Monday, February 25, 2013

Two roads diverge in a yellow wood (NSFW)

Sure, Robert Frost's poem is easily the most over-quoted poem in human history.  But fuck, if it isn't pretty.  I reread it today as prep for the post.  If you haven't read it in awhile, do so.  I tend to like things dark, abstract, absurd, or ironic.  But there is value in occasionally pausing and glimpsing the earnest beautiful.

....Anyway...Two roads diverged for Cleveland this off season...And I'll go from beauty to vulgarity.....

They were coming off a terrible season.  Let's not relive it, but the god damned plane has crashed into the mountain.  The toe was in the envelope, they didn't make the hand-off, and they're gonna to kill that poor woman.  It was bad. 

Cleveland was a crossroad.  They could tear it down and rebuild.  This is a well worn path.  We have been down it a time or twenty.  Houston and Miami are going down that path this year.  The Cubs, Pirates, and Padres have worn their souls bare traveling down that road. 

Cleveland came close to going down rebuild road.   Francona did not start us down the road of contention.   Terry Francona signed to the Tribe out of friendship.  He has an out-clause in his contract, if his friends, Shapiro and Antonetti, are fired.  If you needed one more reason to love Terry Francona, he was on board when rebuilding was a real possibility. 

The path diverged with Arizona trade.  Arizona needed a shortstop.  They had soured on Bauer, and we really liked him.  Asbrubal is approaching free agency.  The fit was there.  We signed Mike Aviles, giving us a major league replacement.  The Cleveland brass was readying for the rebuild.

It didn't happen.   

But go back to that moment.  Look down that path.  Asdrubal Cabrera for Trevor Bauer.  Mike Aviles is a major league short stop but he isn't Asdrubal.  So, we were downgrading a 94 loss team.  Do we sign Swisher?  Not likely, right?  But we do trade Choo.  Boras is his agent and wants him to test the free agent market.  Cleveland had to move him now if they hoped to get any value him.  And Bourn?  Forget about it. 

The path most traveled was question marks in left, right, and DH.  Want to look down that path?  See Ben Francisco and Chris McGuiness. 

Not to belabor the point, but Francona signed on to a 94 loss team that might lose both Choo and Cabrera.  (Francona showed us Kosar love.)

Instead Cleveland is trying to thread the needle.  Be competitive now and try to build for the future.  That is the path less traveled.  Maybe there is a reason for that.  This might not work.  But for a moment look down the well worn path and be glad for the road less taken.   

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