Trying to keep score, not sure if I have it right so please help..............................
keets
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in Sports Talk
Well, the Indians were within a game of being in the World Series last year and now seem intent on dismantling the team. How did that happen???? Let's do a recap..............................
1. Number four starter goes down at the start of the season and then out for the year. Result-----Long relief is affected.
2. Number three and four hitters start the season injured and try to play through it. Ineffective, they wait on the DL, and they wait, and they wait.........................Result-----The entire lineup struggles and gets shuffled while opposing pitchers fear noone and easily find weaknesses.
4. Closer goes down and rehabs unsuccessfully, gets cut. Result-----The set-up man and entire backend of the Bullpen is shuffled.
5. Number two starter goes down and rehabs slowly. Result-----Another starter is hurried in, the Bullpen is further shuffled.
6. Trade the number one starter, shop anyone to everyone and find blame for shallow pockets.
I've been a Cleveland fan since my earliest memories of sitting in the driveway on lawn chairs with my dad, listening to Jimmy Dudley and Herb Score on the ol' transistor radio. It was tough then but I was a child and it was the early 1960's so HOPE was eternal. I'm older and wiser now and it hasn't changed much. My dad always referred to us as "the Yankees farm team" for our propensity to develop players and them trade them away so we could watch them help another team win the Series. But he was lucky, he got to watch the 1948 team win it all and other great teams and players in an era that was totally, totally different.
This one hurts cause the player involved was something special. I'm actually amazed that in this day and age there is such short term patience and planning. The Cleveland Indians are indeed struggling this year but the circumstances surrounding it all are quite unique. Certainly it's easy to point fingers and criticize the team, but from my perspective it's a lot more complex than all the TV gurus lay it out to be. Maybe I'm a simpleton, but I can't see the justification for tearing apart the team with all that's happened leading up to this disasterous trade.
Al H.
1. Number four starter goes down at the start of the season and then out for the year. Result-----Long relief is affected.
2. Number three and four hitters start the season injured and try to play through it. Ineffective, they wait on the DL, and they wait, and they wait.........................Result-----The entire lineup struggles and gets shuffled while opposing pitchers fear noone and easily find weaknesses.
4. Closer goes down and rehabs unsuccessfully, gets cut. Result-----The set-up man and entire backend of the Bullpen is shuffled.
5. Number two starter goes down and rehabs slowly. Result-----Another starter is hurried in, the Bullpen is further shuffled.
6. Trade the number one starter, shop anyone to everyone and find blame for shallow pockets.
I've been a Cleveland fan since my earliest memories of sitting in the driveway on lawn chairs with my dad, listening to Jimmy Dudley and Herb Score on the ol' transistor radio. It was tough then but I was a child and it was the early 1960's so HOPE was eternal. I'm older and wiser now and it hasn't changed much. My dad always referred to us as "the Yankees farm team" for our propensity to develop players and them trade them away so we could watch them help another team win the Series. But he was lucky, he got to watch the 1948 team win it all and other great teams and players in an era that was totally, totally different.
This one hurts cause the player involved was something special. I'm actually amazed that in this day and age there is such short term patience and planning. The Cleveland Indians are indeed struggling this year but the circumstances surrounding it all are quite unique. Certainly it's easy to point fingers and criticize the team, but from my perspective it's a lot more complex than all the TV gurus lay it out to be. Maybe I'm a simpleton, but I can't see the justification for tearing apart the team with all that's happened leading up to this disasterous trade.
Al H.
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Comments
I know it's hard being a fan to see a team make these kinds of moves but they had no choice and it wasn't going to turn around this season no matter how hard they tried.
it's disgusting.
Hopefully a couple of the kids pan out and they spend some of that money to add a player or 2.
At least for Indians fans he went to the NL, at least for the next few months.
I jump ovre here every once in a while just for a change of pace from coins, espcially when basketball season rolls around.
Regarding baseball............................, boring.
The Tribes season was doomed when both Hafner and Martinez went down for the count. There is no offense, it cost them last year not having a solid veteran bat and it certainly would have helped this year. Laffey is the real deal and Lee is showing his true colors. Time to jettison Byrd and bring up some other kids.
Better to rebuild now, and quickly then hang around. The Division crown will be well within reach in a year or two.
<< <i>Sabbathia is just an injury waiting to happen. With that body and his inability to get into shape he won't last 6-7 years. >>
Yeah, look what happened to Colon. Lucky for Cleveland, it was the Angels ending up holding the bag.
as for the problems, it's much, much more complex than what's made out in the press. with the injuries the Tribe has had they've been forced to accelerate the development of players, take players out of established roles, move hitters to a place in the order that doesn't fit them and play "russian roulette" with the line-up and players that need to be gone/reassigned/riding the bench. the end result is confusion, lack of personality and sinking morale. the team overall isn't as bad as they look, it's just that there are so many players forced to do what they aren't capable of doing or aren't suited to do.
Peralta is constantly harangued here by the media and fans. he isn't a clean-up hitter, he's number 6-7 and does well there. even though Jamey Carroll has done well, he isn't a number two hitter, probably 7-8. Garko has done poorly but he'd be having a much better season if he was batting behind a healthy Hafner and Martinez in the number five slot. the corner outfielders have been plattooned to such a degree that none of them get any time to figure things out when they get in a rut. my perspective is that Wedge did more damage than realizes when he juggled the line-up trying to find something that works.
don't even get me started on the pitching!!!