I came to this depressing realization today while glancing over the Indians roster and thought I’d share my pain with everyone…

Over the past 12 months the Indians spent $14.5 million (and parted with key prospects) to acquire Ubaldo Jimenez, Derek Lowe, Johnny Damon and Grady Sizemore. According to Baseball Reference, that quartet has combined to produce a WAR of -1.0.

What does this mean? Well, in theory, the Indians could have simply replaced Jimenez and Lowe with Jamie Moyer and Chris Young, played Shelley Duncan over Damon and not paid Sizemore to take up space on the DL and they would have actually improved by one game in the standings – all while saving over $10 million.

To make this realization even more depressing, the Twins signed Josh Willingham (3.1 WAR) for $7 million – just $.75 million more than the Indians are paying Damon and Sizemore.

To summarize, Antonetti and Shapiro – who I have defended for the most part over the years – failed in epic fashion this past offseason.

6 Comments

  • SeattleStu says:

    on the bright side we only gave up 5 runs to royals in the first inning….has anyone noticed this team has quit on manny actless over the past week?

  • Mary Jo says:

    Ryan, are you trying to make me drink even more than I do during Tribe games? Before this season is over I’ll probably have to check into rehab. At least I’ll have Susan and/or Stephanie to keep me company. 😉

    Stu, if you stuck with the game instead of jumping in right away to pick on the Tribe (shall we say “troll”?), you would have noticed that after giving up six runs in the very first start of his MLB career, Cory Kluber held the Royals, allowing no more runs until he was relieved in the 5th. Meanwhile, the Tribe came back to tie the game. If you really are in Seattle maybe you should go follow the Mariners…

  • Justin says:

    The team has not quit! I feel like that every other team has gotten better from Game 1 til now and the Indians have not improved. Thus they start strong and finish weak. That is a coaching problem.

    • Ryan McCrystal says:

      While I’m not a big fan of Acta and many of his decisions, I don’t put any of the blame on him or his staff. Coaches have less impact on the game in baseball than any sport, especially during the season when very little coaching is actually happening.

      To be honest, I don’t really blame anyone. This team entered the year looking like it should finish right around .500 and that’s exactly the direction they’re headed. They’ve met expectations. I’m just disappointed because I hoped they would exceed them.

  • SeattleStu says:

    mary jo, how did the game end up?….take off the tribe homer glasses…we stink…and yes, we are about to fall below the hapless mariners…

  • Peter says:

    I disagree, Justin. These are professional ballplayers whose job is to play this game. At some point, they reach down and play through pain, boredom, heat, slumps or what ever else ails them… or they don’t. They usually have plenty of coaches and advice to choose from. These guys need to look in the mirror well before you can blame the coaches… unless you want to blame them for playing Damon. I give you that.