OUR FANHOUSE TOOLBAR INTEGRATES THE LATEST SPORTS NEWS INTO YOUR WEB BROWSER AND INSTALLS IN SECONDS.
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE TOOLBAR HERE.

MLB

What Exactly Is the Plan in Cleveland?

Posted Jul 30, 2009 11:01AM By Tom Fornelli (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Indians, AL Central, MLB Trade Deadline

Text SizeAAA
Cliff LeeBeing a Cleveland Indians fan can't be the easiest thing right now. As if the fact that the Tribe are scuffling their way through another long season at 42-60 isn't enough, a familiar feeling crept into the collective psyche of Indians fans everywhere on Wednesday afternoon.

The Indians sent Cliff Lee to the Philadelphia Phillies along with Ben Francisco for four prospects -- pitcher Jason Knapp, pitcher Carlos Carrasco, catcher Lou Marson and shortstop Jason Donald. It's a trade that sounds the death knell for the Indians in 2009, and most likely in 2010 as well. Worse yet, it is nothing new for Indians fans, who just last summer saw the team send its ace CC Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers for four young prospects.

What's an Indians fan to think of all this? How are they supposed to see the light at the end of the tunnel? If there is one, it's hard to see.

"What we did was kind of look at this moment in time," Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro said in a conference call, announcing the trade, "critically examine our chances to contend next year, with the economic reality that we weren't going to be able to supplement or add to the club at all. ... We think that we put ourselves in position now to create an extended run of contention."

How jettisoning Cy Young Award winners in consecutive summers helps put a team in position for an extended run of contention remains to be determined. If Victor Martinez follows Lee out the door in the next day and a half, it will be even harder to figure out. Shapiro declined to comment on Martinez's status Wednesday.

Still, there's a lot more to all of this than just the Sabathia and Lee deals, because in reality, it's way too early to evaluate either trade. Sabathia worked out well for the Brewers last season, carrying them to the playoffs for the first time in 25 years, but then left for the big bucks and the bright lights of the Bronx.

Lee may turn out to be just what the Phillies need to win themselves a second consecutive World Series title.

Which is well and good for those teams, but what about the Indians? We won't know how things worked out for them until we see how all of these prospects turn out. Waiting shouldn't be too hard for the folks in Cleveland to do, because they've been waiting a very long time as it is. Still, right now, on the surface, it isn't looking very good.

"I still feel this team can contend next year. It'll be a young, exciting core of players," continued Shapiro, "It would be a Florida Marlins-type of a story, everything would have to go right."

The problem with that is that it's been hills and valleys for the Indians since Shapiro took over.

The 21st century has been an odd one for the franchise. Shapiro was brought on to be the team's general manager in 2001 after John Hart left -- Hart being the architect behind one of the greatest offenses ever assembled in the '90s -- and Shapiro's tenure in Cleveland hasn't been all that glorious.

Yes, he pulled off one of the greatest heists in baseball history when he sent Bartolo Colon to the dying Montreal Expos for Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Lee, but now only one of those three players remain, and the Indians only have one playoff berth to show for their efforts.

There was also the deal that sent Ben Broussard to Seattle for Shin-Soo Choo in 2006 and the Indians have found themselves a solid corner outfielder for years to come. Well, unless he has to do military service in Korea or the team trades him because it can't afford him any longer.

For those two gems, there have been an awful lot of clunkers, and not just in the trade department. Let's look at some of Shapiro's recent decisions and see how they've turned out.

In July of 2007 the Indians gave Travis Hafner a four-year, $57 million extension after his MVP-caliber 2006 season. Since then Hafner has been getting paid to spend the majority of his time on the disabled list, and when he has been on the field, he hasn't lived up to his contract.

That same season, in April, Shapiro gave Jake Westbrook a three-year, $33 million extension. Since signing it Westbrook has made 30 starts compiling a 7-11 record in between frequent stops on the disabled list.

That's an awful lot of money that in retrospect could have been better spent -- possibly on keeping Sabathia or Lee in Cleveland.

Of course, all general managers make mistakes, it's the nature of the job, so those two examples can't be used to totally negate everything Shapiro has done. After the seasons Hafner and Westbrook were coming off of there probably weren't many GMs in the game who wouldn't have tried to lock them up long term.

There are other strikes against him, though. Despite the outward message that this team can contend next year, Shapiro's actions seem to counter that at every step.

Common sense alone tells us that there's no way Eric Wedge should still be managing this team. Wedge came to Cleveland in 2003, and so far his legacy has been that he either manages a team that comes close to the precipice of success only to choke it away when it's all on the line (2005 and 2007) or a team that fails to meet any of the lofty expectations placed upon them (2006, 2008 and 2009).

"I think I understand and sympathize with a fan's focus and desires, always in that moment and that juncture in time," Shapiro said in response to negative fan reaction. "What I'd say is that just like any decision that's challenging for a general manager, you have one eye on the immediacy of the moment and one eye on building something that provides them with a championship. And if I had both eyes only on the immediacy of this moment, and hadn't executed the deal, I don't feel like we could have put ourselves in position to be a championship-caliber team again."

Maybe Shapiro is right. Maybe he has laid the groundwork to build the Indians into a contender again. Maybe by 2011 the Indians will win 100 games and stampede through the playoffs on their way to their first World Series victory since 1948.

Unfortunately for Shapiro, and Wedge, they haven't done much so far to prove that they should be around if and when that happens.

Tags: Ben+Francisco, Carlos+Carrasco, CC+Sabathia, Cliff+Lee, Eric+Wedge, Jake+Westbrook, Jason+Donald, Jason+Knapp, John+Hart, Lou+Marson, Mark+Shapiro, Travis+Hafner, Victor+Martinez

Related Articles

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)




Complete World Series Coverage

2009 World Series -- FanHouse Illustration
FanHouse's coverage of the 2009 Fall Classic.

Baseball's Forgotten Crusader

Curt Flood -- FanHouse Illustration
Four decades ago, Curt Flood made enormous sacrifices and changed the national pastime forever.