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Why Larry Dolan Needs to Sell the Cleveland Indians

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He did do that in '08 and '09 but they failed to do so this time.

Although I mentioned this before - they paid Grady $5mil and then had offers of $7million to Pena and $12million to Beltran out there. Part of me thinks Antonetti just didn't allocate the dollars well.

Yeah...this really pisses me off. They gave $5 mill to a guy who looks like won't even see the field this year. They could have used that money to give Beltran at least an extra mill or two to possibly convince him to come. Maybe he was never really considering the Indians in the first place, but who knows. That extra money the FO devoted to an injured stiff (Grady hasn't played in 110+ games or hit over .250 since 2008) could have actually been used to improve the team.

Even if they were able to sign Beltran, obviously there would have been some big holes on the pitching staff. However, a lineup that could go Choo, Kipnis, Cabrera, Beltran, Hafner, and Santana would produce way more runs. Of course Santana and Hafner haven't had great years either, but there certainly would have been a residual effect from adding a guy like Beltran to the middle of the order. Barring an injury, Beltran's going to finish in at least the top 10 in NL MVP voting.
 
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Part of me thinks Antonetti just didn't allocate the dollars well.

I don't think that is the case . I look at the current perception of the Tribe both by players and fan not unlike that of the Cavs in the Pre-Lebron era,. As much as some here aggressively defend current ownership with the passion of a lifelong fan, its obvious a number of current / former players and casual fans don't share that perception. the difficulty for Antonetti its difficult for him to attractive talent here that have other other options leaving him to over pay even for marginal talent to fill our many holes.

IMHO its not that much of a reach to compare the Tribe's acquisitions Damon. Kotchman and Lowe to the pre-Lebron acquisitions of Ira Newble, Kevin Ollie and a host of fading stiffs at the end of their careers. The difference now is the Cavs have ownership and a coach in Byron Scott that are viewed positively . Like in the NBA , you have young millionaires that desire to play in the major media markets , however it is reassuring in the Post Lebron era that our perception among players is positive. The Cavs were as much of a playoff pretender as the Tribe this year , but the feeling towards the team IMHO with the casual fan was much more positive
 
To this thread and the OP:

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A well-formulated, logical, coherent piece grounded in statistical fact and impartiality. That's the way to do it bros.
 
Dolan's biggest failure, IMO, isn't a lack of spending in free-agency. No team in this market with this attendance should be expected to go out and break the bank in FA, regardless of who owns it.

His biggest failure is sustaining a front office, starting with Shapiro and continuing with Antonetti, that has failed miserably in drafting and developing home-grown talent. A club in our position MUST draft and develop in order to have any chance of succeeding. The front office hasn't done that, and Dolan hasn't held them accountable for their mistakes. The one thing the front-office has done reasonably well- trading middling major-leaguers for prospects in the Perez-for-Cabrera mode- is not a sustainable long-term strategy. And the money they have spent has been largely wasted. WTF were they doing giving $5 million to Grady Sizemore?

I'd be fine with Larry Dolan if he actually held his front-office people accountable. He hasn't done that.
 
Dolan's biggest failure, IMO, isn't a lack of spending in free-agency. No team in this market with this attendance should be expected to go out and break the bank in FA, regardless of who owns it.

His biggest failure is sustaining a front office, starting with Shapiro and continuing with Antonetti, that has failed miserably in drafting and developing home-grown talent. A club in our position MUST draft and develop in order to have any chance of succeeding. The front office hasn't done that, and Dolan hasn't held them accountable for their mistakes. The one thing the front-office has done reasonably well- trading middling major-leaguers for prospects in the Perez-for-Cabrera mode- is not a sustainable long-term strategy. And the money they have spent has been largely wasted. WTF were they doing giving $5 million to Grady Sizemore?

I'd be fine with Larry Dolan if he actually held his front-office people accountable. He hasn't done that.

How many other front offices can say they have produced two Cy Young winners and a plethora of other All-Stars like Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, Jhonny Peralta, Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin Soo Choo, Chris Perez and a few others (Kipnis, namely) who have the potential to be All-Star players.

Whether it be by trade or draft or Latin America...the Indians have produced some top notch talent and few in their market have matched them IMO.


In terms of "accountability," as I've mentioned at least 20 times now....This teams front office is almost completely different with the exception of Shapiro and Antonetti, who obviously recognized their scouting deficiencies and did something about it.
 
How many other front offices can say they have produced two Cy Young winners and a plethora of other All-Stars like Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, Jhonny Peralta, Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin Soo Choo, Chris Perez and a few others (Kipnis, namely) who have the potential to be All-Star players.

Whether it be by trade or draft or Latin America...the Indians have produced some top notch talent and few in their market have matched them IMO.


In terms of "accountability," as I've mentioned at least 20 times now....This teams front office is almost completely different with the exception of Shapiro and Antonetti, who obviously recognized their scouting deficiencies and did something about it.

Sadly enough, almost all of these guys fall under
A) Drafted before Shapiro - Martinez, Peralta, Sabathia
B) Trade pickups (as he said) - Sizemore, Lee, Carbrera, Choo, Hafner, Perez

The current regime's drafting has been absolutely putrid with maybe a few exceptions of average-to-decent players. It has gotten a bit better of late, but the jury is still out.

Lately their trading is starting to look like their drafting, and they keep ending up net less talent.

Their biggest problem seems to be major league contracts, the last 5 or 6 years whenever they spend money it ends up being misguided or average at best and blows up in their face at worst - Sizemore, Hafner, Wood, Westbrook, Carmona
 
Sadly enough, almost all of these guys fall under
A) Drafted before Shapiro - Martinez, Peralta, Sabathia
B) Trade pickups (as he said) - Sizemore, Lee, Carbrera, Choo, Hafner, Perez

The current regime's drafting has been absolutely putrid with maybe a few exceptions of average-to-decent players. It has gotten a bit better of late, but the jury is still out.

Lately their trading is starting to look like their drafting, and they keep ending up net less talent.

Their biggest problem seems to be major league contracts, the last 5 or 6 years whenever they spend money it ends up being misguided or average at best and blows up in their face at worst - Sizemore, Hafner, Wood, Westbrook, Carmona

Shapiro was the AGM under Hart, so he was more than likely a critical asset in signing Latin American players and drafted players to contracts.

The biggest mistakes they've made have been investing in their own talent, which has mainly faltered due to injury.
 
The Indians were within 1 game of the World Series under Sshapiro - not giving him a chance at another rebuild would've been incredibly stupid.

That's not to say he and Antonetti shouldn't be held responsible for the CURRENT state of the team, but Shapiro deserved another rebuild and Antinetti hasn't even been in charge for two years.

We are just now getting to the point where their jobs should be in Jeopardy.
 
I just sent this thread into a WFNY guy for him to include in his next "links" article.
 
I don't think the Dolans will ever sell the team. With the new revenue sharing, I am sure they are making millions even with this horrible attendance. For them, why would they care? They seem to be all about the money not winning.
 
I don't think the Dolans will ever sell the team. With the new revenue sharing, I am sure they are making millions even with this horrible attendance. For them, why would they care? They seem to be all about the money not winning.

I would sincerely doubt the plan is to collect revenue sharing in the hopes to make a meager profit while alienating everyone in the city.
 
I don't think the Dolans will ever sell the team. With the new revenue sharing, I am sure they are making millions even with this horrible attendance. For them, why would they care? They seem to be all about the money not winning.

I'd flip it and say they've started the last two years with a good record and ZERO attendance. A meager upgrade costs them $10million and won't result in much more wins. If a winning team doesn't draw - why would they put more money into the team?

I understand the idea that you have to 'spend money to make money' - but other than Willingham's fluke year, most of the upgrades were minimal and would cost WAY more than they'd ever see back in ticket sales.
 
Bravo sgm, bravo.

I'm not as diehard an Indians fan as I am a Browns and Cavs fan, but I've still always tried to watch as many games as possible and I'd always follow the team. This year I don't think I've watched a full Tribe game from start to finish, and I frankly don't really care. The last straw for me was the Ubaldo trade: we gave up our two best pitching prospects as part of a supposed win-now mindset, only the guy we traded them for is frankly unwatchable every time he takes the mound. I think the relationship between Clevelanders and Shapiro/Antonetti/Dolan is beyond fixing, and I think a clean start would be best for all parties involved.
 
The biggest mistakes they've made have been investing in their own talent, which has mainly faltered due to injury.

To me, that's not a mistake, that's just bad luck. The biggest mistakes they've made have come from the fact that they flat out cannot draft talent. The reason we've been keeping our head above water is because they've been able to make some masterful small trades (Choo/Santana/Asdrubal, etc) to keep our talent level up but our drafting... ugh. I've posted it before but these are the only players on the active roster actually drafted by us.

Cody Allen
Vinny Pestano
Tony Sipp
Josh Tomlin
Jason Kipnis

4 relievers and Kipnis. The MLB draft is 40 rounds deep (not even including latino players) and that's all we have to show for it. Our farm system is incredibly thin up top and we are pretty much stuck crossing our fingers that our high upside A ball guys end up developing. Our Top 10 to begin this year was depressing. Half of them will be 25+ after this year and half of them are relievers… not even mentioning the bad seasons they’ve had like Howard getting obliterated in rookie ball.

Look at the smaller market teams that ascend and you'll look at the ones that draft well. If this front office/scouting department isn't capable, then the BIGGEST mistake would be keeping them employed next year.
 
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