FanPost

The Non-Quantitative Defense For Lucroy: The One Where We Talk About That Bugaboo Called Attendance

The Cleveland Indians are facing a situation they haven't faced since the perennially contending teams of the nineties: a lead in the Central Division after the All-Star Break. And not just a lead, but a lead that has given them over a 90% chance of winning said division by every respected sabermetrics and baseball analysis blog in the land. Their status as a contender is almost completely cemented with roughly 68 games left. Fans love winners, and we have already seen a noticeable uptick in attendance reflecting that fact. The Indians sat last in attendance earlier this season, behind the last place and near-rebuilding Tampa Bay Rays and their notoriously poorly located and ugly ballpark, a continuing downward trend for several years. They now sit at roughly 18,500 spectators per game, sky-rocketing to a shining 29th place in the MLB. Represented in that 18 grand are the likes of people that read fan blogs and waste their weekends compiling stats about the team they live and die with. The real issue, however, is engaging that other 15K or so that just want to see a winner.

Now, Francisco Lindor might do more for fan engagement than any acquisition or even other homegrown player ever could. He is bright, loveable, engaging on and off the field, and he just so happens to also be one of the most valuable players in all of baseball at 22. However, I have lived in Cleveland for the last ten years, and the constant refrain I anecdotally hear coincides with the standard comment on Cleveland.com:

"The Dolans are cheap!"

"They never will go out and get that big bat they need to compete!"

"They said they would spend money when they contend!"

Like it or not, the casual sports fan in Cleveland just doesn't appreciate the subtle value of Carlos Santana, or the brilliance of how we acquired Yan Gomes (this season and most of last season notwithstanding). They don't have the time, patience or knowledge to appreciate standing pat when the price is just too high. They want results and they want tangible, ostentatious effort. Luckily for the Indians, Jonathon Lucroy represents a move that can not only satisfy their penchant for value additions, but can equally suffice as a big splash to re-engage a--rightly or wrongly--skeptical casual fan base.

Normally the acquisition of a big name comes with the associated bloated cost and risk. Carlos Gonzalez is a known quantity; he is an all-star, a power bat and big name. But everyone is rightly skeptical of the value he could bring back, and the Rockies have proven to have a less than realistic idea of his value, given his contract and years of control and, worst of all, his injury history. Lucroy doesn't have that problem. He is a two time all-star, one of the best catchers on both sides of the ball and comes at a dirt cheap price for, really, just the right amount of control. His price in prospects will be large, but as Matt Lyons and Jason Lukeheart pointed out in their most recent podcast episode, the ability to trade Lucroy in the offseason, when Gomes is back healthy and he and Perez represent a good shot being a productive tandem, gives back a lot of the value we would give up. Lucroy (with a qualifying offer sweetening his value) allows the Indians to get a large chunk of prospect capital back if they so desire, or the can ride his age 31 season to more contention next year and benefit from his qualifying offer themselves.

This is a rare opportunity to catapult the Indians' production at the catcher position from dead last in all of baseball to the top five, all the while maintaining a very valuable asset at the tail-end of his prime at comically low cost (his option next year is for just over 5 million dollars!). And in my eyes, the most important thing this move can accomplish is to fill multiple news cycles with blog posts and newspaper articles and ESPN headlines and the other places casual fans go to get their sports news showing the Indians not only making a smart move at the deadline, but acquiring an ALL-STAR! Finally! The Cleveland Indians made a star-studded move with a recognizable name that makes the team tangibly better! You mollify one of the most persistent and annoying complaints that the casual fan has made for nearly a decade now, and get to do it intelligently.

The Royals are carrying a payroll of over 140 million dollars this year because they sellout every game and made deep playoff runs. It's time for us to set ourselves up for the chance to do the same and blow our potential window of contention with one of the best rotations I’ve ever seen in my thirty years of life wide open. Heck, we might even be able to extend Lindor with all that money…

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