Cleveland Indians 2018-2019 Offseason Outlook

[Steve_424]

Despite all of this, Dolan is the best owner I Cleveland. Not sure what if that says more about Dan/Jimmy than it does Paul but it's true.

But yeah, I wish he'd stop doing these interviews.

 

[Lee]

Despite all of this, Dolan is the best owner I Cleveland. Not sure what if that says more about Dan/Jimmy than it does Paul but it's true.

But yeah, I wish he'd stop doing these interviews.

Don't agree with that at all. Gilbert has his flaws, but is clearly the best owner in Cleveland, Jimmy might have taken a turn for the better, we will see though.

 

[Steve_424]

Don't agree with that at all. Gilbert has his flaws, but is clearly the best owner in Cleveland, Jimmy might have taken a turn for the better, we will see though.

The Browns are 27-84-1 under Haslam. They're finally headed in the right direction, but I can't just ignore his first 6 years in this discussion.

Dan spent money when needed, but what else? When Dan accomplishes something without LeBron James on the roster, I'll consider him a good owner.

Indians under the Dolans in 18 seasons:

- Five Division Titles
- Six Playoff berths, one World Series berth
- 10 winning seasons

 

[FrontPageNews]

This is why fan support has been down since the 90s. Might as well see what we can get for j ram while we’re at it

 

[BimboColesHair]

Don't agree with that at all. Gilbert has his flaws, but is clearly the best owner in Cleveland, Jimmy might have taken a turn for the better, we will see though.

Combination of Dolan and Gilbert would be the perfect owner. Dolan lets his scouts and front office do their jobs with little to no personal input, and he has hired a really good front office that’s lineage has been in place for a long, long time and has advanced with the times, often times being ahead of the rest of baseball.

Dan has the money and willingness to push spending limits and search for different money making avenues for his franchise. But he meddles, churnsover his front office too frequently, and can get in his own way at times.

 

[JDailey23]

The Browns are 27-84-1 under Haslam. They're finally headed in the right direction, but I can't just ignore his first 6 years in this discussion.

Dan spent money when needed, but what else? When Dan accomplishes something without LeBron James on the roster, I'll consider him a good owner.

Indians under the Dolans in 18 seasons:

- Five Division Titles
- Six Playoff berths, one World Series berth
- 10 winning seasons

I understand the team has been successful, but it hasn’t been very consistent.
Don’t forget,
Shapiro got the ball rolling and built a great FO.
Dolan, like Gilbert and Lerner/Jimmy just write the checks, something Dolan hates doing.

 

[Lee]

The Browns are 27-84-1 under Haslam. They're finally headed in the right direction, but I can't just ignore his first 6 years in this discussion.

Dan spent money when needed, but what else? When Dan accomplishes something without LeBron James on the roster, I'll consider him a good owner.

Indians under the Dolans in 18 seasons:

- Five Division Titles
- Six Playoff berths, one World Series berth
- 10 winning seasons

First 7 years of Lebron were luck, but Dan created an atmosphere with his money for Lebron to return. If dolan took the luck of drafting and acquiring 2 of the top 5 players in the American Leauge and locked them both up long term, then I would give it to Dolan.

As it is, he refusal to pay market value for either player will cause both to leave.

 

[Urban]

The Dolan's spending power + the lack of fan support really makes for the perfect storm of disappointment for everyone involved

• 2016 they went to the World Series. They were on their way to their first division title since 2007 behind 94 wins, they won 14 straight in June, they had stars emerging in Lindor, Ramirez, etc. They averaged 19,650 fans/game which ranked 28th. In September, they were averaging less than 15k/game through the week

• Behind the World Series hype and splashing money on EE, their attendance only rose from 19,650 to 25,285 (22nd). The team won a league high 102 games, they went on a 22 game win streak, and looked the best team in baseball. 18,500 fans came to the ballpark Monday Sept 11 to see the Indians win their 19th straight game *Indians saw a 5600 increase in fan attendance/game following their World Series loss. Following their World Series loss, in 2015 the Royals saw a 9300 uptick and they ranked 10th in average attendance

• 2018 the attendance dropped to 24,0832. Good for 21st best

It is inexcusable for the Dolans to be cutting back on their spending in the midst of this run. But in the past few years they have spent money and they have made win now moves (EE, Miller, Bruce, Hand, Donaldson) that unfortunately haven't paid off in the one way that matters. The team has been really, really good and the fan support is equivalent to a team that is winning 78 games every year.

Attendance will inevitably fall off more this year as the fan base feels alienated, with decent justification, as we fall back into this chicken and the egg cycle.

I'd be a lot firmer in the "sell the team Dolan" camp if I weren't scared of new ownership moving the team.

 

[AZ_]

It’s inexcusable that four consecutive years of division championships and beyond haven’t given fans an excuse to show up to the ballpark.

It’s unprecedented.

 

[BimboColesHair]

It’s inexcusable that four consecutive years of division championships and beyond haven’t given fans an excuse to show up to the ballpark.

It’s unprecedented.

Yup.

Not a blameless party in this entire situation.

Really is a perfect storm of things coming all at once at perhaps the worst possible time.

 

[Juice is Loose]

Whatever happened to that minority owner? The guy from Kansas City(?), who was supposed to help with the checkbook

 

[Amherstcavsfan]

Whatever happened to that minority owner? The guy from Kansas City(?), who was supposed to help with the checkbook

You can only ask for so much from a minority owner.

Dolan should have kept his mouth shut. We all knew they wouldn't be able to afford Lindor, all this could do is upset the player, fansbase, and morale in the locker room. A rare misfire from this organization.

 

[Steve_424]

I understand the team has been successful, but it hasn’t been very consistent.
Don’t forget,
Shapiro got the ball rolling and built a great FO.
Dolan, like Gilbert and Lerner/Jimmy just write the checks, something Dolan hates doing.

I don't really agree that all an owner does is write checks. They are responsible for the front office and stability of the team. Tito, Antonetti, Chernoff have all said they could have gone elsewhere (and reports back that), but haven't because they enjoy working for the Indians so much because of the culture.

I'm also not sure how a team with six straight winning seasons gunning for their 4th straight Division crown isn't consistent.

First 7 years of Lebron were luck, but Dan created an atmosphere with his money for Lebron to return. If dolan took the luck of drafting and acquiring 2 of the top 5 players in the American Leauge and locked them both up long term, then I would give it to Dolan.

As it is, he refusal to pay market value for either player will cause both to leave.

Serious question - what is Dan's biggest accomplishment that LeBron wasn't a part of?

 

[AZ_]

I don't really agree that all an owner does is write checks. They are responsible for the front office and stability of the team. Tito, Antonetti, Chernoff have all said they could have gone elsewhere (and reports back that), but haven't because they enjoy working for the Indians so much because of the culture.

I'm also not sure how a team with six straight winning seasons gunning for their 4th straight Division crown isn't consistent.



Serious question - what is Dan's biggest accomplishment that LeBron wasn't a part of?

Paying for the first round pick in the Baron Davis deal that wound up being #1 overall.

 

[BimboColesHair]

Whatever happened to that minority owner? The guy from Kansas City(?), who was supposed to help with the checkbook

There’s a reason they’ve now fielded their 4 most expensive rosters in team history since he came aboard. Just only so much a minority owner can do.