2020 Off-Season Rumors/News

[Connor]

My man!

 

[Kevalier]

I keep reading about the Astros and keep getting more pissed off. Fuck em.

 

[Hurl Bruce]

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View attachment 2697

Looks like we may have reached the tip of the iceberg. The Astros are the biggest cheaters, collectively, in the history of professional sports.

 

[BiGZD]

Gonna go out on a limb and say you're pretty upset about Wahoo as well?

Why would I am black man that has nothing to do with that shit? Also there's some really cynical people here that have no idea what the majority of northern east Ohio perceives how this team is. The reason attendence declines year after year because they have no faith ownership to build AND support a winner they have proven that time and time again and why should we help them??? I'm sure Pirates fans said the same shit for the last 25+ years. Seriously anyone that supports these cheap fucks is insane and has stockholm syndrome, It would like buying Ferrari and not putting gas in tank, changing tires or oil and excepting the best because you can't afford it. I'm still waiting on someone telling if Mark Cuban would not be a better owner as he has shown interest and has an unlimited purse. Get these losers out Cleveland if they can't pay and substain a winner.

 

[BiGZD]

If that's true, then most of northeast OHIO is fucking stupid.

The Indians had a 3-1 lead in the 2016 Series. They also were tied in the bottom of the ninth of Game Seven of that series. If you think that their inability to win that championship was because of their "cheap ass" owners rather than the largely-random chance of winning a particular game, I don't know what to tell you.

I watched it straight up, my twins were in NCU and was literally streaming that shit on a shitty 4 inch phone on silent. They semi lucked into that because teams weren't electronic stealing signs yet and our terrific front office built a great team and made good trades despite the Dolans. Ot's not ownership was throwing bank like it a strip club. I want what you guys want but the Dolans are the biggest problems going forward with this team.

 

[BiGZD]

So a winning team for almost a decade isn’t sustainable success? If that isn’t then what is?

Great we were the Altanta hawks of MLB and let tons of talent walk because of cheap ownership because ownership didn't want to pay for winner

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Why would I am black man

I stopped here.

Do you only come on RCF to post when you're drunk?

 

[BiGZD]

The biggest issue to spending really isn’t the Dolans it’s MLB itself. You are looking at this issue from a fans point of view and not a business. Dolans are running a business and they have been running the team at the minimum profit level they have set. I am sorry that you don’t like this logic from a standpoint as a fan, but they have certain things they have to reach money wise.

Though to be honest, if you hate how the Indians are running things, how do you think the Rays fans feel? They run on usually 70mil area, but are almost always a team you hate to face. Take it or leave it, but if you don’t like way the team is ran then either put up with it or follow another team. I want everyone that posts on here to be able to have good discussions even if they have different opinions.

Now i was a Dolan hater for a long time, so I don’t have 100% love for the ownership myself, but Dolan trusts his FOs opinion now and is willing to add on cap if he needs too. He traded for Miller and took his contract and each season during the season they have been adding on payroll so they can win more games. This has kept a sustainable winning team for years and we have been resigning guys. Don’t be mad at the Dolans for not resigning Lindor since Lindor’s advising team is telling him to wait to free agent. That isn’t Dolans fault since they did offer him a contract a few years ago. Does this 100% fix my perception of the Dolans, no, but like AZ_ on the boards here, I at least respect them and acknowledge they aren’t so bad after all.

Thank god you are one of the few level headed people here and I agree with most of your points and respect them. I have said many of times I know baseball is fucked from a CBA/MLBPA financially standpoint and that's not going to be solved unless there's a strike. Seems the Dolans have hired a bunch of corporate shills/trolls like they do in NY though as I'm being attacked over and over because god-forbid a multi billionare family put money back into the franchise to build a winner over a long sustainability time frame without cutting payroll. When you have a healthy (semi) young core, pay them instead of letting them walk or doing salary dumps. Some asshole called me a drunk, why I don't know? I post here often after work when I get off my blue collar job, didn't know having a 9-5 was a prerequisite to having a opinion. Are the Dolans the worst; that's subjective but they are far from best, the City deserves much MUCH better owners even Jimmy HeeHaw is willing to spend on a winner and has stated he'll go into red even though his a hillbilly from Tenn and is a complete and utter moron. Thanks for the level headed response we all want the same thing a winner.

 

[BiGZD]

Preach on!!! We need more posts like this in the Indians section!

Thank you I honestly think the Dolans and their fat fucken cousin are legit posting on this board with burner accounts ala KD.

 

[Benway]

I am a loyal and supportive fan of 45 years and I do not say this lightly: I think that any other owner would strongly consider moving the Indians. Their level of fan support, with the exception of the mid to late 1990's, is bizarrely low in the context of MLB.

 

[AllforOne]

I'm still waiting on someone telling if Mark Cuban would not be a better owner as he has shown interest and has an unlimited purse. Get these losers out Cleveland if they can't pay and substain a winner.

If Mark Cuban bought the Cleveland Indians, they would become the Dallas Indians at the first available opportunity.

You seem to think that there's this unlimited supply of billionaires out there who (1) want to buy a professional baseball team and (2) keep it in Cleveland. There isn't. I'm sure you could find some who clear hurdle (1); it's (2) that's the kicker.

 

[AllforOne]

I am a loyal and supportive fan of 45 years and I do not say this lightly: I think that any other owner would strongly consider moving the Indians. Their level of fan support, with the exception of the mid to late 1990's, is bizarrely low in the context of MLB.

In the '70s and '80s (when I was growing up), it was popular to paint the Indians and their fan base as a "sleeping giant." If they just wouldn't suck out loud, the thinking went, then the crowds would come.

Damned if that wasn't exactly what happened. The team finally got good in 1994 and had a sustained run of playoff/World Series teams. And the fans showed up. 455 straight sellouts. For a few years there, it was the hottest ticket in town.

Now? It's almost back to the pathetic crowds of the '70s and '80s ... with a team that is consistently one of the better teams in MLB.

I suspect it's a combination of:

1. The Dolans are cheap. (Wait, what?) No, they're not truly cheap. They've actually shown a willingness to increase the payroll. Unfortunately, they are merely nine-figure-millionaire owners in a sport where you need three commas bankrolling you. They're cutting payroll at a time when they need to be going all-in. They also have made some PR blunders (e.g., Paul Dolan telling fans to "enjoy Lindor while he's still here" on the eve of last season). And for good or ill, a decent chunk of the fan base does believe as BigZD believes. Those fans are going to believe, right or wrong, that the Dolans will never properly support the team ... and so they won't either.

2. Arthur B. Modell. We all know what he did to this city in 1995. But the fact is, for three seasons, there was not much competition to the Indians for Cleveland fans' interest and spending. (Apologies to the Mike Fratello-era Cavs.)

3. The Tribe's farm system coughed up three Hall of Fame-level talents in a short period in the early '90s, and they traded for a couple more. The mid-1990s Indians were fun. They could be down two going into the bottom of the ninth, and it was like "cool, we've got them right where we want them."

4. Jacobs Field. It opened in 1994, and gave the Indians a much-needed boost. The Indians had been playing at decrepit, fan-unfriendly Municipal Stadium for years; now, they had a shiny new stadium, one that was much better for watching baseball.

In other words ... there's a perception that the mid-'90s, sold-out-every-night Indians represents the true level of MLB fan support in this city ... when in reality, it was an anomaly, created by many factors that are unlikely/impossible to happen again.

 

[Otsego Mar]

In the '70s and '80s (when I was growing up), it was popular to paint the Indians and their fan base as a "sleeping giant." If they just wouldn't suck out loud, the thinking went, then the crowds would come.

Damned if that wasn't exactly what happened. The team finally got good in 1994 and had a sustained run of playoff/World Series teams. And the fans showed up. 455 straight sellouts. For a few years there, it was the hottest ticket in town.

Now? It's almost back to the pathetic crowds of the '70s and '80s ... with a team that is consistently one of the better teams in MLB.

I suspect it's a combination of:

1. The Dolans are cheap. (Wait, what?) No, they're not truly cheap. They've actually shown a willingness to increase the payroll. Unfortunately, they are merely nine-figure-millionaire owners in a sport where you need three commas bankrolling you. They're cutting payroll at a time when they need to be going all-in. They also have made some PR blunders (e.g., Paul Dolan telling fans to "enjoy Lindor while he's still here" on the eve of last season). And for good or ill, a decent chunk of the fan base does believe as BigZD believes. Those fans are going to believe, right or wrong, that the Dolans will never properly support the team ... and so they won't either.

2. Arthur B. Modell. We all know what he did to this city in 1995. But the fact is, for three seasons, there was not much competition to the Indians for Cleveland fans' interest and spending. (Apologies to the Mike Fratello-era Cavs.)

3. The Tribe's farm system coughed up three Hall of Fame-level talents in a short period in the early '90s, and they traded for a couple more. The mid-1990s Indians were fun. They could be down two going into the bottom of the ninth, and it was like "cool, we've got them right where we want them."

4. Jacobs Field. It opened in 1994, and gave the Indians a much-needed boost. The Indians had been playing at decrepit, fan-unfriendly Municipal Stadium for years; now, they had a shiny new stadium, one that was much better for watching baseball.

In other words ... there's a perception that the mid-'90s, sold-out-every-night Indians represents the true level of MLB fan support in this city ... when in reality, it was an anomaly, created by many factors that are unlikely/impossible to happen again.

90's teams had big bats and personalities.

 

[BimboColesHair]

95 to 98 Indians hit all of 7 more HRs than the 16 to 19 Indians did. 16 to 19 Indians also had some of the biggest personalities in the game on it.

"Big bats and personalities" ain't bringing anyone to the stadium.

Just more unsubstantiated excuses to not support a winner in a city that apparently takes pride on supporting its franchises through thick and thin.

 

[Otsego Mar]

95 to 98 Indians hit all of 7 more HRs than the 16 to 19 Indians did. 16 to 19 Indians also had some of the biggest personalities in the game on it.

"Big bats and personalities" ain't bringing anyone to the stadium.

Just more unsubstantiated excuses to not support a winner in a city that apparently takes pride on supporting its franchises through thick and thin.

You see excuses, yet they are reasons as to why.

Good day sir.