As I saw Yandy Diaz blast his two HRs in the wildcard game I thought to myself "Wow, baby, here it comes". The "it" is of course the internet reaction to letting Yandy and Gio go.
As a person who has blogged repeatedly over the years about the bonehead moves the Indians have and have not made, let me weigh in on this one and other things.
Yandy - Let's get this out there once and for all: the Indians failed with Yandy Diaz. That being said, other teams have failed with other players. It sometimes take being traded to get the player to wake up and smell the coffee. It also sometimes takes a change of scenery and a different person saying EXACTLY the same thing in a slightly different way for a player to respond.
So Yandy is likely to become the Yandy we all wished he would have become here. Unfortunately for the Rays he will do it at first base or, more likely, at DH.
Still, just like Jesus Aguilar, if they would have stuck with Yandy a little more and given him more extended playing time, he could have, in an average world, ended up like he is today.
I was really pissed about them letting Aguilar go for nothing. That was a boneheaded move, IMHO, and they paid a lot more for Encarnacion. Paying for Encarnacion is not the issue as all good, playoff-likely teams pay for players instead of gambling on internal options. It is that we are the Cleveland Indians and when you play in the AL Central maybe you gamble on internal options. Maybe one. Not an entire outfield but maybe one.
So the story of Yandy and Jesus is done. Water under the bridge. Lesson learned. Right?
Well, there is a guy at AAA, Bobby Bradley, that is on the road to become the next Yandy and Jesus if the Indians don't get their heads out of their butts.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. What happens if you get fooled 3 imtes?
One last point on this. The Indians gave Jake Bauers extended playing time this year after his failed second half with Tampa last year. And he failed again. So what did the Indians do? They had a long exit interview with him essentially telling BAUERS to get his head out of butt. Now ain't that the pot calling the kettle black?!?!
Urshela is another story. Again, the Indians gave this guy playing time and he didn't hit. He was a great fielder but he didn't hit. They could have groomed him as a utility infielder but, instead, we ended the year with Flaherty, Freeman and Valesquez on the team and Arroyo on the DH. I would have rather just kept Urshela. By all accounts he was a good clubhouse guy. But you know what he wasn't? He wasn't a AAAA veteran who would take what he was given and then ask "Can I have some more please?" Trust me, even without the hitting he has shown this year, I would have taken Urshela for his defense. But not the Indians. They let him go for nothing because they had other options (read: Erik Gonzalez) and then traded that other option away this past winter, leaving them with AAAA guys and an under-ready Yu Chang to fill in when needed.
You have to groom your own guys and give them a chance to flourish. If they don't you make them utility guys or keep working with them in the minors until they develop or leave as 6-year free agents.
Now on to Asdrubal Cabrera.. It takes two to tango and I don't know if he wanted to come back here this year. However, had he come here he would have only cost us a few dollars and, frankly, he might have been the difference we needed down the stretch, especially when Ramirez and then Kipnis went down with injuries. I asked for the Indians to get him and they didn't. He has certainly helped the Nationals, hasn't he...even against the Indians, if you remember.
Finally, our FO is rock solid. They Puig/Reyes/Allen/Moss deal was a classic. The management group gave the GM unreasonable requirements and the Indians stuck to those. Yeah, I didn't like losing Brantley and you can easily make the case that having him cost us the AL Central and the Wild Card. However, the Twins and Rays are both down 2-0. Would he have made any difference in the playoffs? I don't think so, especially as his signing may have impacted that result? Maybe, but I don't see Brantley moving the needle in the playoffs and given that we made it down to the last weekend before being eliminated, I think it was a gamble worth taking. I mean, even the Astros would only go for two years with Brantley and he sucked up that deal almost instantaneously so you know he didn't leave much, if any, money on the table. The Astros wanted him and I suspect they way outbid other teams for him to sign him early. They got their man who is clearly a help to a team with Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Zack Greinke. In hindsight, a team without Danny Salazar, Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco would not have benefitted so much from Brantley and had he been here, we still don't make it to the WS, and maybe not to the AL championship series.
So, the management team IS to blame for being cheap. But I don't know if their cheapness is Major League cheapness. I think it is more fiscal responsibility.
One last thought: Now that we are talking about cheap management, let's talk about Lindor. Right now the Indians should lock him up with a Mike Trout-level contract. I mean right now. He is a once in a lifetime ballplayer. I live in St. Louis and I can tell you that having HOF players and great current players bring in fans. That is part of tradition. The Indians drew fans in the 90s as much because of the fans getting to see star players as they did because of the winning. The Cardinals do this all the time. I am telling you as I have said for a long time now, you cannot beat the bronze statues outside of Busch Stadium. To say that statuses bring fans to the game is really crazy. But it is the tradition and those statues represent tradition. Lindor is the latest tradition for the Indians. If he will sign here then sign him NOW. One warning for Indians fans, however. It may just be that the size of the contract that would be necessary to keep Lindor in Cleveland might be EXACTLY what causes him not to sign here. He would have to see that a $25-30 million a year contract would seriously hamstring the Indians from bringing in other veteran pieces, or keeping current stars, thus making our long-term competitiveness in question. Mike Trout is facing the same thing in LA and don't think that Lindor doesn't see that. He may just decide that he wants to play in NY or in LA where he can make his money AND have a realistic chance to be on a perennial winning team as there will be dollars for other guys. But you make him the 10 year contract offer. And you do it now AND you do it in addition to the current payroll. You don't have to spend more money and can even cut the budget for the rest of the team a little to make up for the large contract for Lindor. But you sign Lindor now. THAT will bring fans to the park.
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