A week ago a number of people wanted the Indians to pick up players for a second half surge.
Now, the ones who are still paying attention to the team's season are content to bash the front office, bash the manager, bash the ownership.
Eight game losing streaks will do that.
But when the Tribe comes up in conversation, and people talk about the ownership, one word keeps coming up:
Cheap.
Larry and Paul Dolan have owned the Indians since 2000. When they purchased the franchise, Cleveland was still selling out its home games and winning more than 90 games a year.
Everything seemed fine.
And then came that day in 2001 when the Tribe sent Hall of Famer Robbie Alomar to the Mets.
It was only the beginning of moves that remade the franchise and turned a large portion of the Indians' fans against the Dolans.
Since 2002, the Indians have made the playoffs once, and had two winning seasons. A fanbase accustomed to names like Thome, Lofton, Vizquel and Ramirez had to get used to names like Blake, Peralta, Garko and Gutierrez.
And that was during the best of times.
As I write this, the Indians are six games worse than .500. A season of promise has once again turned to dust.
The Dolans look more and more like ineffective owners.
But, are they cheap?
I'm not sure that's fair.
According to a database of team salaries, the Indians' payroll stands at more than $66 million. Six teams pay their players less. Of that group, three -the Pirates, Rays and Athletics - are legitimate contenders.
It's not that the Dolans don't spend money, it's that they are unlucky when they do. In 2007, it looked like a smart idea to spend $57 million on Travis Hafner after he'd put up MVP-caliber seasons in 2005 and 2006.
But after going deep 42 times and driving 117 runs six years ago, the designated hitter has been injury prone. He's hit 57 homers in the last five years combined, and the last time he picked up a glove was to retrieve a pan of brownies from the oven.
Five million dollars of this year's budget went to Grady Sizemore, a former all-star who once hit 30 homers and stole 30 bases in a season.
After being out much of last year, I agreed with this move. Sizemore was due for a nice comeback season; it might as well be with the Indians.
But Sizemore got hurt again, and hasn't appeared in a game in 2012.
People have gotten on the ownership for not signing slugger Josh Willingham, who has hit 27 homers and driven in 80 runs for the Twins this year. But plenty of this is hindsight. Yes, Willingham has been great, and would be an MVP candidate on another team.
But before this season he never hit more than 29 jacks in a season, never played more than 144 games in a year (and that was in 2007) and is 33.
I can see, given their history of signing contracts, why the Indians were reluctant to give him a three-year deal.
The point is, the Indians will never be able to spend like the Yankees, Red Sox or even Tigers. The days of the nightly sellouts are a thing of the past.
If I'm going to criticize the Indians for anything, it's player development. They haven't drafted well over the last decade, and will need to do that to compete.
The future isn't in a flashy trade or free agent signing. To win, the Indians will need to be tops in scouting and the farm system.
The Indians likely know all of this. But as they have found out, luck - good or bad - plays a major role.
