Heading into Friday night –
Andy Marte: 43 at-bats, nine hits, .209 batting average, nine strikeouts, no walks, four RBI.
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Just thought I’d point this out …
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Yeah, and I just thought I'd point this out…
Chiris Giminez: will turn 27 in December, career .267 hitter in the minors, hitting .235 in AAA when he was promoted.
He's got 93 at-bats– more than both Marte and Matt LaPorta combined. And he's got 15 hits for a whopping .161 average.
And the Indians wonder why they can't draw flies?
Yes, Geoff, but Chris is "versatile," the key word in Wedge's lexicon. He can play multiple positions, which makes him so very valuable when we move Sowers to left, Shoppach to 2B, Grady to P, Peralta to C….you get the point. Nice guy, but a major leaguer? Gotta wonder.
No one can say Marte didn't get his chances. He just doesn't seem to have it at this level offensively.
Umm … they can't draw flies because it sucks as a baseball town. Do you honestly believe if Chris Gimenez and Andy Marte were batting .350, it would have drawn even one additional fly?
The only thing that will bring any flies into the park are power hitters. An entire roster of them. So what they need to do is haul in every single steroid-infested player from the latter 90s and turn of the century Indians teams, which means every single dude on those rosters, and have them patiently demonstrate to these novices how to properly swallow a pill and push in a needle. Just spook the living hell out of them. Kind of like the classic documentary "Scared Straight," but totally backwards and in reverse.
Alan, I know that trashing Cleveland as a any kind of sports town is a big part of your schtick, but attendance and trust in the Indians are low right now for very good reasons: A colossally bad front office, from scouting to drafting to development to trades, etc; Inept field management, from making out the lineup to game management to handling pitching; And players and pitchers who just cannot do the right thing, such as moving a runner along, getting a run in from third with less than two outs, or holding a lead. Not only is the current team bad, but there isn't a lot of hope for the immediate future, either. As much as I despise the dead Gabe Paul, he did correctly state that Cleveland was a "sleeping giant" as a baseball town, one that would awaken for an exciting team.
My schtick?
Gabe Paul wasn't right. Even Rip Van Winkle taking a nap in Omaha would wake up to see young power hitters in a brand-new ballpark when the economy is good, wouldn't he? So would the Omaha corporations trying to impress themselves and their clients by throwing away tons of cash on loges, wouldn't they?
Cleveland isn't a sleeping giant as a baseball town, it never was. It's a living corpse. The late 90s was nothing but a long zombie movie. It's like anything else in Cleveland, by the time you get to Rocky VI and beyond, there's little point for most people to watch. I don't care what the front office did do, didn't do, does do or doesn't do.
The novelty is over, the town will never respond to anything but power hitters, batters 1 through 9. That is the only solution, and it's pie-in-the-sky. I have absolutely no idea why people continuously refuse to accept the obvious.
Jacobs Field, circa 1998: http://xr.com/w6y
Here, since people are too freakin' stubborn to believe me about the massive attendance impact of the new ballpark in 1994, which is now some 15 years ago, simple case in point: the Columbus Clippers. The Columbus Clippers just set just a franchise record for attendance. The Clippers will lead the minors in attendance.
Why? Suddenly, why now?
Sadly, Alan is right. The Indians had historic-level pitching in 2007 and came within one game of the World Series, yet fans stayed away. People aren't interested in seeing good pitching or winning anymore. They want the sluggers. And this team has none.
It doesn't necessarily have to be sluggers. Athletic players who can make spectacular defense plays, leg out triples and steal bases would also draw more fans to the team than the slow-footed .260 hitters Wedge and Shapiro seem to favor.
No, it necessarily has to be sluggers. OK, two of the seven don't have to be sluggers. Besides, how many Kenny Loftons in their prime are out there, as well as Omar Vizquels in their prime (way before the 2002 'roided version).
Actually, that reminds me, larry. Not only did Jacobs kiss Belle goodbye when he refused to re-up him, but the first reaction also was to kiss Lofton goodbye when they figured they wouldn't be able to re-up Lofton for the lowball offer they were intending to toss out there.
Folks can pretend and/or refuse to accept otherwise, but some things will never change, no matter who owns the team.
Did I write two of the seven don't have to be sluggers? I meant two of the nine. Although, if Wedge is the manager, who knows if he needs nine. He might just use seven.