LaIndianFan

Ways to improve baseball

In The Boston Phoenix, Lance Gould published “20 ways to improve sports”.

 

His baseball suggestions are:

 

1.     A salary cap

 

2.     Abolish the rainout:  “Whenever play stops for weather (or earthquake), pick it up from there and resume the game at the next available date.”

 

3.     Eliminate runners leading off bases to shorten the games

 

The one that is of interest to me is establishing a salary cap. He mentions how the Yankees bought three high priced free agents which enabled them to win the World Series.

 

“Some of that money is available thanks to the cash the Yankees saved when they got a publicly funded sweetheart deal on their brand-spanking-new stadium.”

 

Well, duh.

 

It is the Hot Stove League time, and almost every rumor afloat is about the Yankees, Red Sox or Mets in on every player.  They have the money, so why not?

 

What about the other teams?  My Cleveland Indians cannot afford a free agent signing this off season. There are other teams in the same boat.

 

Institute a damn salary cap, Commissioner Selig.  You have proved that you are a owner’s commissioner.  You have proved that with a rare exception the rich teams make the World Series each season. You have proved that certain teams never have a chance—which means you have total disregard for their fans.

 

Institute a damn salary cap, Commissioner Selig.

 

Bring the fans in every city some hope. Bring the fans of every team something to root for in June, July, and beyond.

Bring the fans of baseball some chance of parity.

 

Baseball used to be our national pastime. Long Gone!

Baseball is about the Yankees, Red Sox, and the other rich teams.

 

We, the fans of other teams, we the fans of baseball, we, the haters of the Yankees and Red Sox, deserve better.

 

Hear our voice, O Commissioner, not the voices of the fat cat owners.

 

Institute a damn salary cap.

 

 

 

Cleveland Indians: good news and bad news

Good:  Sandy Alomar is back and he will work with the catchers particularly Carlos Santana.

 

Bad:  Tory Lovullo did not make the Indians coaching staff and might be snapped up by another team.

 

G:  Eric Wedge might become the Mets’ bench coach, reducing the Indians’ financial obligation to him.

 

B: Successful Aeros Manager Mike Sarbaugh did not get a job with the big club.

 

G:  Scott Radinsky will be the Indians’ bullpen coach and hopefully work his magic with those relief pitchers who need him.

 

B: Loyal Joel Skinner is out of work.

 

G:  People around baseball are beginning to recognize the quality player that Shin-Soo Choo is.

 

B: Nick Welgarz needed surgery.

 

G: Nick Welgarz will be fine by spring training.

 

 

He Played for Cleveland: Cy Young

     

 

Denton True "Cy" Young pitched for 5 major league teams from 1890 to 1911.

 

His records include 511 career wins, 7,355 innings pitched, 815 career games started, and 749 complete games.

 

He began his career with the Cleveland Spiders in 1890.  He played in Cleveland for 8 seasons. The American League was started in 1901 and he returned to the Cleveland Naps for the 1911 season. He won 270 games for Cleveland in 12 seasons.

 

His career is considered to be a bridge from early baseball to modern baseball. In 1937 he was inducted in the Hall of Fame.

 

The Cy Young Award was created in 1956.

 

The Yankees belong in a league of their own.

The New York Yankees top ten salaries for 2009:

 

1. Alex Rodriguez       33,000,000

2. Derek Jeter             21,600,000

3. Mark Teixeira          20,625,000

4. A.J. Burnett             16,500,000

5. CC Sabathia            15,285,714

6. Mariano Rivera       15,000,000

7. Jorge Posada           13,100,000

8 a. Johnny Damon     13,000,000

8 b. Hideki Matsui      13,000,000

10. Robinson Cano       6,000,000

 

That is $166 million.  The salaries of the ten players exceed the annual salaries of all the other 29 teams.

 

The Yankees total salaries for 2009 are $208 million. That exceeds the combined total of the five teams with the lowest total salaries by $55 million. The Yankees total salaries for 2009 are $63 greater than that of the second highest team the Mets. The Cleveland Indians total salaries for 2009 was $66,700,00.

 

The lowest salaried team to make the playoff was the Twins who were 23^rd with $67,600,000.

 

The other playoff teams were 4^th, 6^th, 8^th, 11^th, 13^th, and 21^st.

 

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can buy world championships.

 

The Yankees belong in a league of their own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010 Cleveland Indians looking up from the bottom

The preseason 2010 MLB power polls are starting to appear.  So far, the Indians are ranked last, dead last, number 30. That is below Pittsburgh, Kansas City and even Washington.

 

You may remember all the old Cleveland jokes:

 

Next Tuesday everyone in Cleveland will turn their garbage disposal on backwards to clean out Lake Erie.

 

The head of the Cleveland sports car rally drives a Rambler.

 

The gourmet snack in Cleveland is Velvetta on a Ritz.

 

Being number 30 is no joking matter. It reflects on the Dolans and on Mark Shapiro. Right now the team is so low it can play handball against the curb.

 

What do they need to do to rise up on the polls?

 

Win games and show that the future of the Cleveland Indians is quite bright by developing players into top-notch major leaguers.

 

Start with the pitching. Their annual summer sale brought in basketfuls of pitching prospects; none of them so far appear to be premium, with most of them mid grade or low test.

Their minor league system already had a few prospects who can be developed into major league pitchers.

 

Manny Acta better be fast Acta in action. He must resurrect the careers of those prospects who started well and fell back to Earth. He must send the newer prospects who make the team in a direction that will instill excellence of performance into their systems.

 

2010 is not supposed to be a season for contention. 2010 is to be a year of seasoning, teaching, and developing those players who will sky rocket the Indians back up in the polls and into contention for 2011 and beyond.

 

 

Should professional sports teams be owned by their communities?

The other day I was talking to someone who believes that professional sports teams should be owned by their communities. He cited the example of the Green Bay Packers.

This way the fans would support their investments and control would be local.

 

Did you know that the Sacramento Kings began as the Rochester Royals,and then became the Cincinnati Royals,

the Kansas City Kings,the Kansas City/Omaha Kings, and then finally the Sacramento Kings?

   

How about the Braves from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta or the A’s from Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland?

      

Don’t you think that the loyal fans were hurt by these moves? I was a big Los Angeles Rams fan. They moved to St. Louis to replace the Cardinals who were allowed to move to Arizona. My interest in football died.

I live in Los Angeles. The McCourt’s, who own the Dodgers, are having a bitter divorce with the couple battling each other through their attorneys with too much information in the media. They have never been popular in Los Angeles, they are considered carpetbaggers from Boston. T. J. Simers, sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, called them “The Boston Parking Lot Attendant, and “The Screaming Meanie”. Their coddling of Manny Ramirez has been highly criticized and rightfully so.

 

San Diego Padres owner John Moores has been forced to sell the team because he is getting divorced. The team has been in flux, performing dismally, and unable to spend money for players.

 

Years ago, when Peter O’Malley was ready to sell the Dodgers franchise, what if the community had purchased the shares instead of the instead of the disastrous sale to Fox?

 

There would have been pride and local ownership.

 

Would the team have become a sports team instead of a business investment?

The Yankees win the world series.

So what!

 

They buy the best players. They have the most money. They have the largest market. And baseball is a business not a sport.

 

And Washington is still first in war, first in peace, and last in the National League.

 

The sun will still rise tomorrow unless the clouds block it.

 

And baseball will still be centered around the big boys, and then there is everyone else.

 

Why no salary cap Mr. Selig? The other major professional sports leagues have them. Did you like having the Red Sox and the Yankees in the playoffs every year, on television all the time, and leading the sports new programs on television?

 

I don’t.  ESPN seems to think that there are Red Sox and the Yankees and 28 other teams. Next year the headline can be the same only maybe it will be the Red Sox turn to win the Series.

 

What about baseball fans around the country? Do their favorite or home teams really have a chance against the big market teams? Mr. Selig, you ran a smaller market team, the Brewers. How did you feel when they were barely competitive against the big market clubs?

 

When the Yankees or the Red Sox lose a player to injury, or a player does not meet their expectations, or they need additional players for the stretch drive, they go out and acquire new ones. The other teams cannot do this without harming their future. Plus these two teams have the money to sign and develop their farm system—they are able to pay more in prospect bonuses and more for scouts and minor league coaches.

 

It is obvious that you are an owner’s commissioner.  How about being a fan’s commissioner?

 

Start by having day World Series games at least on the weekend. Then make other changes including an International draft and a salary cap.

Cleveland Indians fans are you enjoying watching the World Series?

Did you like CC versus Cliff?

 

How about two big market teams competing?

 

Who are you rooting for?

 

I am rooting for the Phillies simply because I hate the Yankees and everything that they represent!

 

Meanwhile are you following the modicum of Indians news? The news, as little as there is, is about the search for coaches and the progress of Indians players in Arizona and other leagues.

 

Following the World Series there is a long wait for Spring Training. Meanwhile, during that period there is the Rule 5 Draft, the Winter Meetings, the free agent signing period and other off-the-field, behind-the-scenes activities.

 

I look to see who wins the Series games, hopefully the Phillies, because I cannot stand to watch the Series with the Yankees playing.

Thoughts about the Cleveland Indians new manager

The Indians cannot beat out other teams for high priced free agents. However, they can overpay for mediocre ballplayers. Yet, they beat out the Houston Astros for Manny Acta.

I am glad that Bobby Valentine did not get the job. He might have put himself above the team.

 

Bobby Cox, manager of the Atlanta Braves, (according to Terry Pluto) called the Indians and endorsed Acta to be their manager.  His well respected voice lends a lot of credence to Acta.

 

Acta has three main immediate tasks.  He must select a diverse coaching staff.

 

I hope that Lovullo is on the 2010 coaching staff. Maybe the team will include Akron Aeros manager Mike Sarbaugh too.

 

I think that Scott Radinsky moving up from Columbus would make a great pitching coach.

   

Secondly, he must study videos of the team from last year and familiarize himself with the American League, particularly the Central Division teams.

 

Thirdly, he has to contact and reach out to the players—particularly those who need a boost:  Carmona, Peralta, and R. Perez.

Future Cleveland Indians headlines that would surprise you

Carlos Santana to be Lou Marson’s backup.

 

Chris Giminez wins the batting title.

 

Jeremy Sowers leads the league in complete games.

 

Carlos Carrasco wins the ERA title.

 

Andy Marte to be the regular third baseman.

 

Albert Belle to become the Indians bench coach.

 

Indians reacquire Milton Bradley.

Charlie Manual leaves Phillies to return as Indians manager.

 

Nick Hagadone jumps from single A ball to Tribe bullpen.

 

Omaz Vizquel to manage and play for the Indians rookie league team.

 

Brandon Phillips would like to play for Eric Wedge again.

CC says that he would rather play for Cleveland.

 

Cliff Lee misses the Indians organization.

 

Victor Martinez signs with the Indians at a big discount.

Indians resign Ryan Garko.

 

 

Attention: Do you wear a Yankees cap?

Are you a fan of the Yankees?  Do you live in New York or vicinity?

 

Do you know that the New York Yankees are a symbol of corporate greed?

 

Yes, corporate greed. You read about and are appalled at the large bonuses handed out by Wall Street, banks, and other large corporations. Many of these firms also received a government bailout.

 

The city of New York contributed 363 millions dollars towards the new Yankee Stadium.  There are other reports that government agencies provided in excess of 1 billion dollars for the new stadium.

 

Still want to wear your Yankees hat?

 

In 2007, before the move to the new stadium with its new endorsements and accoutrements, the Yankees were valued at over 1 billions dollars.

 

They spend the most and gross the most.

 

Still want to wear your Yankees hat?

 

General Motors was once the world’s largest car manufacturer and the largest corporation in the world.

 

Not anymore. There is hope for the financial downfall of the Yankees.

 

There is hope for the Yankees to not make the playoffs and the World Series.

 

If you are a baseball fan pick a middle or small market team to root for.

 

If you just like to wear a baseball cap, select a minor league team or a retro cap as long as it is not from a New York team.