In an article printed by the Associated Press, Cleveland Indians owner Paul Dolan attempted to defend trading off the two best players the Indians had in Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez, saying that the Indians were slated to lose $16 million dollars this year.
NOW, he states that attendance is down an estimated 500,000 for the year and these trades were necessary for long term success. WHAT??? If you put an inferior product on the field, in a struggling economy, who in their right mind will buy tickets?
Why not trade your saving grace closer in Kerry Wood who you signed to a 2 year, $20 million dollar contract before the season started? What a waste of money!!
The Tigers are a great example of how to do things the right way. Have a good farm system and bring players up through the ranking and then, are you ready for this, Mr. Dolan? PAY THEM!!
Do not become the modern day Montreal Expos and find and groom all of this top talent and then let someone else come in and swoop them away!
There is talk of firing Eric Wedge. Now, I do not think he is a great manager, but he has to manage with the people that General Manager Mark Shapiro gives him. Maybe that is where we start to clean house is in the GM and the OWNER. We sure miss you Mr. Jacobs!
Posted 4:52 p.m.
August 6th, 2009 - 4:57 pm
Great article Nick, I wanted to talk about this, but was glad we could get it from an Indians’ fan prospective.
I dont understand how they can expect their fans to understand these moves. Even if its true about them losing so much money, you can not expect fans to understand this! They have traded away two Cy Young winners in the last two years and have shipped a franchise player away in Martinez, not to mention Casey Blake and the other cogs that were shipped out earlier this year.
You compare them to the Expos, but I think of them more as the Pirates because the Expos did it because of money, the Pirates, and now the Indians, do it when they sense they are out of the playoff race. They did it in 2006, 2008 and now this season. They are not that far removed from the 2007 season and in the AL Central, one team could possibly finish last or first and can go from first to last and from last to first from one season to another.
Look at the Tigers, whether they hang on to first or not they are in the race when last year they finished in last, so there is no reason to dump such good players when you play in the AL Central, it is assine and I feel for the Indians fans.
Now let’s all band together and commonly root for the Tigers–or at least, root AGAINST the Dirt Sox!
August 7th, 2009 - 8:20 am
Yeah, if you look over the past years, we have always traded away or let big names go because of money; Manny, Thome, Sabathia. It irks me because all through the mid 90’s we had great hitting teams and average pitching. In the past few years, we have had 2 cy youngs and some decent pitching, with mediocre hitting. Is it too much to ask for both? Just 1 year? lol such is life for a Cleveland fan. Then people wonder why I am not a Browns and Cav’s fan. I couldn’t handle all of that disapointment. I am always rooting against the dirt sox. I am pulling for the Tiger’s and the Angels.
August 7th, 2009 - 3:45 pm
So, to further disgrace the Smiling Indian Logo, thet traded Pavano to the Twins today! Not only did you trade one of your only decent starters you had, you trade him inside the division?? WTH Dolan is doing a complete fire sale. Who is next? Sizemore? Carmona? Is it football season yet??
August 7th, 2009 - 6:19 pm
What the Hell? Did he clear waivers? Don’t they have to go through waivers before trading him now that the deadline has passed?
Wow, Pavano was actually have a good year too. Apparently they want to loss 100 games this season! I can’t imagine Pavano, after the horrendous years in New York, was making that much scratch!
Damn Indians! Pavano is a Tiger-killer this year to the tune of 3-0 with an ERA under 2! Guess we’ll get to see him this weekend!Click here for the best Online Sports Betting