14 hours ago, mrnyc said:

tribe fire sale continues — encarnacion aside, i would say we freakin gave away yandy diaz:

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25526179/seattle-mariners-get-edwin-encarnacion-carlos-santana-cleveland-indians-3-team-trade?platform=amp

 

I wouldn't call this a fire sale, where you're typically trading away all of your proven quality (expensive) for unproven potential (cheap).  Overall I'm pleased with this deal, which seems to shuffle around some decent but not (yet?) great players, improves the position alignment, and cuts some payroll for next year (although it doesn't do much for the payroll in two years' time).

 

Encarnacion for Santana, maybe a wash but the edge goes to Santana -- both in hitting and in 1B defense.  Neither is in the prime of their career at this point. Santana is only cheaper in 2019.  And we know he has real passion for Cleveland (reportedly still owns a home here).

 

Sorry to see Yandy go, but we didn't have a good spot for him in the infield -- would you prefer Yandy over Lindor or Ramirez?!?  Good guy stuck behind better guys -- this move seems like the best for Yandy to go and play every day.  He certainly wasn't lighting up the scoreboard with his limited playing time (although he did play in 70 games, which I would have thought would have been enough to show more power than he did).  I'll be pulling for him and hoping that playing every day will help him turn into a better hitter than he showed -- and I'll welcome him back to Cleveland when he fits a need. 

 

Bauers seems like someone with upside, and even though it's tough to say whether he has as much potential as Yandy he fits better with the Indians' current needs -- outfield experience! 

 

These moves do suggest that Cleveland now has a lot of options at 1B -- which suggests more deals are likely in the works before spring training. 

 

If any of the rumors about a Kluber trade come true, THAT would look much more like a fire sale!

 

 

Given that Santana is owed more money than Encarnacion, hard to see this as a fire sale. It's more like a restructuring to smooth the expenditure over a longer time frame to give them more room to spend in 2019 on other needs.  I like this deal. Yandy's launch angle issues have so far severely limited is batting and the team's never been enamored with his defense at 3B. 

Was pretty surprised - in a good way - when we signed Encarnacion. Well, his time as an Indian turned out to be fairly uneventful, despite the big numbers. Man we need players who have a track record of consistency. These streaky guys who can't hit in cold weather have been killing us.  

Anybody here ever went out to arizona for spring training? Ill be out end of feb, was wondering if there were any notable stadiums to see,.. any that might be better for autographs,  or just somewhere with other cool attractions near by? 

 

Staying in scottsdale, planning on making the trip to goodyear atleast once, and possibly seeing some other teams.. *rockies camp is 5 min from where im staying.      Any input would be def appreciated, thankyou!  GO TRIBE!! 

^ my father in law goes every spring to az or fla with friends. they are going to az this year, i’ll ask him.

 

***

feb 12 is coming up soon!

 

The A's, fresh off their surprise run to the 2018 American League Wild Card Game, will be the first club to have its pitchers and catchers report. They'll do so on Monday, Feb. 11, followed by the Indians and Mariners on Feb. 12 and the remainder of MLB clubs in the days following. Oakland and Seattle will travel to Tokyo to stage two exhibition games each against Japanese teams on March 17-18, followed by the first two games of the 2019 regular season on March 20-21 at Tokyo Dome.

On 1/17/2019 at 3:27 AM, TwoStickney419 said:

Anybody here ever went out to arizona for spring training? Ill be out end of feb, was wondering if there were any notable stadiums to see,.. any that might be better for autographs,  or just somewhere with other cool attractions near by? 

 

Staying in scottsdale, planning on making the trip to goodyear atleast once, and possibly seeing some other teams.. *rockies camp is 5 min from where im staying.      Any input would be def appreciated, thankyou!  GO TRIBE!! 

 

Not particularly fun for everyone, but if you live in a dreary northern climate like most of us, and are even a little into exercise, I recommend harnessing the jet lag and going for an early jog along the canal, or hike through one of the rocky mountainy park areas right in town (near you in Scottsdale). I find it therapeutic after months of gray and cold. 

the tribe was wheeled and dealed at least $21M off their record 2018 payroll. we will see how sharp they were about it soon enough.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimingraham/2018/12/17/the-indians-in-2019-will-try-to-win-as-many-games-as-their-fiscal-restraint-allows/amp/

14 hours ago, StapHanger said:

 

Not particularly fun for everyone, but if you live in a dreary northern climate like most of us, and are even a little into exercise, I recommend harnessing the jet lag and going for an early jog along the canal, or hike through one of the rocky mountainy park areas right in town (near you in Scottsdale). I find it therapeutic after months of gray and cold. 

 

Definitely planning on being outdoors as much as possible.. only indoor attractions id like to do, are the musical instrument museum, and the taliesin west tour.  Thanks for the input 

On 2/5/2019 at 9:47 AM, mrnyc said:

the tribe was wheeled and dealed at least $21M off their record 2018 payroll. we will see how sharp they were about it soon enough.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimingraham/2018/12/17/the-indians-in-2019-will-try-to-win-as-many-games-as-their-fiscal-restraint-allows/amp/

 

Shipping off your biggest bat and best situational hitter. 

@TwoStickney419Taliesin West is great- good plan. And reminds me that the Biltmore, which was designed by a FLW acolyte (I think), is a nifty place to get a drink, and pretty close to Scottsdale. 

Edited February 6, 20196 yr by StapHanger

RIP

 

hows about rule #4 never play with drones:

 

https://nypost.com/2019/02/19/indians-trevor-bauer-is-worlds-worst-boyfriend-i-have-three-rules/

2 hours ago, mrnyc said:

hows about rule #4 never play with drones:

 

https://nypost.com/2019/02/19/indians-trevor-bauer-is-worlds-worst-boyfriend-i-have-three-rules/

 

With his attitude towards women/relationships he'll end up playing with himself! 

i see leonys martin picked up where he left off yesterday vs colorado with three at bats, two hits and a run — thats great to see and had to feel so good for him after all he went through with his bizzare, terrible health scare.

less than two weeks now until opening day march 28 at target field for three games with the twins --

 

-- and then opening day in cleveland april 1st. 

46 minutes ago, mrnyc said:

less than two weeks now until opening day march 28 at target field for three games with the twins --

 

-- and then opening day in cleveland april 1st. 

 

I'm excited for the season... I think there are some really good pieces in place.  

I think Francona has enough pieces/parts in the outfield to get decent production, the bullpen though......?

1 hour ago, CleCaneFan said:

I think Francona has enough pieces/parts in the outfield to get decent production, the bullpen though......?

 

I'm hoping last year's messes were a fluke.  Dan Otero looked better in the spring training games I saw than last year, and Jon Edwards looks like he can be a nice viable piece this year!

Any predictions on who ends up starting in OF?

 

I swear this team has had 27 different outfielders in the last few years. I miss the era of knowing it was simply Belle/Loften/Ramírez!  

6 minutes ago, surfohio said:

Any predictions on who ends up starting in OF?

 

I swear this team has had 27 different outfielders in the last few years. I miss the era of knowing it was simply Belle/Loften/Ramírez!  

 

Watch Oscar Mercado, he has the potential to break out big, along with Greg Allen.

^ I hope you are right. The team has some young bats in the outfield. Hopefully a couple of them have decent years.

Losing Brantley, who I think was the consummate CLE player, was tough. Freaking Astros. Here’s hoping you’re right and Allen and Mercado break out. Naquin may even surface once again. And some are very high on Leonys. 

1 hour ago, surfohio said:

Losing Brantley, who I think was the consummate CLE player, was tough. Freaking Astros. Here’s hoping you’re right and Allen and Mercado break out. Naquin may even surface once again. And some are very high on Leonys. 

 

Forgot about him, he's having a great spring.  I may try to reach for him in my "half dynasty" league (keep 14, draft 11), even though I already have a very solid OF.

Speaking of great spring, I remember Kipnis being on ?  last year in AZ. 

Not sure how I feel about this? Does he still have "it"?

 

^ The competition for OF should be interesting to watch. I'm again losing track of how many OF there are. Plus Zimmer coming back too. 

 

https://www.letsgotribe.com/2019/3/18/18269615/indians-have-triple-a-outfield-problem

If the Indians win the Division, but don't advance to the ALCS.  Francona may be without a job.

 

I wish the Indians had a scheduled series in PR again this year.

An interesting opinion.....

 

 

The Montreal Indians!!

Seriously though. If Dolan really wants to burn bridges he needs to take some lessons from his cousin in NY. Now that guy knows how to enrage a loyal fan base! A real genius. 

 

Heres hoping he sells the team. He can get his billion dollars and finally shut the hell up about money. 

3 hours ago, KJP said:

An interesting opinion.....

 

 

 

Northeast Ohio certainly is big enough, especially when one of those teams is the only one in the region.

Cut off your nose to spite your face?

Not the best comments on Lindor, but what is Paul Dolan supposed to do, lie to the fan base? I'm amazed at Cleveland fan hypocrisy on treatment of sports owners - they practically worship Jimmy Haslam and Dan Gilbert who are billionaires but have actively sabotaged their franchises with arrogance and ineptitude at management. Dolan family wealth stems from their law firm, which makes them less wealthy than peer MLB owners, and they overpaid for the Indians in 2000 ($320M) relative to the time period. They spiked the team payroll in 2017 and 2018, but the fans didn't show up outside of summer weekend games - even in an AL record 22 game win streak of a 102 win season, they couldn't sell games out! They're likely going to win the AL Central in 2019 and 2020 which means more shots in the crapshoot of October baseball.

 

Management-wise, the Dolan's are very loyal to the baseball people in the organization, who have been ahead of the curve on analytics - you think Comic Sans Dan or Jimmy would have held course with Antonetti and crew following the 2008-12 stretch of mediocrity? The handful of people I've met who have worked for the Indians have raved about how professional and meritocratic the organization is from top to bottom. And let's quit the speculation that they would move the team - the family has deep ties to Northeast Ohio and are very service-oriented in the community.

Edited March 25, 20196 yr by flee2thecleve14

2 minutes ago, flee2thecleve14 said:

Not the best comments on Lindor, but what is Paul Dolan supposed to do, lie to the fan base? I'm amazed at Cleveland fan hypocrisy on treatment of sports owners - they practically worship Jimmy Haslam and Dan Gilbert who are billionaires but have actively sabotaged their franchises with arrogance and ineptitude at management. Dolan family wealth stems from their law firm, which makes them less wealthy than peer MLB owners, and they overpaid for the Indians in 2000 ($320M) relative to the time period. They spiked the team payroll in 2017 and 2018, but the fans didn't show up outside of summer weekend games - even in an AL record 22 game win streak of a 102 win season, they couldn't sell games out! They're likely going to win the AL Central in 2019 and 2020 which means more shots in the crapshoot of October baseball.

 

Management-wise, the Dolan's are very loyal to the baseball people in the organization, who have been ahead of the curve on analytics - you think Comic Sans Dan or Jimmy would have held course with Antonetti and crew following the 2008-12 stretch of mediocrity? The handful of people I've met who have worked for the Indians have raved about how professional and meritocratic the organization is from top to bottom. And let's quit the speculation that they would move the team - the family has deep ties to Northeast Ohio and are very service-oriented in the community.

 

We had two years to show up and support them with attendance revenue and we didn't. If we were top 10 in attendance, I would feel differently 

4 minutes ago, YABO713 said:

 

We had two years to show up and support them with attendance revenue and we didn't. If we were top 10 in attendance, I would feel differently 

 

Agreed - there's no reason the Indians couldn't average 30k a night in a 35k capacity ballpark. Season ticket packages were affordable too - we paid $19/seat lower reserve at 20 games and $36/seat lower box at 20 games in 2017. If I were still living in Cleveland, I would be on the account.

 

Among small and mid-sized markets in MLB this century, the only other sustained success story that comes to mind is the St Louis Cardinals, but they have always been No. 1 in St Louis, even when the NFL was there. One of the worst and laziest takes in Cleveland sports is "DOLAN$ ARE CHEAP, SELL THE TEAM."

^I think many fans feel that way, regardless of how much the Dolans have spent the last two years.  

7 hours ago, KJP said:

An interesting opinion.....

 

 

 

 

avenatti? if so hmm interesting. because hes going to prison. for a long stretch. as of today lol:

 

https://nypost.com/2019/03/25/michael-avenatti-charged-with-trying-to-extort-20m-from-nike/

2 hours ago, Oldmanladyluck said:

^I think many fans feel that way, regardless of how much the Dolans have spent the last two years.  

He needs to go back to silent mode. He's the owner of a billion dollar franchise talking money in an economically-ravaged city. Normal people don't want to hear any semblance of financial complaints coming from Mr. Dolan, even if he's correct it's just plain bad optics. 

 

As for criticizing the other CLE owners...have at it. Their ever-increasing wealth insulates them from the judgment of mere mortals like us. 

Edited March 25, 20196 yr by surfohio

^ i doubt the family sells the team, one of the kids will run it, but unfortunately larry's dopey, unstable nephew jimmy has control of most of the family loot, so every time msg needs new paint the tribe suffers.

21 hours ago, flee2thecleve14 said:

Not the best comments on Lindor, but what is Paul Dolan supposed to do, lie to the fan base? I'm amazed at Cleveland fan hypocrisy on treatment of sports owners - they practically worship Jimmy Haslam and Dan Gilbert who are billionaires but have actively sabotaged their franchises with arrogance and ineptitude at management. Dolan family wealth stems from their law firm, which makes them less wealthy than peer MLB owners, and they overpaid for the Indians in 2000 ($320M) relative to the time period. They spiked the team payroll in 2017 and 2018, but the fans didn't show up outside of summer weekend games - even in an AL record 22 game win streak of a 102 win season, they couldn't sell games out! They're likely going to win the AL Central in 2019 and 2020 which means more shots in the crapshoot of October baseball.

 

Management-wise, the Dolan's are very loyal to the baseball people in the organization, who have been ahead of the curve on analytics - you think Comic Sans Dan or Jimmy would have held course with Antonetti and crew following the 2008-12 stretch of mediocrity? The handful of people I've met who have worked for the Indians have raved about how professional and meritocratic the organization is from top to bottom. And let's quit the speculation that they would move the team - the family has deep ties to Northeast Ohio and are very service-oriented in the community.

Agree with your take, except the Cle Dolans' wealth came from their investment in Cablevision (I believe started by Charles Dolan in NY); they've had the law firm in Chardon for many years ( my mom worked as a legal secretary there in the 70's) but that practice could never have supplied the juice to buy a MLB team.

The Dolans would never move the Tribe, but sell it to someone who might? Paul Dolan was kind of cryptic in his interview about "his parents getting older"....would he pull a Randy Lerner and unload it after his father is gone? 

Maybe we'll finally have an offense that's ranked better than 28th....

 

 

11 hours ago, KJP said:

Maybe we'll finally have an offense that's ranked better than 28th....

 

 

I'd take consistency. I feel like we'll go weeks averaging two runs per game, then go three weeks averaging six or seven. It's been this way for years now. I know baseball is less consistent overall than other sports, hence their long season, but I feel the Indians are the least consistent. Also, I know we've had good offenses the last couple years, but how much of that was players and how much was coaches? Yandy Diaz is on the Rays now. Average a bit down, but slugging and OPS way up. Brantley is on his way to a career year in just his first year with Houston's hitting coach. I feel Van Burkleo needs to go, but Tito is too loyal; much like Urban Meyer was when guys weren't getting the job done.

Case in point: they scored 14 last night. Nine the night before. But the previous 14 games? In eight of them they scored two or fewer runs. Two.

As of today, the Twins have scored 87 more runs than the Indians. 

 

Crazy. 

It’s going to be a long and very disappointing year for the Indians - it’s May 24 and it’s already clear that the Indians will struggle to take second place in the AL central. They couldn’t afford to pay a couple key hitters (still shaking my head about Brantley) and they assumed the Twins were still a year away - now,  we’re watching the  proverbial window close and it’s not much fun. Wonder if Tito will decide to move on after this year. 

7 hours ago, CleveFan said:

It’s going to be a long and very disappointing year for the Indians - it’s May 24 and it’s already clear that the Indians will struggle to take second place in the AL central. They couldn’t afford to pay a couple key hitters (still shaking my head about Brantley) and they assumed the Twins were still a year away - now,  we’re watching the  proverbial window close and it’s not much fun. Wonder if Tito will decide to move on after this year. 

Not signing Brantley was an ominous sign. Brantley was a Cleveland Indian through and through. Tito sounds utterly defeated in his recent pressers. Sad season so far. 

On 3/26/2019 at 12:08 PM, CleCaneFan said:

Agree with your take, except the Cle Dolans' wealth came from their investment in Cablevision (I believe started by Charles Dolan in NY); they've had the law firm in Chardon for many years ( my mom worked as a legal secretary there in the 70's) but that practice could never have supplied the juice to buy a MLB team.

The Dolans would never move the Tribe, but sell it to someone who might? Paul Dolan was kind of cryptic in his interview about "his parents getting older"....would he pull a Randy Lerner and unload it after his father is gone? 

 

 

yep its family wealth, not from one source. that's how it works with the extremely wealthy. unfortunately the tribe is below msg on the rung of how they spend it. 

 

https://www.cleveland.com/business/2017/11/dolan_family_known_for_the_cle.html

 

 

its just an aside, yet an interesting story  -- charles started with teleguide for hotels in the 1960s-1970s, right around the era when bloomberg wired wall street. we typically think of bill gates, steve jobs, jeff bezos, larry page, sergey brin and mark zuckerberg and the like, but kind of forget how these two guys also made massive fortunes back in the very earliest online/wired era:

 

 

The Dolans’ rise began with Charles Dolan, a Cleveland native who made his way to New York at 26 and founded Teleguide, an information service for hotels. Six years later he started Sterling Manhattan Cable, becoming the first person to wire buildings for cable television access. (In 1971, he founded Home Box Office, which he sold to Time Life.)

Two years after starting the company, the elder Dolan sold Sterling Cable’s Manhattan operations to Time Inc. and focused on Cablevision Systems.

Indians having quite the nice run lately.

 

...I still can't figure out those two Baltimore games. 26-0???

5 hours ago, TBideon said:

Indians having quite the nice run lately.

 

...I still can't figure out those two Baltimore games. 26-0???

 

I think they were starting to make plans for what to do during the All Star break and lost their focus. Francona held that team meeting after the series and told the team to stay focused until the break.

 

What I like is that some of these young pitchers are coming into form like Bieber and Plesac, plus Clevinger has recovered. And the bats have woken up. Ramirez and Kipnis are getting back to their old selves plus you have Mercado who's a nice addition. Carlos Santana was great to get back and he's hitting like he's never hit before. Santana has always been a power hitter but not for average. He's never hit higher than .268 for a season. He's at .298 right now.

 

But the big shock for me is Roberto Perez. He's always been a terrific catcher, but now he's hitting. His batting average went up 14 points to .256 when he went 4-for-4 in Cincinnati on Saturday! His batting average has never been so high except in his rookie year in 2014 when he had only 85 at-bats. And he's hit 16 home runs so far. He's his only 21 HRs before this year! Oh, and we have someone named Frankie Lindor.

Noteworthy day. Today I was able to watch the Tribe at home on my TV for the first time in several years. The game was “televised” on YouTube. Was nice, but man I really miss living in CLE and seeing the Indians on Channel 43. 

 

Frustrating night. Could only muster one run vs. lousy Jays pitching. Bauer pitches great. Blown save in the 9th. Lost in the 10th on some dumb hits that never left the infield. 

 

Oh well. At least you could see the players were all very much emotionally invested. That was clear.

 

Stat of the day: Tribes 50-3 when leading after the 8th inning this season. Crazy!