first on June 6, but never got on a real roll. Pitcher Luis Tiant did, though, including his 19-strikeout, 1-0 10-inning win over Minnesota before 21,135 at the Stadium on July 3.
Over-rated
When Sports Illustrated put the Indians' Joe Carter and Cory Snyder on the cover of their 1987 season preview issue, they ignored that the pitching-poor Indians of 1986 were at least 7 1/2 games - and as many as 16 1/2 - out of first after August 7. They rallied to finish 84-78, in fifth place behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. The 1987 fiasco ended with the Tribe 61-101.
The 1986 Indians peaked at 51-41, five games out of the division lead, with a 7-2 win over the Chicago White Sox in front of 20,524 Cleveland fans on July 23.
The Indians promptly lost 26 of their next 40 games.
by Mike Peticca, The Plain Dealer Tuesday July 14, 2009, 2:52 PM
Associated Press
Yes, Jose Mesa couldn't save Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, but the big right-hander had some highlight moments, too. Here, he pitches against the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the 1995 World Series, when he earned credit for the Tribe's 7-6, 11-inning win.
Any Cleveland Indians fan can find recent disappointment in, for instance, the Tribe's failure to turn its 3-1 American League Championship Series lead over the Boston Red Sox into a 2007 World Series berth.
Or, in the Indians' uninspiring 2008 season followed by the team's current malaise.
But, if you're just 20 years old, you may have some recall of 1995, when Cleveland played in the World Series for the first time in 41 years, and more memories of the Indians' improbable run to the 1997 Fall Classic. So what if Atlanta's Tom Glavine got the corner, and more, on almost every close pitch, and that Jose Mesa insisted on throwing that slider to Florida's Charles Johnson? At least, things got to that point.
You were in your mid- to late teens during the compelling - if ultimately frustrating - finishes of 2005 and 2007.
And, if you're 30, you could fully appreciate one of the best eras in Cleveland baseball from 1995 to 2001.
You've got it all over the older Indians fans, those who watched the Tribe finish at least 11 games out of first place in every season from 1960 through 1993, excluding the 1981 season, when a two-month players' strike broke the pennant races into two halves.
During the 34-season stretch, the Indians lost 387 games more than they won, and they finished a combined 768 1/2 games out of first place. They had just six winning seasons, the best at 87-75 in 1965, when they finished fifth in the 10-team American League, 15 games behind the Minnesota Twins.
Cleveland's second-best record during the span was 86-75 in 1968, 16 1/2 games behind the Detroit Tigers. The Indians finished third, their best standing in the 34 seasons. It was the last season before the American and National Leagues divided into divisions of six, and later seven teams. Yet, Cleveland was able to finish third just the one time, and fourth six times from 1960 through 1993.
Following are a few instances when Indians fans had something to cheer for, only to have their hopes stilled.
Yawn
Indians fans never saw their team play big games deep into the season. Probably the biggest September games the Indians played were in a twi-night doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium on Sept. 6, 1974. Despite having just a 67-67 record, the 1974 Indians were just 4 1/2 games out of first place in the mediocre AL East when the night began.
Here, thanks to baseball-reference.com, is what happened in the opener, a 2-0 Tribe loss, and the nightcap of the twinbill, a 1-0 Indians' defeat before 27,341 fans.
The Tribe finished the campaign 77-85, in fourth place, 14 games behind the Orioles.
Look out, Yankees
The New York Yankees of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Roger Maris were still a powerhouse, but the 1962 Indians swept a four-game series from them in mid-June. A Sunday, June 17 doubleheader capped the series and drew 70,918 to Municipal Stadium to watch the Indians down New York, 6-1, in the opener and 6-3 in the second game.
The Indians spent 19 days in first place from June 16 through July 13, but they lost 34 of 47 games in one stretch and finished sixth, 80-82, 16 games behind the Yankees.
Looked good
The 1965 Indians were fun to watch, in part because of the return of favorite Rocky Colavito. The Indians were 46-28, tied for first place with the Minnesota Twins on July 4.
Tony Tomsic, Plain Dealer file photo
Slugging outfielder Rocky Colavito led the American League in RBI in 1965.Here's the Indians' July 4 game, a 4-2 win over the Orioles with a crowd of 32,756 at the Stadium.
Alas, the Tribe faded to their 87-75, fifth-place finish, 15 games behind the Twins.
Total fold
The 1966 Indians opened with 10 straight wins and were in first place with a 4 1/2 game lead and 27-10 record on May 28. They were still 45-29, although 6 1/2 games shy of the lead, on July 2, but went on a 28-48 skid through Sept. 16. Cleveland finished 81-81, 17 games behind Baltimore, in fifth place.
A highlight was Sonny Siebert's no-hitter, a 2-0 win over the Washington Senators in Cleveland on June 10.
Never close
In 1968, when the Indians went 86-75 to place third, 16 1/2 games behind Detroit, they were within 2 1/2 games of first on June 6, but never got on a real roll. Pitcher Luis Tiant did, though, including his 19-strikeout, 1-0 10-inning win over Minnesota before 21,135 at the Stadium on July 3.
Over-rated
When Sports Illustrated put the Indians' Joe Carter and Cory Snyder on the cover of their 1987 season preview issue, they ignored that the pitching-poor Indians of 1986 were at least 7 1/2 games - and as many as 16 1/2 - out of first after August 7. They rallied to finish 84-78, in fifth place behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. The 1987 fiasco ended with the Tribe 61-101.
The 1986 Indians peaked at 51-41, five games out of the division lead, with a 7-2 win over the Chicago White Sox in front of 20,524 Cleveland fans on July 23.
The Indians promptly lost 26 of their next 40 games.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Promising Indians Go From First to Last
Promising Indians go from first to worst
One win from the 2007 World Series, Cleveland is now last in the AL; what happened?
By Jerry CrasnickESPN.comArchive
"We got beat by a great team. We've got a lot of young guys on this team. This wasn't the end of something. It was the beginning of something."-- Cleveland first baseman Ryan Garko after the Indians, one win from the World Series, blew a 3-games-to-1 lead against Boston in the 2007 American League Championship Series.
The beginning of what, exactly?
Andrew Weber/US PresswireGrady Sizemore, just activated from the DL, has an OPS 100 points below his career average.
Garko, a thoughtful and soft-spoken Stanford graduate, never could have envisioned the Indians' going 37-53 to begin the 2008 season, rendering the second half irrelevant, or CC Sabathia wearing a Milwaukee Brewers uniform by the All-Star break.
He didn't foresee Travis Hafner hurting his shoulder, Jhonny Peralta's power declining so markedly, or pitchers Fausto Carmona and Rafael Perez, cornerstones of the 96-win team in 2007, going south so quickly. For the sake of accuracy, Perez actually traveled 142 miles southwest to Triple-A Columbus after a demotion in May, and Carmona was last seen undergoing a ground-floor remake in Arizona.
Garko couldn't have predicted the great bullpen disaster of 2008 or a similar meltdown in 2009 after general manager Mark Shapiro made relief pitching a priority during the hot stove season. With the Kerry Wood and Masa Kobayashi signings, injuries to Joe Smith and Rafael Betancourt, and Jensen Lewis' regression, Indians fans have learned to watch the seventh, eighth and ninth innings through splayed fingers.
So here's where things stand: The Indians, a fashionable AL Central pick in March, are 12 games behind first-place Detroit and last in the division. Shapiro can't make it through a day without answering another question about manager Eric Wedge's job security, and he began the process of selling off short-term assets for long-term value when he traded infielder Mark DeRosa to St. Louis for reliever Chris Perez on Saturday.
If this comes as any consolation to beleaguered Tribe fans, Shapiro is convinced the picture isn't as grim as April, May and June make it appear.
BROKEN RECORD
The Indians have fallen well short of expectations since the 2007 ALCS. Here are the win percentages and run differentials among AL teams since the start of the 2008 season:
"I truly believe in my heart that we're going to be back in the playoffs again in the next three years," Shapiro said. "As much as I feel [the fans'] pain, I can't get caught up in the emotion of the history here. I don't believe we're going to be a bad team. I don't believe this is the beginning of another 40 years of losing. I believe this is a bad season. That's what it is."
The pain is more acute because the Indians have such a knack for snatching despair from the jaws of exhilaration. After putting Boston on the mat in '07, the Indians sent their staff ace to the mound for the clincher. But Sabathia, too keyed up by the stakes, threw a clunker against Josh Beckett. The series returned to Fenway Park, where the Red Sox outscored the Indians 23-4 in games 6 and 7 to advance to the World Series.
"Any time you have the opportunity to advance in the postseason and get that close, there's some level of disappointment when you don't reach your ultimate goal of winning the World Series," said Chris Antonetti, Cleveland assistant GM. "We valued that at the time. We understood that for teams in our market size, with our resources, it's exceptionally challenging to repeat and sustain that level of success.'"
For all their problems this season, the Indians have no plans to rip it up and start anew right now. So unless somebody overwhelms Shapiro with a package for Cliff Lee or Victor Martinez, the Indians will try to fill their holes, put this season's disappointment behind them and compete for a playoff berth in 2010.
There's nothing like a 31-46 record to elicit a little introspection. Here are some of the long- and short-term realities Shapiro and Antonetti must confront over the next few months and the offseason.
The pitching problemHafner's $57 million contract looks exorbitant in hindsight, but he still has a .959 OPS in 31 games this season. Even with Hafner and Grady Sizemore's missing considerable time because of injuries, the Indians rank third in the AL in runs.
CLEVELAND ROCKED
The Indians' pitching numbers have gone down since 2007. In parentheses are where they ranked in MLB:
The problem is pitching. Cleveland has one starter, Lee, with an ERA of less than 5.00. The Indians' staff has issued 310 walks, most in the majors, and has given up 88 home runs, seventh most in the game.
How bad is the bullpen? The Indians have been outscored 66-32 in the eighth inning, and the relievers have allowed 58 of 140 inherited runners to score.
And there simply is no depth for when things go wrong. The Toronto Blue Jays have survived an incredible run of pitching injuries with help from a Scott Richmond here and a Ricky Romero and Brian Tallet there, but the Indians can't find anyone to carry the burden behind Lee.
Which leads to our second issue …
A break in the pipelineThe Brandon Phillips trade to Cincinnati notwithstanding, it's hard to argue with Shapiro's trade history. He acquired Hafner from Texas for Ryan Drese and Einar Diaz, stole Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo from Seattle for Eduardo Perez and Ben Broussard, and acquired elite catching prospect Carlos Santana from the Dodgers for Casey Blake last July. And what more can be said about the deal that brought Sizemore, Lee and Phillips from Montreal for Bartolo Colon? It was a classic heist.
The Indians have been successful in Latin America, and while you can criticize some of Shapiro's recent free-agent signings, Jason Michaels, David Dellucci and even Wood don't have the type of contracts that are going to strangle the team for years to come.
So what's the problem? In the spectrum of player acquisition options, Cleveland's lack of success early in the draft stands front and center.
Shapiro has been the Indians' general manager since 2001.
Since 2000, Cleveland has had 19 first-round or supplemental picks. The most successful, pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, has a 23-24 record in the majors, and all of that has come with Baltimore.
Beyond Guthrie, the landscape is essentially bare. First-rounders Corey Smith, Alan Horne, Daniel Denham and Brad Snyder did nothing. Matt Whitney, Michael Aubrey and Adam Miller got hurt. And it's too soon to tell what Trevor Crowe, Beau Mills, David Huff and Lonnie Chisenhall will contribute over the long haul.
Cleveland management contends the early misses are offset in part by some later "finds" that bring the team's overall performance closer to average. Garko, Lewis, Ben Francisco, Aaron Laffey and the departed Ryan Church and Luke Scott are among the players who fit the description. Still, there's not a Ryan Howard, Justin Morneau, Josh Johnson or Jonathan Papelbon in the bunch.
It doesn't help that the Indians rarely pick among the top handful of teams in the first round, where the sure things are found. Cleveland has picked in the top 10 only once this decade. In 2004, the Indians had Jered Weaver and Stephen Drew atop their board but passed on both players for financial reasons and selected Jeremy Sowers, a Vanderbilt product who is 33-14 with a 2.47 ERA in the minors and 14-24/5.18 in the majors.
Some draft watchers think the Indians are too stat-focused and select too many corner infielders, outfielders and DH types rather than athletes and middle-of-the-diamond players. But sometimes it's more about the money than the draft philosophy.
In 2005, the Indians drafted Washington high school pitcher Tim Lincecum in the 42nd round, but ownership wasn't willing to buck the commissioner's office and spend the $1 million or so required to sign him. Think Lincecum wouldn't look good in that rotation right now?
Managing expectationsThe Shapiro-Antonetti tandem gets more love from national media outlets than, say, White Sox GM Kenny Williams, who is perceived as arrogant and overly blunt. Is it because the Cleveland guys are media favorites? Perhaps. But their front office peers also regard Shapiro and Antonetti as extremely bright, people-oriented, innovative thinkers.
"If you gave Mark an organization with the resources of the Red Sox or the Yankees and the ability to paper over the occasional mistake we all make, he would absolutely run a club that would be a force year in and year out," an AL executive said. "It becomes far more difficult in a market like Cleveland, where your mistakes can linger or derail you for years to come. The margin of error is far thinner."
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
Here's how the Indians stacked up, payroll- and performance-wise, against their AL Central competition from 2002-08 (Payroll source: USA Today salary database):
The Indians' Opening Day payroll of $81.5 million this year was almost dead even with the payroll in 2002, Shapiro's first season as general manager. Surprisingly, the cost-conscious Minnesota Twins spent more money than Cleveland on player salaries each year from 2003 through 2007.
Indians fans might blanch when Shapiro says he expects the team back in the playoffs in the "next three years," but that's the way life works for teams in Cleveland's economic stratum. Beyond the big boys in New York, Boston and Los Angeles, most clubs live in a world in which sporadic postseason appearances are the reality.
During Shapiro's tenure as GM, the Indians have a .503 winning percentage, two 90-win seasons and one postseason appearance. The Twins and Florida Marlins have made better use of their resources, as a rule. But Cleveland's performance looks pretty good compared to those of Texas, Seattle, Detroit and several other teams that have outspent the Indians by a wide margin and have less to show for it.
The Pythagorean problemThe Indians have been outscored by only 27 runs this season, but they're 15 games below .500. That makes them underperformers, based on the Bill James Pythagorean theorem of win expectations.
That's nothing new for a franchise that's posted fewer wins than its run differential would suggest several times in recent years.
The Pythagorean disconnect generally is attributed to three things: the manager, the bullpen or luck. Since no team can be so unlucky that often, the conversation inevitably leads back to Wedge and the relievers.
The Indians need to take a hard look at their underachieving bullpens. Is it a question of evaluation or usage? Did the Indians misjudge Lewis based on his 66 innings last season? Did Wedge burn out Perez with overuse in 2007 and 2008? Bullpen performances are the hardest things in baseball to predict, but when they're bad enough to wreck entire seasons, it's a problem.
The burden of historyWhen a city's fan base is "traumatized," as Shapiro calls it, disappointments are cumulative. Every Kerry Wood blown save is somehow linked to Earnest Byner's goal-line fumble, "The Drive" or Charles Nagy's failure against Edgar Renteria in 1997. The sense of desperation and fatalism can become an emotional anchor. Just ask Boston Red Sox players what the atmosphere was like pre-2004.
In Cleveland, the measuring stick for the Indians remains the great John Hart-Mike Hargrove-Charlie Manuel teams of the late '90s. The Indians averaged 93 wins a year from 1995 through 2001, made the playoffs six times, and featured the likes of Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Albert Belle.
During that span, the Tribe made history with 455 straight sellouts at Jacobs Field. But those days are long gone. The Indians finished 12th in the majors in attendance in 2002. They haven't ranked higher than 21st since, and this season, they're 27th with 22,557 a game. The reality is, Cleveland is an economically depressed town, and it's a grind for the Indians to sell tickets, win or lose.
"Everything we do now is compared to what we accomplished then," Shapiro said. "If you're around our team, that's what you feel. It's not 2007. It's '94 to '01.
"That was a very special and unique juncture in Indians history that should be cherished, but it's not a fair barometer. We had payrolls in the top five, and we had a unique set of circumstances. A new stadium. Not winning for 40 years. No football team, a poor basketball team and an economy on the uptick. All those things created a very special level of revenues and a very special juncture in Indians baseball."
This year is special only for the trade speculation it's engendered, the anguish it's created and the questions it's produced. It's not even July, and the Cleveland front office and fan base already are looking ahead to 2010. The real-life version of "Major League'' will have to wait.
Jerry Crasnick covers baseball for ESPN.com. His book "License To Deal" was published by Rodale.
One win from the 2007 World Series, Cleveland is now last in the AL; what happened?
By Jerry CrasnickESPN.comArchive
"We got beat by a great team. We've got a lot of young guys on this team. This wasn't the end of something. It was the beginning of something."-- Cleveland first baseman Ryan Garko after the Indians, one win from the World Series, blew a 3-games-to-1 lead against Boston in the 2007 American League Championship Series.
The beginning of what, exactly?
Andrew Weber/US PresswireGrady Sizemore, just activated from the DL, has an OPS 100 points below his career average.
Garko, a thoughtful and soft-spoken Stanford graduate, never could have envisioned the Indians' going 37-53 to begin the 2008 season, rendering the second half irrelevant, or CC Sabathia wearing a Milwaukee Brewers uniform by the All-Star break.
He didn't foresee Travis Hafner hurting his shoulder, Jhonny Peralta's power declining so markedly, or pitchers Fausto Carmona and Rafael Perez, cornerstones of the 96-win team in 2007, going south so quickly. For the sake of accuracy, Perez actually traveled 142 miles southwest to Triple-A Columbus after a demotion in May, and Carmona was last seen undergoing a ground-floor remake in Arizona.
Garko couldn't have predicted the great bullpen disaster of 2008 or a similar meltdown in 2009 after general manager Mark Shapiro made relief pitching a priority during the hot stove season. With the Kerry Wood and Masa Kobayashi signings, injuries to Joe Smith and Rafael Betancourt, and Jensen Lewis' regression, Indians fans have learned to watch the seventh, eighth and ninth innings through splayed fingers.
So here's where things stand: The Indians, a fashionable AL Central pick in March, are 12 games behind first-place Detroit and last in the division. Shapiro can't make it through a day without answering another question about manager Eric Wedge's job security, and he began the process of selling off short-term assets for long-term value when he traded infielder Mark DeRosa to St. Louis for reliever Chris Perez on Saturday.
If this comes as any consolation to beleaguered Tribe fans, Shapiro is convinced the picture isn't as grim as April, May and June make it appear.
BROKEN RECORD
The Indians have fallen well short of expectations since the 2007 ALCS. Here are the win percentages and run differentials among AL teams since the start of the 2008 season:
"I truly believe in my heart that we're going to be back in the playoffs again in the next three years," Shapiro said. "As much as I feel [the fans'] pain, I can't get caught up in the emotion of the history here. I don't believe we're going to be a bad team. I don't believe this is the beginning of another 40 years of losing. I believe this is a bad season. That's what it is."
The pain is more acute because the Indians have such a knack for snatching despair from the jaws of exhilaration. After putting Boston on the mat in '07, the Indians sent their staff ace to the mound for the clincher. But Sabathia, too keyed up by the stakes, threw a clunker against Josh Beckett. The series returned to Fenway Park, where the Red Sox outscored the Indians 23-4 in games 6 and 7 to advance to the World Series.
"Any time you have the opportunity to advance in the postseason and get that close, there's some level of disappointment when you don't reach your ultimate goal of winning the World Series," said Chris Antonetti, Cleveland assistant GM. "We valued that at the time. We understood that for teams in our market size, with our resources, it's exceptionally challenging to repeat and sustain that level of success.'"
For all their problems this season, the Indians have no plans to rip it up and start anew right now. So unless somebody overwhelms Shapiro with a package for Cliff Lee or Victor Martinez, the Indians will try to fill their holes, put this season's disappointment behind them and compete for a playoff berth in 2010.
There's nothing like a 31-46 record to elicit a little introspection. Here are some of the long- and short-term realities Shapiro and Antonetti must confront over the next few months and the offseason.
The pitching problemHafner's $57 million contract looks exorbitant in hindsight, but he still has a .959 OPS in 31 games this season. Even with Hafner and Grady Sizemore's missing considerable time because of injuries, the Indians rank third in the AL in runs.
CLEVELAND ROCKED
The Indians' pitching numbers have gone down since 2007. In parentheses are where they ranked in MLB:
The problem is pitching. Cleveland has one starter, Lee, with an ERA of less than 5.00. The Indians' staff has issued 310 walks, most in the majors, and has given up 88 home runs, seventh most in the game.
How bad is the bullpen? The Indians have been outscored 66-32 in the eighth inning, and the relievers have allowed 58 of 140 inherited runners to score.
And there simply is no depth for when things go wrong. The Toronto Blue Jays have survived an incredible run of pitching injuries with help from a Scott Richmond here and a Ricky Romero and Brian Tallet there, but the Indians can't find anyone to carry the burden behind Lee.
Which leads to our second issue …
A break in the pipelineThe Brandon Phillips trade to Cincinnati notwithstanding, it's hard to argue with Shapiro's trade history. He acquired Hafner from Texas for Ryan Drese and Einar Diaz, stole Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo from Seattle for Eduardo Perez and Ben Broussard, and acquired elite catching prospect Carlos Santana from the Dodgers for Casey Blake last July. And what more can be said about the deal that brought Sizemore, Lee and Phillips from Montreal for Bartolo Colon? It was a classic heist.
The Indians have been successful in Latin America, and while you can criticize some of Shapiro's recent free-agent signings, Jason Michaels, David Dellucci and even Wood don't have the type of contracts that are going to strangle the team for years to come.
So what's the problem? In the spectrum of player acquisition options, Cleveland's lack of success early in the draft stands front and center.
Shapiro has been the Indians' general manager since 2001.
Since 2000, Cleveland has had 19 first-round or supplemental picks. The most successful, pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, has a 23-24 record in the majors, and all of that has come with Baltimore.
Beyond Guthrie, the landscape is essentially bare. First-rounders Corey Smith, Alan Horne, Daniel Denham and Brad Snyder did nothing. Matt Whitney, Michael Aubrey and Adam Miller got hurt. And it's too soon to tell what Trevor Crowe, Beau Mills, David Huff and Lonnie Chisenhall will contribute over the long haul.
Cleveland management contends the early misses are offset in part by some later "finds" that bring the team's overall performance closer to average. Garko, Lewis, Ben Francisco, Aaron Laffey and the departed Ryan Church and Luke Scott are among the players who fit the description. Still, there's not a Ryan Howard, Justin Morneau, Josh Johnson or Jonathan Papelbon in the bunch.
It doesn't help that the Indians rarely pick among the top handful of teams in the first round, where the sure things are found. Cleveland has picked in the top 10 only once this decade. In 2004, the Indians had Jered Weaver and Stephen Drew atop their board but passed on both players for financial reasons and selected Jeremy Sowers, a Vanderbilt product who is 33-14 with a 2.47 ERA in the minors and 14-24/5.18 in the majors.
Some draft watchers think the Indians are too stat-focused and select too many corner infielders, outfielders and DH types rather than athletes and middle-of-the-diamond players. But sometimes it's more about the money than the draft philosophy.
In 2005, the Indians drafted Washington high school pitcher Tim Lincecum in the 42nd round, but ownership wasn't willing to buck the commissioner's office and spend the $1 million or so required to sign him. Think Lincecum wouldn't look good in that rotation right now?
Managing expectationsThe Shapiro-Antonetti tandem gets more love from national media outlets than, say, White Sox GM Kenny Williams, who is perceived as arrogant and overly blunt. Is it because the Cleveland guys are media favorites? Perhaps. But their front office peers also regard Shapiro and Antonetti as extremely bright, people-oriented, innovative thinkers.
"If you gave Mark an organization with the resources of the Red Sox or the Yankees and the ability to paper over the occasional mistake we all make, he would absolutely run a club that would be a force year in and year out," an AL executive said. "It becomes far more difficult in a market like Cleveland, where your mistakes can linger or derail you for years to come. The margin of error is far thinner."
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
Here's how the Indians stacked up, payroll- and performance-wise, against their AL Central competition from 2002-08 (Payroll source: USA Today salary database):
The Indians' Opening Day payroll of $81.5 million this year was almost dead even with the payroll in 2002, Shapiro's first season as general manager. Surprisingly, the cost-conscious Minnesota Twins spent more money than Cleveland on player salaries each year from 2003 through 2007.
Indians fans might blanch when Shapiro says he expects the team back in the playoffs in the "next three years," but that's the way life works for teams in Cleveland's economic stratum. Beyond the big boys in New York, Boston and Los Angeles, most clubs live in a world in which sporadic postseason appearances are the reality.
During Shapiro's tenure as GM, the Indians have a .503 winning percentage, two 90-win seasons and one postseason appearance. The Twins and Florida Marlins have made better use of their resources, as a rule. But Cleveland's performance looks pretty good compared to those of Texas, Seattle, Detroit and several other teams that have outspent the Indians by a wide margin and have less to show for it.
The Pythagorean problemThe Indians have been outscored by only 27 runs this season, but they're 15 games below .500. That makes them underperformers, based on the Bill James Pythagorean theorem of win expectations.
That's nothing new for a franchise that's posted fewer wins than its run differential would suggest several times in recent years.
The Pythagorean disconnect generally is attributed to three things: the manager, the bullpen or luck. Since no team can be so unlucky that often, the conversation inevitably leads back to Wedge and the relievers.
The Indians need to take a hard look at their underachieving bullpens. Is it a question of evaluation or usage? Did the Indians misjudge Lewis based on his 66 innings last season? Did Wedge burn out Perez with overuse in 2007 and 2008? Bullpen performances are the hardest things in baseball to predict, but when they're bad enough to wreck entire seasons, it's a problem.
The burden of historyWhen a city's fan base is "traumatized," as Shapiro calls it, disappointments are cumulative. Every Kerry Wood blown save is somehow linked to Earnest Byner's goal-line fumble, "The Drive" or Charles Nagy's failure against Edgar Renteria in 1997. The sense of desperation and fatalism can become an emotional anchor. Just ask Boston Red Sox players what the atmosphere was like pre-2004.
In Cleveland, the measuring stick for the Indians remains the great John Hart-Mike Hargrove-Charlie Manuel teams of the late '90s. The Indians averaged 93 wins a year from 1995 through 2001, made the playoffs six times, and featured the likes of Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Albert Belle.
During that span, the Tribe made history with 455 straight sellouts at Jacobs Field. But those days are long gone. The Indians finished 12th in the majors in attendance in 2002. They haven't ranked higher than 21st since, and this season, they're 27th with 22,557 a game. The reality is, Cleveland is an economically depressed town, and it's a grind for the Indians to sell tickets, win or lose.
"Everything we do now is compared to what we accomplished then," Shapiro said. "If you're around our team, that's what you feel. It's not 2007. It's '94 to '01.
"That was a very special and unique juncture in Indians history that should be cherished, but it's not a fair barometer. We had payrolls in the top five, and we had a unique set of circumstances. A new stadium. Not winning for 40 years. No football team, a poor basketball team and an economy on the uptick. All those things created a very special level of revenues and a very special juncture in Indians baseball."
This year is special only for the trade speculation it's engendered, the anguish it's created and the questions it's produced. It's not even July, and the Cleveland front office and fan base already are looking ahead to 2010. The real-life version of "Major League'' will have to wait.
Jerry Crasnick covers baseball for ESPN.com. His book "License To Deal" was published by Rodale.
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