 |
MLB Draft Is Where Tribe Will Improve
July 23, 2010 By Todd Shapiro
|
It's getting closer to July 31 the date that usually sends shivers down the spines of Cleveland baseball fans. While many Indians fans are still in need of shock therapy and copious amounts of alcohol to get over that trade that have seen a pair of Cy Young Award winner and fans favorites such as catcher Victor Martinez shipped off for prospects to teams in the pennant race, the dates that have been more dangerous for the organization has been the dates in early June when Major League Baseball holds its amateur draft.
Only four of the 25 players on the Tribe's current active roster, Aaron Laffey, Tony Sipp, Trevor Crowe and Chris Gimenez were acquired by the team in MLB entry draft. The New York Yankees, the Evil Empire that is annually accused of going out and buying a World Series championship, has eight players that they originally draft on the 25-man roster.
The Dolan's have been criticized, with some merit, for their unwillingness to spend the money needed to make the Indians a consistent championship contender. Former manager Eric Wedge and current skipper Manny Acta have taken heat for over the past three seasons for putting player development over wins and losses, but the bulk of the Tribe's problems have to fall into the laps of Mark Shapiro and director of amateur scouting Brad Grant.
In a market the size of Cleveland, the Indians will never be able to spend at the level of the Yankees or the Red Sox so they have to spend smartly, something else they haven't done. What other team in baseball would drop almost $35 million a year of Travis Hafner, Jake Westbrook and Kerry Wood. But until the Indians can consistently count on calling up home grown talent that can contribute at the Major League level, they will never be a competitive franchise.
Looking back at the drafts from the years 2002-07 it is amazing how few of the Tribe's top-10 draft picks have panned out. And let's face facts here, Cleveland is never going to be a top free-agent destination, so if the Indians can't draft effectively how can they ever hope to compete at the big league level.
Fausto Carmona and Jhonny Peralta are among the prime examples that Cleveland's Latin American scouting and player development programs have paid dividends on the big league level but there is also a growing thought that one day soon, possibly as soon as the next collective bargaining agreement, that Latin American prospects will become eligible for draft, reducing any advantages the Indians may currently have in those markets, Currently any player from outside the United States, Canada or Puerto Rico is not eligible for the draft and sign a free-agent contract with any organization beginning at the age of 16.
The Jacobs Field magic of 16 years ago has faded away, the assets that the Indians acquired in the big sell-offs of the early 2000's have nearly been squandered and the ghost of George Steinbrenner is not to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario to wave wads of cash at free agents.
When Chris Antonetti takes over for Shapiro as the Indians General Manager after the 2010 season the attention he and his staff on preparing for future drafts, and not what happens annually as the July 31 trade deadline approaches, will determine if the Tribe spend the next decade battling medium-sized market teams Minnesota and Detroit for supremacy of the AL Central or wallowing in perpetual race to the bottom with Kansas City.
