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The 2020 Cleveland Indians

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Indians management could be consultants for sure.

Oof, this joke has gone viral, pun intended, across half the teams in every league the last couple weeks...at least you put a unique spin on it.

One of the nice things about when we get out of the woods on this will be being able to retire the "they already have no fans!!111!!!" joke.

I'm not sure playing into November is an option for the northern teams. The average high temperature in Cleveland in November is 52 with a low of 39. We average four inches of snow. Any games played in Cleveland in November would have to be day games and in the first week or two.

There has been some talk of making sure the World Series ends before the Presidential Election, although I'm not sure why that's important.

I'm all for larger rosters and double-headers, but I'm not sure the season should be extended more than a couple of weeks longer than normal. Also, neutral sites means empty stadiums, although there are a lot of Indians fans in Florida.

I think the current schedule should be scrapped and a new one drawn up that eliminates inter-league play and results in something like each team playing three 4-game series against its divisional opponents (48 games) and two 3-game series against the other 10 teams (60 games) for a total of 108 games with the season ending on time or possibly a couple of weeks later than usual. This assumes the season starts July 1 and ends Oct. 8 for a total of 100 days.

Most of the Noivember/December game proposals do involve warm weather and/or retractable roofs.

Supposedly, we do have to have at least one 'Skins game in the NFL before the election due to the laws of nature, although that "rule" appears to have become irrelevant recently.
 
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Another idea would be to eliminate night games like baseball was 100 years ago. That way teams would play at 1 p.m. and could travel to the next city after the game and play the following day. No need for travel days. The larger rosters would allow teams to give players days off.

I like this, but the attendance would almost always be horrible
 
I like this, but the attendance would almost always be horrible

That might almost be the point if we're going to wean ourselves off of empty stadiums in a "gradual restart" scenario.

If the 50 person or whatever guideline is relaxed, we would still probably want spectators sitting at least 6 feet apart for a while.
 
That might almost be the point if we're going to wean ourselves off of empty stadiums in a "gradual restart" scenario.

If the 50 person or whatever guideline is relaxed, we would still probably want spectators sitting at least 6 feet apart for a while.

I mean when they sell tickets they can set it up as well for like every other seat sold type of thing so there is space in between people and if they wanna move together after that then they can (aka means only 15-20k in ticket sales but that's not far off from the normal, then as the season progresses/this virus gets defeated, they can start selling seats closer together)
 
That might almost be the point if we're going to wean ourselves off of empty stadiums in a "gradual restart" scenario.

If the 50 person or whatever guideline is relaxed, we would still probably want spectators sitting at least 6 feet apart for a while.

As long as I can lift up and slam down the seats next to me, I'll be fine.
 
As long as I can lift up and slam down the seats next to me, I'll be fine.

Houston's ball park to come with trash cans on either side of you instead of empty seats, to help the home team.

And no, the joke isn't old yet. :)
 
Is any other country playing right now?
 
Is any other country playing right now?

All signs are that Japan and South Korea are still trying for late April opening days after postponing them from March; it appears they're sticking to it despite several Japanese players testing positive after some recent practice games.

Japan wanted to work a later-starting season around the extra time they got from postponing the Olympics.
 
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MLBTr (major league trade rumors) had a chat this afternoon regarding significant trades in a team's history..

Link: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/03/mlbtr-live-chat-507.html

The Indians were mentioned:

"...Cleveland Fan 3:17 pm CDT: How incredible is it that the failed Lucroy deal turned out great for Cleveland?

Steve Adams 3:19 pm CDT: I'm pretty stunned with the manner in which Lucroy's abilities on both sides of the ball just completely evaporated. I don't think anyone foresaw that.

Hanging onto Mejia allowed the Indians to eventually flip him for Brad Hand/Adam Cimber, and at least right now that looks like a win. I'm still a little surprised that Mejia just hasn't been given a shot in San Diego; at this point I wonder if he'll eventually just be moved for pennies on the dollar..
..."

I would have thought the St. Louis Rams/Cleveland Spiders trade... Rocky Colavito.. or even the Bartolo deal would have been in front of the non-Lucroy deal..

Any other trades you would have suggested?..
 
GSon - I agree with the Bartolo deal. The 3 teamer that brought in Kluber is high up the lopside chart as well. So is the original deal that brought in Kenny Lofton. Eddie Taubensee had nice little career but pales in comparison to Lofton.
 
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GSon - I agree with the Bartlo deal. The 3 teamer that brought in Kluber is high up the lopside chart as well. So is the original deal that brought in Kenny Lofton. Eddie Taubensee had nice little career but pales in comparison to Lofton.
A borderline HOF'er (imho, biased as hell, a HOF'er) in Lofton for a backup backstop..yeah.. that's high on the Lopside-o-meter...
 
A borderline HOF'er (imho, biased as hell, a HOF'er) in Lofton for a backup backstop..yeah.. that's high on the Lopside-o-meter...
Taubensee for Lofton, Fermin for Vizquel, and the Lofton one year rental to Atlanta were the steals that made that 90s team.

The Colon deal has had a hand in nearly 20 years Indians baseball. It's the biggest trade of the modern era for us.
 
Taubensee for Lofton, Fermin for Vizquel, and the Lofton one year rental to Atlanta were the steals that made that 90s team.

The Colon deal has had a hand in nearly 20 years Indians baseball. It's the biggest trade of the modern era for us.
I think i saw an article a couple of years ago that ranked the lofton trade as a top 10 lopsided trade in mlb history.

The colon trade is like the gift the keeps on giving through a series of trades. Just like a membership to a jelly of the month club
 
Unfortunately, anybody involved with MLB who thinks that there will be fans in the seats if the all clear is sounded at any point this year is being unrealistic.

I dont see New Yorkers being willing to pack in to watch the Yanks or Mets...or Detroiters or Miamians...or fans in any Metro area that become hot spots (which will cover about every team)...even if they get assurances that the danger is over.

And that's even if the experts reverse predictions that there will be a secondary outbreak in the fall.

Plus a lot of discretionary spending will be wiped out.

But television viewership will go thru the roof.

I do think that baseball might have an advantage if it resumes. For a while it will be the only game in town. And it is not as dependent upon crowds and pageantry as football. Imagine watching college football with only 10,000 fans in the seats.

If both sports become merely a studio game with few live fans, baseball is the better watch.
 
I thought Andre Thornton for Jackie Brown was tits. Almost made up for the Chambliss deal. I really liked the Mike Vail>Joe Wallis>Gary Alexander deal, but he fizzled out, later to be aggregated in the trade for Bert Blyleven.
Fermin for Vizquel was visionary. (We've generally profited from trades with Seattle.)
Can you imagine the Colon trade if Wedge had been able to coexist with Brandon Phillips? Or if we had simply whacked Wedge there and then?
And gotta love Casey Blake for Carlos.

The Jack Fimple/Larry White/Jorge Orta trade for Rick Sutcliffe started a magical sequence leading to Joe Carter then Baerga and Sandy.

But Cardell Camper for Joe Charboneau had me convinced they were geniuses.
 

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