Shaprio, Perez Address Comments on Cleveland Fans

By: Brett Crow

“It’s just a slap in the face when you’re in first place and last in attendance. Last. Not 25th or 26th. Last.”

Those are the comments from Cleveland Indians All-Star pitcher Chris Perez that have generated a firestorm around the team. “That was the last straw,” Perez said in reference to being booed for allowing two men on base during a game that he eventually saved against the Seattle Mariners.

Given an opportunity to address the comments since having said them, Perez let his feelings be known: “We’re good. And we have a good team. We haven’t played our best ball and we’re in first place. It’s been years building up and Thursday was the last straw. I just had it.”

Chris Perez, known for actively interacting with fans on Twitter, knew he was going to have deal with the aftermath and wrath of the fans. When asked about the backlash, Perez said, “Some of it was funny. I expected it. But I really don’t care anymore. I’m here to do my job and play for this team. If the fans come, they come. And if they don’t, it will be just like it was in April. So who cares?”

Asked if he had talked to anybody about feelings around the league that players don’t want to play in Cleveland, Perez didn’t offer any apologies and stood by his comments. “I’ve talked to ex-players, I’ve talked to guys we’ve released in recent years. And it’s a consensus pretty much. It’s not a good atmosphere. It’s not fun to be here.”

In an attempt to clarify a bit more, Perez went on to say that the fun atmospheres and fan support help encourage the team and individual players if they’ve had bad games or bad individual performances, saying the atmosphere of having the fans support you could break some of the slumps and pump the energy.

Asked if he talked to former players who had played for the Indians during the times when the fan base was electric, Perez talked emphatically: “I talked to ex-players when they used to play here. Ask Derek Lowe! When he was with Boston, they’re like ‘God, we’re coming to Cleveland! That place is tough to play, it’s loud, they’re on you.’ That’s that home field advantage. That’s what I want to get back to. That helps us win. That helps us get to where we want to go. It’s not like that anymore unfortunately.”

When asked why he wanted to be here then, if things just weren’t the way he thought they should be, Perez let it be known that he loved Cleveland. “We have a good team, I want to get back to that. I was in Florida in 97 when they lost the World Series to the Marlins. I saw the atmosphere here, it’s great. It’s a good baseball town.”

When asked why he thought people don’t come, Perez said, “There’s all kinds of reasons. Weather, the ownership. I hear that all the time. I’m just repeating what you guys write.” Also asked why he thought the fans disliked the ownership, Perez spoke and blamed the media outright: “I think some of it is the media, some of it is the fans.”

Perez continued and got away from the question, his anger with the fans coming out again: “I don’t understand the negativity. Why? Enjoy what we have. We have a first place team! How many teams in the country would want that? Do you think the Tigers are happy? They’re in third place … We’re in first place, enjoy it. We could be in last place, we could be the Royals, the Pirates, haven’t won anything in twenty years. We’re not. Enjoy it. I don’t understand the negativity. And that goes for some of you too.”

Shapiro himself opened up his own segment speaking of the incredible respect he had for Chris Perez, but that they disagreed: “We as an organization clearly disagree with him about our fans. We appreciate our fans, we respect our fans, we certainly want more to come and we’re working extremely hard to make that happen. But it is our underlying belief, that if the team continues to play the way it plays, with the kind of emotion and passion and competitiveness and relentless approach and we continue to win...That more fans will come out.”

Shapiro said he has never gotten the impression that players avoided coming here. “I get the sense they do, you got two examples in Asdrubal [Cabrera] and [Carlos] Santana who just signed extensions. In my experience, this has been a place that certain types of players want to come here.”

Asked if he himself was disappointed in the attendance, Shapiro commented that he “wanted more people to experience what we have going here.” He let it be known that he didn’t let that become frustration, but instead turned it to resolve to do what he could to get people to come to the games.

Chris Perez has been with Cleveland Indians since 2009 when a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals brought him to Cleveland. In 2010, Perez broke out with 23 saves and an ERA of 1.71 as the Indians closer. Hard to improve on such a season, Perez managed when he got 36 saves the next season and maintained a relatively low ERA of 3.32 in 2011, even making the All-Star game that year. This year, Perez is ranked as one of the top closers with over thirteen saves in eighteen games played, second among all pitchers in the MLB.

Mark Shapiro has been the President of the Cleveland Indians since after the 2010 season, when he was promoted and Chris Antonetti took his spot as GM. Serving as GM from 2001 to 2010, Shapiro had been named the Executive of the Year in 2005 and 2007. Shapiro has been with the organization since 1991.

Attendance at Progressive Field, the home of the Cleveland Indians has been low this year, averaging only 15,872 fans per game. This is roughly about ⅓ of what Progressive Field can hold. This weekend’s game against the Miami Marlins seems to be an indicator of things to come though with the the first two games of that series drawing crowds of over 29,000 and the third game drawing nearly 24,000 fans.

The Tribe will kick off a three game series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, May 22nd with all of the games at home.

Don't forget you can listen to the interview here at the bottom of the page.

Thoughts on the Quarterback Quandary

By Brett Crow

1. This year in the NFL Draft, the St. Louis Rams have arguably the most enviable spot. With the franchise quarterback (Sam Bradford) already in hand, they have no use for Robert Griffin III, clearly the player who will go at number two in this year’s draft.

This allows the Rams to trade the second pick in this year’s draft and receive a treasure trove of picks. It’s highly rumored that the Redskins are looking to give up their first round pick this year (#6), their second and third round picks this year, and a first round next year. This has them slotted as the favorite to make the trade at this point.

2.  Rams are at least looking for a deal similar to the New York Giants and San Diego Chargers deal that happened for Phillip Rivers and Eli Manning. The Chargers got two first round picks, a third, and a fifth rounder for Eli.

The Giants have won two Super Bowls with the quarterback they traded for, and is considered an elite talent in the league, despite that talk being almost non-existent before his second Super Bowl championship.

The Cleveland Browns have the most to give to the Rams, but may not be the most willing. The Browns could easily eclipse an offer that the Washington Redskins make, simply with the fact that they have two first rounders this year that they could offer, as the known value of a pick is always greater than the perceived value of next year’s pick. However, the Browns may not be the most willing.

3.  Personally, I think drafting Robert Griffin is a win-win situation.

Once drafted, I think the Browns have secured a true franchise quarterback. Even if we have a bad season in the 2012 - 2013 campaign, the Browns will have a high value draft pick in next year’s draft, which is one of the more anticipated quarterback heavy drafts in recent years.

And can the value of a franchise quarterback really be figured out? The quarterback is the most important position in all sports for a reason.

4.  In regards to free agency quarterbacks, the best Browns could hope for is Matt Flynn, currently of the Green Bay Packers. There are some who believe that the Packers will use the franchise tag on him, and then trade him to the most willing suitor.

However, this isn’t likely to happen. The Packers have better use for the franchise tag then a back up quarterback, and tagging him would severely hurt their chances at trading him. The Browns have gone on the record of saying that there was a limit to what they would spend on Flynn, along with Packers GM Ted Thompson allegedly acknowledging the ‘bad business’ of tagging a quarterback they mean to trade away.


5.  The only thing that troubles me with Cleveland and it’s quarterbacks, is that the Browns have no clue how to treat them or evaluate them. And for an organization that features quarterback molders such as Pat Shurmur (Sam Bradford, Kevin Kolb), Mike Holmgren (Brett Favre, Matt Hasselbeck ), Tom Heckert (Kevin Kolb), and Mark Whipple (Ben Roethlisberger), that’s a frightening prospect.

The saying “too many cooks spoil the broth” comes to mind.

Now that we’re bringing the ‘Kick Ass Offense’ of Brad Childress, what should we expect now in the development in our quarterbacks?

6.  The staff wasn’t willing to pay to keep Jake Delhomme around, a presence to mentor a young quarterback and left Colt McCoy with Seneca Wallace. Seneca has gone on record of saying he isn’t willing to mentor, that it isn’t his job.

So knowing this, why would Holmgren bring Seneca into the organization in the first place? If I had to guess it was because he thought he was a good veteran quarterback who could start if need be. Or possibly even someone he could mold the way he did in Seattle with Matt Hasselbeck.
 

7.  So my bottom line for the ‘Quarterback Quandry?’ I prefer we draft Robert Griffin. However, I am scared for his development in Cleveland, and I’m not sure he will develop properly here in this system. I think he has all of the skills and intangibles, and has a bright future in the league. 


8.  Matt Flynn is what I secretly hope for, but am not seeing happen. Especially if you can get him at a fraction of the price that you would have to pay for Griffin. Flynn is very gifted and has been privileged to get to learn under Aaron Rodgers. The only risk is that he only has two starts throughout his career.

Getting Flynn also won’t cost us our whole draft. It leaves available to draft other needs. Which is why the Dolphins will be going hard for him aswell, if not the Redskins too. Joe Philbin is the current head coach for the Miami Dolphins and was the Packer’s offensive coordinator.

9.  Quarterback can not go unaddressed this year. Either we need a big free agent signing or to draft a quarterback. The fanbase of Cleveland has been less supportive year after year and that’s reflected in the falling attendance.

From being in 7th in average stadium attendance in 2006 and 2007 (72,334 and 73,000 respectively), the Browns have since fallen to 18th for this past year with an attendance of 65,859. And that’s at home. The Browns do even worse on the road with attendance, not being a marquee team that draws an audience to see them when they play opposing teams in their house.

The Expansion of The Sports Fix

Hello fans, friends, listeners and new members of  The Sports Fix Universe!

My name is Jerry "J-Rocc" Mires, and I'm the host and producer of the insanity and awesomeness you have come to know, love and expect from a crew of crazy Cleveland sports loving type guys! Along side my ever present partners in crime "The Albino Sasquatch" Sean Yergan and "The Birdman" Brett Crow, we are the on air version of "The Sports Fix" you hear burning up the airwaves every Saturday night LIVE from 10PM-Midnight on Newstalk 1420 WHK in Cleveland OH, streaming worldwide on whkradio.com, as well as on the WHK mobile app (search 1420 in your app store) for your smartphones, where we are a featured program.

As some of you may have noticed on our Facebook and Twitter pages over this past weekend, we have begun a big expansion project that we are very proud of, and which we think the great sports fans of Cleveland will really appreciate as well!

We are very proud to announce and launch or brand new written column/editorial effort, in combination with some of the great contributors to the show. While we were thinking of ways to expand, we knew that we had several very good writers on our team, and wanted to fully engage that side of sports commentary, as well as providing tons of new content for our audience all week long. All 3 hosts of the radio show, alongside Cleveland Sports 360 owner Larry "LG" Glicken; one of Clevelands most talented authors and sportswriters ever Jonathan Knight; and Sportstime Ohio/Cleveland St Vikings color commentator Chris Moore, and many others from time to time, will be writing exclusive stories for you, ranging from news topics, to editorials and commentaries sure to fire up your passions for all things Cleveland sports!

We have also overhauled our show page on whkradio.com! Now, it truly is your 24-7, one stop shop for Cleveland sports:

- added a news ticker on the top of the page with real time sports stories from around the world;
- updated the audio archives, with podcasts and our best interviews and guests highlighted for you
- created facebook and twitter widows directly on the page, for real time viewing/interaction
- added the written column section, updated in real time as stories are added each day

and the best change, we made it simpler than ever for you to find it all: thesportsfix.net... its now that simple, just log on to thesportsfix.net

So much more to come, and even more changes ahead, but for now Cleveland, enjoy, because everything we do, is for you: CLEVELAND - THE BEST DAMN SPORTS FANS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!!

[Email your thoughts on the show, the commentaries, questions, etc to: thesportsfix@aol.com]