Time to thank the Dolans, the best owners in Cleveland sports

The recent Cleveland Indians trade for Jay Bruce is another reason to thank the Dolans, the best owners in Cleveland sports.

Hard to believe that it’s been since 1999 that the Dolans have owned the Indians.

At the time, the $320 million price at the time was the most paid for a baseball team ever.

That’s not a bad return for Dick Jacob’s initial investment of $35 million. Larry Dolan had been trying to buy a sports franchise, including the reincarnation of the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Reds. But Larry Dolan settled on the Tribe. Given the moves in recent years, it’s time we say thanks.

It’s best to start with the most recent move of trading for Jay Bruce. Given the Tribe’s injury woes in the outfield, this move was a necessity. The Indians are going to take on the full remaining value of Bruce’s contract, which is around $4 million. That is not a small amount of money and there is now way this deal was done without the Dolan’s signing off. When the time is right, the Dolan’s have not had trouble spending money or assets.

One of the big knocks from fans has been the team’s unwillingness to chase big time free agents. Sure, that was true in the doldrums at the end of Eric Wedge‘s time in Cleveland and the entire Manny Acta stint. But Edwin Encarnacion was arguably the best power hitter available, and now he’s in Cleveland. Even though they didn’t pan out, signing Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn were good moves at the time for more money than anyone thought the Indians would spend.

Don’t forget that when Manny Ramirez left town after the 1999 season, it was Dolan who green lit the team going after Juan Gonzalez, who had a few stellar seasons in Cleveland. Later, they extended Travis Hafner at the peak of his career, another good on paper move that didn’t pan out. There’s the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, where not one but two first round prospects were traded out of the organization. The best move of all, though, was paying Terry Francona to leave ESPN to take over a 65-91 ball club.

Then there’s the off-th- field moves by the Dolans. As the Cavs and Dan Gilbert ask for $70 million in public money, the Dolan’s invested $26 million of their own into the first round of renovations to Progressive Field and have since spent nearly $37 million to complete the makeover. This comes around the same time as the city of Cleveland ponied up for $125 million in improvements to FirstEnergy Stadium. So while Gilbert writes scathing public letters to players and Jimmy Haslam narrowly avoided jail time, the Dolan’s haven’t asked the public for a dime.

Fan interest is way up. Attendence is up. The experience at an Indians game is so much better than it used to be. If you’ve ever sat in the Corner District or the bleachers, you know exactly what I mean.

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This team has become the best run franchise in the city. So you can complain that the big free agent moves didn’t work out in the past or that the Dolan’s didn’t splurge to prop up bad teams. What you can’t complain about is the track record of investment both in the team and in the city. Perhaps then a thank you would be appropriate.