WFNY Survivor Pool
September 2, 2008You May Want To Sit For This One…
September 3, 2008Every season in pro sports is a roller coaster, regardless of what sport you are watching. We know this as much as any fan base in the country. There is a reason that this site is called Waiting For Next Year, right? Well, this year’s Indians squad squandered every bit of expectations that we might have had in short order this year. Blame it on what you will, but these guys kind of ruined our summer.
As we were finally coming to grips with the fact that there were countless holes in the Tribe’s entire system, they have started to play pretty well. Granted there is still a giant gaping hole at third base (batting just over 200 at the time of this writing,) but the rest of the team has started to respond. Ryan Garko doesn’t look listless anymore. Franklin Gutierrez looks like he might be able to contribute something. Peralta remembered how to hit. The team has started a full-on resurgence, no matter that it is too late to make a difference this season.
So now the question is are you angry that this team didn’t play well at the beginning of the year? Are you relieved that this team is probably not as bad as we might have thought at various points this season? Or is it a combination of both?
For me, I can’t blame anyone who might be angry. This team stunk. On May 23rd the Indians finished a seven game losing streak before finally beating the Rangers 5-2 on May 24th. That was the low water mark (so far,) and at that time the team was 23-26 and well on their way to buying CC Sabathia his bus ticket out of town.
Then again, I am relieved now that the Indians have shown they can streak in the other direction. Since that horrendous losing streak the Indians have proven they can play well by going on streaks of five wins and ten wins. While there are still question marks at third, second and in the bullpen, it appears that the Indians will be able to compete next year.
Finally, I think being both angry and relieved is a natural reaction. Think about the fact that we have two amazing performances by individual players with Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee, while it hasn’t translated into team success in the standings. It sets the Tribe up for next season, which is nice, but who knows if the 20-win Cliff Lee will ever show his face again?
Where are you all on this?
22 Comments
It is likely a sign of a break from reality that late last week I was trying to figure out exactly how many games the Tribe would have to win over their last month of games in order to make the playoffs, either from the Central or as the wild card.
With an elimination number of sixteen (in the Central) and twenty-seven games left in the season, I suppose I don’t need to worry about it too much anymore.
Relieved? Angry? It’s college football season — ask me in March.
I am disappointed to see such wonderful seasons put up by Lee and Sizemore only propel the Tribe out of the division cellar (imagine how many wins Lee would have right now if he had run support, oh my gosh!).
Most of all though, I am relieved. Would we have traded away Sabathia, Byrd or Blake if we were still in contention? Of course not, but because of those trades I feel like we are reloaded for next year and the years to come.
Absolutely 100% angry and disappointed. We were a legit World Series contender going into the season and are going to finish in the middle of a heated debate as to who was the biggest disappointment in major league baseball; us or Detroit. I do not understand how anyone can be relieved after such a miserable year. As Clevelnad fans we need to expect and demand better. This season is unacceptable with the talent we had (and still have) on the roster.
So Mike, who do you blame? Are you in the Wedge hating contingent?
personally speaking, u can’t blame wedge for travis and vic being injured…it’s just an off year. and mike, as for “expecting and demanding better”?? we are cleveland fans..i NEVER expect any diferent than what we got…a good team that underperformed most of the year. here’s to the great phrase “pitchers and catchers reporting” in february…
I’m sure I missed the ball on this one but I like the work Craig.. glad you’re writing for the site as well.
Hopefully next year the team keeps the ball rolling next year. I hope this late surge doesn’t keep Wedge thinking he can keep managing minimally next year.
Personally, until they’re more than 5 out on September 15th, I’m not considering them out of the division race. Call me crazy, but the Twins and White Sox are looking pretty bad of late, and the Tribe can easily pounce on them the next couple weeks. Then again, I won’t be too disappointed if they don’t come back, at least they’ll be back next year.
Imagine if CC would have gone 9-0 in his next nine starts WITH the Indians. We’d be hunting for a playoff spot.
Can embarrassed be an option on this one? I just hope we aren’t having this conversation in December about the Browns.
Thanks Ron… you didn’t miss anything. This is my first article here at WFNY. I am very happy that the proprietors of this site were nice enough to welcome me into the fold.
In fairness, it *was* an even numbered year. It was probably silly to expect them to be good. Go Indians in {YEAR % 2 == 1}!
I feel a bit let down, but its Cleveland so whats new?
I was glad to see that while Cliff and Grady had their great years they kept it classy. You never saw them bitching to the media about their teammates, they didn’t call out their managers or the organization, no one demanded a trade, they kept quiet and had great years. Its good to see that type of player in Cleveland, it gives me faith that we can turn things around because we’ve got team players like that on the roster.
Hoy
I think that, much like the impending Browns season, everything went right the previous year and it looked like they were ready to take the next step. So, disappointed? Absolutely. Angry? Nah. There are so many other things to direct my anger to in this world that a bunch of guys chucking a white ball around just doesn’t get me mad.
I heard Mike and Mike playing the “what if they hadn’t traded Sabathia?” card this morning on their show, and I have to say that while hindsight is 20/20, if anyone can point to signs that this type of play was coming from this team at the time of the Sabathia and Blake deals, I defy you to show it to me. Fact is, at the end of the year, CC was gone, regardless. I’m glad we have LaPorta and won’t be hamstrung by paying CC $22 million a year. If the Tribe pulls a Rockies this year and somehow sneaks in, I would certainly be happy, but let’s also remember that CC wasn’t exactly dominating in the post-season last year, either.
This season was basically sunk by the fact that Victor, Travis, Fausto, and Jake all went down within relative proximity to each other. You can’t lose 4 of your 6 best players that close together and expect to maintain.
I’m encouraged by the improvement of Gutierrez, though I’m also very wary (having seen Karim Garcia tear it up in meaningless August and September games before). I’m encouraged by the development of Shoppach. I like Ben Francisco. I like Reyes. I like how Jensen Lewis has looked as a closer.
So, disappointed? Yes. Angry? No. Finding the best of a bad situation? Trying to.
I’d have to say I’m cautiously relieved. They didn’t live up to expectations, but that’s baseball. Early in the season we gathered some negative momentum with the bad bullpen and injuries, and all of a sudden the entire lineup was pressing. It seemed like no one worked the count for weeks (something that did make me angry). These guys are showing they’re capable of performing, so there’s hope.
As for Lee, I think he’ll continue this success because he’s done it with control. Hafner worries me though. What will it take for Wedge to bench him and how long does it take to find/develop a suitable replacement?
I tried to post this yesterday, but I guess it didn’t go through…
My anger (which still hasn’t gone away) is over the earlier treatment of the Indians’ management of injuries — insisting on playing Hafner and Victor, ignoring or downplaying the extent of their injuries (and we’d later find in interviews with Wedge that he did, in fact, know of the seriousness of the injuries). That decision probably cost us several games and only managed to exacerbate their injuries. It is plausible that had they sat Victor and Hafner earlier, we’d have had Shoppach producing like he is now back then, and Choo emerging as he is now back then. Had that been the case, we may not have not parted with the guys we parted with and we’d be in the playoff hunt.
Of course, those are all conditional speculations. I am relieved, in any event, that the team started being honest about injuries as the season wore on. Hopefully this is a lesson learned. I am with anyone else who is optimistic about next year (and I think there’s something to being superstitious about odd-numbered years).
If only the Gladiators would have won the Arena Bowl this year….all the pain would be away.
Really, all this season tells me is that none of the Cleveland teams (except perhaps the LeBrons, and that’s just because of him) can ever perform when there are any kind of expectations for them. Which doesn’t bode well for the Browns…
To answer the question, I’m angry at the early season performance, but I’m relieved that it’s not due to a failure of the talent as is shown by the late resurgence. This team can be good, they just need to figure it out mentally and perform under pressure.
Put me in the angry camp as well. I think LaundroMat makes an excellent point regarding the team’s handling of the injury situation and the impact that likely had on early season performances. Generally, I think that Shapiro and Wedge’s personnel decisions have been despicable – for instance, the decision to keep Francisco in AAA to start the year and let the infamous Delluci/Michaels duo patrol left field. I still fail to understand why Lofton wasn’t brought back if for no other reason than depth (and a little good will).
More importantly, I think that once again we’ve seen the failure of an Eric Wedge team under high expectations. Not once, ONCE has this team under Wedge lived up to high expectations. Their biggest victories came in the NYY playoff series when everyone expected the Yankees to roll them and then the first three wins of the BOS series in the ALCS. What happened once they were expected to seal the deal? Choke. Wedge is used to dealing with the no pressure minor league situations. Until we get a manager who is proven to be adept at dealing with high expectations seasons, we’re going to get this let downs fairly regularly. If the pattern holds, the Indians should be good again next year – after this year, everyone will be off the bandwagon and skeptical.
not sure how anyone can be angry. we had a bunch of guys with career years last season – and everyone expected them to repeat? Big, household names like Ryan Garko, Asdrubal Cabrera and Franklin Gutierrez?
I caught Monday’s game at the Prog with a friend who is a W-Sox fan. His comment summed up our season:
“who the [blank] are these guys, anyways?”
I would love to say i’m not angry because professional sports is more business then passion… but tell that to the fans… it’s all passion for us so yes i’m angry, i’m dissapointed but i have thoroughly enjoyed our current winning streak (although we’re losing now to the ws) I believe it was back in May i told myself i just hope they finish third and a head of detriot. Hopefully next year they will come in stronger and show everyone that Cleveland is not a dead town. Now talk about injuries hurting the Indians i can only imagine whats in store for us with the Browns with so many injuries that accured in meaningless games.
Me, I’m kind of tired of hearing the “injury” mantra from the manager and organization. Yes, Hafner, Martinez, Westbrook … but what was Haf doing last season after May? Martinez was missed badly, but even when Westbrook went down, he wasn’t that effective last season until the end. And the starting pitching was not the big problem this year – Laffey was good for a while. The bullpen was, from the start. In a good organization, players step up. Who stepped up in ’08 when the team could have made a move in the standings? Casey? (Casey?) Truth is, the organization had no right to assume Haf would be the same guy as in ’05-’06, that Guittierez would blossom without more adjustments, or that “Michaelucci” in left would fill a reasonable facsimile of a baseball power position. The Indians under the Dolans financial plan “have” to dump players as they become stars, and create little windows of time within which they can compete. These windows exist as the good players reach the end of the contract they signed as they were just becoming good. Shapiro has to “work the window,” trying to keep it open as long as possible and hope one year everything breaks just right, like in ’07. What gets me is the idea, floated every year by the Indians, that they will spend some of the money they are saving when not re-signing guys, on impact players. This year, the mid-season salary dump was apparently used to sign all their draft picks. Great. All right, end of vent.
What frustrates me is how little the Indian seems to click together in terms of their ability. I think thats what really did us in last year at the ALCS–nearly every Boston hitter that came to a plate I felt some apprehension. I have not felt that way with the Indians this decade. One year, the pitching will be hot and the hitting will be awful. Another year it will be reversed. I just feel frustrated because imagine if our pitching was so fantastic that CC wouldn’t have been traded. Two killer pitchers plus great hitting? Oh man. But that’s not what we have here.
It is my hope that next year something will be done. Until then…I’m counting the days down until the Cavs start.