NewsInbox: Is youthful enthusiasm the answer?
MLB.com's Castrovince answers Tribe fans' questions
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com
10/19/09 8:28 AM ET
I greet you from Anaheim, where I'm helping out with MLB.com's coverage of the American League Championship Series and finding myself in need of a break from rubbing elbows with Kate Hudson and hitting the L.A. nightclub scene with the Rally Monkey. Behold, the Inbox. A welcome route to Tribe-related reality. Let's get to your questions. Where are the young, exciting managerial candidates? The NFL has been on a roll, hiring young, energetic coaches the past few years. Obviously, age equals experience, but experience equals dollars and not necessarily results. The managers around the league are older than the GMs. I would love to see our manager get fired up after an extra-inning walk-off homer and be the first one out of the dugout to pile on. I'd buy his jersey.-- Bob H., Salem, Ohio As a reporter, I'm a huge fan of the fairy-tale scenario you just depicted, because I'm assuming that any manager who would get involved with a home-plate pileup would have to be highly quotable, too. Fans generally tend to get behind a manager who shows some fire and enthusiasm. But the fact of the matter is that if a manager doesn't have the talent to work with or the ability to get the most out of that talent, he'll just be using that energy on his way to the unemployment line. Aside from those fans who are adamant about the Indians' need to dip into their 1990s playbook and hire a retread like Mike Hargrove or do something totally foolish like hire Sandy Alomar Jr. or Omar Vizquel or ... I don't know ... Andy Allanson as their next manager, I don't think anybody is going to look at the list of available skippers and salivate. The Indians are looking for exactly what they should be looking for -- a good communicator who is willing to work within the confines of this market, has demonstrated an ability to mold young talent and, most important, can hire an effective pitching coach. You could argue that the pitching coach will be the more impactful hire of the two. Because until the young arms in the Indians' system mature, this team isn't going to be winning a division title. That's why John Farrell was the Indians' top target, and that's why his decision to pull out of the running was so disappointing to the Tribe. Anyway, the managerial search is expected to intensify this week, when the final three to five candidates for the position become known. We'll see if any of those guys pique your interest, Bob. Why not bring back Hargrove to help train the many new players and bring in Alomar and Vizquel as new coaches?
-- Jack B. Boardman, Ohio I've got a better idea. Seek out a copy of the "1997 Indians: A Cleveland Sock-cess Story" DVD, pop it in and live out your nostalgia in the comfort of your own home. Just don't kill your feel-good vibe by watching the last 15 minutes. Unless, that is, you find a director's cut with an alternate ending. It has been speculated elsewhere that Hargrove might surface as a bench-coach candidate. Maybe that will happen, but Grover won't be the Indians' next skipper. Any chance we bring back Vizquel as a utility infielder? He did well in that role for Texas and would probably draw some fans to Progressive Field. And who better to teach a couple young, talented middle infielders? Sorry, Jamey Carroll, but your hitting diminished with increased playing time and our kids need all the big league experience they can get.
-- Mike R., Willoughby, Ohio Now that would be a more appropriate use of Vizquel's talents. Will it happen? Well, stranger things have happened. If the budget allows, the Indians do figure to be looking for a veteran utilityman to take some of the burden off youngsters Asdrubal Cabrera and Luis Valbuena up the middle. By all accounts, Vizquel handled himself well in his first season as a utility guy in Texas, and he wants to keep playing. Carroll, who made $2.5 million this year, is probably out of the Indians' price range, whereas Vizquel, who made $1 million with the Rangers, might not be. And obviously, as you mentioned, bringing Vizquel back would engender some fond feelings from a frustrated fan base, so that's a positive for ticket sales. There's nothing like a happy homecoming. Heck, the Mariners brought back Ken Griffey Jr. this year and even had an incentive clause in his contract based on home attendance at Safeco Field.
|
Have a question about the Indians?
 E-mail your query to MLB.com Indians beat reporter Anthony Castrovince for possible inclusion in a future Inbox column. Letters may be edited for brevity, length and/or content.
|
||||||||
-- Gary M., Columbus, Ohio Shapiro said money won't preclude the Indians from getting the right man for the job. But let's be honest: Money is always an object in this market. The Tribe likely has no shot at a guy like La Russa. And furthermore, why would La Russa want to take on a rebuilding, reloading or re-anything project at this juncture in his career? I know Eric Wedge and his coaches have been dismissed, but what about the Indians' scouts and the other people who are responsible for developing prospects in our organization? If we had more prospects in our system who were of Major League caliber, then perhaps Shapiro wouldn't be so quick to trade away all our big leaguers to replenish the farm system with other team's prospects. Any chance the people responsible for our lack of prospects will get the boot as well?
-- Nathan H., Stevensville, Ontario As I wrote in this space last week, Shapiro said not to expect any personnel changes in the front office. Rightly or wrongly, Wedge and his staff will serve as the fall guys for an organization-wide disappointment. Regarding the scouting department, John Mirabelli, the Tribe's assistant general manager in charge of scouting, admits that the Indians' drafting record, particularly in the first round, over the past decade is spotty, but he feels the club is trending in the right direction. "I feel we've made a lot of adjustments in how we're aligned, how we attack players and the approach our individual scouts take," Mirabelli said. "And we've made personnel changes along the way." That included a shift in alignment after the 2007 season, when Brad Grant took charge of the Draft and Mirabelli's role took on more of a broad scope that includes overseeing the international strategy. How can we get rid of all of Wedge's coaching staff? Yes, Wedge had to go, but getting rid of pitching coach Carl Willis? How do you dismiss the guy that has given us two American League Cy Young winners?
-- Josh D., Fritch, Texas The Indians want their next manager to have his say in the composition of the coaching staff, which is the right way to go about things at this juncture. That doesn't preclude him from bringing anybody back from Wedge's staff, but cleaning house and letting the new guy sort things out is considered standard operating procedure. Willis, however, won't be back. Even if Wedge had somehow been given the opportunity to stay, I think Willis was going to be a goner, mainly because of Fausto Carmona's regression. I'm not saying that would have definitely been the right move, because Willis' success with CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee is well documented, but in this "What have you done for me lately?" business, that's the move that was anticipated. Could you explain why the Indians didn't get more info on Jason Knapp's Injury before the trade? Why couldn't they request an MRI?
-- Aaron H., Steubenville, Ohio Teams are not at the liberty of requesting such an examination before a trade is completed. The Indians requested all the medical information the Phillies had available on Knapp, but the Phils had never subjected him to an MRI. So be it. Lonnie Soloff, the Indians' head athletic trainer, said that while the Tribe knew Knapp was dealing with what was deemed at the time as "biceps tendinitis," conversations between the two clubs' medical and training staffs did not lead the Indians to believe that surgery was going to be necessary. Knapp, of course, did end up needing surgery. His right shoulder was scoped in mid-September, and the goal is to have him up to full speed by the start of Spring Training. And finally... SportsTime Ohio has traditionally run replays of the prior season's better Indians games during the offseason. Any idea how many times we'll get to see the Tribe's 22-4 thrashing of the Yankees this winter?
-- Dave W., Marysville, Ohio No idea. But if we're lucky, STO will buy the rights to air the recent VH1 show, "The Fabulous Life of Niuman Romero."
Anthony Castrovince is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
