Pay For Performance

The Cleveland Indians are playing horribly except for their starting pitching. Unfortunately baseball victories require hitting also. Fortunately the Indians are playing in a division where no one shows signs of taking charge. My solution for the Indian's anemic hitting - pay for performance. Restructure contracts so that a failure to perform results in a substantial loss in pay or even dismissal. It works elsewhere, why not in sports. I realize this is naive, but somewhere in the thought there must be a shred of a solution. Why do teams have unlimited patience with poor performance? Of course the answer is that the player is in a slump and will eventually snap out of it - too much is invested in him to turn him loose. Fine, keep him but pay him his millions when he starts performing! (One thing I know that will not cure poor play is experimenting with facial hair. Sloppy looks go with sloppy play. The same applies to managers and coaches. I hate to say it but the Yankees have it right when it comes to grooming!)