The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Alomar: Indians’ future is still bright
Sandy Alomar Jr. believes the Indians will be a contender this year, despite roster turnover. Also, Jeff Schudel weighs in on the Cavs’ recent deals and the future of the Gladiators.
The Indians this offseason trimmed payroll by trading Edwin Encarnacion, Yonder Alonso and Yan Gomes and to make up for it reacquired Carlos Santana as a hitter with a track record of success. The Tribe also lost Michael Brantley in free agency.
Despite what seems like a huge net loss in run production, Baseball Prospectus is projecting the Indians to win their fourth straight American League Central Division championship in 2019. That isn’t a surprise, considering the rest of the division is so weak. What is a surprise is the system Baseball Prospectus used to make its prediction, Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm, foresees the Indians winning 96 games. That’s five games more than last year when they won the division by 13 games over the Minnesota Twins.
It is worth noting Baseball Prospectus made its prediction before the Indians announced a calf injury will likely prevent All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor from being ready to start the season.
Fans that might be fretting despite the encouraging outlook from Baseball Prospectus can take comfort knowing Indians first base coach Sandy Alomar, Jr., a cog in the teams that were so successful in the 1990s, doesn’t see gloom and doom, either.
“There were a lot of changes in 1990, too,” Alomar said at the Cleveland Sports Awards dinner after being honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. “I came here with Carlos Baerga (in a trade with the San Diego Padres) for Joe Carter.
“The Indians are making an opportunity to have a bigger window. We don’t have the same money organizations have. But when you’re able to plan right and open that window for a longer time, it’s better for the organization and the city.”
The Indians were sixth in the AL East in 1989 when Carter played in all 162 games, hit 35 homers and drove in 105 runs. Just as the Indians chose to cut payroll now because, in the words of team president Chris Antonetti, “the financial path they were on was not sustainable,” former Indians general manager Hank Peters traded Carter on Dec. 6, 1989, because Carter would have been a free agent after the 1990 season.
Alomar was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1990. Still, the Indians finished fourth that year. Their domination in the ‘90s did not begin until 1994 when they went 66-47 in a strike-shortened season to finish second in their first year in the Central Division after MLB reorganized from two two-division leagues to two threedivision leagues.
The Indians won Central Division each year from 1995-99. They advanced to the World Series twice (1995 vs. Braves, 1997 vs. Marlins) and lost in six games to Braves and in seven to the Marlins.
The team Antonetti felt forced to break up this winter advanced to the World Series in 2016, losing to the Cubs in seven games. It won the division in 2017 and 2018 but was eliminated in the divisional playoffs both years,
“You have to welcome change at times,” Alomar said. “We have superstar players, but we haven’t won the World Series, The same thing happened in ‘95 and ‘97. We did a phenomenal job and left a great legacy (but didn’t win it all).”
• Alomar was a six-time All-Star, the 1997 All-Star game MVP and won a Gold Glove in 1990 along with Rookie of the Year. He was inducted into the Indians Hall of Fame in 2009.
All that, yet he said in his home he does not have one piece of evidence he ever played baseball. His son Marcus, who turns 19 on Valentine’s Day, has it all.
“I’m not joking,” he said. “I don’t have a trophy or anything else in my house that says ‘Sandy Alomar played baseball.’
“Marcus has a shrine of myself. He has a trophy case with my All-Star game rings, World Series rings, trophies, and all that stuff. I’m proud my son keeps it alive.”
Alomar said Marcus also has his father’s catcher’s mask, chest protector and shoes in the trophy case.
The 52-year-old Alomar said when he retires he might take back some of his memorabilia, but first he wants to be part of a World Series championship. The Indians last won a World Series in 1948.
Cavs earn high marks
The Cavaliers are drawing high praise for the trades they’ve made this season with the aim of building a brighter future.
In four separate deals, the Cavaliers acquired two first-round picks and six second-round picks.
The selloff began on Nov. 29 when the Cavs traded Kyle Korver to the Jazz for guard Alec Burks, a second-round pick in 2020 and a second-round pick in 2021. It continued on Dec. 7 when they traded George Hill and Sam Dekker to the Bucks for guard Matthew Dellavedova, a protected firstround pick in 2021 and a second-round pick in 2021.
Guard Rodney Hood was traded to the Blazers on Feb. 3 for guards Adam Baldwin and Nik Stauskas, a second-round pick in 2021 and a secondround pick in 2023.
One day before the Feb. 7 trade deadline the Cavaliers, Kings and Rockets worked out a three-team deal. The Cavaliers traded Burks to the Kings and Baldwin plus Stauskas and the 2021 second-round pick acquired from Milwaukee to the Rockets. In exchange the Cavaliers got guard Brandon Knight, forward Marquese Chriss, a protected 2019 first-round pick and a 2022 second-round pick from Houston.
Boil this all down, and the Cavaliers traded Korver, Hill and Hood for two first-round picks, five second round picks, Knight and Chriss.
That’s a pretty good haul for general manager Koby Altman if he makes good use of the draft picks.
Gladiators update
The Cleveland Gladiators last played a game in the Arena Football League in 2017. They finished 5-9, cruised into the playoffs as the third seed in the five-team league and were eliminated by the Tampa Bay Storm, 73-59.
The plan was to go into hiatus for two years while Quicken Loans Arena was being renovated with a goal to return in 2020. Exactly where those plans to return to the AFL are now is murky.
A spokesman for certain events at The Q was contacted on Feb. 8 and returned the following email response:
“Our entire focus continues to be on the successful completion of The Q Transformation Project and we wish the AFL a successful upcoming season. We look forward to re-opening The Q in the fall and continuing to focus on attracting world class sporting and entertainment events for all of Ohio to enjoy.
“Organizational efforts at this time are extremely focused on completing the Transformation Project. After its conclusion we will begin to program out all of the events for 2019 and beyond.”
The AFL was a fourteam league in 2018 without a Cleveland franchise – Albany Empire, Washington Valor, Baltimore Brigade and Philadelphia Soul.
The league expanded by two teams for the upcoming 2019 season, adding a franchise in Atlantic City and one in Columbus.
The AFL is eager to continue expanding. In fact, a caller to the league office in Philadelphia will get a recording with a series of prompts. The second prompt is, “For expansion opportunities, press 2.” Pressing “2” allows the caller to leave a voice message.
Arena Football League president John Adams is hopeful Cleveland rejoins the AFL in 2020. He envisions an intense I-71 rivalry between the Gladiators and whatever the Columbus team will be called. The Columbus franchise was awarded on Feb. 7. The team name will be announced next week.
“They went on a twoyear hiatus so they’re still technically part of the league,” Adams said by phone from Philadelphia. “We remain in contact with them. We certainly hope they’ll be back for 2020. But that’s a decision they’ll have to make. Hopefully, Columbus is a nice incentive for Cleveland to come back to have a close rivalry.”
Adams said he believes legalized sports gambling will entice other cities to want to join the AFL.
I didn’t know that
…until I read my Snapple bottle cap.
The Florida Everglades is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles live together. … The Sahara Desert stretches farther than the distance from New York to California. … Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete. … The pupils in goats’ eyes are rectangular. … The Metropolitan Museum of Art has more than 30,000 baseball cards as part of the Jefferson R. Burdick collection. … More energy from the sun hits earth every hour than the planet uses in a year.