Another Indians team dismantled

Cleveland sports fans were once again put through the wringer over the past weeks (and years for that matter.) An Indians team that once demonstrated such great promise has been systematically dismantled at the direction of team ownership. This is becoming a recurring event with team ownership.

Over the past year, the Indians have been able to add depth to their Farm System. LaPorta and Brantley were key parts of the C.C. deal last summer. The emphasis this season has been on acquiring young arms. That depth has been at the expense of fielding a competitive team in the Majors, for the near term, though. So many solid players have been "re-located" since this time last season:

+ C.C. Sabathia
+ Rafael Betancourt
+ Mark DeRosa
+ Ryan Garko
+ Cliff Lee
+ Ben Francisco
+ Victor Martinez

The thing that makes these deals tough on all involved is that many of the players involved came up through the Indian's Farm System. Cleveland isn't the only sports city that experiences this. One would think ownership would make an effort to try and keep a core together as long as possible though.

It is easy to want to lash out at Mark Shapiro. Shapiro has done a great deal for the Indians though. A good example is the great value resulting from the Colon deal. Some of that benefit was traded away in the form of Cliff Lee, just as he has came in to his own. Tribe fans can only hope that the talent received in the various trades pans out.

There has been one tactic put forth by the Front Office that simply failed to hit its mark in my opinion. Shapiro spoke with the STO team during last night's game against Detroit. He insisted this isn't a period of re-building for the team. My only question is...if this isn't a period of rebuilding, how should it be characterized then?

The Front Office of the Indians is put in a difficult spot by team ownership. Many of the deals have been pro-active out of necessity. Like in the case of C.C., the Front Office staff knew they weren't going to be able to sign C.C. for the long haul. Instead of losing him outright, the team got as much for him as they could. The same could be said in the case of Lee and Martinez. It was disappointing that certain key players weren't required as part of the Lee (Happ or Drabek) and Martinez (Buchholz) deals though.

It looks like Indians fans will have to continue rooting for the Chief Wahoo logo that has come to mean so much to so many. As soon as fans embrace a player or "team," thing are just turned upside down again. Current ownership doesn't seem willing to commit to a championship-caliber team. This continued approach will leave ownership with plenty of empty seats. As for fans, they get to enjoy another sub-par team. Ownership knows they have gotten accustomed to it.