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.

Josh Tomlin impresses in his Debut against Yankees, Tribe wins 4-1

Josh Tomlin made his Major League debut last night for the Indians, and he did not disappoint.  Derek Jeter picked up right where he left off and flied out to center, and Tomlin had officially retired his first major league hitter.  Maybe it was just me, but it looked like Tomlin couldn't help but smile as he worked through the 1st inning.  Swisher followed suit, and Teixeira popped up as well.  Tomlin looked impressive and cruised through the inning only throwing 9 pitches.  Pretty good start for a pitcher facing the Yankees in his first appearance. 

Shin-Soo got the Tribe's 1st hit, muscling a ball over the head of Rodriguez.  He wasted no time stealing 2nd, and then Kearns followed with a hit of his own which should have scored Choo.  Unfortunately, Gardner threw a beautiful one-hop to the catch Cervelli who did a great job blocking off the plate.  Choo was called out, but at least the Indians were showing early signs of life. 

Alex Rodriguez led off the 2nd for the Yankees, and after two whiffs he grounded out to Cabrera.  His 600th home run has eluded him in his last 21 bats and counting, and it would not come against Tomlin.  The new Tribe pitcher relies on location and his change-up, as opposed to over-powering hitters.  He did however challenge A-Rod with some fastballs throughout the game, and Alex whiffed on almost every one.  Josh Tomlin retired Cano and Granderson after that, and the rookie had a no-hitter through two innings. 

Gardner struck out to end the Yankees 3rd inning, and the mighty Pinstripes still didn't have a hit against Tomlin.  Yet again, Sabathia put the Indians batters down in order, and after 3 we still had a scoreless game. 

Jeter broke up the no-hitter getting the lead-off hitter in the 4th, but Swisher and Teixeira again would pop-up.  Trying to make something happen in the middle of A-Rod's second at-bat, Jeter was caught stealing 2nd on a great throw by Giminez and the inning ended. 

Cabrera singled to left to start the 4th and the Tribe had their first lead-off batter aboard.  Shin-Soo hit a tough pitch from Sabathia down the left field line, and all the sudden we had men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs.  On a Kearns grounder to 3rd, Rodriguez decided to come home and the throw easily beat Cabrera. 

However, Asdrubal made a heads-up play, kicking the ball out of Cervelli's glove after the tag was applied.  Cabrera was called safe, and the Tribe took an early 1-0 lead.  Shelley Duncan popped up to the 1st baseman, and the Yankees got their first out of the inning.  Jhonny Peralta hit what should have been a routine double play for the over-paid Yankees infield, but Robinson Cano pulled his foot off the bag and everyone was safe.  I'm not quite sure why manager Joe Girardi came out to argue, Cano clearly made a short-bus play by stepping off the bag before he turned the DP.  That gave LaPorta a chance with the bases loaded, and he hit a ball deep enough to serve as a sacrifice fly, scoring Choo.  Donald struck out but the 2 errors cost the Yankees both runs, and we took a 2-0 lead.

A-Rod hit another weak grounder to 1st and still couldn't hit the elusive 600th home-run of his career.  Another impressive inning by Tomlin who retired the Yankees in order for the 4th time so far.

To start the bottom of the 6th, Austin Kearns felt the need to smash a ball to deep center.  Granderson was on his horse and almost made a great catch, but after he collided with the wall, the ball was jarred loose.  Kearns made it all the way to 3rd base.  Duncan took a couple massive cuts but eventually struck out swinging.  After Peralta reached first, LaPorta finally came through and doubled, scoring Choo.  With runners on 2nd and 3rd Sabathia intentionally walked Donald to get to Giminez.  CC couldn't have thought he would walk Giminez to force another run in, but that's exactly what happened.  The Tribe took a 4-0 lead and then Crowe hit into a double play to mercifully end the inning for Sabathia. 

This whole time, Tomlin was making a solid case to be in the Indians rotation.  Through 6 innings, Tomlin had faced the minimum of 18 batters, and had only given up 1 hit to the Yankees.  Not bad for your first big-league outing.  Jeter grounded out to start the 7th and yet again proved why he is over-valued.  Swisher hit a 1-out double and then Teixeira grounded out on a nice play by Cabrera.  A-Rod was next, hoping to get the 600 Monkey off his back.  He did hit a ball pretty deep to right, but not dep enough.  The whole time I'm thinking, "Is Tomlin really shutting out the Yankees in his MLB debut?"  And , "Has CC really not lost a game since May?"  That streak was about to come to an end. 

After Tomlin gave up a lead-off double in the 8th, Manny Acta made the move to the bullpen, and Josh Tomlin walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the Cleveland crowd.  3 hits, 0 walks, simply beautiful shut-out baseball by Tomlin. 

Chris Perez came on to shut the door in the 9th, but it wouldn't come easy.  The Yankees started off the inning with back-to-back singles by Gardner and then Jeter.  Swish popped out for the 1st out, and then Teixeira did the same.  Alex Rodriguez would appropriately be the final batter, representing the tying run at the plate.  Would 600 finally come to fruition, on his 35th birthday?  Nope, groundout to Cabrera and the game is over, and Rodriguez is 0-8 in the series.  That's what you get for taking steroids.