Yeah, I’m sorry to see Victor Martinez go - and yeah, Cliff Lee has been great — but, as Mikey has told me many times before “C’mon Man”.
Let’s be realistic - do you really think Lee and Martinez, by themselves, would have meant the pennant this year — or next? “C’mon Man”. (said with sarcasm)
When you think about it, do you really miss Rafael Betancourt’s ridiculous antics between pitches? “C’mon Man”. (said with even more sarcasm)
Did you think Mark DeRosa really added that much to the Tribe, except for his hot wife? “C’mon Man”. (said with some sadness - ha)
The bottom line is we were going no where this year and probably not much of anywhere next year with those guys. (Don’t even get me started about Dellucci and Kobayashi).
Let’s be frank - it’s pretty obvious that Shapiro and his boys can’t draft players to save their life. Afterall, they have drafted over 500 players since 2000, and have Garko and maybe one other guy, who have made the big league team.
They can’t pick free agents either - the list goes on and on, like two of my favorites mentioned earlier - but, you could add Kerry Wood and many others.
However, history does tell us that Shapiro has been successful trading for players. Afterall, that’s how we got Lee in the first place - along with Brandon Phillips (Wedgie doesn’t do a real good job with player development either - so add that to the list, too). If memory serves me correctly, that’s how we got Sizemore and many other players.
There is just no room for error in a mid-market team. We’ve failed in the draft and free agents, so we have no fall back position. So, when we have assets, we have to trade them and hope that we do a good enough job to build a team - Shapiro has done it before. Hopefully, he can do it again.
Masterson pitched three scoreless innings tonight against that juggernaut Tigers team, Trevor Crowe was 2 for 4, Wyatt Toregas had his first hit and first RBI.
So, take a deep breath and relax. Enjoy watching our future trying to learn to play in the big leagues. Hope Shapiro got enough of these trades right that in 2011 or 2012 we can contend again. (BTW - if you’ve looked at our division, those teams aren’t that great — we might even be able to contend in 2010).
I’ll give you my “Buddy Bell Rant” post another day — but, if we can compete in a year or two, you’ll be glad you listened to dear old Dad today. Otherwise, you can post a reply and say something like “C’mon Dad”.
Shoutout to Kosar19, BTDaddy, and “Drinkin on Mainstreet”
Dad
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