The 2020 Cleveland Indians

[Wham with the Right Hand]

From CBS sports. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...d-to-easier-road-to-playoffs-for-these-teams/


GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE

NORTH: New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates.
SOUTH: Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles.
EAST: Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins.

CACTUS LEAGUE

NORTHEAST: Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics.
WEST: Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels.
NORTHWEST: Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals.

The Indians would be in the toughest division. I don't understand why they broke up the Giants and Dodgers or why they can't put the Indians in with the White Sox and Royals. It makes
sense for the Indians and Reds to be together since they share a facility and are in the same state.

It looks like they’re setting them up geographically, but if everybody is within 50 miles what’s the point? I get that all the players would be going back to their base hotel after every game, but what’s wrong with an hour bus ride? It’s not like they have anything else to do.

From the column:

To borrow a term from the world of soccer, this is baseball's group of death. PECOTA has all five winning at least 83 games. The last-place team here could have, whomever it ends up being, could have conceivably competed for a postseason spot under normal conditions.

It figures the Indians would get put in the “group of death”.

How about these divisions for Arizona:

Pacific Coast: Dodgers, Angels (LA rivalry), Giants, A’s (Bay rivalry), Mariners
Midwest: Indians, Reds (Ohio), White Sox, Cubs (Chicago), Royals
Mountain: D-Backs, Rockies, Brewers, Rangers, Padres

 

[dkbldev]

The Indians would be in the toughest division. I don't understand why they broke up the Giants and Dodgers or why they can't put the Indians in with the White Sox and Royals. It makes
sense for the Indians and Reds to be together since they share a facility and are in the same state.

It looks like they’re setting them up geographically, but if everybody is within 50 miles what’s the point? I get that all the players would be going back to their base hotel after every game, but what’s wrong with an hour bus ride? It’s not like they have anything else to do.

From the column:

To borrow a term from the world of soccer, this is baseball's group of death. PECOTA has all five winning at least 83 games. The last-place team here could have, whomever it ends up being, could have conceivably competed for a postseason spot under normal conditions.

It figures the Indians would get put in the “group of death”.

How about these divisions for Arizona:

Pacific Coast: Dodgers, Angels (LA rivalry), Giants, A’s (Bay rivalry), Mariners
Midwest: Indians, Reds (Ohio), White Sox, Cubs (Chicago), Royals
Mountain: D-Backs, Rockies, Brewers, Rangers, Padres

"Group of death" was also the first thing that came to my mind when seeing who would be in our proposed league. Would make for some really fun games

 

[The Oi]

Will the University of Phoenix be offering up its online field?

 

[MadThinker88]

The Indians would be in the toughest division. I don't understand why they broke up the Giants and Dodgers or why they can't put the Indians in with the White Sox and Royals. It makes
sense for the Indians and Reds to be together since they share a facility and are in the same state.

It looks like they’re setting them up geographically, but if everybody is within 50 miles what’s the point? I get that all the players would be going back to their base hotel after every game, but what’s wrong with an hour bus ride? It’s not like they have anything else to do.

From the column:

To borrow a term from the world of soccer, this is baseball's group of death. PECOTA has all five winning at least 83 games. The last-place team here could have, whomever it ends up being, could have conceivably competed for a postseason spot under normal conditions.

It figures the Indians would get put in the “group of death”.

How about these divisions for Arizona:

Pacific Coast: Dodgers, Angels (LA rivalry), Giants, A’s (Bay rivalry), Mariners
Midwest: Indians, Reds (Ohio), White Sox, Cubs (Chicago), Royals
Mountain: D-Backs, Rockies, Brewers, Rangers, Padres

The Reds & Indians are not the only teams to share a spring training facility.
ChiSox & Dodgers share. Same with Arizona & Colorado. KC & Texas share too while Seattle & San Diego share.

Doing some quick digging it appears that Milwaukee, ChiCubs, LA Angels, San Fran & Oakland A's are among those in stand alone sites.

 

[CATS44]

While this leads to draconian possibilities, a question.

If MLB has any kind of shortened season in which the players get paid as if it was a 162 game schedule, but the clubs have nearly no revenue streams outside of TV, how do many of the smaller market franchises remain financially viable?

How on earth would the Dolans be able to survive an entire season of overwhelming red ink?

And it's not just baseball. Does anybody really think that there are gonna be 100,000 fans in the Horseshoe this fall to watch the Buckeyes?

Major sports as we know them may very well be ending for the next decade. Instead of expansion, there very well could be contraction in every major sporting league, including college football.

It could hit high school sports, too. I'm from Massillon, and for decades was very involved with the football program. I have a fairly good understanding of the financial aspects of a big time high school football program, and how it is connected to every other sport. There may very well be high schools that simply cannot find the money to finance their football programs, which often carry the non revenue sports.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

While this leads to draconian possibilities, a question.

If MLB has any kind of shortened season in which the players get paid as if it was a 162 game schedule, but the clubs have nearly no revenue streams outside of TV, how do many of the smaller market franchises remain financially viable?

How on earth would the Dolans be able to survive an entire season of overwhelming red ink?

And it's not just baseball. Does anybody really think that there are gonna be 100,000 fans in the Horseshoe this fall to watch the Buckeyes?

Major sports as we know them may very well be ending for the next decade. Instead of expansion, there very well could be contraction in every major sporting league, including college football.

It could hit high school sports, too. I'm from Massillon, and for decades was very involved with the football program. I have a fairly good understanding of the financial aspects of a big time high school football program, and how it is connected to every other sport. There may very well be high schools that simply cannot find the money to finance their football programs, which often carry the non revenue sports.

Yeah, it seems the Indians have been breaking even in recent years. They keep reducing payroll, which I assume is to keep the bottom line in the black. Without any ticket revenue this year that will be impossible. You wonder if ownership can take a one-year financial hit with the hope that things return to normal in 2021 after a vaccine is developed.

I don't know about a contraction, but in the worst case scenario I could see the Indians trading Lindor, Clevinger, Carrasco, and Hand while letting Santana go in free agency after this season. Guys would be promoted from the minors before they're ready. Santana would be replaced by Bobby Bradley, for example, and Carrasco by Logan Allen or somebody like that.

The Indians 2020 payroll according to Spotrac is $83.5 million. Two players, Lindor and Santana, account for $35 million of that. Just by trading both of them now the payroll could be reduced to about $50 million. Bobby Bradley would step in at first base, Domingo Santana would DH, and Reyes would play right field. They would have to get a major league average shortstop back in one of the trades to replace Lindor.

Obviously this would dramatically impact their competitiveness, but it may be the difference between taking a financial bath and breaking even. Sometimes you have to live to fight another day.

Lindor is going to be traded after this season anyway. The fan-less season may just move that timetable up. Santana is 34 and in the final year of his deal. I wouldn't be shocked if both are traded before the season. There's no way any tickets will be sold this year. Ownership will have cover to make the deals. They'll just explain that without being able to sell tickets or charge for parking and concessions they can't afford to pay players $17.5 million.

By the way, they could save another $17 million by trading Carrasco (33) and Hand (30) which would bring the payroll down to about $35 million.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Nice article by Lloyd and Meisel in The Athletic about how the virus could affect the Indians season. It's very depressing. If the season is cancelled the Indians would lose a year of incredibly cheap production from players like Bieber and Jose Ramirez. The Indians can only hold onto these players until they reach free agency so every year they can have them at below market value is crucial.

They also lose a year of Lindor, of course.

The column points out that the Indians are only one of two teams in the bottom 10 of league payroll that has aspirations of winning. They need this year when they still have Lindor to make a run. Also, if this season is cancelled we may have seen the last of Carlos Santana in an Indians’ uniform.

Salvaging this season will be very challenging logistically given the constraints of social distancing, Covid-19 testing, and having to play in non-air conditioned venues in Arizona. But MLB has to find a way to make it work.

How an altered season could impact the Indians and Francisco Lindor’s future

How would a small-market, cash-strapped team like the Indians fare in a baseball season ruled by coronavirus?

theathletic.com

 

[bob2the2nd]

Nice article by Lloyd and Meisel in The Athletic about how the virus could affect the Indians season. It's very depressing. If the season is cancelled the Indians would lose a year of incredibly cheap production from players like Bieber and Jose Ramirez. The Indians can only hold onto these players until they reach free agency so every year they can have them at below market value is crucial.

They also lose a year of Lindor, of course.

The column points out that the Indians are only one of two teams in the bottom 10 of league payroll that has aspirations of winning. They need this year when they still have Lindor to make a run. Also, if this season is cancelled we may have seen the last of Carlos Santana in an Indians’ uniform.

Salvaging this season will be very challenging logistically given the constraints of social distancing, Covid-19 testing, and having to play in non-air conditioned venues in Arizona. But MLB has to find a way to make it work.

How an altered season could impact the Indians and Francisco Lindor’s future

How would a small-market, cash-strapped team like the Indians fare in a baseball season ruled by coronavirus?

theathletic.com

which is why it was absolutely fucking stupid for the owners agreed to this counting as a year of service.

 

[MadThinker88]

which is why it was absolutely fucking stupid for the owners agreed to this counting as a year of service.

I get your point but the owners did get some other things out of the agreement, namely a cap on how much they would need to pay the players if no season or a partial season gets played. They also got the player association to agree on signing deferments related to the draft & the association to agree to potential draft changes.

Both sides got & gave up something. Perhaps it will enable the 2 sides to keep working on items so the next CBA happens without any stoppage,

 

[Gson]

The key to any season for the Tribe is the health of the players who were slated to start the season on the IL.. There is an MLB Tr article that shed some light on the matter:

Indians Provide Updates On 5 Injured Players

The Indians gave injury updates on Mike Clevinger, Carlos Carrasco, Oscar Mercado, Emmanuel Clase and Tyler Naquin. Read more at MLB Trade Rumors

www.mlbtraderumors.com

With the return of all our guys.. the winner of the "Arizona" group will have to go through Goodyear !!..

Thoughts?.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

The key to any season for the Tribe is the health of the players who were slated to start the season on the IL.. There is an MLB Tr article that shed some light on the matter:

Indians Provide Updates On 5 Injured Players

The Indians gave injury updates on Mike Clevinger, Carlos Carrasco, Oscar Mercado, Emmanuel Clase and Tyler Naquin. Read more at MLB Trade Rumors

www.mlbtraderumors.com

With the return of all our guys.. the winner of the "Arizona" group will have to go through Goodyear !!..

Thoughts?.

The Dodgers won 106 games last year and have since acquired Mookie Betts. I'd say they would be favored over the Tribe although an Indians team with everyone healthy would be exceptionally tough.

 

[Derek]

Not that I think they're going to do this spring training realignment deal, but how would the whole DH thing work?

 

[sportscoach]

I have an idea, though a bit odd, (but I am good with those), Maybe we do the regular season until a certain date and then after that finish the season with games in Arizona/Florida to make the season longer then host the World Series in a neutral warm/southern location?

@Derek, maybe base it off of who is the home team with my suggestion.

If the whole season is in the arizona/florida then we should allow the teams to decide. I would honestly say DH for everyone would be better.

 

[Derek]

I have an idea, though a bit odd, (but I am good with those), Maybe we do the regular season until a certain date and then after that finish the season with games in Arizona/Florida to make the season longer then host the World Series in a neutral warm/southern location?

@Derek, maybe base it off of who is the home team with my suggestion.

If the whole season is in the arizona/florida then we should allow the teams to decide. I would honestly say DH for everyone would be better.

The issue with that is you have AL/NL teams mixed within divisions. We'd have to play 25% of our divisional games without a DH. As an AL team, we have assembled a roster with the intent of having a DH every day.

On the flip side, NL teams would seemingly be at a disadvantage as they don't have the hitting depth necessary to use a DH every day.

 

[Steve_424]

Curious to see how this:

- Impacts negotiations with Lindor
- Impacts potential buyers of the team