I know its the American League Central and the division is always going to be considered “winnable,” but lets call 2010 what it is; a rebuilding/lost season for your Cleveland Indians. With that said, the Indians brass missed out on a golden opportunity to help put fannies in the seats next summer, when most expect this could be hand-down the lowest attendance season of the Jacobs/Progressive Field era.
Signing Omar Vizquel to be their utility man.
On Monday, Little O signed a one year, $1.3 with the rival Chicago White Sox. He will backup Gordon Beckham, Alexei Ramirez, and new third baseman Mark Teahan in the Sox infield. After spending a year in Texas at age 42, it looked like Omar may hang ‘em up, but the 11-time gold glover is back for another season.
Now here is where Mark Shapiro and company dropped the ball. Jamey Carroll, a consummate professional and probably as perfect a utility man as you can have, is a free agent and will be too rich for the Dolan blood for a rebuilding team who is watching their payroll. So a spot behind Asdrubal Cabrera and Luis Valbuena up the middle is open. AC, like Omar, is Venezuelan and views Omar as his idol. He wears #13 to honor him. You know who else is Venezuelan and revers Omar? Valbuena.
Wasn’t a triumphant return to finish out his career exactly the end Vizquel was looking for? Wouldn’t it have been a smart thing to do from a PR standpoint to bring back Omar for one more year. Combine that with the newly appointed Sandy Alomar Jr to the coaching staff and you have something that can help tickle the Tribe fans fancy.
Nope, instead, to save money, the utility man will most likely be Jason Donald, who came over in the Cliff Lee trade.
Sweet.
Omar may or may not be done (he hit .266 in 62 games last year), but does that really matter at this point? Is he really going to be any worse than Donald, who has yet to prove he can hit beyond the AA level (.238 in AA last year in 70 games)?
At least we get to see Omar back at Progressive Field several times next season. Its just a real shame it won’t be in the red, white, and blue.
Author: TD
TD is a born and bred Clevelander who agrees with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt when he says ""Ranch Dressing makes everything better except for cereal and ice cream."TD has written 253 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
Omar y amigos making a comeback on WGN?
Ozzie and Omar in the same dugout? Now that would be fun. If only I could lip-read in spanish.
I’d prefer they use Donald as UI and see what he brings to the table for future contending seasons that sign another aging veteran that more than likely offers the exact same productions.
This is a year to figure out what we have – not what we had.
And if winning 96 games doesn’t bring people to the stadium – Omar playing once a week won’t either.
Yup, that’s a shame. It would have been a nice bow on Omar’s career to finish up with the Tribe then possibly move into a coaching role.
Wow, the Indians brass is making the Browns front office seem, well, not as bad.
As much as it hurts to say, I think I agree with Narm. Seeing if Donald can be a contributor is more important that reliving the glory days. Hopefully, Omar can come back as a coach in the next couple of years a la Sandy.
my family has had season tix in the last section behind the first base dugout for almost 20 years. my father was so disgusted with this past season (as well as never ONCE being recognized as the “season ticket holder of the game”) that he gave up the seats. only a week later does one of my 2 all-time favorite indians get named our new first base coach. and now, my other all-time fav signs with the white sox…FML
Agree with Narm and AMC.
I loved Omar when he was here, but I really wonder how many tickets bringing him into the fold would sell. I mean, fans would love it in principle, but is a fading utility player who plays once a week really going to bring them to the park? I would argue not, and that it’s far better for the Tribe to attempt cultivating the next wave of fan favorites rather than bringing back those of yesteryear.
I don’t know what playing Jason Donald has to do with saving money, either. Dolan may be cheap, but that’s besides the point in this case. Signing fringe players to take away ABs from MLB ready prospects is a bad idea for rebuilding teams. If the Indians want to sign a player for 1.3 million, they can do better. A high-risk, high-reward player coming back from injury, or someone that can possibly be flipped at the deadline. Other than that, I hope they stand pat in FA.
From Castrovince’s article:
“The Indians did express interest in Vizquel, but they were told by his agent, Adam Katz, that the White Sox were a higher priority on his list. It had been speculated that the 42-year-old Vizquel, perhaps seeking future support for his Hall of Fame candidacy, wanted to land with a ‘high-profile’ club, and the Sox are obviously in a bigger market than the Tribe.”
Don’t know where that speculation is coming from or whether it was to provide damage control (which, if it was, it was done by the Tribe and not by Castro) for a fan favorite signing with a division rival. But, I guess that it’s also possible that was Omar’s line of thinking in making his decision.
It sure would have been nice to have him back for a number of reasons, especially to tutor A-Cab and Sweet Luis. I am looking forward to seeing him back in Cleveland a couple of times next season though.
How many ex-Indians have the White Sox signed over the years? Seriously, are they that unoriginal?
My inlaws are south siders and I never forget to bring this up each and every time I see them, to include tomorrow with this latest signing. Their response: “What’s that guys’ name? I think it rhymes with santeria.” This is normally when I start drinking.
@9 – better question is how many ex-Indians have done anything special for the White Sox.
at least we had them when they were good….and you think they would have learned by now
Honestly, I’d much rather have us re-sign Jim Thome for one last hurrah.
Omar with the white sox?? You can put it on the board yesssss