It appears that comments made by Mark Shapiro to now former Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos lead to him not accepting an offer of a multi-year extension. The report is that Shapiro chastised the current Toronto staff for letting so many prospects go in an effort to return to the playoffs in 2015. Of course, those moves did get them into the ALCS, while Shapiro’s Indians missed the playoffs for the 12th time in the past 14 years despite having one of the best starting rotations in baseball. To put all this in context, let’s have a look at Shapiro’s best and worst moves as the Cleveland Indians GM (2001-2010) and president (2011-2015).
Best
Breeding the Best
While Shapiro himself may not have been the best at either position, he did surround himself with the best who had a great eye for talent. Both Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff have been considered for GM and president roles around the league and were trained by Shapiro. Managers John Farrell and Kevin Cash also came out of the Shapiro system and there a quite a few others still coming up that look to have very bright careers in management, including Mike Sarbaugh and Dave Wallace.
Robbing the Mariners
Mark Shapiro may have been made to look poorly in a movie about the Athletics, but they could make a different movie about how much he owned Seattle. In two separate deals in 2006, he netted Shin-Soo Choo for Ben Broussard and Asdrubal Cabrera for Eduardo Perez. The two Indians first basemen formed a decent platoon that year, but Perez would retire at the end of the season and Broussard wasn’t much by himself. Choo and Cabrera, however, would go on to start for years for the Indians and be integral in the seasons from 2008 through 2013.
Progressive Field Remodel
While he wasn’t a great GM by any standard, Shapiro found his own in the team president role. The biggest difference he made there was the 2015 renovation to Progressive Field. While many dislike the giant cement blocks in the right field upper deck, adding standing room only in a place where tickets never sold and removing seats in a ballpark that is generally only a third full was a great move. The two story bar down the right field foul line is one of the most popular hangouts at the stadium now and adding local restaurants to replace the normal, bland ballpark fare was a huge hit as well, differentiating Progressive Field from some of the other ballparks created in the 1990’s.
14 Oct 2001: Starting pitcher Bartolo Colon #40 of the Cleveland Indians delivers a pitch against the Seattle Mariners during game four of the American League Division Series at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Daniel/ALLSPORT
Trading Bartolo Colon for Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Cliff Lee
The Indians may have seemed a prize to take over in 2001 after making it to the playoffs in six of the previous seven years, but the truth was all the great players were nearing or already gone through free agency and the farm system had been decimated (kind of like the Blue Jays is now) as it stagnated for a decade. Seeing a bleak and expensive future, Shapiro’s first big trade in 2002 was to trade the Indians ace for three low level minor leaguers, all who turned into All-Stars. Always in the mind to sell stars for prospects, he continued this trend for years, trading C.C. Sabathia, Victor Martinez, and Cliff Lee when they neared free agency as well (to varying levels of success).
Worst
Dwindling Attendance Numbers
While it’s hard to blame this on any one person, despite great attendance numbers from around the league (MLB teams averaged more than 30,000 fans per game in 2015), under his tenure as both GM and president, the Indians attendance has declined almost every season, sitting near the bottom of the league over the past few years. After an average of over 28,000 in 2007, numbers fell every year except from 2010 to 2011, dropping to just over 18,000 per game in 2015. If there is a single goal of the GM, it is to win games (and ultimately a World Series), and if there is a single goal of the president, it is to make money. Essentially, this is through increasing ticket sales and Shapiro has been unable to do this, raising ticket prices every year despite dwindling fan interest.
Trading Consecutive Cy Young Winners
While it made sense from a baseball stand point, the single biggest events that formed a rift between the Indians and their fans were the two trades of Cy Young award winners the year after they won the award. Both trades netted talented players who are still with the team in Michael Brantley from Milwaukee and Carlos Carrasco from Philadelphia, but it took more than five years for either to stand out and neither were the primary prospect involved in the deal. Those players, Matt LaPorta and Jason Knapp, did absolutely nothing of note (in the case of Knapp nothing at all) for the Major League Indians. As they were lesser parts of the deal, Brantley and Carrasco could probably have been obtained for a much lower price and while Sabathia was going to test free agency no matter what, it is possible that the Indians could have extended Lee or at least kept him around for his final year of control. The trade of Victor Martinez was also a heart breaker as he wanted to spend his entire career in Cleveland. The gains from that move of Nick Hagadone and Justin Masterson didn’t work out anywhere near as well as retaining Martinez would have.
Success on the Field
As mentioned, Shapiro didn’t quite fulfill his purpose as the president of the team, but he was even worse as a GM. Despite starting with such assets as Bartolo Colon, C.C. Sabathia, Jim Thome, and Omar Vizquel and trading for stars like Travis Hafner (a steal for Einar Diaz), Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, and Shin-Soo Choo, the Indians made the playoffs just once under Shapiro’s tenure. The window for a title from 2005 through 2008 slammed shut quickly as he completely destructed and rebuilt the team. The second team he built is largely intact, but playing far below expectations. While this isn’t all on the GM, much of it is as he never made the Anthopoulos style move of overspending a bit to get them the reset of the way.
BOSTON – MAY 30: Grady Sizemore #24 of the Cleveland Indians is congratulated by teammate Travis Hafner #48 after Sizemore hit a two run homer in the sixth inning against the Boston Red Sox on May 30, 2007 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Long Term Extensions to Grady Sizemore & Travis Hafner
Trying to dispel the idea that “Dolanz cheap” or that the Indians didn’t award good play, Shapiro signed the two stars of the mid 2000’s to record deals. Sizemore’s was a the biggest ever for a pre-arbitration player as he signed for six years and $23.45M after just 200 games. While this wasn’t a bad deal at the time as unfortunate injuries cost him much of his prime, giving a 30 year old player with old player skills a $57M deal (still the biggest total contract in Indians history) was not the best of ideas. While the players allowed (forced) to leave, such as Martinez and Lee, went on to have great success elsewhere, those that stayed dealt with debilitating injuries and great disappointment.
Giving Eric Wedge Way Too Much Power
Wedge (manager from 2003-2009) was never a great strategist and he wasn’t much of a people person either. During his tenure he ran multiple pitching and hitting coaches out of town, including the Hall of Famer Eddie Murray. More importantly, Wedge had too much control over personnel moves as his unhappiness with individual players forced Shapiro’s hand into trading a couple extremely talented players, particularly Milton Bradley and Brandon Phillips. Because Shapiro let Wedge force him into making a quick move, he got almost no return for either player at a time when Bradley was the Indians’ best hitter and Phillips their top infield prospect.
First Round Draft Picks From 2002-2010
As good as Shapiro was at trading for prospects, he was absolutely horrific at drafting his own. The primary reason for the Indians failure as a team during his tenure as GM and president was the lack of internal talent. The absolute best players drafted by Shapiro in the first round from 2002-2010 were Jeremy Guthrie and Lonnie Chisenhall, the first of which was released after making just one MLB start with the team. Other notable first round picks were John Drennan, Matt Whitney, Beau Mills, and Micah Schilling. What do you mean you’ve never heard of any of those people? Don’t you know that Shapiro is the premier judge of prospective talent?
