How much of this reflects actual rumours from the time, and how much is just 20/20 hindsight?

I know this has to be fiction, he has the Cardinals making a trade of a bat and not winning the trade, has that happened in the last decade?

#1 - a lot of 20/20 hindsight, which makes this just annoying more than anything. Every team could say "Oh if we didn't get key injuries or sign bad contracts, and all our trades worked out, we'd be really good" (and only a few couldn't say that they should have drafted Trout).

#2 - I'm not sure the Cardinals would be losing that trade. Taking Cabrera over Furcal, and finding some adequate replacement for Craig probably adds a win or two.

Boy the Indians sure would be better if they just had all the good players.

From old archives at MLBTR:

The Dodgers apparently talked about dealing Matt Kemp and one of Jonathan Meloan/James McDonald for Sabathia, Casey Blake, and Jamey Carroll.

I don't see any rumors involving Kershaw. Probably just 20/20 hindsight wishcasting.

If the Dodgers would have been willing to trade Kemp, being willing to deal Kershaw is not much of a stretch.

Probably just 20/20 hindsight wishcasting.

Yeah, but I think he's being honest about it. I don't read it as "these were obvious moves that would have been made by anyone with a brain in charge".

Also telling how even in his fantasy world, Grady Sizemore can't stay healthy.

If you're going to give them Fantasy-Mike-Trout, it needs to be for a better reason than because he's really awesome now. Say in this fantasy world the Mets don't give up their first round draft pick for a closer and then draft the (semi) local kid.

The curse of Steve Chilcott

"Just annoying" is a good summary. I stopped reading when it said "Chris Sale"...probably should've stopped before.

Does anyone know of a site with decent Indians commentary/discussion? Let's Go Tribe is decent, but the layout sucks, there's not enough content, and most criticisms of management boil down to: "Yeah, the Indians are a huge disappointment (again), but when you have their budgetary constraints..."

I've mentioned this a few times here, but it bothers me that there isn't more criticism of the front office. The intelligentsia loves to laugh at decisions by Dayton Moore and others, but here the Indians are without a clear path forward and... nothing.

10 - LGT really is the best out there. Not sure what to do about the layout, but there's enough content when the team is actually doing something. There's not much to talk about down the stretch for 90 loss teams.

I'd say there has been much more criticism than you're suggesting. Cleveland fans could barely show up for a 96 win team in 2007 because they hate the front office so much. And most of their problems do stem from budgetary constraints. It's a tough go for the third team in a small, poor (by MLB standards) city. Sure, they have other issues (and I think LGT does address them), but that's far and away the biggest.

. And most of their problems do stem from budgetary constraints. It's a tough go for the third team in a small, poor (by MLB standards) city. Sure, they have other issues (and I think LGT does address them), but that's far and away the biggest.

Really? Are they still owned by Dolan? Because he's the worst owner in Sports. He's laid low the NBA's richest franchise.

I think if Larry Dolan owns your team, that's problems #1-9. #10 might be the budget.

12 - Different Dolan (though related) from the Knicks owner, and one who takes a completely different approach from his nephew.

[13] Ok.

Jim Dolan is one of the worst owners in sports, but he's willing to spend. Larry is incredibly cheap.

SB Nation just compeletely revamped all their layouts today, so I don't know if you're complaining about the old layout of LGT, or the new one.

The Indians have seemed rudderless ever since they were one game away from the WS. Are they rebuilding? Are they going for it? What is Kerry Wood doing here?

16 - They were going for it, but found out how quickly things can go wrong. Injuries to key guys (and just after they spent to keep Hafner and Westbrook really stung) and bullpens falling apart can make a mess of teams quickly. Now they're suffering from poor returns for Sabathia and Lee.

Whoa, new layout on Let's Go Tribe...I confess I haven't been for about a month. My main complaint was that it was hard to sort through worthwhile, recent commentary vs. ancient forum posts that always felt like they were near the top of the Fanshots/Fanposts lists. Maybe this will turn out better.

Fans vs. the front office is a reasonable point, but I wish more coverage was given to how we got here (the shorter and shorter success cycles, the stars leaving via free agency, the terrible starts under Wedge, etc) as opposed to just covering the superficial stuff that Chris Perez was complaining about and saying "These Indians are exciting, why isn't anyone showing up?!"

It's reasonable to cite budgetary constraints as an issue for the Indians, but only 14 of 30 teams had an opening day payroll more than $10M higher than the Indians. Despite minimal attendance and fan excitement, more than half the league is within spitting distance. I'll concede that's not enough information to say whether they could or should be spending more, but I have a hard time believing that they came into 2012 maxed out.

There isn't really a clear second to the Browns in Cleveland - the Indians have had their moments and the Cavs had their run with LeBron - so saying that they're the "third team" is not a reflection of a permanent reality. If the Cavs are still second, a big reason is that their brand has been MUCH better managed. Despite the embarrassment caused by the LeBron letter, Dan Gilbert feels a lot more like our Mike Ilitch than another Larry Dolan. Maybe it'll wear thin, but right now the Cavs are eating the Indians' lunch in the "management gives a damn" department.

There isn't really a clear second to the Browns in Cleveland

THE Ohio State University.

Haha, probably true. I almost put that.

18 - When the 'how we got here' stuff happens, they usually cover it well. But if you want to continue rehashing the string of mediocre-at-best first round picks then I think you're kind of a masochist.

Edit- getting off topic but: The Cavs vs Indians brand is one of the most frustrating things to watch. One group is as honest as a FO can get with its fanbase, and tries to reason through its situation (this still doesn't pardon their bad decisions). The other whines like a spoiled child when it doesn't get what it wants, and just counts on getting the #1 overall pick. And fans almost completely side with the latter, despite that Gilbert's spending amounted to Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall, Damon Jones, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker, and nothing since the Lebron gravy train left town.