Let It Count

                As I was watching the afternoon recap show of Mike and Mike In The Morning, I saw something very troublesome. Mike Gohlic and Buster Onley, who was filling in for Mike Greenberg that day, were both in agreement that the MLB All-Star Game should NOT count towards deciding who gets home field advantage in the World Series. What was more disturbing is that players such as Braves catcher Brian McCann were in agreement with the two hosts on this philosophy. I feel that this thinking is inaccurate and sort of unhealthy in my estimation. Their thinking is that the game should be nothing more than an exhibition game. This would be similar to the other All-Star Games in the NBA, NHL and NFL. Having the MLB All-Star Game be an exhibition game? Are you kidding me? Do people not remember the debacle that was the 2002 All-Star Game? It started out well with Torii Hunter robbing Barry Bonds of a home run by leaping over the right field wall and catching the ball. After that though, the game went downhill from there. The decline started with Tommy Lasorda coaching third base. Tommy may have been a great manager in his day, but there's absolutely no way Major League Baseball should put him in harm's way by putting him in charge of third base. In fact, in that game, Tommy was put in danger when a bat shattered due to a pitched ball. The bat flew Lasorda's way and caused him to fall right on his behind. Of course the announcers just laughed it off as some funny joke. It looked like something out of a Benny Hill skit. Things got progressively worse as the night went on. I will never forget seeing Rudy Giuliani in one of the dugouts and thinking to myself "What is he doing in the dugout?"  Then came the ultimate sign of disrespect to the mid-summer classic. Going into the 11th inning, the score was tied at 7 apiece. Due to the absurd rule that every player should play in the game, by the time the 11th rolled around, neither team had anyone left on their bench. Nobody scored that inning so what did the commissioner do? After deliberating with the umpires, he decided to declare the game a tie. Really? Do people really want to go back to those shenanigans? I know I don't. I want to go back to the days of Ray Fosse being tackled by Pete Rose like in the 1980 game. Perhaps the game shouldn't count as home field advantage in the World Series. To say that the game should mean nothing though is also inaccurate I believe. Let the game count for something. That way, the game will be more enjoyable for the fans, the players and for the game as a whole.

         

Share The Blame

                "Horrible trade" "Awful deal." "What is Shapiro thinking?" These are some of the comments I used to hear whenever Mark Shapiro made a trade that people didn't like. I feel people ridiculing him started from day one of him becoming the General Manager of the Cleveland Indians. I can personally remember Shapiro sitting in the front row during one of the Indians games and someone I know saying "He looks like a spoiled little rich kid that bought a baseball team." Now these comments, albeit very cruel, are somewhat justified. After all, during his tenure as the GM, Shapiro traded not just one but two Cy Young award winners in C.C Sabathia and Cliff Lee. Furthermore Matt LaPorta, who we received for Sabathia, has not really panned out as of yet. Shapiro's thinking is to trade players with large contracts for future stars instead of paying them money that the players are asking for. Now this is just my opinion and I have no hard evidence to back this up. However, when you see some of the moves the former GM has made, you are more likely to see some trends. Plus, when you hear Shapiro use terms like "Market value", you begin to draw your own conclusions. Can Shapiro be blamed for it all though? My answer is no and here's why. Ever since he purchased the team, Larry Dolan has a reputation for being very  careful with his money. I believe that Mr. Dolan is also looking for opportunities to make money whenever possible. A great example of this fact is when Progressive Field introduced "Snow Days" in December. Wouldn't you think turning a ballpark into a winter wonderland would be free? Not for good ol' Larry Dolan's Cleveland Indians organization it wasn't. You had to pay to ride the toboggans, sleds down the bleachers, etc. Based on that, you can clearly see how Larry Dolan enjoys cashing in on his investment whenever possible. Knowing these facts, the correlation between Mark Shapiro and Larry Dolan is clearly evident. Larry Dolan wants to save money. To do this, he tells Mark Shapiro to cut the payroll at whatever the cost. Shapiro then trades talent in order to apise his boss, Mr. Dolan. Now people may still want to blame Shapiro for the trades he has made. Let's look at this logically though. In the real world, if your boss told you, the employee, to cut the budget of his company in any way possible, wouldn't you do it? If you didn't, do you honestly think you would still have a job with that company? No, you wouldn't. The truth is all Mark Shapiro was doing when he was the GM of the Indians is listen to his boss. Plus, the trades Shapiro has made aren't that bad. We acquired Shin soo-Choo for Russell Branyan. We also got Justin Masterson, arguably our Ace right now, for Victor Martinez. On top of all that is one of my favorite trades ever. While it was not straight up, during the Mark Shapiro era, we received Grady Sizemore for Bartolo Colon. No, Mark Shapiro was not the greatest General Manager ever. However, have you ever heard the saying don't hate the player, hate the game? Well in this case, don't hate the General Manager. Hate the owner.