Tribe stiffs Moorad........or did we?

[*TR]

At Moorad's initiation the Tribe was convinced to offer Juan G arbitration. The thought at the time was that Moorad could use the threat of Juan G staying with Tribe as leverage to get a deal somewhere else. But after Bonds & Boone accepted arbitration it's also clear Moorad had read the market and knew arbitration may be Juan's best play. We all know Juan liked playing here and liked playing with bud Robbie Alomar. However after the arbitration offer the Tribe traded away Robbie (an event that I believe was totally unseen by Moorad) and brought in 3 OF's (Lawton, Anderson, & Escobar). Robbie's exit diminished the Tribe's appeal to Juan G considerably. Still it was a deadline decision to reject arbitration. The Tribe will now likely receive a 1st round pick from whomever signs Juan plus a 1st round compensation pick! Not bad! Tribe snookers Moorad!.......or did we? If Alomar had not been traded it now appears Juan G WOULD have accepted arbitration and Cleveland would have played 2002 with both Robbie AND Juan. Hmmmm.....

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[The Crank]

Let me finish your thought .....and would not have gotten any further in the playoffs then they did last year while still having a $95 million dollar plus payroll and getting older

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[Skilz22]

Good Point.

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[Alex]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The Crank:
Let me finish your thought .....and would not have gotten any further in the playoffs then they did last year while still having a $95 million dollar plus payroll and getting older
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You're wrong...Kenny Lofton batted .100 in the playoffs, Ichiro batted .600, that is the primary reason we lost.

When Jamie Moyer pitched in the playoffs, Seatle was 3-0. when Jamie Moyer did not pitch in the playoffs, Seattle was 1-6.

Our Starting nine was a better balanced bunch than Seattle.

Next year, our PITCHING was going to get much younger AND better REGARDLESS of whether or not we traded Robbie.

Robbie, Thome, and Juan were the three most prolific core players on ANY TEAM this past season...we dumped two of them.

Our secondary players of a healthy Fryman, Diaz, Vizquel and Burks would be frontline players on any other team.

We could have easily mixed in Bradley, Garcia and Branyan to make our line-up more "middle-aged".

This was all about saving 10-15 million dollars, and in the process dismantling Hart's team so he would never be credited with bringing a championship to Cleveland.



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Alex

[srg]

Umm, sorry Alex nice try but no way possible that team could beat either NY or Oakland, Shapiro has the foresight to dismantle an aging team. Burks is almost 40, Visquel is 35, Fryman needs TJ surgery on his elbow, Lofton is finished, Keeping last yrs team intact would have netted the same result: An early exit from the playoffs, that of course is assuming we could have won the AL central wich is not a sure thing with a healthy White Sox team. The bottom line is simple, even with Alomar andGonzales, we have no leadoff hitter, no number 2 hitter, A weak hitting Fryman at third base, A washed up 40 year old Finley as the number three starter, same cast same result: A 100 mill payroll and an aging team that can't win anything. Saying Shapiro dismantled Harts team out of fear of hart getting credit is the most idiotic thing i have heard in my life.

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[Alex]

srg

....Vizquel, Fryman, Burks ARE STILL WITH THE TEAM!

Shapiro took the top of the muffin players and traded it or let them go, and got us middle of the muffin players in return.

Our team was every bit as good as the Yankees and Seattle.

Our holes were, Kenny L., Dave.B, John R., and Wil Cordero...those were the guys that needed to be replaced...the other 21 players on the 25 man roster were not in need of replacing.

Travis is the only real question mark out of those 21.

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Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex (edited December 24, 2001).]

[Swanny]

The Indians would be a better team with Alomar and Gonzalez in the lineup in 2002. How anyone can believe that we are better off without these 2 guys in the lineup needs some professional help!

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[srg]

Alex let me try again, NO we are not as good of a team as either NY or Oakland, what are u smoking? Don't give me this crap about how we match up with their everyday lineups, you must be brainwashed by Hart if you believe this. Oakland has Zito-Mulder-Hudson-Liddle, NY has Clemems-Pettite-Mussina, We have Colon-Sabathia and, and and, umm, Finley and what else? This is the BIG difference. Hitting home runs, five and fly starters and turn it over to the bullpen in the sixth inning wins Central division titles but nuthing else. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend? WE do not I repeat do not match up with the two best teams in the AL with Gonzales-Alomar or without, please explain how, I would love to hear that one. You can't, All you can do is take cheap shots with your Shapiro-relative thing, you can't address my points that is obvious. BTW Alex, how do you replace Lofton with a payroll already approaching 100mill? Sign stiffs like Cedeno and Damon? HA! HA! That is still a big hole in the lineup, Fryman is still not 100% until he gets TJ surgery, your the one who is delusional if U think your 2001 team can beat either NY or Oakland.

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[This message has been edited by srg (edited December 22, 2001).]

[Swanny]

Pretty hard to argue with srg on this one Alex!

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[Alex]

srg...

Whatever you've been smoking, don't put me near the cigarette butt, I wouldn't even have to inhale to be as off the mark as you are.

OUR STARTING NINE was as good or better than anyone elses this past season, even with Kenny Lofton in the top spot.

I don't know know what planet you've been on, BUT WE HAVEN'T PICKED UP ANY STARTING PITCHING for the next season.

We have young arms, thanks to Hart, that would have made us a better team next year, AUTOMATICALLY.

It's this simple.

Our pen is fine.

Our starting nine WAS fine..

Our starting pitching was about to get a heck of lot younger AND better.

You don't reassemble a whole team to get Matt Lawton...and I like the guy's talent and future potential.

But that's basically what we did.



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Alex