Cleveland Guardian Fans Defending Their Shitty Ownership Has Me Stunned

I believe I've now found the most insane and brainwashed fan base in baseball. It's not the Fenway Faithful or Bleacher Creatures in the Bronx. Not even close. It's one thing to root for your team with passion. It's another to stick up for someone ripping you off while he has his hand gripped around your wallet. 

I have found many Cleveland Guardians fans defending the ownership of that team who have spit in their face for a full generation now. 

We posted this video yesterday and the reaction had me actually stunned.

Try to ignore that look like a ghoul and focus on what I'm saying. I'm shitting on the Guardians for doing another half measure and instead of actually paying for a real ace like Blake Snell, they are paying for 2 months of a (at best) perfectly fine starting pitcher that hasn't pitched in the big leagues this season.

You would have thought I threw actual fecal matter at Taylor Swift, Pope Francis and Ted Sellers.

Ok, that last one is right. But the others are fucking insane. And I didn't have to look hard for similar thoughts. It was wild. I had dozens and dozens of similar sentiments in my twitter feed all night.

The Guardians are having a very nice season. They lost their ace pitcher Shane Bieber after just two starts and instead of lying down to die, they've been fantastic. The rotation has been a problem but they may have the best bullpen in baseball. Not only that but Steven Vogt should win AL Manager of the Year.

However, this is a team with some major holes in the lineup. They have issues at catcher, shortstop and second base. As a team, they are batting .241/.311/.399. They could use some bats. They went out and got Lane Thomas last week. He's…fine. 

Even with the Alex Cobb trade, the rotation is not going to intimidate anyone come playoff time.

SP: Tanner Bibee

SP: Gavin Williams

SP: Alex Cobb

SP: Ben Lively

It's clear and obvious what would have made the Guardians better. They needed an ace and if they were willing to pay the price, Blake Snell was available. It would have cost the Guardians prospects but more importantly to Guardians ownership, it would have been expensive. It's more than $11 million to have Snell pitch the next two months and if he got hurt, he has a $30 million dollar player option for 2025 that he could exercise.

I stupidly blamed Larry Dolan for the current mess. He is the owner but in name only at this point. He's 93 and has passed off the day to day duties to his son Paul Dolan. Don't get me wrong, Larry was a cheap owner but Paul is making Larry look like Steve Cohen.

This is a team that has had a payroll over $101 million only three times in team history. The cross state Reds have hit that number seven times.

It's a new level of brainwashed fans to have people come out of the woodwork to defend a guy that is literally ripping them off.

Oh wow! $20 million on a draft class! The Guardians get nearly that much from other teams in bigger markets alone in revenue sharing. Look at this breakdown that Forbes did:

The Guardians are pocketing $52 million dollars on the backs of fans every year and these idiots are defending Paul Dolan? What are we doing here? They could have paid for Blake Snell, that amazing $20 million dollar draft class and still had another $40 million to put in their pockets this year alone!

Here's the sad reality in baseball. You need to spend to win:

The last World Series winning team that didn’t have a payroll in the Top 10 was the 2017 Astros (12th). 

The last World Series winning team that didn’t have a payroll in the Top 20 was the 2003 Marlins (25th) 

The 2024 Guardians are 25th.

Paul Dolan is not alone here. There are so many owners who prioritize profitability over winning. They'll cry that they are a small market team while shoving tens and tens of millions of dollars in their pockets each year. I don't expect these owners to take a vow of socialism when they become MLB owners but this is absolute greed. If the Guardians were to sell, they would make a profit of over a billion dollars. You'll get paid on the back end. To also maximize profits while owning the team seems especially shitty. 

I know shitty owners. Fred Wilpon owned the Mets for most of my life. You can root for the team and want more from an owner. I loved the 2015 Mets but I also knew that if he spent more money, the team would be much better. You can hate the owner and love the team. I promise. It doesn't make you less of a fan.

The Guardians haven't won a World Series since 1948. It was so long ago, they beat the Boston Braves. It's the longest active drought in Major League Baseball. Feel free to Cold Takes Exposed me if I am wrong, but the 2024 Guardians will not win a World Series this year. I feel very safe saying that. 

Once again, this is the playoff rotation:

SP: Tanner Bibee

SP: Gavin Williams

SP: Alex Cobb

SP: Ben Lively

Whether you agree with me or don't, we can all agree there will be one true winner this baseball season: Paul Dolan. He's making his $53 million dollars this year and laughing at all of you suckers while you blindly defend him.