Frank- We are not poo pooing it. We are happy that some money has been finally spent and on some players that could make a difference, but we are still awash in all the poo the front office has produced over the past years.
Honestly, I cant stand some of the Shapiro poo sayings over the years that summarized say if you come to the games we will then bring you a winner.

Frank:

I agree that it's been the most active off season in years. I am very happy to acquire Bauer. Reynolds is far from perfect but a good addition. Adding Myers is about the same as adding Lowe last winter.

The rest of the deals and signings don't really amount to much more than replacing one guy with another of roughly equal talent: Swisher for Choo; Shaw and Albers for Rogers and Sipp; Aviles for Donald is a small gain. Stubbs had an OPS of 611 last year which is almost identical to the miserable performance Johnny Damon gave us, although he can run and can field.

All in all, it's been positive but not dramatically so. I am looking forward to 2013 season with much more interest than in 2012. Again more about Bauer than anything else.

Civ- good summary of the activities which are overall positive.

Mark Shapiro said "If you base your decision to come to the game on whether we win or lose, don't come. You're missing out. You're missing out on what baseball is all about, and I'm fine with that." What a statement. Winning is not important. What an Idiot!

Based on that philosophy go to cheaper Minor League games, much more bang for the buck.

If you are a senior citizen here in Florida the Twins Minor League team, the Miracle has Wed night games with free parking, 2.50 admission and 1 dollar dogs and suds. You can enjoy the game with refreshments for around 7 bucks.

Last time I was in Cleveland, the game and refreshments cost over 100 dollars for me and the wife. Thank God we won that game.

Did it cost less because they won ?

On a similar note, I remember well Dick Radatz with The Cleveland Indians.

On a similar note, I remember well Dick Radatz as related by Jim Bouton in one of his books. Please don't ask me to elaborate.

NOBODY elected to the HOF
Clemens and Bonds with 37.6 and 36.2%
KLove and Alomar with only about 3%.

VT'er wrote:

On a similar note, I remember well Dick Radatz with The Cleveland Indians.

On a similar note, I remember well Dick Radatz as related by Jim Bouton in one of his books. Please don't ask me to elaborate.

Please, elaborate!

My memory of "Ball Four" ends with the shiny shoes under the skirt.

I've loved short skirts often, and to this day, with a nod to hotel room doors and Bouton.

Oh, and Connie Conway. She was a tough 8th grader who noticed me somewhat nicely and eventually more when I was in 7th grade as the youngest group in a three year "Junior High."

And she always wore short skirts....in the late 1960's......go figure.

rusty2 wrote:Did it cost less because they won ?

That is not a logical question, given the sequence and substance of posts.


Vulcan pinch readied......

J.R. wrote:NOBODY elected to the HOF
Clemens and Bonds with 37.6 and 36.2%
KLove and Alomar with only about 3%.

Doug Mientkiewicz donned the jersey as head coach of the Fort Myers Miracle today.

I will never forget the night listening to a broadcast and typing here that Surber was also listening and christened him real time after listening as "Monkey Bitch."

I did not nearly spit out my beer. I actually had to go get a towel from the Marriott bath to dry my screen and keyboard.

Seriously, real time keyboard pronunciation of the preferred sounds similar.



I'd vote for Bonds and Roger Dodger one day. They were both supreme athletes and stars from the get go.

I would have voted for Bonds THIS year.

Any real and longtime baseball fan should......tossing steroids aside and ignoring his dealing with shrinking balls and difficult erections as penalty enough in his quest for recognition as he apparently thought he needed to do more.....

I would have let Roger Dodger hang for another year or more.

Just looking at the Hall of Fame voting. Kenny Lofton and Sandy Alomar were 1st year eligible but received less than 5 percent of the vote and won't be listed on future ballots. Jose Mesa was one of a few that received 0 votes.

Tribe Fan in SC/Cali wrote:

rusty2 wrote:Did it cost less because they won ?

That is not a logical question, given the sequence and substance of posts.


Vulcan pinch readied......

That has not stopped you for years

In my beat Jackie Gleason voice, "straight to the moon ,Norton, straight to the moon !"

fkreutz wrote:Wow the best off season in a decade and you guys poo poo it. Only the Tigers are better than the Indians on paper in the AL Central....

Frank, is this going to be the best Indians season in the next three, or the next five?

Or the last three, or the last five?



For one, I think getting better than SIX years ago would be nice for Cleveland Indians Fans.

Getting better than 59 years ago would be extra special.

rusty2 wrote:

Tribe Fan in SC/Cali wrote:

rusty2 wrote:Did it cost less because they won ?

That is not a logical question, given the sequence and substance of posts.


Vulcan pinch readied......

That has not stopped you for years

In my beat Jackie Gleason voice, "straight to the moon ,Norton, straight to the moon !"

True story I've told before, I really did have a summer job in college inspecting sewers. It was funded by the EPA, and might have been the most fun job I ever have had. I monitored sanitary sewage lines that fed into the Cuyahoga River "purification stations" for storm water leaks through a variety of innovative techniques including shooting cameras into the sewer and monitoring the viewer to look for leaks as I mechanically drug the camera through from the special truck equipment. Storm water getting into sanitary sewer lines is not good, and to this day causes discharge of raw sewage into rivers and bays when the treatment plants cannot handle the overflow.

I usually had coffee and doughnuts in the truck I bought on the way to the 7AM start at either Dunkin' or Krispy Kreme in my less than healthy days.

When monitoring the underground camera, spotting a rat chewing on a turd made me spit out coffee or doughnut on more than one occasion....

But it WAS a fun job. Really.


To bring this back to Cleveland Indians Baseball, I had that job the summer in the year after Frank Robinson hit the home run that all in Cleveland claim to have been in attendance to witness....





My temp was 102 degrees at first pitch. Well, at least before I left for the game. My "friends" prescribed massive doses of I think Genesee Cream Ale to combat the fever in the stands......as we "moved down".......JR.

I'm still here, so I guess it worked.

And I still remember the Frank Robinson home run swing. I was just "chillin" a few rows behind the first base dugout......

Tribe released Thomas Neal. If he passed through waivers I would've expected them to assign him to Columbus. Not much of a prospect but he's one of their rare young OF's of any talent.