Brewed Fresh Daily

Here is what it said. As another free service of the Muni Lot, we provide the following translation so that the Indians fans can read the letter more effectively, with greater comprehension and less stomach-churning nausea.

The letter in its original Dolan is in italics. The English translation is below.

Dear fans,

Thank you for your many years of loyalty to and support of the Cleveland Indians. Because you are vitally important to the success of the Indians, I want to communicate the thinking behind our recent player personnel decisions, including our decision to trade CC Sabathia, directly to you.

Dear Chumps,

Thanks for opening your wallets. I’m glad someone around here does. Here’s why we’re flushing the season and our best pitcher.

After keeping the strong nucleus from our 2007 playoff team intact, we all had high expectations entering the ‘08 season. Unfortunately, the team did not play up to our expectations and we sustained injuries to key players within our starting lineup and rotation. Due to our team’s performance, as well as the significant opportunity to add talent that can impact the short-term and long-term success of the organization, we decided to trade CC.

My employees suck, so this year has blown. It’s their fault. Because of them, we had to deal off that really good left-handed pitcher and will now try to convince you that we’re somehow going to be better without the best pitcher in the league.

We did not take our decision to trade CC lightly. He has been an integral member of the Indians organization and the Cleveland community for the past eight years. We all shared the pleasure of watching CC develop from a young Draft pick into a mature team leader — and one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball. After re-signing CC in 2005 to a contract that extended into what would have been his first two free agent years, we were able to share in and enjoy his ‘07 Cy Young Award winning season as a Cleveland Indian, a performance that propelled our club to the AL Central Division Championship.

We take pride that the Yankees, Red Sox, or the Mets will be happy with how well we’ve developed CC Sabathia for them. Their approval is important to a little club like ours. We held onto him until he was one of the best pitchers in the league. He’s ready for bigger things now.

We made extensive attempts to secure CC’s future in Cleveland by signing him to a contract extension. In fact, we offered CC a top of the market contract that included the highest annual salary in the history of the Indians’ organization. Unfortunately, due to CC’s desire to test the free agent market, we determined that trading CC provided the best outcome for the long-term success of the organization. By trading CC, we capitalized on an opportunity to infuse upper level talent into our organization that can contribute to our on-field success for many years, rather than risk losing CC for only two Draft picks with a distant and uncertain future.

Please understand. There was absolutely no way my old man was going to pay this guy. He’s just like that Manny person, who wanted all that money. Sorry about that.

We remain enthusiastic about the steps we have taken towards fulfilling our organizational mission to build and sustain a championship-caliber team. Our Minor League system served as the catalyst for our 2007 playoff run and continues to develop exciting, young players. We look forward to the opportunity of watching many more young players blossom into Major League stars as Cleveland Indians.

Maybe, someday, we’ll be able to repeat our success and develop another pitcher like CC Sabathia. In the meantime, it’s sure fun watching those youngsters develop!

We have confidence that the tremendously difficult decision to trade CC will enhance our ability to put a winning club on the field to make our loyal fans and the entire Cleveland community proud. On behalf of my family and the entire Cleveland Indians organization, I appreciate your continued support and look forward to seeing you at a game in the near future. Go Tribe!

You guys are buying this, right? GO TEAM!

Sincerely,
Paul Dolan

I got me a limo waiting outside. Later chumps!

Paul Dolan
(Larry’s kid)