According to multiple sources (Camino, Telich, the works), Alomar was offered a spot on the staff, and Francona has agreed to a 4 year deal.
Of course, there's more work to do, but this is a huge 1st step.
I wanted Sandy too, but for nostalgic purposes. Nobody can say he was the right man for the job over Francona. This team needs to win now to prove to the fans that they're serious about it. They needed a credible name that has a history of winning, no matter if he won with a young team or a team full of vets.
Now the real fun begins. The Indians had $18 M (almost 28% of their payroll) tied up in guys who spent more time on the injured list than on the field, 1 of which didn't play at all. For a team that just can't spend like the Yanks, Mets, Angels, Dodgers, etc, do, that just can't happen. Add in $2.5 M for Heredia, who barely played; $1.5 M for Kevin Slowey, who didn't pitch for the big league club at all; and that's $22 M (over 1/3 of the payroll) tied up in guys that played a combined 69 games and had minimal impact on the field.
It's not the lack of money that's the problem, it's the fact that 1/3 of our payroll was useless to us. Antonetti simply has to do a better job of evaluating and spending.
