Comments on: Forward/backward http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/ledger/2007/06/25/forwardbackward/ RON LEDGARD, the Beacon Journal deputy sports editor, ON SPORTS ... AND OTHER STUFF Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:40:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Alan Tucker http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/ledger/2007/06/25/forwardbackward/#comment-150 Alan Tucker Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:21:02 +0000 http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/ledger/?p=114#comment-150 Read your last sentence, jeda. Then get out your wristwatch and wait for Sabathia to pitch somewhere in California. There's the crux of the problem. Shapiro has to be perfect with nearly every move and every decision. Your criticism is over the top. He will never have the cash to sign his own best players. So he's left with having to take an educated guess as to which "prospects" to play. This to eventually replace the very players he shouldn't otherwise need to replace in the first place! You can't audition each and every prospect, and half a season of audition time means absolutely nothing. Sowers is Exhibit A. Hindsight is great, but when it comes to what Shapiro has had to endure, it's also totally ridiculous. I don't know what Dolan is paying him, but whatever it is, he's been earning every penny. Read your last sentence, jeda. Then get out your wristwatch and wait for Sabathia to pitch somewhere in California. There's the crux of the problem. Shapiro has to be perfect with nearly every move and every decision.

Your criticism is over the top. He will never have the cash to sign his own best players. So he's left with having to take an educated guess as to which "prospects" to play. This to eventually replace the very players he shouldn't otherwise need to replace in the first place! You can't audition each and every prospect, and half a season of audition time means absolutely nothing. Sowers is Exhibit A.

Hindsight is great, but when it comes to what Shapiro has had to endure, it's also totally ridiculous. I don't know what Dolan is paying him, but whatever it is, he's been earning every penny.

]]> By: jeda http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/ledger/2007/06/25/forwardbackward/#comment-145 jeda Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:44:29 +0000 http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/ledger/?p=114#comment-145 Forgive the retroactive look, but can someone please tell me how the Indians spend $4-million on a draft pick (Jeremy Guthrie), then give him ONE, yes ONE, major-league start over four years, before losing him for nothing? Don't tell me he didn't show flashes of what could/should have been. Last year, the Tribe was out of the race in May. They couldn't give Guthrie a few starts? Was this kid's starting potential judged on one game? Why do other teams bring up pitchers with FAR LESS minor league credentials and stick them in their rotation successfully? Yet Cleveland thinks the pitcher has to be a world-beater statitistically at every conceivable level to ensure a major league career. This is flawed, idiotic thinking. Tribe gave up on lefty Brian Tallet (successful in Toronto pen), now Guthrie, and countless others. These questions need to be addressed! Mark Shapiro wastes so much of the Dolans' cash on utterly worthless free agents and re-signings (Jason Michaels), then allows talented minor leaguers to lose their options and MLB potential by keeping them in the farm TOO LONG. Please, someone follow up on these concerns. It gets tiring seeing all-star teams of players who should be in Cleveland, but are playing elsewhere. Forgive the retroactive look, but can someone please tell me how the Indians spend $4-million on a draft pick (Jeremy Guthrie), then give him ONE, yes ONE, major-league start over four years, before losing him for nothing? Don't tell me he didn't show flashes of what could/should have been. Last year, the Tribe was out of the race in May. They couldn't give Guthrie a few starts? Was this kid's starting potential judged on one game? Why do other teams bring up pitchers with FAR LESS minor league credentials and stick them in their rotation successfully? Yet Cleveland thinks the pitcher has to be a world-beater statitistically at every conceivable level to ensure a major league career. This is flawed, idiotic thinking. Tribe gave up on lefty Brian Tallet (successful in Toronto pen), now Guthrie, and countless others. These questions need to be addressed!

Mark Shapiro wastes so much of the Dolans' cash on utterly worthless free agents and re-signings (Jason Michaels), then allows talented minor leaguers to lose their options and MLB potential by keeping them in the farm TOO LONG. Please, someone follow up on these concerns. It gets tiring seeing all-star teams of players who should be in Cleveland, but are playing elsewhere.

]]> By: Schyler http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/ledger/2007/06/25/forwardbackward/#comment-143 Schyler Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:08:17 +0000 http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/ledger/?p=114#comment-143 So Travis Hafner turned down a 5-year, $75-million contract from the Tribe. Oh yeah, he's a down-to-earth team player from the midwest, certainly not concerned with money. No, not Travis. Take your sorry inconsistent bat and hit the road, idiot. That's more money than he or his ancestors could ever spend in two lifetimes. Shapiro has to be shaking his head as to what kind of doofus we're dealing with here. Kobe? I don't care to ever hear his name mentioned once, let alone daily. The adulterer is nothing but a whiner desperate for attention. Ignore his sorry, cheating butt. A selfish loser is the best way to describe him. So Travis Hafner turned down a 5-year, $75-million contract from the Tribe. Oh yeah, he's a down-to-earth team player from the midwest, certainly not concerned with money. No, not Travis. Take your sorry inconsistent bat and hit the road, idiot. That's more money than he or his ancestors could ever spend in two lifetimes. Shapiro has to be shaking his head as to what kind of doofus we're dealing with here.

Kobe? I don't care to ever hear his name mentioned once, let alone daily. The adulterer is nothing but a whiner desperate for attention. Ignore his sorry, cheating butt. A selfish loser is the best way to describe him.

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