Olmsted Falls’ Mike Gansey Promoted Within Cavs Organization
August 20, 2012Mariners 5 Indians 3: Speechless in Seattle
August 21, 2012While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
“The “window of contention” theme we took from the front office and propped up in these parts? It’s been more like one of those utility windows in your basement. Because the Indians finished two games under .500 a year ago when injuries and depth issues erased a startlingly strong start, and they have a very real chance of finishing 2012 with 90 losses or more.
If you had asked me two weeks ago (as the 11-game losing streak was winding down) if heads would roll because of the disappointing way 2012 has played out, I would have told you pitching coach Scott Radinsky and hitting coach Bruce Fields are probably both on thin ice, given the regression we’ve seen from the likes of Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez and Carlos Santana. Not to say that I think either guy was or is necessarily doing a lousy job; it’s just that this is the way the business works. So when Radinsky bit the bullet later that week, I figured that was the end of it and the Indians would plod along their mediocre route to the finish line.
But they just keep losing, and rather convincingly so. And when Major League clubs lose at the rate the Indians are losing in seasons in which they, rightly or wrongly, expected to contend, well, it tends to get ugly in the aftermath.” [Castrovince/MLB.com]
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The NBA and Ticketmaster are creating a new secondary ticket market initiative. Sound familiar? “Granger said that the four teams that use the Dan Gilbert-owned Veritix (Cavaliers, Rockets, Jazz and Nuggets) and the two teams that use Paciolan (76ers and Trail Blazers) can also opt in to use the system, which will link to their primary and secondary ticketing platforms.
Whether the site will be effective will depend on how the teams respond. Each team can determine how much it wants to charge the seller to list the tickets and the buyer to buy them. It is also not clear if some teams, sensitive to their product, will institute a price floor that will restrict how low a ticket can be sold for. “We at the league believe that there should be no price floors so that the market can dictate what the right price is,” Granger said.” [Rovell/ESPN]
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“Everything about the 2011 Ohio State passing game made me want to murder someone. Did you ever re-watch the Michigan State game? If not, good. If so, what in the name of all that’s holy is wrong with you? It wasn’t the Buckeyes’ worst passing performance of 2011 (that dubious honor belongs to the Illinois game where Braxton Miller attempted four passes as Jim Bollman slathered himself with sour cream and had three Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs lick it off him over the course of four quarters), but that’s actually my point.
See, the MSU game was one of those times where you need your passing game to pick up the slack, as the normally “okay” Ohio State rushing offense had completely ground to a halt. And to Bollman’s credit, he called 25 passing attempts, but the complete lack of creativity in the passing game and general lack of talent meant that the whole proposition was doomed from the start. Miller and Bauserman (yes, he was still somehow playing QB five games into the season) combined to go 12/24 for 143 yards, and the cherry on top were the four consecutive incompletions on OSU’s penultimate drive thrown by Bauserbombs himself that took the Buckeyes from 1st and 10 on the Spartan 43 to a Sparty 1st and 10, also on the Spartan 43.
In other words, it wasn’t just bad coaching, or bad playing, or poor talent, or a complete and utter lack of imagination where getting the ball to the tight ends and receivers was concerned. It was all of those things combined, an incredibly frustrating and predictable broken record that slowly repeated itself at about 14 rpm for the duration of the season. Thank God Meyer and company have iPods.” [Ginter/Eleven Warriors]
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“The Indians must suspend Chris Perez. He earned it.
He earned it by representing the Indians — the team, the organization and its fans — in a classless, boorish way with that “discussion” with the fan in Oakland. (For those that missed the news, Perez was caught on camera over the weekend in Oakland engaging in a pregame argument with an A’s fan, directing a series of expletives toward the fan before asking that the fan be removed and walking away.)
Perez needs to hear the team’s message, loud and clear. What he did was vile and crude.
The Indians should never want a player representing them on the field, in uniform, the way Perez did. Suspend him.” [McManamon/FSO]
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“And then there is Cleveland, who were supposed to have a puncher’s chance to challenge Detroit. What happened there?
Cleveland entered the season poised to at least make a run at the Tigers this year. The Tigers were the obvious pre-season favorites, but Cleveland made some moves that seemed to put them in the picture. They started the year well, and lead the division through much of the spring. Yet, here we are, and not only is Cleveland not in contention, but after getting swept in Oakland this past weekend, they have fallen to fourth place behind the Royals. Run differential tends to be overused as a predictive tool, but even early in the season Cleveland’s run differential was poor. Pythagorean chickens have come home to roost. In fact, while the Indians may be ahead of Minnesota in the standings, their Pythagorean record is even worse than the pathetic Twins.
Many things have gone wrong for Cleveland this year, and each of them can be analyzed in minute detail at a later date. Some problem areas have been more obvious than others, and while I will get to the obvious, it has not all been Ubaldo.” [Klaassen/Fan Graphs]
18 Comments
so, in March, people worried about Chicago because they lost Buerle to Miami and had unproven Sale to go along with injury-riddled Peavy. heck, Danks was considered their “ace” going into the year. Humber and Thornton were considered fodder (and Quintana started in AAA).
sigh.
So suspend Perez. Who cares at this point? Does he deserve it? Arguably so. But this situation is just further proof of how many anonymous idiots there are out there. This fan thinks he is soooooooo cool, and if Perez hadn’t asked the security guard to boot him, nothing would have happened to him. That security guard needs to get involved long before Perez asks.
the player cannot spew expletives at the fan either. both in the wrong here.
If you aren’t going to suspend Perez for ripping his own fans why do it when he rips other people’s fans? He is my leading candidate for the Kenny Powers Loss of Fame/Fortune have to work for a living award.
I do have a dream involving these drunken idiots who believe that 5 beers and a public setting equals a license to say anything. I wish the players got the names and addresses of boorish fans and showed up at their workplace/homes and screamed obscenities at them in front of their co-wokers/families, while playing a tape of the fan doing the exact same thing.
Re-watch the MSU game? I was there, and it was one of the most frustrating, ugliest games I’ve witnessed from OSU in the past decade (sans the title games).
I’m excited to see what Urb brings to the table in his passing attack this season but still holding back due to the young receivers.
Agrees that both are in the wrong, didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. Perez should be suspended for his (re)actions, the fan should have been ejected from the game and if he does it again, banned from the stadium.
Perez asking for the guy to be thrown out just made it that worse I do believe it was Perez who himself called the guy down in the first place. Regardless Perez has an entirely big mouth and from what I can tell a fragile ego. Unlike Jeff Francouer who sent these same Oakland fans pizzas and turned something not all that unusual at games into fun Perez looked like an idiot.
Which people? The people around here which included the local tv experts (if you ask me there isn’t a single sports expert in this town tv or newspaper related) all completely dismissed the White Sox. In fact everyone laughed and made a joke out of Detroit signing Prince Fielder. My favorite was how Detroit wouldn’t be a good fielding team. Who cares they could still hit and lets not forget pitch. These same people forgot Ken Williams would trade a family member to take a chance on improving his team in Chicago.
national perspective, not Northcoast perspective.
ok, let’s start with Detroit. their signing of Fielder prompted a consensus favorite status in the AL Central. their main concerns were pitching (outside Verlander) and defense (outside Austin Jackson). they have underwhelmed expecations because of those exact things (though Fister has continued to be good). in addition, hitting after Miggy, Fielder, and Austin has been poor, which was not expected.
nationally, Chicago was not expected to compete this year. Schoenfield put them in 4th. of 49 ESPN predictors for MLB, 0 of them guessed the White Sox to make the playoffs (division or wild cards). they had guys like Dunn who looked like age caught up with him and the pitching woes I detailed above. things could not have broken more perfectly for them this season.
You missed the best line in Castrovince’s article… Yikes!
(By the way, about that DH spot… the buyout of Travis Hafner’s 2013 contract is $2.75 million. Count me among those skeptical that the Indians are going to pay Hafner $2.75 million to suit up for anybody other than the Cleveland Indians next season.)
National as in ESPN? If so could be I don’t watch them for baseball I watch MLB Network and of course the Intranet.
I agree with everything you said my problem is people, especially on the Northcoast, should know better by now to not count anyone out especially in the crappy division which they reside. I wouldn’t have predicted Chicago would be in first on August 21 either but if you looked at the White Sox roster it wasn’t exactly shabby. Rios has quietly had a phenomenal season, it happens. Look at Pierzynski. Sale, Quintana how about Addison Reed closing games as a rookie? De Aza and Viciedo in the OF with Rios not to mention the acquisition of Youkilis. Not dramatic but stabalizing for sure. Dunn had about as bad a season you could have a year ago but for people to think he lost hiw power were crazy.
As far as Detroit goes they are just 2 games behind Chicago but they are definitely underwhelming. Verlander couldn’t continue that unreal amazing season of a year ago but their other pitchers have been more of a letdown. I don’t know who else besides Cabrera, Fielder and Jackson the offense could rely on I mean certainly not Jhonny maybe Avila. I like Quinton Berry. Boesch was a letdown. Picking up Infante was solid but the Tigres probably could have used one more deal.
Regardless both of these teams were in better shape before the season started then the Indians. For as many deficiencies Chicago and Detroit have the Indians have 5x as many, Then and more obviously now.
100% agreed about Hafner he’ll be back – settle down mgbode! And for anyone to expect anything different then what they got this offseason to not happen again give me some of what they are drinking ‘cuz it ain’t no Kool-Aid.
“both of these teams were in better shape before the season started then the Indians”
obviously Detroit was as many were picking WS for them. and looking at it now, sure so were the White Sox. but, before the season, I do not find many that thought so (general consensus was the Indians were the 2nd best team. far back from Detroit, but still). all the names you mention outside of Pierzynski were huge ? coming into the year. Rios had a terrible year last year along with Dunn. Quintana didn’t even make the MLB roster in April. the OF was a huge ? and Sale/Reed are both incredibly young and easily could have gone either way.
If they don’t pay him $2.75 to go, they have to pay him $13 to stay. Which do you think they’re choosing? And before this latest injury, I would have bet that he would have been back for somewhere under 1 year $5 million. That’s worth it for half a season of a solid DH. Now, I’m not so sure.
after this injury we might get him for that 1 yr / $5mil including the $2.75 buyout (probably $5.75 total though if I had to guess).
Pretty weak that you guys buried your Perez coverage in a www post. It’s a story that needs to be covered. You guys are like Marty Schottenheimer in a playoff game, too tight and conservative. Offer the clip and give it a nsfw warning…. you guys are freaking soft. Do your job.
The days of a home field advantage are truly gone.
Nobody say a word or else maybe an opposing team’s athlete will make a big deal of it, making said fan look like a jerk.
Yes because our jobs & their jobs are so similar.