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Future Roster - Trade Needs

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so was halladay (but whatever I guess) - one of the players going to Toronto in that trade was now 47 year old pitching prospect Anthony Gose
 
In regards to Nelson, we gave him his 1st exposure in a game that was running away and that was the right call... He got served.. That's hardly the end of it...
 
Its going to be hard to see us keeping above the 80 mil. @BimboColesHair do you know anything about what the budget looks like for next season?.

No idea.

COVID has changed a lot of future payroll planning I have to imagine. Prior to it they were making good headway on extending Lindor, based off some things I heard, but then it hit and avenues went real silent for them, even leading up to the trade deadline. All those leaks weren’t from the Indians, and when they don’t leak info, usually something big is going down.

I’ve mentioned the last few years the Dolan’s are gearing up to sell the franchise in the near future, wouldn’t surprise me if this experience accelerated that. They had lined up John Sherman to slowly transition into the majority owner, but KC going up for sale threw an unexpected wrinkle on that one.

I’m starting to wonder if they’re looking to rebrand, bring the payroll down, grab the new TV deal in a few years, then sell shortly after to cash out the best they can and have started that process. Too little noise coming from their front office right now, especially ownership, and again this is just my experience. When the Indians are quiet, something is happening.

But we’ll see. For all we know, because of the changes and lack of personnel allowed around, it just naturally quieted down a lot of the back channel chatter that always takes place during the season.

Lot of unknowns for them right now.
 
If ownership is preparing to sell it makes sense to strip the payroll down as low as possible so the team is not losing money, making it more attractive to potential buyers. Keep the young talent but get rid of guys like Santana and Hand, who are aging and highly paid veterans. Lindor has to go, of course. But they could also jettison Hernandez and Roberto Perez which would really put the team in a non-competitive situation next year considering they share a division with the Twins, the up-and-coming mega-talented White Sox, and the rapidly improving Tigers.
 
..reducing payroll at the expense of competitiveness makes any sale the marlins all over again.. Not competitive for the first five years of their new ownership.. It was a bad decision by Jeter's group then.. is now.. and will be for anyone that follows that pattern.. Maximizing the value of the club makes the most sense.. and that includes a "reasonable" payroll.. a well stocked and soon to be fruitful minor league system & a solid/spectacular player personnel department that continues to fill the ML pipeline with quality players..
 
Of course, we’ll get to see relatively soon, but even as I would have largely agreed with you up through the last month, what I now see from the economy, in addition to the baseball analysis, and feel of the trade deadline, I have begun to feel otherwise. Just because the Dodgers made that deal does not mean they might not regret it sooner than scheduled. That pool of big spenders may well shrink, too. This is brand new terrain, and if a viable vaccine is not readily available, it might get extremely ugly. I am certainly not rooting for any bad scenario, but many teams are going to mitigate their risks.

The difference is that the larger markets get a higher percentage of revenue from local media contracts, which are much less affected by the pandemic. Smaller market teams more dependent upon gate receipts are going to suffer more financially.
 
..reducing payroll at the expense of competitiveness makes any sale the marlins all over again.. Not competitive for the first five years of their new ownership.. It was a bad decision by Jeter's group then.. is now.. and will be for anyone that follows that pattern.. Maximizing the value of the club makes the most sense.. and that includes a "reasonable" payroll.. a well stocked and soon to be fruitful minor league system & a solid/spectacular player personnel department that continues to fill the ML pipeline with quality players..
yes - we've seen any number of teams in pro sports "tank" to get better - a couple have succeeded - most havent - indeed what we've learned is that its a hell of a lot easier to get bad than to get good -- dick jacobs sold at the top - his team was coming off a 97 win season and was set up to have more as time went on - cant imagine a prospective owner wanting to take over a bad team (esp in a market like cleveland)
 
yes - we've seen any number of teams in pro sports "tank" to get better - a couple have succeeded - most havent - indeed what we've learned is that its a hell of a lot easier to get bad than to get good -- dick jacobs sold at the top - his team was coming off a 97 win season and was set up to have more as time went on - cant imagine a prospective owner wanting to take over a bad team (esp in a market like cleveland)
Jacobs also sold when we had sell out attendance every single game, star players quickly becoming free agents, and the continued spending in larger markets separating themselves from the middle and small markets. Oh, he sold at the exact right time.
 
No idea.

COVID has changed a lot of future payroll planning I have to imagine. Prior to it they were making good headway on extending Lindor, based off some things I heard, but then it hit and avenues went real silent for them, even leading up to the trade deadline. All those leaks weren’t from the Indians, and when they don’t leak info, usually something big is going down.

I’ve mentioned the last few years the Dolan’s are gearing up to sell the franchise in the near future, wouldn’t surprise me if this experience accelerated that. They had lined up John Sherman to slowly transition into the majority owner, but KC going up for sale threw an unexpected wrinkle on that one.

I’m starting to wonder if they’re looking to rebrand, bring the payroll down, grab the new TV deal in a few years, then sell shortly after to cash out the best they can and have started that process. Too little noise coming from their front office right now, especially ownership, and again this is just my experience. When the Indians are quiet, something is happening.

But we’ll see. For all we know, because of the changes and lack of personnel allowed around, it just naturally quieted down a lot of the back channel chatter that always takes place during the season.

Lot of unknowns for them right now.
Always hesitant to believe the "I have insider info" guy on message boards but since I'm somewhat new here I'll take your word for it. Just curious if you have any idea what kind of parameters were being discussed for a deal with Frankie. Just wondering how far Cleveland was willing to go.
 
In regards to prepping/staging the team to be put on the market...

Payroll in 2021 should be shocking low. We will still have our rotation (unless some or part of crazy trade)
We have several AA and above prospects close to the show and should get a shot to contribute in 2021 (Johnson, Freeman, Jones, Miller, Bradley, etc.)

I think you can count on the following
1. Perez will come back on a lower salary than his option or get traded - Hedges is cheaper and not much if any drop-off from Perez.
2. Lindor will be traded. What comes back could be anything....ANYTHING.
3. Hands option will not be picked up unless he is traded.. I don't see the tribe "risk" paying him
4. Santana's option will also be declined. He maybe back on a cheaper salary...

All and all the tribe will be in an excellent position to be sold at this point. Should still be "competitive" super cheap payroll, so new owner could spend relatively easily if desired and our farm systems should be above average to excellent depending on what we get for Lindor...

Odds team is sold in the next 2 years??? More than 50%....
 
Always hesitant to believe the "I have insider info" guy on message boards but since I'm somewhat new here I'll take your word for it. Just curious if you have any idea what kind of parameters were being discussed for a deal with Frankie. Just wondering how far Cleveland was willing to go.

I've been here long enough and the others can vouch for Bimbo, he is likely the best source for information on the Indians you will find on any type of sports forum like this.

He just doesn't post like he used to because of taking care of things in his life is all. But when Bimbo speaks, you read and listen.
 
In regards to prepping/staging the team to be put on the market...

Payroll in 2021 should be shocking low. We will still have our rotation (unless some or part of crazy trade)
We have several AA and above prospects close to the show and should get a shot to contribute in 2021 (Johnson, Freeman, Jones, Miller, Bradley, etc.)

I think you can count on the following
1. Perez will come back on a lower salary than his option or get traded - Hedges is cheaper and not much if any drop-off from Perez.
2. Lindor will be traded. What comes back could be anything....ANYTHING.
3. Hands option will not be picked up unless he is traded.. I don't see the tribe "risk" paying him
4. Santana's option will also be declined. He maybe back on a cheaper salary...

All and all the tribe will be in an excellent position to be sold at this point. Should still be "competitive" super cheap payroll, so new owner could spend relatively easily if desired and our farm systems should be above average to excellent depending on what we get for Lindor...

Odds team is sold in the next 2 years??? More than 50%....
What you’ve laid out makes perfect sense. But what indication is there the Dolans want to sell? And equally important, who is the prospective buyer? No, AROD is a wrong answer.
 
What you’ve laid out makes perfect sense. But what indication is there the Dolans want to sell? And equally important, who is the prospective buyer? No, AROD is a wrong answer.

Insider sources says the Dolans dont want to be majority owners anymore, but they also aren't willing to sell to anyone who wants to move the team out of Cleveland. They respect Cleveland and the fans so they wish for the team to continue. So its the, I will continue to do this until I find the right person to take over. Plus they know the stronger the organization the better it would be in resell. They want to keep Lindor and Continue with the winning ways.

In my opinion this Covid hurt the chances of resigning Lindor which in return has put a wrench in a lot of the plans they probably had in place.
 
imo, losing John Sherman killed any hope of signing Lindor - tho I'm not sure there was (is?) any realistic hope of keeping him
 

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