Baseball Sucks Sometimes

This has been a very painful year for Cleveland Indians fans.  After coming within one game of the World Series last year, and having the very same team back this year, big things were expected.  We should have known.

Cleveland is a small market team in a professional sport whose structure favors the richer, large market teams. Teams like the Indians are actually the farm teams for the richer clubs.  The small market teams generally do poorly in nthe standings and thus get the top draft picks.  These teams maintain a farm system of their own which grooms players for the big leagues and eventually some become very good major league players.  Once a player becomes an established star and has played for the small market team for a few years, they can file for free agency.  Small market teams generally cannot come close to offering what the large market teams can afford, so they are constantly losing their better players.  This has a tendency to make fans bitter.

In recent years the Indians have lost Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Bartolo Colon, Jim Thome to free agency (Colon was traded away months before he became a free agent).

Because their season has totally unraveled, the Indians just traded away C.C. Sabathia, months before he was to become a free agent.  The Indinas knew they had no chance of signing him.  He will probably be offered a 4 or 5 year contract at the end of the year that exceeds the total payroll of the Indian's team.  C.C., a 6' 7" 300 pound left-handed Cy Young award pitcher, is a tough competitor and joy to behold on the mound.  Losing him in this ugly season is salt in the wounds of Indian's fans, a team that hasn't won a World Series for 60 long years.

C.C. began his career as 20 year old in 2001 and Indians fans have watched him mature into a better pitcher every year.  Last year he won the AL Cy Young award at the age of 27.  He is a serious and durable pitcher who will only get better in the coming years, years that he will be pitching for some other club.

Damn Baseball!

--Trakker