You Need To Thank God The Indians Aren't Your Team And This Guy Isn't Your Owner
Pretty wild story out from the Athletic this morning regarding Indians’ ownership. You can read the full thing here which I recommend doing because I’m a fair and balanced SPORTS journalist.
The basic gist of the conversation is that Indians ownership:
(1) loses money on a division champion team
(2) is incentive-ized to do poorly
(3) has zero connection to the fans
(4) BUDGETED the club to make it to the ALCS last year,
(5) has zero plans to keep one of the best players in baseball, Francisco Lindor, wearing a Cleveland Indians uniform and
(6) will not spend, ever
That blows for a lot of reasons if you’re an Indians fan. For everyone else, it’s pretty enjoyable knowing your team isn’t being driven off a cliff with this kind of decision making:
They control Francisco Lindor for the next three seasons, but he’ll likely command a deal four, five or even six times more lucrative than what the Indians guaranteed Encarnacion. So, does owner Paul Dolan envision himself ever signing a player to, say, a 10-year, $300 million deal?
“You don’t know. Probably the day when we do a deal like that is when somebody else is doing $1 billion deals with somebody else.”
Things start off with a real laugh fest. You see Mr. Dolan’s wisecrack misses the mark because he basically says the Indians will play at 30% of the market ($300m/1b). Funny enough Mike Trout set the market this year at $430m. 30% of that is $129m. The biggest contract the Indians have ever given out is $60m. So if Mr. Dolan wanted to be accurate, the Indians won’t be in the market for a $300m deal until it hits *TWO* billion. Not one.
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What, then, would he advise to fans who are already growing unsettled about Lindor’s future in Cleveland? “Enjoy him,” Dolan said. “We control him for three more years. Enjoy him and then we’ll see what happens.”
I love when rich people pretend like the rest of us have never been lied to before.
[Dolan said] “where it is painful is when you have one of your own that you can’t keep because the market for them is set by larger markets.” He pointed to the Padres’ addition of Manny Machado on a 10-year, $300 contract. The Padres rank 24th in the league in payroll, five spots behind the Indians, per Spotrac. When Machado’s salary balloons to $32 million next year from $12 million this year, that could change.
Yeah fuck San Diego for throwing their weight around AGAIN
“You should never assume you’re going to the postseason,” Dolan said,
Finally some common sense
“but that year, more than any other year,
DONT DO IT PAUL
it felt preordained from the outset that we were going to the postseason.
Fuck
We took control of the Central Division very early and never felt threatened. So we were always focused on the postseason, and when it got there and was over so quickly, it was a little unsettling.”
Yeah especially if you had to take out a loan to make payroll
Because they participated in the minimum number of playoff games, Dolan said, the ALDS revenue went directly to the players’ share. Had they stuck around longer, he added, it “could have mitigated the impact of what we had done last year with the payroll, which could have allowed us to then deepen our investment in 2019.”
Right and had Oklahoma found a rhythm in the second half against Virginia I would have gotten some sleep last night
Dolan contends the Indians have lost money the last few years, though he insists “we’re not whining or complaining. It’s a challenge… More often than not, we lose money,” Dolan said. “But we’ve made money in some years.” And it doesn’t come as a surprise when it happens, Dolan added.
Yeah no one’s complaining guys it’s just super hard owning this billion dollar asset that consistently outperforms its competitors
“From a financial perspective, we’ve seen an asset grow in a considerable value,” Dolan said. “But the opportunity is well beyond that. We have an opportunity to engage in the community in ways that you can’t in any other way. It’s enriched all of our lives.”
This is bigger than Free Beach Towel night, Paul
Bring the kids
Dolan noted that it’s easier to profit during “the down cycle,” those lean rebuilding years, since a team has less incentive to add established major-league talent to an undefined core.
Life is so much easier when everyone expects you to suck
“We’re not going to outspend anybody,” Dolan said, “so we need to outsmart them.”
I would start with a big PR tour on how hard your job is but make it very clear you’re NOT complaining
“Nobody wants us to balance our checkbook,” Dolan said. “They just want to win, which we do, too…”
Checkbook Night actually has a nice ring to it, Paul.
Dolan doesn’t tune in to talk radio. He doesn’t seek out comments on or reactions to Indians-related articles. He knows he probably maintains a rosier outlook than most, but that it stems from his near-flawless history of interactions with fans. In fact, he said, in the 20 years his family has owned the club, he has experienced only one unfavorable encounter with a fan, while standing in line for a Browns game years ago.
And that’s the last time Paul Dolan stood in line for something. I think we’re all surprised he made it that long. On the other hand, imagine being that Browns fan in line 10-12 years ago or whatever that told Paul Dolan to fuck off and just now finding out you’re the only guy in history to make that kind of impact on him. If there’s anyone deserving of a contract extension in this whole story it’s that Browns fan. Only question is what did he say and exactly how mean was it?