The above link is to a Cleveland Plain Dealer interview with Cliff Lee that, I must say, does not include any softballs from “DW” (whoever that may be, since the article is credited to Dennis Manoloff or “DM” where I come from).
I suspect the following will get a lot of run around Cleveland:
DW: Do you feel bad for the fans who see the core of their team traded, fans who wonder, ‘Why can’t Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez still be around in 2010, to try to make another run at it?’
CL: Uh, it would help if the fans showed up and came to the games. That’s why the team didn’t make money, because the fans weren’t there, supporting the team. That’s what happens when the fans don’t support —
DW: But you guys weren’t winning.
CL: Right. It goes hand-in-hand, though. It definitely goes hand-in-hand. Yeah, I feel sorry for them. I wish we were all still there, that we had won the World Series in ‘07, come back and won it again last year and were going to win it this year. That’s not reality. That’s not…It’s a business. It’s a total business.
Aside from Lee offering up the classic “it’s a business” line, which is a current favorite amongst professional athletes, I think his answers include a pretty noteworthy assertion:
Cliff Lee is blaming Indians fans for not buying tickets to games even when the team was losing.
Sure, he backtracks a little by admitting that there’s typically a correlation between winning and attendance, but the initial point is obvious to me - he believes fans should go to games when their team sucks.
While I tend to agree with Cliff, I don’t think he’s being realistic. The truth of the matter is that sporting events become more compelling when there’s more at stake, and it’s nearly impossible to find drama in most MLB games before the All Star break - and it’s definitely 100% inconceivable to do so when a team is 19 games under .500.
On top of this, every team’s fan base consists of, at the very minimum, two distinct groups: hardcore fans and bandwagoneers.
I don’t gamble (well, okay, I bet on a few NBA games when I was in Vegas - and lost money on every one), but if I was forced to for just a moment, I’d bet that the majority of a team’s fan base is made up of bandwagoneers. When ticket sales are thriving and venues are sold out or really packed, in other words, that volume is dictated a lot more by casual fans than by hardcore fans - and those are the people who are only going to buy tickets when a team’s winning, when there’s a buzz around the city, when the stadium or the arena is the “place to be.”
I’m sure the percentages change based on which city and sport we’re discussing. For instance, I presume there are more hardcore Browns fans in Cleveland than there are hardcore Indians fans.
Curious to hear your thoughts. Chime in below.
Side note: there’s a follow-up conversation to be had about what it means to be a fan. I’ve been circling this discussion in my head for a while but haven’t been inspired to write about it…this thread could change that.
Like a lot of people, I was expecting the Indians to call up Matt LaPorta after the team traded both Ben Francisco and Victor Martinez. I was surprised when they didn’t, especially since Victor played first base part-time, which is allegedly the position the organization is grooming La Porta for.
I know, I know. Andy Marte has to be looked at for 1B, too. And they needed Trevor Crowe to back up Grady Sizemore in CF. Okay…
But none of this, really, is my point. My point is that for the past two and a half weeks I’ve heard several reporters and fans complain about the fact that LaPorta wasn’t called up. Most of them, including Terry Pluto on today’s Cleveland.com podcast, explicitly state their overall confusion about the matter. They have no explanation.
Well, friends of JMID, this is why I’m here, to go out into the wild and find logic when others fail to believe it exists.
The short potential answer on why LaPorta wasn’t brought up to “the Show”?
Salary arbitration.
The way arbitration works in MLB is like this. Players are typically eligible for abitration after three years of service. One year of service equals 172 days in the big leagues.
However, there’s also such a thing as a “Super Two” player. The definition is a little complex, but the “Super Two” designation is essentially a way to qualify for arbitration if you’ve been in the league more than 2 years (344 days) but less than 3 (526 days).
Historically, players become “Super Two” arbitration-ready when they’ve served 2 years and 128 days of service (this number fluctuates because of the 17% qualifier, which you can read more about in either of the previously noted links).
Now if LaPorta had been called up on July 31st when Crowe was and had stayed up for the rest of the season he would have added 66 days of service to his total, which currently sits at 25 based on the time he was with the Indians in May.
The MLB season this year will have covered 182 days once it ends on October 4th. Let’s assume then that the two seasons after this one will account for the same number of days.
Let’s also assume LaPorta plays the entirety of both the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
This would mean that by the end of the 2011 campaign, if LaPorta had been called up on July 31st, instead of September 1st as he likely will be, he would have 2 years, 111 days of service.
This would put him very close to the “Super Two” threshold, about 17 days away from it to be precise. These 17 days, I believe, could easily be made up if the Indians were to make the playoffs in either 2010 or 2011. Plus, like I said, the “Super Two” number itself does fluctuate.
By not calling LaPorta up on July 31st, the Indians were able to cut 32 days off LaPorta’s total, assuming they do bring him up on September 1st when rosters expand.
Based on how the numbers siphon out, these 32 days could keep the Indians and LaPorta away from arbitration for an entire year. This would save the organization a significant amount of money, depending on how well LaPorta performs.
The trade-off is that LaPorta didn’t get to play a bunch of meaningless games in Cleveland in August. For the Indians, I suspect, that is far less of a concern than getting to arbitration faster, particularly since LaPorta has only been a pro since 2007.
Obviously, I’m not an expert in the MLB salary arbitration rules but this, at least, seems like a somewhat reasonable scenario for why LaPorta might have been held back.
If nothing else, at least I bothered to look and try and find an explanation - which is more than a lot of other people could say for themselves.
As GM of the Red Sox, you have been exceptional. You brought the city of Boston and its championship starved fans not one World Series title but two. You rid Massachusetts of the cancer that was Manny Ramirez - his refusal to run out ground balls was an insult to the state that hosted the Salem Witch Trials - and I applaud you. As an assistant, you prevented your boss from getting railroaded by Billy Beane for Kevin Youkilis - the Major League leader in on base percentage. You, sir, are a model citizen and a hero to every one in Red Sox Nation…which, if we’re lucky, may secede from the United States of America any day now.
But this season your team has run into some problems. Offensive problems, mainly. After tonight, you’re in second place - one game behind the Satan spawns themselves, the New York Yankees. Your team OPS is third in the division, your runs scored 4th in the AL…simply put, this is not good enough for Red Sox Nation.
Therefore, we address this letter to you as not so much a matter of baseball business, but of personal welfare. Please, we urge you, trade Clay Buchholz for Victor Martinez.
While your offense flounders - third in OPS in the division…really?? - your pitching has been spectacular. Number one in strikeouts, number two in walks, number one in home runs…the only stats that matter…you’ve got a guy in Buchholz you aren’t even using. You can send him away for a hitter, Theo, a hitter with a career OPS of .832 - including an awful injury-plagued season last year - and a career playoff OPS that’s 56 points better than that!
If this were 1908, Martinez’s OPS would almost be the best in the league - it’d be within 10 points of the league leader. And who led the league in OPS that year?
Ty “f’ing” Cobb!
(Sure, Victor’s OPS may have dropped over 100 points since June 28th, but we don’t see how that’s relevant - it’s all the fault of him having to play too many games behind the plate, Theo. Honest.)
Martinez will help your team. No question. Great character guy, too.
We know you may be concerned now that Tim Wakefield’s on the 15 day DL or that you’re the GM of a Boston team and you’d be trading a white guy for a latin player, but we don’t think these should be grave concerns. Wakefield will be back - he’s not as old as Jamie Moyer, after all - and John Smoltz is young, he’s not even 50.
You’ll be fine.
Plus, if you’re worried about the caucasian thing, you can always get Danny Ainge to lend you Brian Scalabrine to throw out the first pitch or to sing “God Bless America.”
To conclude, the facts here in favor of making a trade are inarguable. We could be no more certain that you should make this deal than if we had climbed to the top of a mountain and found this letter written on a stone tablet as lightning struck all around us.
Signed, without bias and with only your best intentions in mind,
