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| Manny Acta, scapegoat for the 2012 Cleveland Indians. Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons |
Where should my motivation come from to continue to support this team?
The 90s? A period of time I barely remember because I've only been living for 21 years.
The promise of Jason Kipnis and...who else on this current roster?
Certainly not Justin Masterson—not after he's going to finish the year with an ERA hovering around 5.00. Not Chris Perez either—if they almost designated him for assignment after he criticized the Dolans for not spending money in August, you can bet your fanny they'll trade him this offseason. Not Asdrubal Cabrera either—he can't stay healthy through a second half.
Vinnie Pestano perhaps? Sure let's get behind a guy who's an unproven closer.
Or maybe Carlos Santana? He can sure hit a garbage time home run.
Ah, I know—Sandy Alomar. Of course, the Indians current interm manager (who'll probably lose that "interm" tag sooner than later) will keep my fandom because this season's historic collapse was all Manny Acta's fault. That's it.
Give me a freaking break.
I don't know that I've ever been so mad at a Cleveland sports team in my life. It's not that I thought Acta should keep his job—I certainly didn't. Any team that goes through a month with a record of 5-24 deserves to have its leader canned. No doubt Acta knew this, and was prepared for it.
But what I don't understand—and what I'll perhaps never understand—is how General Manager Chris Antonetti is going to keep his job. His horrendous offseason last winter cost the Indians a chance to contend this year. And his poor talent evaluation has cost the Indians mightily in both the CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee trades.
It doesn't matter how many people were clamoring for Matt LaPorta. He's been a nothing short of a collosal failure, and that blame has to lie somewhere.
Oh, and by the way, not that it directly falls on him, but the team can't draft players either. Or sign them in Asia and Latin America for that matter.
Antonetti said it himself in today's press conference, "We all share in the responsibility of how things turned out this year—myself, the players, Manny and the coaches."
But when it comes down to it, who put together this roster that lost 24 games in August and has lost 91 so far with six games left to go?
I wrote about this in August, and it's more apparent to me today than ever before—the Dolans care far more about loyalty than results.
I'm not going to sit here and write that they don't care about winning. I believe that they do. But facts are facts. This regime of Mark Shapiro and Antonetti have combined for two playoff appearances since 2001. We can make it sound worse and say one playoff appearance in the last 10 years. And yes, I know the '05 team could've made the playoffs this year with this weak division, but the bottom line is it didn't happen. That team flamed out in the last week of the season instead of winning the Wild Card.
92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter pointed this out today and I think it's the strongest argument I have for just giving up on this team.
With Shapiro & Antonetti in charge, #Indians are 849-927 (.478);2 winning seasons over that span. 0 since 2007; Yep Acta was the problem
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 27, 2012
By keeping Shapiro & Antonetti, ownership is telling an already angry fan base that .478 baseball is OK w/ them
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 27, 2012
A winning percentage under .500. No winning seasons since the year the team probably should've won the world series. What am I suposed to hang on to?
And I don't want to hear, "Well, the Royals and the Pirates haven't had a winning season in 20 years!" Does Cleveland look like Kansas City or Pukesburgh? Are we supposed to lower our standards just because someone else isn't good?
Neither of those places are my city. I don't follow those teams. I don't care about their standards for winning, or not winning. And if you think I'm going to sit here and be complacent after this team fires its manager for losing 90+ games in a year during the, "Window of Contention" then you're out of your mind.
Where are the Indians going? What's the plan? Rince, ring out, repeat? Is the front office really going to try to put together another team with shoe strings and gum and then tell me it's going to contend?
Really?
I've written it before, but apparently I've got to write it again:
Blow it up.
Everything.
Perez, Masterson, Asdrubal, Joe Smith—anyone with any kind of value should be traded this winter. The cupbords are bare. There are literally no prospects in the upper echelons of the minors. The best you can hope for with the team as its currently built is .500. And I feel the need to emphasize this, that's at best.
If the Indians front office honestly thinks the team can reload or retool with some free agents, a new manager (if you honestly think Terry Francona is going to come here, you're lost), and maybe a trade, all its members need to take a look in the mirror and ask themselves, how?
I understand wanting to keep this front office together, but at some point, results have to start to matter more to the Dolans. Winning has to start being the #1 priority.
And until that happens, I just don't know if there's any reason for me to be an Indians fan.
~MAS
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