Indians GM Mark Shapiro will become team president after the season and assistant GM Chris Antonetti will become GM. Current president Paul Dolan will become team chairman and CEO at that point.
Jim Duquette of MLB Home Plate first reported the move (via Twitter). MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince added detail and noted that the deal had become official (via Twitter). Last July, Jon Heyman of SI.com suggested this change could occur sometime.
Antonetti, 35, has already taken on many day-to-day GM responsibilities, according to Castrovince. The executive oversees player development, pro scouting, information systems, statistical analysis and video scouting. He joined the Indians in 1999 and turned down the chance to become Cardinals GM after 2007.
Shapiro started with the Indians in 1992 and replaced John Hart as team GM in 2001. Shapiro's Indians won 635 regular season games, losing 661. The Indians won the AL Central in 2007 but lost to Red Sox in the ALCS. Click here to check out Shapiro's trade history and here to look back at one of his most successful deals.
Weird how a) Shapiro isn’t outright fired and b) they didn’t do this at the beginning of the off-season.
Congrads to Shapiro — I think he was an outstanding GM and this latest rebuilding effort (I can’t blame him for having to trade C.C. and Lee if ownership mandated it) will turn out well in the end. There’s a good amount of young, cost controlled talent there.
He could of got more for Lee, but I guess you have to take what you are offered.
He could of got more for Lee, but I guess you have to take what you are offered.
They had this plan set in motion for 2 years. Everyone in Cleveland knew the plan for awhile for the transition, but just never knew the exact time they would do it.
They had this plan set in motion for 2 years. Everyone in Cleveland knew the plan for awhile for the transition, but just never knew the exact time they would do it.
Good for him.. I was pretty sure he would have been fired after the season ended. Bad Deals (Should have got Bucholz or Casey Kelly for Martinez instead of Masterson and Kyle Drabek or Michael Taylor for Lee).
Team is nowhere near contention..
Hagadone was the higher-ceiling centerpiece of the Martinez trade, Masterson was just the one already in the majors. 2 Years of Martinez would not have been close to worth completely cost controlled careers of Buchholz or Kelly, that would just not happen.
The Lee one, I thought he would’ve gotten more, but after being told he had to trade Lee, he probably just took the highest offer he had. I’m still disappointed that the Sox couldn’t pull off the deal they were trying for Lee and Martinez.
Hagadone was the higher-ceiling centerpiece of the Martinez trade, Masterson was just the one already in the majors. 2 Years of Martinez would not have been close to worth completely cost controlled careers of Buchholz or Kelly, that would just not happen.
The Lee one, I thought he would’ve gotten more, but after being told he had to trade Lee, he probably just took the highest offer he had. I’m still disappointed that the Sox couldn’t pull off the deal they were trying for Lee and Martinez.
Good for him.. I was pretty sure he would have been fired after the season ended. Bad Deals (Should have got Bucholz or Casey Kelly for Martinez instead of Masterson and Kyle Drabek or Michael Taylor for Lee).
Team is nowhere near contention..
Antonetti pretty much had his pick of GM jobs that came up in recent years, but decided to stick with Cleveland for this opportunity. The St. Louis and Pittsburgh jobs were basically his before he even interviewed, and he was high on the list for Boston and Seattle as well. I don’t think he ever even took an interview in Seattle or Pittsburgh. He better actually be good.
Antonetti pretty much had his pick of GM jobs that came up in recent years, but decided to stick with Cleveland for this opportunity. The St. Louis and Pittsburgh jobs were basically his before he even interviewed, and he was high on the list for Boston and Seattle as well. I don’t think he ever even took an interview in Seattle or Pittsburgh. He better actually be good.
Wow.. Why is it that a small minority of Indians fans are completely of the opinion “.. Shapiro could have / should have gotten more for..” These fans have the patience of a three year old. The Indians front office could have just as easily kept Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez from last year and a year later, we’d be in a much poorer position, leverate wise.
Let’s look at the trades
Lee for a four banger that didn’t include Michael Taylor or Kyle Drabek.. BOO FRIGGAN HOO… The Indians front office evaluated the Phillies system and came to the conclusion that Carlos Carrasco & Jason Knapp along with Jason Donald and our starting catcher, Lou Marson, was a better package than one of Drabek or Taylor. I see NOTHING wrong with that evaluation eight months subsequent to the trade. Naysayers will always talk about what could have been done.. Getting two projectable (to # 2/# 3 type SP’s) along with a formerly well thought of middle infielder (still well thought of by the Indians FO) and a MLB starting catcher is quite a haul.. IF given the opportunity to make the same trade again.. NEW GM Chris Antonetti would no doubt make the same deal..
The Victor Martinez trade is very much along the same lines.. almost eight months into the trade… Nick Hagadone Bryan Price and MLB starting pitcher Justin Masterson are part of the current Indians roster and minor league depth. This bodes well into the future. The trade of Victor to the Red Sox didn’t help the 2009 Indians efforts (last place) but, realistically, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference: Would anyone be “happier” if instead of finishing dead last (tied) the Indians would have finished in fourth place?.. I don’t think so either…
Realistically.. if 2 of the 7 guys acquired turn out to be MLB starters and perform well, the Indians break even on the trades for a whole lot less money.. if 4 or more contribute, then it’s a slam dunk win for the Indians and Mark Shapiro’s leadership. The current MLB roster shows two of these guys (Masterson & Marson) will be starting on the south side of Chicago on April 4th.. break even appears to be a given.. now, with patience, we may see more than just a slam dunk..
I agree. It’s definitely hard to say that we should have gotten more from the trades. Keep in mind, everyone thought that we didn’t get too much in return for Bartolo Colon back in 2000. That trade only gave us Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, and Brandon Phillips. Considering what Seattle gave Philadelphia for Lee this offseason as well, I think getting 4 guys in the top 10 of a farm system is a win for the Tribe.
Wow.. Why is it that a small minority of Indians fans are completely of the opinion “.. Shapiro could have / should have gotten more for..” These fans have the patience of a three year old. The Indians front office could have just as easily kept Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez from last year and a year later, we’d be in a much poorer position, leverate wise.
Let’s look at the trades
Lee for a four banger that didn’t include Michael Taylor or Kyle Drabek.. BOO FRIGGAN HOO… The Indians front office evaluated the Phillies system and came to the conclusion that Carlos Carrasco & Jason Knapp along with Jason Donald and our starting catcher, Lou Marson, was a better package than one of Drabek or Taylor. I see NOTHING wrong with that evaluation eight months subsequent to the trade. Naysayers will always talk about what could have been done.. Getting two projectable (to # 2/# 3 type SP’s) along with a formerly well thought of middle infielder (still well thought of by the Indians FO) and a MLB starting catcher is quite a haul.. IF given the opportunity to make the same trade again.. NEW GM Chris Antonetti would no doubt make the same deal..
The Victor Martinez trade is very much along the same lines.. almost eight months into the trade… Nick Hagadone Bryan Price and MLB starting pitcher Justin Masterson are part of the current Indians roster and minor league depth. This bodes well into the future. The trade of Victor to the Red Sox didn’t help the 2009 Indians efforts (last place) but, realistically, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference: Would anyone be “happier” if instead of finishing dead last (tied) the Indians would have finished in fourth place?.. I don’t think so either…
Realistically.. if 2 of the 7 guys acquired turn out to be MLB starters and perform well, the Indians break even on the trades for a whole lot less money.. if 4 or more contribute, then it’s a slam dunk win for the Indians and Mark Shapiro’s leadership. The current MLB roster shows two of these guys (Masterson & Marson) will be starting on the south side of Chicago on April 4th.. break even appears to be a given.. now, with patience, we may see more than just a slam dunk..
It’s difficult to say that we should have gotten more in return from the Lee trade. The only criticism I have towards it is I wish we had gotten some major league ready talent, such as a J.A. Happ or a Bastardo (if that was even possible). Other than that, I don’t feel as if it was a bad trade. Keep in mind, everyone said the same things about the Bartolo Colon trade back in 2000. That trade brought us Sizemore, Lee, and Brandon Phillips. It is too early to determine the talent that we received from Philly without them playing in a major league game. Also, if you look at what Philly got from Seattle this offseason, and what we got from Philly, we got much more in return. So all-in-all, I don’t think the Lee trade was nearly as bad as people are making it out to be.
Shapiro is one of the better GMs in baseball. People contemplating that he would have been fired are completely wrong. The Indians would not make him their president if they were planning on firing him.
Agreed. On paper a ton of analysts have ranked the Indians as the best team in their division for the past two seasons. They were exceptionally unlucky in 2008. First of all they had a Pythagorean record of 85-77, just two games back from first place (less, obviously, if they’d gotten some of those “extra wins” against the White Sox or Twins). But moreover that just happened to be the year that Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner simultaneously had the worst seasons of their career.
I don’t think you can blame Shapiro for that, or for their entire pitching staff minus Lee imploding last year. In fact he has consistently, at least before last season, been ranked as one of the best GMs in baseball. He’s been pretty unlucky (as opposed to, say, Andrew Friedman – everything came together for them in 2008), and he hasn’t had a lot of money to work with (as opposed to, say, Mozeliak, who is also an excellent GM regardless).