Question here from non-jerk Red Sox fan - whatever happened the Indians? I look at all the talent that club had over the last 10 years and it doesn't make any sense. Sabathia, Carmona, Lee, Hafner, Martinez, Sizemore... how come the Indians never got more done?
...oh, and at least you've still got Shin Soo Choo. That guy's a hell of a player. I'm visiting South Korea and everyone's crazy about him, I see more Indians hats than Sox or Yankees even.
CC and Lee were traded immediately after winning Cy Young Awards for prospects. That's not something you do when you want to keep a winning team together. Especially when the prospects you receive back have been less than thrilling so far.
Carmona seems to be running on the fumes and reputation of one successful season. Before that, he was a failed closer. Since then he's been up and down as a starter.
The Tribe sent Martinez to Boston because, while he's an awesome hitter, he's an average at best catcher and the team felt they had better prospects coming up behind him that would be cheaper (that's a recurring theme for the last decade or so).
The Indians are hampered by a cheap owner, an uninterested fan base, and a town that ranks them a solid #3 behind LeCavs and the Holiest of Holy Browns. Home attendance this year was right around 10,000 fans the last time I checked. The weather in Ohio hasn't been the best but that's still miserable for a team that had such a long sellout streak back in the day.
http://developer.fanfeedr.com/
2400 API pulls a day for free and I think it includes all the major sports.
Link to the source: http://code.google.com/p/boxscore-junkie/
One suggestion: After the initial team search, it would be nice to be able to browse the teams or games somehow. I liked the surprise of the score and description, and it would be cool to easily browse or view a random game or something like that.