I spent all of yesterday on the road, going in an out of meetings. I emerged from a two and a half hour ordeal in a good place. We got a lot out of this customer visit. Little did I know how quickly my mood would change. As I looked down at my phone, I saw an email from a friend of mine with the subject “Prince?” I open the email and it simply reads “Prince to the Tigers…This can’t be true. Tell me this can’t be true.”
I had seen on Twitter earlier in the day that the top prize of the baseball free agent class (sorry Albert Pujols), Prince Fielder, could be considering large money, one-year deals and that the Tigers and Dodgers could then enter the fray if this happened. The thought of this one year with Fielder as a Tiger had me very concerned. That was just a one-year deal I was worried about. So I began to open the series of emails that are bandied about all day by the WFNY crew. I came to find out my nightmare was even worse than I thought.
The Detroit Tigers, the Indians chief rival for American League Central supremacy, had swooped in out of nowhere, and signed the 27-year old power hitting first baseman to a nine-year, $214 million contract with no early opt out clause. So let me get this straight; a team in our division, who already has a payroll over $100 million, arguably the best right-handed hitter in the game (Miguel Cabrera), and the best starting pitcher in the game (reigning AL Cy Young and MVP Justin Verlander), loses its switch hitting, 100+ RBI Designated Hitter to a torn ACL (Victor Martinez), and replaces him with Prince Freaking Fielder less than a week later without batting an eye?
Yes, this really happened. Only in Major League Baseball, where if you have a billionaire owner who doesn’t care about spending, you have a major advantage over three-quarters of the league. 82-year old Mike Illitch wants a World Series ring in the worst way. The man has money to spend and a penchant for signing Scott Boras clients. Boras knows it, and loves to go to “Mr. I” at the end of the process and create magic for his clients. Just ask Pudge Rodriguez, Kenny Rogers, or Johnny Damon.
Who knew that our old friend Victor tearing up his knee would be the worst thing that could have happened to the Indians this offseason, not the Tigers. As of last Wednesday, Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski said he was flatly not pursuing Fielder, even after losing Victor. Reports had Carlos Pena a big target of theirs to replace Victor for one year. Instead, Pena went back to Tampa Bay where he thrived two years ago. Johnny Damon and Juan Pierre were also thrown out as replacements.
Instead of going cheap in the short term, the Tigers went big. Real big.
As the news broke, my Twitter timeline was full of angry Indians fans, giving me the business that my team has no chance under these rules. Lets not get crazy here. There are serious problems with how this sport is run, but things aren’t going to change anytime soon. You have to play the cards you are dealt. Do the Tigers have a better shot of winning the AL Central and/or the Wild Card than the Indians do? On paper, absolutely they do. Its this simple to most people – the Tigers can go out and buy Prince Fielder to replace another double-digit million dollar-a-year player while Indians, in dire need of a first baseman, can’t seemingly afford a guy like Carlos Pena on a one-year, $7 million deal.
I know you are all frustrated. But you know something, games aren’t played on paper. Sure, the Tigers lineup now features Miguel Cabrera followed by Prince Fielder (yikes), a rotation headed by Justin Verlander, and a closer coming off a perfect season in Jose Valverde, but things can change quickly. Injuries happen. Under-performing happens. Does anyone really see Jhonny Peralta repeating his 2011 campaign (.299/21 HR/86 RBI)? Is Delmon Young going to carry over his one good month in the last three years of his career over into 2012? Are Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer going to make that big leap that many are expecting them to make? Will Valverde be able to match the best year of his career?
Before you jump all over me, I know the Indians are full of question marks of their own. All I am saying is that you never know what can happen. Did anyone expect the Tribe to be in first place essentially through August last season, doing so without major contributions from Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo among others? Just take a deep breath and know that the Indians still will field a quality young team in 2012, even if they keep their current roster and don’t add a first baseman. The rotation is solid. The bullpen is back and deep. The lineup top to bottom, if healthy, has a ton of potential.
The truth is, the system stinks. Teams like the Angels, Yankees, Tigers, Red Sox, and now Rangers can all spend over their mistakes. The Indians cannot. But things don’t always turn out as they are expected to, especially in baseball. Who saw the pre-season World Series favorite Red Sox missing the playoffs last year while the Tampa Bay Rays won the wild card after letting their closer (Rafael Soriano), 30 homer 1B (Pena), and all-star OF walk (Carl Crawford), revamping the entire bullpen, and trading one of their horse starting pitchers (Matt Garza)?
Make no mistake, the Fielder signing is a huge blow to the Indians drive for their first division title since 2007.
Speaking of said season, days like yesterday make me even more ill about the way 2007 and 1997 for that matter turned out. No need to rehash those finishes, but you cannot blow golden opportunities like those, especially in a market like ours where there is such a small margin for error. You can’t just get there and not close it out.
