OVER 4 MILLION IN SAVINGS!!!

[furls]

By slashing their payroll this year and dumping this team completely back into rebuild mode, Larry Dolan has saved himself 4million dollars! Nice work buddy. I am sure you'll put that in the coffers to spend, "when the time is right!"

I wait with baited breath to see what this savings will bring us in the off season free agent market!

[consigliere]

By slashing their payroll this year and dumping this team completely back into rebuild mode, Larry Dolan has saved himself 4million dollars! Nice work buddy. I am sure you'll put that in the coffers to spend, "when the time is right!"

I wait with baited breath to see what this savings will bring us in the off season free agent market!

First off, trading away roster filler and players who were free agents after this season does not put us back into rebuild mode. What core player was traded away?

Second, how is trading away these players and cutting payroll for a team going nowhere this year ANY DIFFERENT for any other team? Guess all the other teams that traded away their players didn't save any money by doing so.....

Good grief.

[furls]

First off, trading away roster filler and players who were free agents after this season does not put us back into rebuild mode. What core player was traded away?

so you look at this year as a step forward? Good grief. Look at it with some perspective, at the end of last year would you have thought it was acceptable for the Indians to be 26 games back and well out of the wild card in mid august?

Dont get me wrong, I said a while ago that small market teams need to jump on every chance to compete or settle for rebuilding, but no matter what they cannot afford to be mediocre. What has happened to this team this year is a travesty and someone, anyone should be held accountable.

Second, how is trading away these players and cutting payroll for a team going nowhere this year ANY DIFFERENT for any other team? Guess all the other teams that traded away their players didn't save any money by doing so.....

There is a core? Do tell. A DH, a CF, and a Pitcher do not make a core. Right now the indians are starting a scrub in left, a hack at short, the worst defensive catcher in baseball, and 4 guys who started the year in AAA. This is not rebuilding how?

It isnt necessarily any different, except that in other cases you see this money reinvested back into the team. With Dolan's track record, what do you think will happen this year? Frankly Dolan is cheap and he overpayed for this franchise and really cannot afford it. Unfortunately, we the fans will be the ones to continue to pay for it.

Chris Spielman had an interesting quote, not specifically regarding the Indians, on the radio the other day. Closely paraphrased, he said basically why should fans remain committed to a team when the owner shows no commitment to putting a winning a team on the field.

[consigliere]

Simply put, you said this "By slashing their payroll this year and dumping this team completely back into rebuild mode."

Hence, my reply that dumping a bunch of roster filler and pending FAs doesn't put us in rebuild mode.

Anyway, yes, we have taken a step back this year. But, this team also is severely underperforming and is not as bad as it seems. In Baseball Prospectus' expected wins determination, the Indians are playing 15 game below what they should be, and in fact should be in 2nd place in the AL Central and only 4 games behind the Tigers.

There will be some changes this offseason, and actually, maybe this season has been a blessing in disguise. There is no excuse this offseason not to make a couple significant moves in FA or trade.

Dolan has spent before, and I still believe he will. Payroll did increase by 33% this year from $42M to $56M. Until we take a step backward in that department in the offseason, I still believe he'll have this team with a payroll in hte high $60s to low $70s year and year out, probably starting next year.

[furls]

I sincerely hope that the team loses all the rest of its games and wedge gets fired. (maybe not to that extreme, but you get the idea). When a whole team underperforms as bad as this team has, you must look at the management. A couple of guys dont do that well, well, that can be a slump or a team folding in the face of expectation, but when a team shows with as much regularity as the Indians, a complete break down in fundamentals.... well, that is another thing all together.

I rate the head coach of a football team based largely on issues of team discipline, things like penalties and turnovers. I rate baseball managers based on fielding, plate discipline, and baserunning in much the same manner. One or two guys with plate discipline like vlad guerrero or base running and fielding like manny ramirez does not make a statement about the manager, but when the whole team looks like this it has to either be the fault of the manager or the GM (only if the talent on the field is absent). I think in this case the talent was largely there, but what was missing was the type of accountability that a manager is supposed to bring to a team.