Cleveland Indians: What’s the Front Office Waiting For?

I want to tell myself that this is prudence, that by being patient and not jumping precipitously at the first trade offered that the Cleveland Indians are being cagey–that by standing by and doing nothing while Mark Trumbo and Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie get traded for little or nothing is evidence that this front office knows what it is doing. And that by walking away from a potential deal with the Diamondbacks, who then gave up a king’s ransom for Shelby Miller, that these guys know something I don’t.

I really want to think this will work out, that there is something besides Collin Cowgill and Joey Butler coming down the pike. That a team that was badly flawed last year and is looking at missing its best hitter for the first quarter of the 2016 season if not more recognizes the fact that it needs multiple impact bats if it hopes to contend.

I tell myself it is only December, that there is plenty of time before spring training. I tell myself that Trumbo and Lind are marginal talents whose contributions do not match their salaries, that they are born designated hitters who will rob the lineup of flexibility. I hope that the reason they are shying away from 2-3 WAR players is that they have a way to get a 4-5 WAR guy, that they recognize that Trumbo and Lind, for all their warts, are better than Jerry Sands.

I read the rumors about Todd Frazier (4.0 WAR), and I wonder if this front office has the stones to make this deal. Frazier would not be a salary dump for the Reds; they will only deal him if they get real value in return. Since the Reds are looking for prospects, the Indians can get him without hurting their core for 2016, but would they give up, say, Cody Anderson as part of the package? Anderson was great last year, but his ceiling is fourth starter, and he’s even money to start next season in Columbus. If you need to include him to get an All-Star third baseman, even for one year, you do it, but I wonder if this front office will pull the trigger.

Mostly, I wonder if this organization has grown comfortable being the little engine that almost could, if they are so conditioned to the mindset that anything above .500 is overachieving that the burning desire to get over the hump to actual contention isn’t really there. If maybe they figured out that four quality starters and a good manager are enough to guarantee that they will be at least decent for the next few years, and that decent is enough to guarantee a profit for the Dolans and job security for everyone who works for them.

If maybe the debacles with Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn have made them so risk averse that Collin Cowgill is the extent of their aggressiveness. Maybe they are looking ahead to the payroll ballooning in 2018 or 2019 because of all the backloaded contracts and figuring they need to keep all of their prospects so they can still be decent when Kluber, Kipnis, Brantley, and everyone else get too expensive or too old or both, and that they would rather have a long streak of decent seasons rather than go all in while the current core is affordable and in their prime and then rebuild.

Next: Attendance: The chicken or the egg?

I can see why it would be that way. Based on the past few seasons, it would be logical for the Dolans to conclude that adding to the payroll or even contending will not help the attendance much.  Besides, Mike Ilitch has spent hundreds of millions more than the Dolans and they have as won as many World Series as he has, so maybe these guys are onto something.