The Cleveland Guardians Hope New Money Will Help Solve An Old Problem

The last time the Cleveland Guardians added a minority owner the franchise signed a free agent to what was then the largest contract in franchise history, and the team went to the World Series.

The year was 2016. The minority owner was John Sherman. The free agent was Edwin Encarnacion. The franchise record-setting contract was three-years, $60 million, and the World Series was Cleveland’s heart-breaking 8-7 Game 7 loss, at home, in 10 innings, to the Chicago Cubs.

There are parts of that tableau, now that Major League Baseball, according to multiple reports, has approved the sale of a minority stake in the team, that the 2022 Guardians would love to duplicate. Specifically, the most dramatic home run in franchise history: Rajai Davis’ Game 7 eighth inning, ballpark-shaking, game-tying, three-run home run off Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman.

The Guardians also enjoyed a significant payroll bump during Sherman’s tenure as minority owner. With his arrival in 2016 Cleveland’s payroll was $98 million, an increase of $11 million from the previous year. In 2017, the Guardians’ payroll made an even bigger jump, to $120 million. It peaked at $137 million in 2018.

In 2019 Sherman left Cleveland to become the owner of the Kansas City Royals, and the Guardians’ payroll tumbled to $107 million. In 2020, with the departure of Sherman and arrival of the pandemic, Cleveland’s payroll plunged to $36 million.

Last year it recovered somewhat, climbing to $50 million, and this year Cleveland’s payroll is in the neighborhood of $70 million, which is the fourth-lowest in the majors.

Help is on the way, however. According to reports, the investor who was approved by Major League Baseball is New York-based businessman David Blitzer, who also owns shares in the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

It’s believed that Blitzer will initially assume ownership of 25 to 30% of the Guardians, with the potential to become the majority owner of the team at some future date.

Guardians’ owner Paul Dolan and his family have owned the ballclub longer than any owner in the history of the franchise, which was a charter member of the American League in 1901. The Dolans bought the team from Richard Jacobs in 1999 for $323 million. At the start of this season Forbes valued the Guardians at $1.3 billion.

The addition of a minority owner is a welcome one for the ballclub and its fans. Though one of the youngest teams in the majors, the Guardians, led by perennial MVP candidate Jose Ramirez, have been one of the surprise teams in the league this year. They are 13-3 since May 30, and, with a record of 32-27, they are only two games behind first-place Minnesota in the AL Central.

The addition of a minority owner comes at a propitious time for the franchise. Cleveland’s front office, which has long been considered one of the most astute in the business, has a well-earned reputation for making the best out of its traditionally limited payroll budget.

Having new money, through the addition of a minority owner, would give the front office greater flexibility in pursuing meaningful free agents, rather than having to consistently shop in the low end of the free agent market. The last major free agent signed by Cleveland was Encarnacion in 2016.

Having new money will also potentially help Cleveland keep their best players from becoming free agents, or being forced to trade them before they do. That list is a long and painful one for Cleveland fans: Francisco Lindor, Corey Kluber, Michael Brantley, Carlos Carrasco, Brad Hand, Andrew Miller, Carlos Santana, and Encarnacion, who was traded after the second year of his three-year deal.

Having new money will potentially help keep current and future Cleveland stars in Cleveland. Ramirez figured to be the latest home-grown star to leave, but, a year before he could have become a free agent, he signed a seven-year $141 million extension because he enjoyed playing in Cleveland and didn’t want to leave.

Ramirez, of course, was an anomaly. Most stars choose to leave their teams as free agents, in pursuing the biggest contract pursuable. New money might help Cleveland keep some players they otherwise might lose.

New money also would open up trade deadline possibilities for the Guardians, who, like most contending teams, hope to make a midseason acquisition who could be a difference maker in a division race. Cleveland has not been a player in that market for a few years. Now, they might be.

Ideally, fans would prefer that their team be owned by an individual for whom, when it comes to building a winner, money is no object.

Failing that, the fallback position would be having a minority owner for whom, when it comes to building a winner, might not be able to make money no object, but could help to at least make it not as much of an object as it has been in recent years.

That’s where the Guardians are now.