Why the Cleveland Indians are EVERYONE’S bargaining chip
Calling all GM’s and million dollar agents and looking to get top dollar!
If you haven’t done so already, make sure that you give Mark Shapiro and the Cleveland Indians a phone call. Will the Tribe make you an over-the-top offer that is sure to make the rest of the Majors scratch their head? No, Shapiro won’t make deals like that. He’s not exactly frugal, but he’s not going to overpay you by 5 million a year either.
So why call the Tribe?
They’ll make you the perfect offer.
Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not the offer that you’ll ultimately take. Why take the money that you are worth. Why take a million or two OVER what you’re worth. Better yet, why sign a better than fair deal with a club that’s committed to winning, with a manager who will cut out the other team’s heart for his players, with a GM that looks physically in pain when his club is losing, and with a town that will worship the ground you walk on if you win the world series championship.
Why sign a contract to play with one of the best young lineups in baseball, in the middle of a lineup full of good, young power hitters. Why decide to play for a team that had arguably the two best starters in the AL?
It’s easy.
Cleveland’s offer will GET you the bigger offer. You really want 8 million a year when you are only worth 5 million a year? Call Cleveland. If you are a player they need, they’ll gladly offer you 6 million. That club that was hedging up until then? Hedge no more. THERE’S YOUR 8 MILLION!
You say you blew out your arm after that near Cy Young year? You are looking for a 3-year deal, when you should only get a one-year deal? Give Cleveland a buzz. They’ll GIVE you a one-year offer, WITH a player or club option. You know, something fair for a guy with a bad wing. That club that didn’t want to take a chance on you ending up with a fastball reaching 60 MPH? Here comes your 3-year deal.
Oh, don’t worry GM’s, let’s get you in on all the fun. You have a guy that you want to deal, and are going for a full boat of prospects. In your head, you are thinking a ridiculous number for your stud pitcher, or young hitter. “Could I get four or five top prospects for my guy? I know, I’ll call Cleveland!” No, Cleveland won’t offer you four or five top prospects. Your guy really isn’t worth that many. Still, Shapiro will offer you the top two guys out of his system. He may even throw in a third top prospect. The caveat? He’ll throw in one of his good young ballplayers off his starting lineup. No, you won’t take it, because THAT’S NOT THE POINT! That team that you really wanted to send your guy to, once they hear about Cleveland’s fair offer, they’ll throw you five, maybe even six prospects. Well DONE!
Yes folks, Cleveland is the perfect mid-market team that the powers that be can use for leverage. No, they aren’t the cheapest team in baseball, but they sure do get stuck offering up the fair deal.
So you have to ask yourself one question…when does Cleveland stop being that team?
When you can answer that, you just might find yourself in the World Series. Until then, look for your friendly neighborhood MLB soothsayers using the Cleveland Indians for one thing…
More MONEY.
Ahhh, MLB, you gotta love it.
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5 Responses to “Why the Cleveland Indians are EVERYONE’S bargaining chip”
December 17th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
which is exactly why the big boys don’t ever want to see a salary cap or true revenue sharing because cleveland’s front office will just make them look silly. mark shapiro is best buddies with the new england patriots gm scott pioli and they are very much alike in terms of the way they conduct business. where pioli has the advantage though is that the nfl has a salary cap and shares all of it’s revenue. how else could a team like green bay even compete??? you could say the same thing about san antonio in the nba. level the playing field in terms of how much teams can spend and the true cream of the crop would rise to the top and the indians would definitely be there. would the yankees and the red sox??? maybe, maybe not. the red sox probably still would, but i seriously doubt the yankees would. they would become what the knicks have become in the nba, a joke. as it stands right now, if the yankees didn’t have the most money, they wouldn’t even be in the conversation about who the best teams are. their front office is about as dumb as they come. case in point - given a choice between randy johnson and carlos beltran, they chose the big unit. dumb-de-dumb-dumb-dumb.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Hallelujah! I agree entirely, with the comment and with the article. Very well written. Amen.
December 18th, 2007 at 7:04 am
it’s all about margin for error.
with no cap and lots of $, the Yanks, Mets, and Red Sox have huge margins.
NFL teams do not have that luxury.
if an NFL team drafts a guy (let’s say Tim Couch) #1 overall and he doesn’t pan out, his contract is an anchor that sinks the club.
If the Indians, with a limited budget make the same mistake, they, too, are sunk, because they don’t have the money to spend to fix the problem.
the Yankees, however, can spend $20 million a year on a guy like Jason Giambi who spends most of the playoffs on the bench.
December 18th, 2007 at 8:42 am
I’ve been a proponent of some kind of cap for many years … the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. Take a look at the Yankees payroll (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/salaries?team=nyy) and then a team like the Devil Rays. It’s a joke.
December 18th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I heard the Marlins opening day roster could be worth 8 million……total.
That’s amazing….
Salary cap would be best for the league - agreed.
But how can we expect baseball to implement a salary cap, when they can’t even implement a “common sense” substance abuse policy?
20 million for 400 pages of…..”well, duh”….
20 million for the report??? I could have written what was in there for $10,000
I mean come on……what were they throwing T-Bone steaks out the window during the investigation?
The report was 20 million….and the Marlins payroll is 8 million…..
No…..baseball isn’t at all concerned about their financial issues at all right now….
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