The ownership of the Cleveland Indians by Larry Dolan and his son Paul is often a hot topic in Cleveland sports. Most fans look at the Dolans as poor owners who do not spend enough money to keep the team competitive. Their evidence is the organizations like of ability to make any impact on the free agent market, whether that means adding pieces or simply retaining their own players.There is a significant minority in the fanbase that sees the Dolans as the best owners in Cleveland sports. This is based off of the continuity in the front office as well as ownership’s overall willingness to let the baseball minds make the baseball decisions.
The thing is though, as fans we don’t have to look at the information. We can just judge by what we see and the emotions we feel. As a whole, I feel the Dolan’s have been poor owners, and have several reasons that explain my feelings, all related to money and the product on the field.
1. After making the playoffs last season, ownership did nothing to help the team on the field.
The 2013 Cleveland Indians won their final ten games of the season to finish with a record of 92-70 and clinch the top wild card spot in the American League. They followed this by allowing two members of their starting rotation, Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez, to leave as free agents and made no effort to replace them. While Jimenez has struggled, Kazmir has been phenomenal for the Oakland A’s, earning an All-Star berth this season. Since the Indians did not make a qualifying offer to Kazmir, they don’t even receive a first round draft pick as compensation for him leaving. This has helped lead to a starting rotation that has struggled throughout this season.
2. The money they spent before the 2013 season is more than offset by the money coming off their books.
Before the 2013 season, the Indians signed Nick Swisher to a deal that paid him $11 million the first year of the contract and $15 million in each of the next four. They also signed Michael Bourn to a four year deal that paid him $7 million his first season with the club and between $13.5 and $14 million over the next four. Both offers have vesting options for fifth years, but considering the amount of injuries both players have battled it’s unlikely those options are picked up. The Indians also paid Brett Myers $7 million last year in a failed attempt to make him a starter again. So those players received $25 million in 2013 and will receive approximately $29 million a year from 2014-2016. While this is a significant investments, it’ was not a significant addition to the Indian’s payroll. First off, the Indians no longer had to pay Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore, two injury-riddled former stars who earned a combined $18 million in 2012.2012 also saw the end of contracts to Casey Kotchman ($3 million), Derek Lowe ($5 million), and Shin-Soo Choo ($4.9 million), and the Dolans actually added $6 million less in salary than what came off the books in their biggest investment into the team in years. Now figure in the contracts of former closer Chris Perez ($7.3 million) and Jimenez ($5.75 million), and Mark Reynolds ($6 million) that expired after last season, and the Dolans are spending significantly less money in adding talent to the team than many realize, even when taking into account the terrific new contracts for Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, and Yan Gomes.
3. This is a team that routinely makes a profit.
While the Dolans can somewhat justifiably point to the team’s poor home attendance as part of the reason the payroll isn’t higher, that doesn’t paint the whole picture. The team’s merchandise sales and television ratings are through the roof, and the organization sold it’s Sportstime Ohio channel to Fox Sports for an estimate $230 million. All MLB teams have also received more money due to increased revenue from new television deals. Finally, while the actual details are known only to the organization, Major League Baseball, and the Player’s Association, the Indians are rumored to have made around $30 million in profit each of the last three years. While it should be noted that Paul Dolan and Delaware North Companies will pay for the upcoming major renovations to Progressive Field (as opposed to using tax dollars), one has to wonder if the renovations would be necessary if that same money was put into the team’s payroll. The same could be said for the Snow Days events which used to take place at the park. All of these other attractions might not be necessary if the product on the field was a consistent contender.
Conclusions
Despite what it might seem like, none of this is meant to vilify the Dolans. They have done a nice job developing a front office that is respected all around Major League Baseball and is noted for its clear chain of command and lack of upheaval. They have also given untold amounts of money to various charities to help those in need and have funded the baseball and softball programs for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District for years. But in an age where baseball seems to be struggling in popularity as a whole, they haven’t given Indians fans much to be consistently excited about over the years. As someone who has gone to games with his family since he was a small child and hopes to continue that tradition with his own two young children, I just hope that the apathy ownership has allowed to creep in doesn’t eventually lead to a time when Cleveland Indians baseball is no longer around for the people who love it.
Fans can continue to blame the Dolans all they want, and it’s definitely the easy way out which is why most fans choose this path, but it solves nothing. You bring up most of the common points, but there are some flaws.
1. This wasn’t an ownership decision. The money was there to sign both if they wanted. The front office passed on both Kaz and Ubaldo for baseball reasons. In one case, it proved to be a great decision. In the other, it hasn’t worked out so far. But this has nothing to do with the Dolans. The Indians instead took that money and put it into Kipnis, Brantley and Gomes extensions.
2. 2013 opening day payroll was $82.5M. 2014’s payroll was $82.5M. The 2012 final payroll was $69M…The Dolans OK’d the growth of the payroll in order to make a run with in the next few years. And they also OK’d the growth slightly further (money that they attempted to put into a Masterson extension), and the 2015 payroll will likely see a boost to reflect that.
3. Isn’t turning a profit the point of running a business? I’d love for another Dick Jacobs to buy the team, but Jacobs lost money throughout the 90s. There aren’t 30 potential MLB ownership group out there willing to use the team as a toy. Certain fan bases get lucky, but it’s cyclical. We had our turn in the 90s, Detroit is having their fun now. The wealth will continue to rotate as ownership groups change over the years, but the majority of the teams in the league at any given point will operate like the Indians are now.
So when the Indians (the Dolans) intimated that they could not/can not add payroll due to less than expected attendance, it’s not because if they did they would lose money (which I could understand), it’s because if they would add payroll, they’d only make, oh, say $20 million a year instead of $30 million.
Yeah, good luck selling that to a fan base who hasn’t won a title in 50 years. I’ve backed the Dolans over the years, but this specific point is a joke.
I understand your point LC, but you’re overestimating the numbers. Due to the significant jump in payroll and the lack of a jump in attendance, Forbes estimates that the Indians actually operated at just over a $1M loss last year. http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlm45fdgdd/24-cleveland-indians/
Very few teams turn a profit over $20M and the one that do are generally in rebuilding mode (so the money will usually be put back in down the road). So when we’re talking about signing a guy for $10M per year, that really does have a significant impact on the bottom line if it doesn’t translate to a boost in ticket sales.
Since (and correct me if I’m wrong) MLB has never really “opened up the books” on their finances, isn’t any talk of the Dolans making $30 mill a year or $1 a year profit complete conjecture?
You’re right. It’s definitely not the exact number, but given the amount of information readily available (player salaries, some front office salaries, ticket prices/sales, some merch sales, TV contracts, etc) it’s not hard to come up with a reasonable estimate. I would find it hard to believe that they’re earning $20M when Forbes estimates a $1M loss. To be off by over 2,000%, or even 1,000% would be shocking given all the data that’s known.
I would guess the margin of error is closer to $3M to $5M in either direction.
you’re a fricken troll dude get lost
it’s an open secret the dolan’s have an arsenal of trolls who post on blogs regularly in their defense.
stop upholding a status quo of mediocrity you lame ball. be gone
I’d like to add that I don’t think the Dolans are great owners by any means. In terms of former Indians, I’d say they’re the Jamey Carroll of owners—basically league average and easily replaceable.
But when it comes to sports in a city like Cleveland, if you can’t have a Dick Jacobs, all you can really ask for is that they’re committed to staying in the city. The Dolans have made it clear that this team isn’t in danger of being moved, and for a city that can barely support the team we should be satisfied with that. Everything else in terms of winning and losing is on the front office.
I can get behind the thought behind this. The Dolans are not good owners, but they aren’t horrible owners either. If you want to take a gander at horrible owners, all you need to do is go north on E. 9th Street and check out the abortion that wears orange and brown, and the clowns who have owned that team (in two incarnations) since the 60s.
Unfortunately, I’m not going to let you slide on the “everything else in terms of winning and losing is on the front office”. Who hired the front office Ryan? Who has kept this front office employed?
you’re a fricken troll dude get lost
it’s an open secret the dolan’s have an arsenal of trolls who post on blogs regularly in their defense.
stop upholding a status quo of mediocrity you lame ball.
Love them or hate them, we can all agree that the Dolans are better than Jimmy Haslam, right? He meddles more in the football decisions of his franchise than any owner this side of Jerry Jones…
Ryan, great points. I hate reading the Plain Dealer and http://www.cleveland.com and the trolls that post stupid comments. I don’t even live in Ohio, and I attended more games last year than most friends and family. I was there last year in the last week of the season and there was still only 15,000 fans attend. It isn’t a baseball town. Jacobs Field hey day was a fluke. The Cavs were horrible and the Browns were on their way out. The Economy was good with the inception of the internet. Perfect Storm.