The time has come

Cleveland MLB team prepared to drop offensive nickname.

The Cleveland Indians are changing their name — they just don’t know to what or when.

Expressing that “it’s time,” owner Paul Dolan said that after months of internal discussions and meetings with groups, including Native Americans who have sought to have the team stop using a moniker many deem racist, the American League franchise is dropping the name it has been known by since 1915.

“The name is no longer acceptable in our world,” Dolan said

Dolan also said the team will continue to be called Indians until a new name is chosen. That “multi-stage” process is in its early stages and the team will play — and be branded — as the Indians at least through next season.

“We’ll be the Indians in 2021 and then after that, it’s a difficult and complex process to identify a new name and do all the things you do around activating that name,” Dolan said. “We are going to work at as quick a pace as we can while doing it right.

“But we’re not going to do something just for the sake of doing it. We’re going to take the time we need to do it right.”

Dolan said the team will not adopt an interim name. “We don’t want to be the Cleveland Baseball Team or some other interim name,” he said, adding he hopes the new name “will hopefully take us through multiple centuries.”

Cleveland’s move follows a similar decision by the NFL’s Washington Football Team, previously known as the Redskins.

As Cleveland considers new names, Dolan said Tribe, the team’s popular nickname for decades, has been ruled out.

“We are not going to take a half- step away from the Indians,” said Dolan, acknowledging Tribe was an early choice. “The new name, and I do not know what it is, will not be a name that has Native American themes or connotations to it.”

The decision was welcomed by Native American groups.

“The team made a genuine effort to listen and learn,” said Cynthia Connolly, executive board member of the Lake Erie Native American Council in the Cleveland Indigenous Coalition. “We hope this serves as a blueprint for other professional teams and the 200plus high school teams in the Cleveland area. If there is a school or team that truly cares about fighting racism, these mascots cannot coexist.”

Royals

Free- agent reliever Greg Holland will stay with Kansas City after signing a one-year contact worth at least $2.75 million. Holland can earn as much as $4.5 million with performance bonuses. Holland, 35, was 30 with six saves and a 1.91 ERA in 28 relief appearances this past season.

Red Sox

Boston signed outfielder Hunter Renfroe to a one-year deal for $3.1 million. The Red Sox saw enough of Renfroe at Fenway Park this summer to think he might be a good fit. In two games in Boston for the Tampa Bay Rays, the righthanded slugger was 4 for 11 with 2 home runs and 2 doubles.