Too Much Trading?
You know, I gave up on this baseball season before the All-Star break, but for some reason I can’t stop watching.
I knew that Fausto Carmona was going to lose the game tonight. Jen will even vouch for the fact that I said that David Ortiz would in fact hit a game winning home run to end the misery.
Knowing that it is going to happen doesn’t really help quell the f-bombs forming at the tip of my tongue. I know that the season is over, but do you really have to demoralize all the players left as well as any and all the fans who are still willing to watch the team on TV?
And do you want to know why I knew that the game was over?
Carmona put two runners on base. He got one guy to pop out and then Eric Wedge held a conference at the mound before Big Papi stepped to the plate. And what did I see?
Andy Marte, age 22, Victor Martinez, age 27, Hector Luna, age 26, Jhonny Peralta, age 24, and Kelly Shoppach, age 26 meeting in the middle of the diamond to talk strategy with manager Eric Wedge and new rookie closer Fausto Carmona, age 22.
These players might end up being ok, if they can ever pick their self-confidence out of the geological fault that they have been tossed into by Mark Shapiro and Cleveland Indians ownership.
From a pure business standpoint, I understand the dumping of salaries and players who can bring something of value back in trade. At the same time, you just can’t deplete the roster to the point that you give your team a setback, and I fear that this is exactly what is happening to all these young players who put together such an impressive year last season.
Again, I understand what it means to not be in contention and trying to make the best of a bad situation. You must operate with an eye toward the future. At the same time, to some extent, the future is now with a lot of these young players, and you don’t want to ruin their careers by putting them in a position where they don’t have nearly enough tools to succeed.
Big Papi’s 3-run, game winning, walk off, heart stomper of a homerun leads me to believe that maybe Mark Shapiro and Cleveland Indians management went a little too far with this concept of rebuilding and looking to next year.
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I don’t see how you can call it “rebuilding” when its more of a purge. I don’t call it “rebuilding” when i boot after too many beers… We had one of the better pitching staffs last season, and they shat on that one right quick. By dumping Millwood, Howry, and arguably Ellarton, we basically gave up for this year before it started. The Tribe has the 2nd best batting average in the AL, but we can’t manage to keep enough runs on the board to outlast our horrendous bullpen. Yesterday was no surprise, as we should’ve had that game won by the 7th or 8th run we put up. With the addition of Shin-Soo Choo and Marte, we are nearly the youngest team in baseball. 2010?
“If Papi lines/grounds into a double play, however, we’re having a completely different discussion. It was one pitch. Carmona will get his, I think. And what about Sowers? He’s been super-fun to watch.”
That’s the kind of discussion I have with myself around 6:30 on most game-nights. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to watch…
Looking toward next year? Is that what they’re doing?
Shapiro is too young to remember, but this all reminds me of the early ’70’s … and it ends with a scene with one of the other 300 fans watching the game at the Stadium (you know “THE Stadium”), sitting behind me in the upper deck behind home, yelling, “Kuiper, you’re an alcoholic;” and Kuiper, walking to home plate, giving him the finger.
Is this the kind of intimacy we can expect next season?
Let’s just say that they didn’t make Major League about the Cleveland Indians for nothing.
I had to check the date on this post … it could have been written a couple more times.