The Indians went through a dry period from 2002 to
2011. They did contend in 2007, as it
turns out, a one year wonder.
Looking at the All-Star ballot for this year, I got an
inkling why. My usual habit is to grab a
ballot, choose all the Indians in the American League and flip to the National
League and pick ex-Indians for the Senior Circuit.
According to tradition, I held my nose (in some cases) and
picked our current Tribe players. When I
turned to the NL, I had trouble finding any ex-Indians to choose. Eventually I found Brandon Phillips and Ryan
Ludwig. If there are others, I missed
them.
I took a quick look at the American League: Two or three ex-Indians there. The All-Star ballot includes one player from
each time, the projected starter from when the ballots are chosen early in the
season.
Therefore, there are only a few Indians from the last few
years still starting with any other team in the Majors. Only a few of the players are still with the
Tribe, so most of players who were on hitters on the squad over the last decade
are either:
- not starting with a team
- in the minor leagues
- out of baseball
which explains to me why the team has been well out of
contention for most of the period. Where
are guys like Ryan Garko, David Dellucci and Andy Marte? Did I just miss Ben Francisco?
In Major League Baseball, you can’t win without talent. And the lack of it is evident in the few
ex-Indians players that are still around after just a few years.
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