The "Larry Dolan Effect" and Trade Deadline Implications

The Tribe has experienced a roller-coaster effect in the last several days.  After beating the Yankees 4-1 last Tuesday, we lost a few straight in massacre-fashion.  Between the last two games of the Yankees series and the first game against the Blue Jays, the Tribe lost all 3 games, getting outscored 27-5.  Not exactly our best effort, and the Trade Deadline certainly had an impact on the team's morale.

Larry Dolan continues makes a strong argument as to why he should be considered amongst the worst owners in professional sports.  When the trade deadline approaches in baseball, they consistently make moves that make you scratch your head.  This year's edition was no different, as the Indians traded away proven veterans in Jake Westbrook, Jhonny Peralta, and Austin Kearns.  Don't forget about Kerry Woods, who was shipped to the Yankees who just beat us down 19-4 in the last two games of the series.

It's hard to keep your hopes up for a team that trades away any talent we actually have.  Let's start with Jhonny Peralta.  Granted, some fans never really appreciated Jhonny and thought he didn't deserve a spot in our infield.  When you actually look at his numbers, you realize he has one of the highest fielding percentages at 3rd base in all of baseball. 

Not to mention he at least provided the threat of power, which is more than can be said about most of our players.  Peralta proved the ignorance of this trade by the Indians when he blasted two home-runs in his first game with the Detroit Tigers. 

Jake Westbrook was next to go, as he was essentially given away to the St. Louis Cardinals.  I guess the one thing we can hang our hats on is that players who have never seen success with the Indians are at least getting a chance to prove themselves on teams that actually have a chance of winning.  Westbrook is an impressive talent;  His sinker is one of the hardest pitches to hit in baseball.  Through 7 innings vs. the Yankees last week, he had only given up 2 hits.  Westbrook is a pitcher who has a lot left in the tank.  Why did we trade him? 

How long before Grady Sizemore gets traded for a "prospect" or Asdrubal Cabrera gets swapped for a "player to be named later"?   That's what is so aggravating and bewildering about our current front office.  When have they actually traded our top-talent for a player who can actually come in right away and make a difference?  The trades we make are so dumb, because we always receive a prospect who will start in the minors and if we're lucky we'll see him in 2 years.  While we do have a bright future in those two as well as Choo, Santana, Donald, and Tomlin, there is no guarantee they won't play their way out of Cleveland. 

Generally speaking, Larry Dolan is too cheap to keep players that actually make a difference.  My proposal is that Larry Dolan resigns, and allows Dan Gilbert to run the Cleveland Indians.   He should be ashamed to be the owner who orchestrated trading away Cy-Young winners back-to-back years in Sabathia and Cliff Lee.  What really gets me is that we had a $7 million dollar option on Cliff for this year.  It's pathetic that Larry Dolan can't afford that.  This is professional sports, where the best players make well over that number each year.  Lee was recently dealt from Seattle to Texas, where he has continued to prove that he is one of the best pitchers in the league.  Philadelphia has got to be living in regret over not keeping him alongside Halladay.

Regardless, the Tribe faithful will always remain.. but we certainly deserve better than what our current ownership is providing.  No amount of PR can spin the fact that Larry Dolan can't afford to run a team that can win on a nightly basis.

Dolan is content with simply owning a team, he's not too concerned with how they actually perform on the field.  He's the guy who bought a Porsche, then let it sit in the garage for 20 years because he couldn't afford the premium gas.  It takes money to run a Major League Baseball team.  Stop screwing Indians fans out of a respectable franchise. 

The standings back up this claim - The Indians are 15.5 games back in the divison, and have a stronghold on last place; We're even looking up at the Kansas City Royals.  It's a mockery of what this team should be.

A-Rod's Hitless Night keeps him at 599, Yankees win 3-2 at Progressive

Three* years ago from yesterday, the Indians traded Ben Broussard for Shin Soo Choo.. a great day in Tribe history.  The Yankees came to town for a 4 game series last night, and everyone wanted to know if Rodriguez would send his 600th homerun out at Progressive Field.

Derek Jeter started off the game with an out, confirming my belief that he is the most overrated player in baseball.  Swisher might be the only player that I have any respect for on the Yankees, and he flies out as Westbrook cruised through the 1st inning. 

You have to question Manny Acta's decision to bat Michael Brantley leadoff, I mean he's batting .157 on the season.. personally I'd sit him on the bench.  Regardless, Cabrera walks and then Shoo hits a screamer right to Teixeira, who steps on 1st and doubles up Cabrera.  Lucky break for the Yankees.

Travis Hafner keeps his ridiculous hot-streak going and absolutely demolishes a pitch over the right field wall.  That was his 5th straight hit in as many plate appearanaces.  LaPorta struck out after though, what's new.  The Indians took a 1-0 lead into the 3rd inning. 

Jake Westbrook was looking as good as he ever has, and he kept sitting down Yankees hitters.  After 3 innings against baseball's best offensive lineup, the Yankees had exactly 0 hits.  The Tribe unfortunately went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 3rd, I blame Michael Brantley. 

Swisher got the Yankees first hit, a monstrous jack to right field;  He even posed for a second to watch it go out.  I wasn't mad about it, Swisher is the man.  Teixeira walked, and then Alex Rodriguez came up to the plate for his second appearance.  Alex hit a ball into left field that was sinking fast, and Trevor Crowe either caught the ball or it short-hopped into his glove, either way Rodriguez was called out.  Teixeira gets doubled up, and Joe Girardi came out to argue but to no avail.  It was a pretty close call but it goes the way of the Indians. 

Fast-forward to the Top of the 5th when the speedy Curtis Granderson tried to get to 2nd off a hit to the right field wall.  Choo threw a laser directly to Asdrubal at 2nd and he's called out.  Replay showed Granderson was actually safe on the play but the Tribe catches another break.  Asdrubal did catch some spikes on the play but it appeared he would be alright.

At this point the Indians only hit so far was Travis' home-run, but that quickly changed when Jhonny Peralta ended the nonsense by doubling to right field.  LaPorta stepped up to the plate and surprise.. another strike-out.  Trevor Crowe grounds to 2nd and Peralta's leadoff double goes to waste. 

My personal highlight of the Yankees batting in the 6th inning was Derek Jeter striking out.  It is quite a beautiful site; Jeter and A-Rod combined to go 0-8 on the day.  Westbrook was still extra crispy and was working fast.  Jake struck out Swisher after that, Westbrook had 5 strike-outs.  Yankees go 1-2-3 again. 

Yet again in the Top of the 7th, another leadoff double for the Indians came from Jason Donald.  Our first 3 hits were all of the extra-base variety.  Unfortunately poor base-running lead Donald into a rundown after he tried to go to 3rd on a grounder to the pitcher.  I blame Brantley for not hitting it out of the infield. 

After that, it was about time for the Choo-Choo train to make an appearance.  Like clockwork, Shin-Soo doubled and Brantley scored all the way from 1st.  The Indians took a 2-1 lead, and all is well at Progressive.  Stat of the day:  Shin Soo ranks 5th in the American League in On-Base Percentage. 

After Pronk struck out in the bottom of the 7th, LaPorta finally got a hit to left field.  But time after time, we didn't capitalize having runners in scoring position.  The Yankees came up to bat and Westbrook made one critical error serving a pitch up to Granderson. 

Curtis certainly made him pay, obliterating a pitch to deep right field.  Yankees take a 3-2 on the game-changing 421 foot home run.  This has been a common theme for the Indians as of late:  Play well for most of the game but make one big mistake in the form of a multi-run HR.  Westbrook was visibly upset and justifiably so, he had been pitching a gem.  Jeter ended the inning with a grounder to Asdrubal.. Why do people think this guy is good?

The Indians bats stayed quiet for the rest of the night and the Yankees held on to win 3-2.  Westbrook was not about to allow Rodriguez to get #600 off of him last night.  He might have a better shot tonight, when the Tribe sends out Josh Tomlin for his major-league debut.  It's also A-Rod's birthday tonight, so maybe it will happen for him.  Let's say he does hit 600 tonight, how much will that ball go for?  Cleveland's economy could certainly use the boost.  CC Sabathia will be pitching for the Yankees, fans here still have respect for him.  Should be an interesting night, Tomlin will certainly have his hands full with the Yankees lineup.  It's time for the Tribe to start a new winning streak right about now.