Browns Make A Trade And Use Patience

The legal tampering period in the NFL started yesterday, so the NFL rumors will start flying around over the next couple of days.

The Browns did make a move ahead of the league’s new year, trading guard Kevin Zeitler to the New York Giants for pass rusher Olivier Vernon.

We will spare you the whole “trust in Dorsey” stuff, but we will say we do believe the Browns have a pretty good idea of what they have in last year’s second round pick Austin Corbett, and wouldn’t have made the deal without a staunch belief he will be more than a adequate replacement for Zeitler.

Remember, Corbett was a few picks away from being a first rounder last season.

As for Vernon, our opinion defensively is the same as former Browns executive Ernie Accorsi, who said the most important positions on the field are quarterback, and guys who can get to the quarterback.

That means you can never have enough pass rushers, and the Browns needed someone opposite Myles Garrett, who could pressure opposing passers.

Vernon had 22 sacks in his 39 games with the Giants. Contrast that to Emmanuel Ogbah, who has had 12.5 sacks in his three year career, spanning 40 games, with the Browns.

Ogbah’s high total in sacks for a season was 5.5 in his rookie year, the season he played without Garrett as his bookend. We are sure Dorsey and the coaching staff didn’t love that Ogbah didn’t make opponents pay for double teaming the former first overall pick.

It’s a risky deal because Zeitler is a quality player, but the Browns had a replacement for him on the roster, and used a strength to fill a weakness. We wish other teams who play in Cleveland would do the same thing.

Outside of pass rushers, the other thing good defenses can’t have enough of is cornerbacks, and that’s an area we believe Dorsey will continue to build on in the off-season.

We wouldn’t be surprised if a corner was drafted in either the first or second round in the upcoming draft, nor would it be a shock to see one signed in free agency, perhaps Steven Nelson, who played with Kansas City (Dorsey factor) last season.

With the release of TE Darren Fells, no doubt a tight end will be sought too. Fells is 33, and we know Dorsey prefers younger players who still have an upside.

It’s hard to believe with all of the two tight end sets the Browns use, they will go into the season with just David Njoku, Seth DeValve, and Orson Charles, who really played H-back, on the roster.

We also believe the team knows they need to upgrade the defensive tackle position. Larry Ogunjobi needs someone next to him who will make offenses pay for double teaming him too. Today’s signing of Sheldon Richardson will help there too.

Remember, when Dorsey strikes, there aren’t a lot of rumors attached signaling a move. That’s how he operates.

We do believe the general manager at his word that the Browns won’t go crazy in free agency, but we do feel he will make two or three solid roster additions in this market.

The organization isn’t going to go “all in”, but they know the time to take the playoffs has arrived. That will drive the GM’s aggressiveness.

Tribe Can And Should Sign Lindor

The recent signings of Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado, and Bryce Harper have brought the fate of Francisco Lindor into the minds of many Cleveland Indians fans.

What are the chances the Tribe ownership will sign the shortstop to a long term deal before he becomes a free agent in 2021?

Most believe there is no chance because the Indians are a small to mid market, and they “couldn’t possibly” dedicate that large of a percentage of the big league payroll to one player.

We consider those people to be supporters of the “Dolan Cap”.

First of all, there is no salary cap in baseball, meaning the Indians’ ownership could spend whatever they want. And remember, there will be a financial windfall from the new network television deal with Fox starting in 2022, the year after Lindor’s free agency.

Second, notice the first two signings at the beginning of this piece.

Currently, Forbes Magazine ranks the Padres, who signed Machado, as the 17th most valuable franchise in the sport. The Rockies, who kept their superstar in Arenado long term (a 7 year deal) is 23rd, one spot ahead of…the Cleveland Indians.

So, if these two mid to small market teams can sign great players, the Indians can too.

Arenado is particularly comparable to Lindor, in that both are better than Machado and Harper, who signed with the Phillies.

The Rockies third baseman ranked 3rd in MLB Network’s listing of the 100 best players in the game right now, while Lindor was 4th. For the record, Machado was 14th and Harper 15th.

Arenado is 27 years old, meaning Colorado signed him through his 34th birthday. Lindor is 25 years, so a similar length deal (7 or 8 years) would keep him in a Cleveland uniform through age 33, at which time he should still be a productive player if he stays healthy.

Which brings us to another argument we hear. This is NOT the same situation as Albert Pujols or Miguel Cabrera. Pujols was 32 when he signed his 10 year contract with the Angels. The team knew they would be paying big money for declining years.

Likewise, the Tigers inked Cabrera to an eight year deal when he was 32 years old. They’ve seen one very good year thus far, and two injury plagued campaigns.

If the Tribe would sign their shortstop after this season to a seven or eight year deal, they’d be getting his prime years (27-29) and he would be 33 or 34 years old at the end. While he most likely won’t be the Lindor we’ve seen to date at those ages, we would go out on a limb and say he would still be a very productive player.

We have advocated this for a long time, not only can the Indians keep Lindor long term, they should keep him long term. He is arguably the greatest position player in the history of the franchise, which of course, goes back to 1901.

The last time the Indians has a player this good at that age was Manny Ramirez, who departed after his age 28 season. The Dolans did make a big time offer to the right-handed slugger, only to be aced out by the Red Sox in the end.

Here are the seasons Ramirez put up in his first five years in Boston:

2001: 1014 OPS, 41 HR, 125 RBI, .306 batting average
2002: 1097 OPS, 33 HR, 107 RBI, .349 (batting title)
2003: 1014 OPS, 37 HR, 104 RBI, .325
2004: 1009 OPS, 39 HR, 130 RBI, .308
2005: 982 OPS, 45 HR, 144 RBI, .292

At the time of his departure, Ramirez had two top 10 MVP finishes. Lindor already has three.

The point is, Lindor is better than anyone who has worn a Cleveland uniform in the free agent era.

And the Indians have some very good prospects in the low minors too. While there is more risk in projecting those players, if they progress, they should hit Progressive Field around 2021-22, providing low cost talent just in time to pay big money to a superstar player.

Don’t forget Lindor’s appeal to the fan base either. It has been reported that after the home opener and the Yankees’ series at Progressive Field, the next two highest advance ticket sales are Lindor giveaway days.

Of course, Lindor and his agent still make the decision, but we say the Tribe front office should make an offer he cannot refuse.

Frankie Lindor presents the Dolan family with a huge dilemma. Not signing him will seal their fate as an ownership that didn’t take the extra step needed to bringing a World Series title to this area.

Identifying Cavs Of The Future

There is no question this has been a lost season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. While you can question whether or not they could’ve been a playoff contender when the regular season started, you can’t debate having Kevin Love miss 50 games has put the wine and gold in contention for the worst team in the NBA.

Now that Love has returned, there has been progress, much to the dismay of draft lottery fans everywhere.

Yes, the most of the recent wins by the Cavs have come over fellow dreck squads in New York, Phoenix, and Memphis, remember the wine and gold lost three of four to the team immediately above them in the standings, the Chicago Bulls.

Even in the midst of a terrible season, has the organization found some players who could be a help to the team when it makes its next playoff run?

Certainly, Love has shown he not only can still be a productive player, but he seems to have embraced the leadership role he has now. He took a backseat in that regard when LeBron James was here, but he is relishing being the Cavs’ go to guy.

And you can hear other players talk about Love and fellow veteran (and a member of the ’16 title team) Matthew Dellavedova speak about ball movement and playing the right way. Both of them are praising rookie Collin Sexton publicly when he makes the correct decisions on the floor.

In fact, we would keep Love to start next season to provide leadership, and if he wants to move on, the trading deadline might be where you get the most for him.

The most improved player from day one of this season has been Cedi Osman, who we thought could be a player last year. Since January 1st, Osman has hit 50% of his shots from the floor, 43% from three point land, and is scoring 15.1 points per night.

Plus, he has an enthusiasm for the game. He wants to get better, and we feel he will continue to do so.

We have also long lauded the intangibles of Larry Nance Jr. and he hasn’t disappointed. Nance is averaging 9.1 points and 8 rebounds per game, and he and Love are unquestionably the best passers on the team.

Plus, on a bad defensive squad, he is probably the best defender, even though he plays out of position a lot, because he’s not a center.

And he’s adding range to his shooting, and we feel he will be a much better shooter in 2019-20.

An unsung player we like, although he’s missed a lot of time is David Nwaba. We understand Nwaba isn’t a starter, but we believe he can be a solid bench player for the foreseeable future.

He’s a wing defender by trade, but Larry Drew has used him to guard power forwards because of the lack of players with a defensive attitude on the team.

We wish he would shoot less threes (there’s a reason he’s open), but we would like to have him back next season. He and Dellavedova have the toughness good teams desire to have.

What may stand out is who is not on this list. Many would include Jordan Clarkson, but to us, all he’s demonstrated is he can score on a bad team. His performance during the playoffs last season causes us to doubt him.

We would like to see more of Ante Zizic, and would lean toward bringing him back, but his defensive shortcomings are a concern.

And we didn’t mention rookie Collin Sexton, who we haven’t given up on, like many of the so-called basketball people in Cleveland, but if you draft Murray State’s Ja Morant, and you think he’s better than Sexton, why wouldn’t you move him.

We would like to take a second look at guys like Marquese Chriss, and we haven’t seen John Henson at all.

It is important to have veteran leadership for young players, and we would like to see Dellavedova stay around too.

There are building blocks for the Cavs. The four we mentioned, plus a high draft pick could be part of the group that starts the climb back up the standings for the wine and gold.

Tribe OF Candidates Off To Slow Start

It is almost universally reported that the biggest question mark the Cleveland Indians have heading into the 2019 baseball season was their outfield.

Granted it’s early, but how have the candidates performed now that we are a week into exhibition play in the Cactus League.

We have said all winter that centerfield was the one spot we were comfortable with heading into spring training, and early returns have provided us with support for that feeling.

Leonys Martin has returned from his life threatening illness from last season and hit the ground running, getting seven hits in his first 13 at bats, and has a walk too. One of his hits has been a home run.

We felt Martin was an underrated get at the trade deadline because of his defense and ability to hit right-handed pitching, and felt he would be a big contributor to the roster in 2019 if healthy.

It certainly looks like that’s the case thus far.

We figured Greg Allen to be Martin’s platoon partner, but the switch-hitter is trying to get an everyday gig, starting off at 5 for 13, with a double, home run, and a walk. If he keeps it up, you may just see Allen in leftfield and Martin in center with a right-hander on the mound.

The other “serious” candidates, basing that on either veteran status or minor league numbers have struggled a bit.

Matt Joyce, 34, who had a poor year in Oakland last year after some solid years as a platoon piece has started off the spring 0 for 12, with just one walk and four strikeouts. In his situation, he better start hitting as soon as possible to avoid drawing his release papers.

Tyler Naquin, who homered in his first spring at bat, has gone just 2 for 13 since with a double, and has yet to draw a free pass. We understand that players aren’t working the count like they would in the regular season, but Naquin isn’t a guy with a high walk rate in his brief big league tenure.

The hope for a right-handed bat, Jordan Luplow, who had good AAA numbers in the Pirates’ organization, is also off to a tough start. He’s just 1 for 11 with two walks, and has fanned six times. Let’s just say he’s not making a very good first impression.

Oscar Mercado was considered a long shot coming into camp, but Luplow’s struggles probably increase his chances of sticking. He’s had five hits in his 15 at bats with a home run. He has whiffed four times without drawing a walk.

These performances could be why management has been looking for Hanley Ramirez to provide some hitting. Unfortunately, he’s only been a premier hitter at the major league level once in the last four seasons.

If he can stick, it would move Jake Bauers to the outfield, probably with Martin in CF and Allen in RF against righties. When a southpaw starts? Your guess is as good as mine, but it could be Allen in CF, with either Luplow or Mercado in RF.

It would have been nice if the front office brought in a proven big league performer to play the outfield, but the cost cutting mandate from ownership prevented that.

For now, the Tribe has to hope someone starts hitting and continues it when the season opens on March 28th.

Tribe Front Office Depends On Tito’s Magic

While we have been critical of Indians’ manager Terry Francona at times because of his problem with the fine line between patience and stubbornness, mostly we kind of feel bad for him because of what the front office does to him.

Tito has guided the Tribe to three consecutive American League Central Division titles, and has had to do so by having to put together a puzzle each and every season.

He has had great starting pitching, really since he’s been the Indians’ skipper in 2013, and in ’16 and ’17, had a tremendous bullpen as well. But, we think even he would like the opportunity to write the same names down in a starting lineup each and every day.

Prior to last Sunday, it looked like the only positions to be decided were left field and right field, and there were options in both spots. Not proven options, but the prevailing thought was a combination of Jordan Luplow, Tyler Naquin, Matt Joyce in those spots.

Then the front office signed Hanley Ramirez, a 35-year-old designated hitter, who really has had one above average season since 2014.

As a result, now the manager is looking at playing Jake Bauers in left, which would weaken the outfield defense.

Ramirez is in camp on a minor league contract, and if he can return to the hitter he was in 2016, when he hit .286 with 30 home runs, and knocked in 111 with an 866 OPS, it would be a boost to the offense. However, how likely is that?

As stated previously, that season is the only above average season the veteran has had since 2014 when he had an 817 OPS with the Dodgers. He was 30 at the time.

Seriously, is Francona making plans based on the long shot Ramirez can win a starting job? That seems like an extreme case of putting the cart before the horse. He hasn’t even had one at bat in Arizona as of yet.

This is the situation the Tribe front office always seems to put its manager in, having to manipulate the roster to get the most out each and every position player.

Last season, he was forced to play two defensive liabilities in the corner outfield spots in Michael Brantley and Melky Cabrera. And the front office rushed to replace Carlos Santana (since back) at first with Yonder Alonso, who the skipper figured out half way through the year couldn’t hit lefties.

In 2017, Francona platooned in CF (Bradley Zimmer and Austin Jackson) and RF (Lonnie Chisenhall and Brandon Guyer). The year the Tribe went to the World Series, he used four players, including Jose Ramirez, more than 20 games in left field.

Amazingly, in ’15, the Indians had only four position players who played in 100 games–Santana, Jason Kipnis, Brantley, and Chisenhall. That was shocking to us.

Francona has done a remarkable job maximizing what the organization has given him, but we’ll bet he would appreciate being able to write the same names on a lineup card on a daily basis.

Add to that, not having to be hopeful a veteran will regain the fountain of youth to add some pop to the batting order.

There are no bonus points for winning with the highest degree of difficulty.

This is why critics should overlook Tito’s quirks as manager. He gets a lot out of some marginal players. This off-season appears to provide the Indians’ manager with the ultimate test.

Love Reminding Us How Good He Is

Especially in Cleveland, we believe everyone has forgotten what a great basketball player Kevin Love is.

The first four years Love was in Cleveland, he was the whipping boy whenever the Cavaliers didn’t perform up to expectations. If the wine and gold were not dominating opponents, the blame usually fell on him, mostly because he wasn’t putting up the gaudy numbers he did in Minnesota.

It is ridiculous that even when he was out earlier this season, there were some in the media who felt no other NBA team would be interested in this guy.

You see, Love averaged 26 points per game twice with the Timberwolves, and in different seasons, grabbed an average of 14 rebounds two different seasons in Minnesota.

However, there is no question that no player on the Cavs sacrificed more in the four years LeBron James was the leader on the roster than Kevin Wesley Love.

In those four seasons, Love’s highest scoring season was 19.0 in 2016-17, which was his best year during those campaigns. He averaged 11.1 boards, and shot 37% from three point range.

Playing up north, Love’s lowest percentage of shots close to the basket (0-3 feet out) was 25.3% during his last season with the Wolves. In Cleveland, his highest number in the four years the Cavaliers went to The Finals was 24%.

By the way, this year? He’s back to 29%.

Love became a “stretch four” as James’ teammate, and as he has shown throughout his career, he is so much more than that.

He is one of the best 25-30 players in the sport, and because he played with James and for three of the years, Kyrie Irving too, people have forgotten what a talent he is.

He’s a five time All Star, and had he not been hurt much of this year, probably would have made a sixth.

Think of how the 2015 Finals would have been different had Love and Irving been healthy for the entire series.

Since Love has returned from his foot injury, the Cavs have gone 3-2 in the five games he has participated in. Now, while they aren’t beating the elite teams in the NBA, while the big man was out, they were 11-41.

And in one of the games they dropped, he played just six minutes in his first game back.

Last Saturday, Love scored 32 points and grabbed 12 caroms in a win over Memphis, his best night of the season. And because he is still coming off the injury, he didn’t see the court in the last six or so minutes of the game.

In the last three of those games, he’s made 12 of 23 shots from beyond the arc, showing that his shooting is returning.

He’s also averaging 11 rebounds a game in the last four contests.

Just his presence on the court, has made the other players on the roster better too. They seem to play with more confidence, and Love’s outside shooting threat has opened up the lane for others.

We all know the Cavs are in tank mode this season, but we forget that a big reason they will likely have one of the three worst records in the league (and therefore, the best chance for the first overall pick) is Love’s injury.

Had Love been healthy this season, Cleveland probably wouldn’t have been a playoff team, but they would likely be sitting around the 7th to 9th pick area.

If the Cavs are able to get one of the top three picks this June, and keep Love, they will have a ready made one-two punch to start the season.

We have said this before, if you don’t think Kevin Love isn’t one of the games’ best players, you don’t know the game.

We think he will remind everyone of this over the last six weeks of this season.

Cleveland’s A Three Sport Town, No?

It is not a secret that Cleveland is one of the smallest cities in the United States with three major professional sports teams. We are using the traditional four major sports of baseball, football, basketball, and hockey.

If you figure in Green Bay as part of the Milwaukee market, only that area would be smaller than “The Land” in terms of having three major league franchises.

It struck us the other day that if you listen to sports talk radio in the area, it would be hard to discern that indeed, there are other teams here besides the Browns.

Certainly, fans of the Indians and Cavaliers are envious of the attention received by the NFL team, especially now that the Browns appear to be emerging from a decade’s long slumber.

After all, the Cavaliers ended the title drought in Cleveland, winning the area’s first professional sports championship since 1964 when LeBron James and company won the 2016 NBA title.

And the Indians have been one of baseball’s best teams since 2016 when they went to the seventh game of the World Series that season. They’ve been to the post-season four times since Terry Francona was hired as manager in 2013, and since baseball went to the current three division set up in 1994, only the Yankees and Red Sox have made more playoff appearances in the American League.

We understand that northeast Ohio is first and foremost a football area, but how did the sports conversation around here become almost Browns-centric, and how much does it affect the other teams?

First, the Browns were genius in making both sports talk stations in town (WKNR and 92.3 The Fan) broadcast partners. Both stations proudly call themselves “Home of the Browns”, and when the team plays, it is difficult to find a station not broadcasting the game (at least in our car).

WKNR has a daily show called Cleveland Browns Daily, while the other station broadcasts virtually every press conference the head coach has, which during the season is pretty much every day.

We have said in the past that the Tribe should have learned from the Browns and made on of these two stations their flagship station. Instead, they stayed with WTAM and their large 50,000 watt power.

And that’s their right, but would the team generate more conversation, and therefore more interest, if their games were on that station pretty much every night from April through September?

We would bet yes.

As for the Cavs, when they were title contenders, they were the second option, but now that they are at the bottom of the standings, the commentary is “they are terrible, we don’t watch”, which is ludicrous since the hosts are supposed to covering Cleveland sports teams, no?

The poor won/lost record doesn’t hold weight either, because the Browns were 1-31 over a two season span, and they were still the topic for most shows on a daily basis.

Cleveland is a “Brownstown”, no debating that. However, many Browns’ fans are also supporters of the Indians and Cavs, so why not cover those teams more often?

We thought because the Browns were not picking at the top of the NFL Draft that the conversation would subside during the spring, but instead there are other subjects to delve into, like “Are the Browns better than the Steelers, right now?”

The sports talk stations used to send hosts down to spring training to cover the Indians. That rarely happens now.

It’s great that people are excited about the Browns, but as a city, we should feel lucky to have three major professional sports teams. And it’s okay to have conversations about all three as well.

Tank Or Not To Tank For Cleveland Teams?

After it was announced that Manny Machado signed a $300 million contract with the San Diego Padres, the conversation around town quickly turned to Francisco Lindor, and the possibility of the Cleveland Indians keeping him after he can become a free agent following the 2021 season.

Being Cleveland, we heard many fans saying if the Indians weren’t going to try to sign the star shortstop, then they should trade him now and start rebuilding for the future.

Which brings us to the question of the day: Tank or not to Tank?

With the Indians having the starting rotation they have along with two of the best position players (Lindor and Jose Ramirez) in baseball, a total rebuild is the last thing on the minds of the front office.

Especially with Lindor still here for three more seasons.

Now, if prior to the ’21 campaign, Lindor’s agents make it clear he will not re-sign with the Tribe and the team gets off to a poor start, dropping out of contention, you might see a deal for the guy who is arguably the best position player in team history.

However, no team is going to give up a chance to win a championship, and if the Indians win the AL Central they will have that shot, to start rebuilding.

Let’s look at two instances of rebuilding jobs in our own town–

The Cavaliers didn’t intend to tank this season, but when you lose LeBron James, drop your first six contests, and then lose your best remaining player for basically the entire first half of the season, you change your way of thinking.

Once you hit the end of November with one of the NBA’s worst records and Love is still going to be out until February, GM Koby Altman had to try and get one of the first picks in the June draft, and hopefully you get Zion Williamson with the first choice.

The Browns were stuck in mediocrity for most of the last 15 seasons, when then GM Sashi Brown decided to gut the roster, purging it of veterans and trying to go with young players who can hit their prime together.

We don’t believe he envisioned 1-31 over two seasons, but Hue Jackson’s guidance took care of that, and earned the Browns a franchise quarterback, and a franchise pass rusher.

In both cases, the circumstances (poor start and Love’s injury for the Cavs, an extended period of crap football for the Browns) dictated the tank.

Tanking isn’t guaranteed to work. While people point to the Cubs and Astros in baseball, both of those teams drafted very well, with Chicago getting Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, and the Astros drafted George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Alex Bregman in the first round in a three year span.

Let’s say the Cavs wind up with the worst record and the fourth overall pick, do they subject their fan base to another year like this? It’s also tough for the front office/ownership to sit through.

And for the Browns, they tried a whole bunch of things. They tried helping young players by supplementing them with veterans. They tried getting veteran quarterbacks, getting players with local ties.

None of it worked.

Why not try what the Dallas Cowboys did when Jerry Jones bought the team and hired Jimmy Johnson. Gut the roster, accumulate draft picks, and see if that works.

We started to see the fruits of this plan, aided by hiring a good talent evaluator in John Dorsey, this past year.

If you decide to tank, here is the difficult question no one wants to ask–What happens when you don’t get the first overall pick?

You have to have a back up plan. If you don’t, you lose your job. That’s why more teams don’t do it.

Area Of Improvement For Tribe: OF Defense

Just when you thought the Cleveland Indians were making defense in the outfield more of a priority, you see a story saying the Tribe is considering playing Carlos Santana out there this season.

Now, we understand there isn’t a lot of write about during the early days of spring training, so it could be Terry Francona just saying there might be a time for Santana to play out there, but here’s hoping the organization doesn’t have thoughts of making this more than a rare occurrence.

Our thought is the Indians believe that because their pitching staff strikes out a lot of hitters, thus keeping the ball out of play, they can survive with less than adequate defense beyond the infield.

To some degree, they are correct. It certainly is less of an issue than it would be if they had a lot of high contact flyball prone hurlers. However, in close games, which the Tribe may be playing plenty this year because of the unproven bats in the lineup, defense is at a premium.

Last season, Terry Francona put an outfield alignment which had Michael Brantley in left field and Melky Cabrera in right field, and asked the centerfielder to run for miles in between the two range challenged veterans.

We have heard various fans talk about playing Jake Bauers in the outfield, but Rays’ broadcaster (and former Tribe pitcher) Brian Anderson said although he can play out there, he’s really a first baseman.

Certainly, Santana can play there, heck, he started a World Series game in left field, but how much would the defense be compromised with him starting, let’s say 25 games out there?

It’s just not worth it in the long run.

This is an organizational issue too.

Remember, Cleveland has played each of the last two post-seasons with Jason Kipnis, a second baseman ordinarily, in center. While we can’t think of any egregious misplays in those playoff games, there were probably balls that an experienced outfielder would have made.

Getting Leonys Martin helped the defense before he got sick. You could see the difference in the few games he played after coming over from Detroit. He played a more shallow center, and got very good jumps on flyballs.

It seemed like management was trying to reverse this trend this winter. Letting go of Brantley’s bat doesn’t help the offense, but it should help the defense. And Cabrera was best suited for LF too, but because of Brantley, Francona used him in right.

The replacements, at least for now, would be a great improvement. Jordan Luplow has good defensive metrics in LF and RF, and Tyler Naquin is solid in the corners. Oscar Mercado has played a lot of center in the minors, so he should be good as well.

Again, this could all be Francona just trying to make his team more versatile, and he wants options defensively against certain pitchers.

Let’s hope that is the case. It would be nice to see the Indians’ pitching staff backed by an outfield that can run down flyballs. And if the team isn’t going to get a great deal of offense out of those spots, then they better be above average on defense.

Cavs Need To See Who Is Part Of Future

When the festivities are done in Charlotte this weekend, and the NBA schedule resumes next week, the Cleveland Cavaliers will still have two dozen games to play.

What can we anticipate seeing over the last couple of months?

First, the organization realizes the new draft lottery system in which the bottom three teams pretty much the same odds to get the first pick in late June’s draft.

The wine and gold have the third worst mark, ahead of only the Knicks and Suns, both of whom have won one less game than the Cavs. Cleveland has a two game lead (?) over Chicago to hold spot #3.

With Atlanta having the fifth worst record at 19 wins, we believe it is safe to say the three worst records in the league will come from New York, Phoenix, Cleveland, and Chicago.

Larry Drew’s squad is already done against Chicago, helping their cause by losing three out of four against the Bulls, and the first game after the break has the Cavs playing the Suns at Quicken Loans Arena.

A week later, Cleveland travels to New York to take on the other team they have a better record than. And on April 1st, the wine and gold kick off a west coast trip in the Valley of the Sun.

One key factor for the Cavaliers is they are getting healthy, and it also appears GM Koby Altman picked up a couple of hungry players at the trading deadline.

Kevin Love is back, and has played two games in the last week. A glimpse into how the club will approach his return may have been revealed this past week.

Love played well in the first half of the win over New York on Monday and said he planned to play in the Wednesday contest at The Q against Brooklyn. However, it was then announced early that day that Love would not play.

Our guess is the team will claim to be very conservative with Love’s toe injury giving him plenty of rest over the last 24 games.

And don’t forget Tristan Thompson is said to be ready to return as well. The training staff will be very careful to not give Thompson too much of a workload the remainder of the season.

Besides giving those injuries more time to heal, the Cavs have to be wanting to see more of Marquese Chriss, acquired from Houston.

In four games with Cleveland, Chriss has averaged 14 points and six rebounds, while shooting 53.7% from the floor. Now, we realize his 56.3% mark from three point range is unsustainable, but as of right now, you have to sign him as a restricted free agent this off-season.

We have said this before, he’s just 21 years old and 6’10”. You simply cannot discard that kind of size and skill.

You also need to see more of Ante Zizic, another big man in an organization that has ignored size for years. The 6’11” Croatian scored 12.6 points and grabbed 8.2 rebounds per game in January, playing 25.5 minutes a night.

Zizic just turned 22 on January 4th.

If the Cavs get one of the top three choices in the draft, undoubtedly that player will become the centerpiece of what will hopefully be the next Cleveland team to make the post-season.

But both of those big guys could be big contributors as well, and the organization has to find out what they have in Chriss and Zizic.

That’s something to watch in these last 24 games.