The Biggest Missing Piece in the Indians Puzzle
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by user Ross K.
I somewhat hate to write an article about why the Cleveland Indians are bad the day after they beat not only the Detroit Tigers, but Kenny Rogers, however something occured to me last night that I think might be the key reason the Indians have failed this year.
Yesterday I wrote an article saying that a lot of the problems fall on the shoulders of Eric Wedge, but one of the last things I wrote - that Cleveland hasn't had an agressive manager in quite some time - made me rethink that position.
What did the 1995 and 1997 World Series teams have that this year's Indians does not?
Wise veteran leadership.
The 1995 Indians roster was very, very similar in number to this year's roster in the number of players in their first couple of years in MLB. But the roster also included Tony Pena, Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, Dennis Martinez and Orel Hershiser. In 1997 there was David Justice, Matt Williams and Hershiser again.
These were guys that were brought in to show the younger players the way to (almost) winning the World Series. There wasn't as many in '97 because by that time the core player had learned form the handful of guys in '95 and a few that came in for the 1996season (Jeff Kent and Jack McDowell).
In 1994, the year of the strike, the Indians had the young team and had a great year going, much like 2005 for the Indians when they won over 90 games. Murray, Pena and Martinez were on the '94 roster, but adding Hershiser and Winfield, two legends in their time is what put them over the top in '95.
This time around, the Indians did the complete opposite. They only veteran they had, Kevin Millwood, they let walk and they didn't bring in anyone else to replace him. The 2005-2006 offseason included Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, Paul Konerko, Frank Thomas, Bengie Molina, Kevin Brown, Jeromy Burnitz, Nomar Garciaparra and Reggie Sanders.
Sure, none of those guys are Winfield or Hershiser-type players, and some of them cost way morewhat the Dolans are willing to dish out, but they could have at least made an effort to bring in some guys that have been on winning teams instead of Paul Byrd.
The Indians can keep saying they need their core to mature, but the process would be much faster and more effective if they would bring in more guys to teach to core how to win and how to play consistantly instead of losing six in a row and then scoring 12 runs to win one game. They would have much more of an impact than any manager they could find.
Date
Wed 07/26/06, 7:41 am EST
