The Indians brought a big dose of baseball euphoria to Cleveland last summer amid some mixed signals disguised as empty seats. For all the talk of the city embracing Terry Francona and the Tribe, it’s hard to ignore the team’s 28th ranked attendance total of 1.59 million, or the shame less bailout by all those self-professed Indians “diehards” who sold their tickets to Cubs fans for Game 7 of the World Series at Progressive Field.
The venue formerly known as Jacobs Field has shown some signs of fraying since its grand opening in 1994, when it was a crown jewel of a new era in ballpark construction and the Indians filled it with some star-laden lineups. The Tribe reeled off a streak of four straight seasons with 3.4 million fans or better and set a major-league record with 455 consecutive sellouts from 1997-2001 before interest began to wane. With Jim Thome, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez and so many other dynamic hitters providing the entertainment, Cleveland fans were well aware of the risks they incurred if they chose to stay home.
During the franchise’s long, steady descent to an enthusiasm gap, the Dolan family ownership earned a reputation for being cheap and Cleveland’s front offices spent a lot of winters as bargain hunters and bystanders. The lone exception came before the 2013 season, when the Indians invested a total of $102 million in long-term contracts for Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn. We all know how that leap of faith turned out.
Four long, cold winters later, the Indians made a surprise reappearance as Hot Stove stalwarts when they signed free agent slugger Edwin Encarnacion to a guaranteed three-year, $60 million contract. Judging from the 200 season tickets sold the day the news broke, the locals wholeheartedly approve.
Low Maintenance Slugger
この記事は Baseball America の January 27 2017 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Baseball America の January 27 2017 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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Wood Has Towering Upside- Nationals rookie James Wood also stands 6-foot-7 and also has game-changing power.
Aaron Judge and Oneil Cruz are 6-foot7 sluggers who stand out for their power in this year’s MLB Best Tools voting. Wood spent half of this season with Triple-A Rochester before making his MLB debut on July 1. While he was in the International League, he captured managers’ attention. Wood unanimously won Best Power Prospect and also claimed Most Exciting Player in a survey of league skippers. Wood hit .353/.463/.595 with 10 home runs in 52 games for Rochester. His .242 isolated slugging was the best for a player 21 or younger at Triple-A this season.
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