Baseball America: Indians “Stray From Consensus,” Sign Dominican Outfielder
July 3, 2012NFL News: Bounty Suspensions Upheld by Goodell
July 3, 2012Cleveland GM Chris Antonetti was interviewed yesterday on the MLB Network. Here is the video of that interview-
Highlights of the interview-
“Antonetti on Chris Perez and how vocal he is: ‘I think with Chris, everything’s coming from the right place with him. He’s a guy that’s a great teammate. He really believes in himself and the team that we’ve built here. I think what he’s trying to say is we’ve got a great team that’s been very competitive in a great environment and wants our fans to come out and enjoy the game. I think that’s the foundation from which Chris’s comments have come. Obviously, we’d maybe wish he’d choose his words a little bit differently, but they’re coming from the right place.'”
“Antonetti on Grady Sizemore’s rehabilitation: ‘Grady’s been rehabbing. He’s a little bit further behind. He’s a couple of weeks away right now. He’s hitting on the field. He’s started throwing, but he’s yet to start running…Hopefully, after the All-Star break, he’ll pick those up and he’ll be able to rejoin the team shortly thereafter.'”
“Antonetti on how much salary the team can take on: ‘Right now, we anticipate having any means of financial flexibility to improve the team. We have not been given any direction otherwise. I think the Dolans have a demonstrated track record of showing that when the team is in the hunt, they’ll give us the resources we need to improve the team.'”
There you go.
14 Comments
“I think the Dolans have a demonstrated track record of showing that when the team is in the hunt, they’ll give us the resources we need to improve the team,”…I must have missed when this happened prior.
you and me both!
Grady is not coming back. Choo is our leadoff and Brants is our CF/LF. We need a right handed CF or LF and the rest of our team to step up. I would also like to see Carlos 1B more and let Lou do his thing.
When is Canzler getting his shot?
Indians added 15 million in payroll from 2005 to 2006, 17 million from 2007 to 2008, and 16 mill from 2011 to 2012. But don’t let facts get in the way of your continued ranting.
LoL hey buddy how’s your day? Hey thanks for the enlightening information I mean they sure spent that $16M wisely huh? Who knows maybe if they had spent $17M they’d be 2 games over .500 and just one behind Chicago. They didn’t want to give Willingham, a player who reportedly wanted to come here, an extra year and they didn’t want Cody Ross but hey, they spent $16M which I’m sure ranks them among the top spenders this offseason in the AL huh? Would you look that up for me and let me know I gotta get back to some more ranting. I’m a rant, rant, rant machine watch me get down, watch me get down! Have a nice day!
Most of that money was on annual raises to players we already had. Was not spent on free agents that were going to improve our team in any significant way.
Willingham wasn’t signed because at the time the Indians had pencilled in Sizemore as their starting CF (Brantley in LF), and Willingham is a defensive liability at 1B. So they went after Carlos Pena and eventually Carlos Beltran, and offered competitive contracts to both men, who signed elsewhere for issues besides money.
As good as Willingham has been offensively, let’s not pretend like there wasn’t some wisdom in that. His production this year wasn’t really forseeable (it is his best year to date so far, and he’s 33), can’t play defense, would have been without a position, and is already past 30.
Average 9th highest salary in MLB during the Jacobs era, average 22nd highest salary during the Dolan era. But don’t let those facts get in the way of your response Steve
For this market, for any team, it is a longshot that any free agent will significantly improve the team. We will never be able to outbid the big boys for the elite players, and, even the Cavs with Lebron were not enough of a draw for players to not require an extra surcharge to come.
The increase payroll was there. It was better used to keep the players already here (the only ones willing to really negotiate in faith).
There were multiple reports that the Indians were prepared to sign him but for just two years. He wanted a third and the Indians balked. So there was interest.
Ah, the classically misdefined “Jacobs era” (or an outright lie). From 1986-1999, the average Indians payroll ranked about 16th. Most of these era had only 26 teams. From 2000-2012, The Indians average Indians payroll ranked 19th out of 30. A slight difference. Considering Jacobs had a brand new park to use for half his ownership, and got out just before the tv contracts exacerbated the difference between large and small markets, he unequivocally did not outspend the Dolans.
Steve,
why can’t a small market team outspend a big market team? Because the owners won’t. They can if they want to. The only thing stopping them is greed. If they wanted a winner they would spend like Detroit
The only thing stopping Dolan from outbidding the Yankees for Sabathia was greed? I want what you’re drinking. The Yankees blew every other bid out of the water to ensure he would not go anywhere else.
Detroit is not a small market, and the Tigers are financed by the Red Wings who can no longer outspend everyone in the NHL because of a salary cap.
its still greed The Dolans could have taken a bath to win but they won’t. Not only that but they wont spend what it takes to compete. Ask yourself this …. How different would the Browns or Indians look if Gilbert was the owner. Steinbrener would spend whatever it took. I will admit that’s not the way you run a team long term but when you have the window you take it. The Indians right now are happy to let us think its all about money it gives them an excuse.