Browns Handling QB Correctly. Finally.

Over the past few seasons, the Cleveland Browns have played a form of Russian Roulette with the quarterback position, and although that’s not the only reason for being 15-65 over the last five years, it’s a good place to start.

In 2013, Rob Chudzinski started the season with second year pro Brandon Weeden as the starter, and when he went down, Brian Hoyer, who at that point had made one NFL start was thrust into action.

When Hoyer was lost for the season, it left Jason Campbell, who had some experience, but also never started an NFL game again after that season.

The next season, then new coach Mike Pettine went with Hoyer to start the season, with rookie Johnny Manziel in reserve. With Hoyer’s season started to go south, and the Browns were in playoff contention, Pettine’s only choice was to start Manziel, who was known more for his improvisational skills at Texas A & M.

In 2015, the Browns signed Josh McCown to be the starting QB, but even though they knew the veteran’s history, that is frequently injured and an extreme losing record, the backups for him were Manziel and Austin Davis, a third year player with eight career starts in St. Louis when Sam Bradford was injured.

The following year had two frequently hurt guys, McCown and Robert Griffin III on the roster with two rookies, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan backing them up. After the two vets were injured, predictably, Kessler wound up playing way too much for a third round draft pick.

And last season, Cleveland started DeShone Kizer, another rookie, this time picked in the second round, with Hogan and Kessler in reserve.

This is another change with GM John Dorsey being involved, and it is welcome to say the least.

Dorsey traded for Tyrod Taylor, a seven year veteran, although only 29 years old, and a player who was his team’s starter for the previous three seasons.

As you read above, that has not been the case in any of the last five seasons. In that span, the Browns had oft-injured veterans who hadn’t started in at least a year, save for McCown in ’15, and he was coming off a 1-10 season in Tampa Bay.

Taylor was 8-6 as a starter last season, and is 22-20 over the last three campaigns.

We are very confident Cleveland will be drafting a QB with the first overall pick next month, and so they are not in the situation of having to start a rookie if Taylor has to miss a game, they signed Drew Stanton on Sunday as a free agent.

Stanton is 34, and has never been a full fledged starter in the NFL, but he did start 13 games for the Cardinals in the last four seasons, and registered a 9-4 record in those starts.

He’s not a long term solution for sure, and his numbers over that span aren’t anything to write home about (51.1% completions, 15 TDs/15 interceptions), but he has experience, and once again, means Hue Jackson will not be forced to play the guy who will be the future of the franchise before he is ready.

All that is left is for the organization to resist any temptation to play the rookie if the 2018 starts poorly.

That’s a habit that needs to be broken.

There is now experience at the most important position on a football team, and credible people for the rookie to learn from.

That’s a welcome change from the past five seasons.

The Tribe Will Continue To Dominate Central in 2018

If you grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, it seems funny to hear this, but since the three division format was adopted by Major League Baseball in 1994, the Cleveland Indians, yes, the team that plays right here in downtown, has dominated the division.

The Tribe won its 9th division title a year ago, and we believe they will add a 10th in 2018.

Here is a list of AL Central Division crowns since ’94:

Cleveland    9
Minnesota    6
Chicago 4
Detroit    4
Kansas City 1

However, the only Central Division teams that have won the World Series are the White Sox in 2005 and the Royals in 2015.

Here is another tidbit about the Indians’ success since Progressive Field (nee Jacobs Field) opened in ’94. Only the behemoth AL franchises, the Yankees and Red Sox, have made more post-season appearances than Cleveland’s 10 (they were the wild card in 2013).

And the Tribe’s 10 appearances isn’t too far behind the Red Sox’ 12.

Terry Francona’s squad won 102 games a year ago, and you can make a very good argument that they underachieved. Their Pythagorean won-loss record had them at 108 wins.

Surely, winning 100 games is a tremendous feat and we would not predict that happening again, but the Indians did win the division by 17 games, and have pretty much the same cast of characters returning.

You would think some kind of regression could be coming for the team’s stars, but then you remember the two best position players on the roster are Francisco Lindor, who won’t be 25 until after the ’18 season concludes, and Jose Ramirez, who will play most of the campaign at 25 years old.

If the peak of a baseball player’s career is between ages 27-29, it is scary to think those two should still be getting better.

Add in perhaps the sports best starting rotation, led by two time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, and none of the top four starters are older than 32 years old, and you can see why optimism reigns for baseball fans in northeast Ohio.

Kluber won the award, but the Tribe’s #2 starter, Carlos Carrasco, finished fourth in the voting. Pretty good, eh?

Francona also has two of the best relievers in the sport at his disposal in Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. Miller’s numbers are incredible, he allowed just 31 hits in 62-2/3 innings last year while striking out 95 batters, as Tito used him in the highest leverage situations.

Allen fanned 92 in 67 innings as the closer. So, when Cleveland has a lead late in a game, they usually keep it.

We also believe Jason Kipnis will bounce back from a injury plagued 2017 season where he played only 90 games. He will look more like the player who belted 23 homers and had an 811 OPS in ’17.

Yes, the team did lose Carlos Santana and replaced him with Yonder Alonso, who has had just one season of power hitting under his belt in the bigs, and that worries us.

But the Tribe could be in a position to add two bats without making a trade this season in Yandy Diaz, who hit .350 in AAA last year and had a .352 on base percentage with the Tribe in 156 at bats, and Francisco Mejia, who will be getting some time in the OF at Columbus this summer.

Mejia could very well wind up being part of the Tribe’s “Big Three” with Lindor and Ramirez.

Many have said the “window” for the Tribe is closing because Miller and Allen are free agents following this season. We don’t believe that because of the presence of Lindor, Ramirez, Kluber, etc.

The Indians teams from 1994-2001 are well remembered here, but this current run for the Tribe, the Tito Era is you will, has now spanned for five seasons, and could rival the former group in longevity.

So, sit back and enjoy. This group could bring “The Land” its first World Series title in 70 years.

Love Gets None From Cavs’ Fans At Times

We understand that it is difficult playing in LeBron James’ shadow.

Kyrie Irving didn’t like it after three years and wanted to go somewhere else where he could be “Batman” to someone else’s “Robin”. If winning isn’t first and foremost on your agenda, it can be a pain to be second fiddle to James.

Kevin Love doesn’t seem to mind at all, in fact even we sometimes take him for granted.

During Love’s absence with a broken hand, many Cavs’ fans were complaining about the wine and gold’s .500 record (10-10) without him in the lineup.

Even we feel victim to this, and we have never made Love the scapegoat for any lack of success the team has had since he’s been in Cleveland.

Part of that is the greatness of James, because as a fan you think (and he agrees) that any game he takes part in, the Cavaliers have a solid chance to win.

So, we forget that Cleveland was missing their second best player during that stretch, and besides Love is not only the Cavs’ second best scorer, he’s their best rebounder, particularly on the defensive end, a good passer, and a better defender than most believe.

We are witnessing some slippage in play from Golden State with Stephen Curry missing a couple of weeks with a bad ankle. Houston has been virtually unbeatable with James Harden, Chris Paul, and Clint Capela, but they didn’t play nearly as well when Paul missed time earlier in the year.

But somehow, the wine and gold missing their second banana, a five time all star, doesn’t get the same reasoning.

Love isn’t flashy, but he is a great player. And he’s subdued his game since being traded to the Cavs before the 2014-15 season.

Love averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds during his last season in Minnesota, averaging 18.5 shots per game. He’s never come close to that total with the Cavs, but somehow people continue to expect him to score 25 per night.

The most shots per game Love has taken per contest with the Cavaliers is the 14.5 he took last year, a season in which he averaged his most points per game in the wine and gold at 19.0 per night.

Many people have said he’s become a “stretch four” since being James’ teammate, but he took more threes in his last season with the Timberwolves than he has in any season with Cleveland.

This year, he is shooting his highest percentage (46.1%) from the floor since his third year in NBA when he shot 47%.

His three point shooting is at 40.5%, also the best since that 2010-11 campaign with the Wolves, his first year as an all star.

He has even played more at center this season, once again, taking one for the greater good of the team.

It’s not a coincidence that the Cavs have looked a lot better in the past two games with Love back on the floor. It’s funny how that happens when you add a great player to the mix.

And, of course, he hit a huge three in the win over Toronto last night.

He’s underappreciated, gets more blame than he deserves, and his value is sometimes forgotten, but he is one of the NBA’s best players.

The Cavs need him to make a long playoff run again this season. That’s why it is hard to believe Kevin Love doesn’t get the love he deserves.

Can Cavs Finally Have Continuity in Playoffs?

We believe if you look up the term “a season in flux”, the picture that will accompany the definition will be that of the 2017-18 Cleveland Cavaliers.

It started in training camp when LeBron James was nursing a sprained ankle and missed virtually the entire exhibition season.

That cost the team valuable on-court chemistry time with all the new faces brought in during the off-season.

When the season opened, Derrick Rose, Jeff Green, Jose Calderon, and to a lesser extent, Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic never shared the court with The King.

After a slow start (5-7), Rose and Tristan Thompson got hurt, so Calderon went into the starting lineup, and the wine and gold had their best stretch of the season, winning 18 of 19 games, with the second unit led by Dwyane Wade and Kyle Korver making a huge impact.

Thompson came back first and then Isaiah Thomas returned to the floor, and things got out of whack, with the Cavs struggling in January (6-8) and particularly on defensive end of the floor.

Kevin Love then broke his hand, and Tyronn Lue started giving Osman more playing time, so there was another period of adjustment.

Really, the only constants in terms of good quality play to this point in the season were James and Green. The rest of the team either missed time with injuries or were up and down in terms of quality of play.

Next came the big move at the trade deadline when GM Koby Altman traded off half the roster, bringing in some youth with Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., and Rodney Hood, as well as veteran point guard George Hill.

To this point, Hood and Hill still don’t look comfortable playing with James, and while the former has missed time recently with a back problem, Hill played his 16th game with LeBron last night.

When the Cavaliers went on a west coast trip, the players starting dropping one by one, as they finished the trip without Thompson, Nance, Osman, Hood, Korver, as well as Love.

That meant John Holland and London Perrantes, whose names James may or may not know (we are kidding, we think) were getting time.

Now, Love returns to the lineup, but the squad is missing their head coach, as Lue is taking time away from the team to take care of a medical issue that has plagued him over the past few months.

Thompson and Nance are said to be close to returning, possibly this week, and Osman and Hood should be back in another week, causing more combinations of players that probably haven’t spent much time on the floor together.

All this with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

Is it possible that the Cavaliers will finally get some continuity just as the playoffs are set to begin? It very well may be.

And the experience the younger players have gained with all of the injuries in the second half of the season will give Lue many options to go to depending on what the opposition is doing?

Getting Lue healthy is a key too. There is no question in our mind that when we aren’t feeling well, you aren’t thinking clearly.

This is not a guarantee of another appearance in The Finals. There are a lot of teams in the East that can cause a problem, and no question, Toronto is an excellent basketball team with plenty of playoff experience.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the injured guys came back next week, and the Cavs had three weeks of being able to play with the same players? We are sure everyone in the organization has that thought.

Roster Spot Battles Heat Up For Tribe.

Major league baseball will begin its season in less than two weeks, so we are down to the nitty gritty in terms of battles for Opening Day roster spots.

For the sake of this piece, we will assume that Michael Brantley, Brandon Guyer, and Danny Salazar will all open the season on the disabled list, something that is definite for the latter two, but Brantley has started to hit in minor league games.

We will also figure that Terry Francona will keep 13 pitchers, meaning eight relievers will make the team. This is the way to keep Ryan Merritt, who is out of options.

The first battle is who will be the Tribe’s utility infielder in Seattle on March 29th.

It was figured going into camp that Erik Gonzalez was the frontrunner, but Giovanny Urshela has made a very strong bid to beat him out. Urshela has been playing all four infield spots and his bat has been great, as he is 18 for 33 with 3 HR in Arizona.

He has walked just once, but has struck out only three times.

Gonzalez is 6 for 26 without a homer and has walked three times and fanned in seven at bats. Strike zone judgment has always been an issue for him as his career strikeout to walk ratio is 45:4.

Neither have options remaining, and we would think Gonzalez has more trade value because he’s a natural shortstop and his glove can play as a regular in the majors.

In the outfield, we would pencil in Bradley Zimmer and Lonnie Chisenhall on the team, but who is the primary leftfielder and who is the other right-handed bat considering both Zimmer and Chiz hit left-handed.

What we don’t understand is why Yandy Diaz isn’t getting reps in the outfield, because you could put him in left on an everyday basis, meaning the battle would be between veterans Rajai Davis and Melvin Upton Jr, and Rob Refsnyder.

Tyler Naquin could be in the mix too, but he’s another left handed bat.

Nobody has really taken charge in this battle. Davis is 7 for 27 with one extra base hit and no walks. Upton is 6 for 33 with a home run, three walks, and has fanned 11 times, while Refsnyder is 7 for 31 with two homers and six walks.

Again, why not consider Diaz, who is 10 for 28 with a dinger and four walks?

Our guess is Francona will pick Davis and Upton and give them a week or two on the big league roster as an audition.

As for the bullpen, if Merritt is kept, six of the spots have been filled with Cody Allen, Andrew Miller, Dan Otero, Zack McAllister, and Tyler Olson claiming them.

We think Nick Goody has pitched his way out of a solid spot by giving up 14 hits and 10 runs in seven innings of work.

Matt Belisle, signed at the beginning of camp, probably claims one spot allowing two runs in eight innings, although the 13 hits allowed are troubling.

That leaves Alexi Ogando (one run in eight innings, 12 strikeouts), and Carlos Torres (seven runs, 13 hits in 7-1/3 frames, but really one bad outing) battling with Goody.

We feel you will see Francona using these guys in high leverage situations for the next week and a half to figure out. We note that Ogando was the second pitcher used yesterday and threw two innings.

In fact, we think you will see all of these players getting a lot of time until the decision is made. The regulars will get their at bats in minor league contests.

Decision time is coming. A strong finish by each one of these players could put them in Seattle for game one.

Free Agency Frenzy Improves Browns

Since last Friday afternoon, GM John Dorsey is remaking the Cleveland Browns with a series of trades and free agent signings.

He attacked the biggest weak points on the team, and in doing so, he didn’t touch the organization’s biggest draft assets, their picks in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft.

There are critics on the deal for QB Tyrod Taylor, which cost the team the highest pick they gave up, the first pick in the third round, but if you think of that pick as the Browns’ sixth draft choice, it makes a lot of sense.

Taylor is the antithesis of what Cleveland has had at quarterback for much of the recent past, he takes care of the football.

In the midst of all this talent acquisition though, came the loss of the Browns’ best player, Joe Thomas.

An perennial all pro, Thomas will head to Canton and the Hall of Fame in five years. It is a shame that he never got to play in a playoff game during his time in brown and orange.

Dorsey addressed the offensive line and the secondary in the first days of free agency.

In the defensive backfield, he signed CB T.J. Currie (from Oakland), who should claim a starting role and CB Terrance Mitchell (from Kansas City), who will provide depth at the position.

We also feel strongly that one of Cleveland’s first five picks will be used on another cornerback, perhaps Ohio State’s Denzel Ward.

Dorsey needed to replace Thomas on the offensive line, and perhaps T Chris Hubbard from the Steelers, who wasn’t a starter, but played well when pressed into duties with Pittsburgh last season.

Hubbard, 26, could get a crack at replacing Thomas at left tackle, or perhaps Shon Coleman could move there, or one will be drafted.

The only other free agent that will likely be a front line players will be RB Carlos Hyde, who replaces Isaiah Crowell, who went to the Jets.

Hyde is a bigger back, the kind we believe the coaching staff prefers. He can pound in between the tackles, which really Crowell was better at too, but Hue Jackson seemed intent on running him outside.

He’s also a better receiver. All in all, it’s probably a wash, and look for the Browns to add a running back in the first two rounds of next month’s draft.

The rest of the signees were about building depth, most notably DE Chris Smith from the Bengals, and after the last two seasons, Dorsey needed to have options when the injuries which inevitably hit an NFL team come around.

All in all, this free agent class doesn’t really affect how the front office will view the draft.

The Browns will still be looking for a quarterback, a running back, another pass rusher to pair with Myles Garrett, a left tackle, and cornerbacks.

Outside of running back, those are perhaps the most important positions on the football field. And the Browns are looking for great players at those spots, guys who impact the game.

You generally can’t get those people in free agency, meaning right now, we like the new GM’s approach at this time of the year.

Cavs’ Flaws Coming Back To Haunt.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have recently played nothing like a team poised to make a deep post-season run since the All Star break.

They have went 4-6 in their last ten games after winning impressively in the two contests after the trade deadline leading up to the interruption in the season.

Kevin Love has been out for awhile with his broken hand, and now other injuries are starting to crop up. Rodney Hood has a sore back, Cedi Osman has a hip flexor, Kyle Korver has a foot issue, and Tristan Thompson sprained an ankle.

Not many teams could play well without half of their rotation players, but it feels like coach Tyronn Lue’s lack of structure is telling in the team’s struggles, and together with the front office’s ignorance of having big people on the roster, you can make a case the planning is at least culpable in the losing.

Cleveland opened the season with just three real big men–Love, Thompson, and rookie Ante Zizic, and he has been basically ignored by Lue.

The mere idea of entering a season with just three post defenders seems ludicrous doesn’t it? Especially in a sport, that although it has evolved in the past ten years, where size matters.

That’s the first thing that has come up to bite the Cavs right now.

The second thing would be the lack of development of young players like Osman and Zizic. Osman has proven to be a solid defender on the perimeter, but he has been marginalized by the coaching staff, a group that most definitely would rather play veterans.

Now the team needs Zizic, but because he didn’t get time early in the season, he doesn’t get the time of day, even in a game like last Friday night, when the Clippers big men destroyed the Cavaliers inside.

Another problem is a lack of emphasis on the defensive end. Lue’s squad ranks 28th in the league in defensive efficiency, and when the coach talks about his team, all he talks about is pace of play.

No mention about a defensive mindset or defense at all for that matter.

We would like to hear from the coach what exactly are the Cavs trying to accomplish on the defensive end. They don’t defend the three point shot well, they are terrible in pick and roll situations, and it doesn’t seem like they have some help defense principles.

So what is the plan on that end of the floor?

Lue’s reluctance to change things up is also mind boggling. JR Smith is second on the Cavs in minutes per game, despite having just 13 double figure scoring games in the last 40 contests.

Eight of those games came in an 11 game span from January 26th through February 22nd. This means that in the other 29 games, Smith has scored 10+ points in only five games.

He’s the Cavs’ starting shooting guard, by the way.

And because there isn’t a firm offensive game plan, no one knows where the shots will come on a nightly basis, except for LeBron James. It’s up to James to find where the other players want the ball, which he works hard to find out, but often (like Sunday night vs. the Lakers) it leads to the team going several possessions without getting good looks.

With the playoffs on the horizon, all of these things don’t bode well for a deep playoff run.

Here’s hoping the snooze alarm goes off for the coaching staffs and changes can be made, because it’s clear here that not all of the problems will be erased by Kevin Love’s return to the lineup.

Browns’ Reboot Begins Big Time

As NFL teams started making moves last week, the cynics out there were making subtle jabs at Browns’ GM John Dorsey for not being involved.

On Friday, Dorsey basically told those people to shut up.

The GM started the procedure to get the brown and orange to a competitive level with a trio of moves and left the five picks the organization has accumulated in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft intact.

First, he traded a 4th this year and a 7th in 2019 to Miami to get WR Jarvis Landry, a three time Pro Bowler. The Dolphins are over the salary cap and wanted to dump the receivers’ salary and Dorsey was happy to take him off Miami’s hands for a relatively cheap price.

Landry was averaged 100 catches per season in his four years with the Dolphins and gives the Browns a reliable target, one who will catch the football.

True, Miami targeted him a lot, and his average yards per catch is low, but he is only 25 years old and to get him for nothing higher than a fourth rounder is a feather in the new GM’s cap.

Next Dorsey showed he’s the guy in charge of things in Berea by trading the 65th overall pick next month for QB Tyrod Taylor.

Taylor is the perfect bridge quarterback for the Browns, holding the position for whoever the team selects with the first overall pick in April. And make no mistake, they will pick the future franchise QB in the draft.

Taylor is the antithesis of what Browns’ fans have seen over the past two seasons, meaning he takes care of the football.

He’s 29 years old, has a 22-20 record as a starter (with Buffalo), and he led the league in interception percentage last season at 1.0%.

He’s not a gunslinger, barely throwing for over 3000 yards in his best yardage years, but he does not make the crucial mistake. Plus, he’s mobile too, rushing for more than 427 yards in each of his three seasons as the Bills’ starter.

He will allow whatever rookie is drafted to sit and watch for awhile. Fans who think this trade will give Cleveland the option of not drafting a QB with the first overall pick are crazy.

It also shows the GM is in charge as the team didn’t go after Hue Jackson’s guy, A.J. McCarron.

And with the next move Dorsey made, the Browns might be looking for another passer too.

He sent last year’s starter DeShone Kizer to Green Bay for CB Damarious Randall, a former first round pick, and a swap of draft picks in the 4th and 5th rounds.

The best thing for Kizer is to watch for awhile, and he will get that opportunity in Green Bay. Even if Taylor were to get hurt this season, it wouldn’t have been good for the Browns to put Kizer back in.

His confidence had to have been shattered by last season’s disaster.

Randall has started 30 games in the NFL in three seasons, picking off 10 passes, and defending 32 more.

He is the first piece in rebuilding a secondary that is currently a weakness for the Browns. We believe another piece will be added with one of the five picks Cleveland has in the firs two rounds, and also with a high priced free agent, maybe the Rams’ Trumaine Johnson.

There are rumors that Randall may be moved to free safety with the Browns, who have said Jabril Peppers will move to strong safety.

It was a day the Browns started to get better, and there are rumors another big move will come before the free agent signing period gets under way.

The asset accumulation period is over, and the talent acquisition phase has kicked in for the Cleveland Browns. Hopefully, the days of one win in two years are over.

The Tristan Dilemma

The Cleveland Cavaliers had already drafted Kyrie Irving in the first round in the 2011 NBA Draft when they took Tristan Thompson with the fourth overall selection.

At the time, the select of Thompson was a bit of a surprise, since he averaged just 13.1 points and 7.8 rebounds a game at the University of Texas.

We were hoping for Enes Kanter to fall to the Cavs, but he was taken by the Jazz at #3, and Jonas Valanciunas was still on the board, but remember, he was not going to play in the NBA that season, and the Cavs didn’t feel like they could wait a year after a 19-63 record in the first year after LeBron James departed for Miami.

As a rookie, he averaged 8.2 points and 6.5 rebounds, and increased those totals to 11.7 and 9.4 in his second season.

He stayed at those numbers in year #3, and it began to look like Thompson was a disappointment as the second best player on a team led by Irving.

Then, LeBron James and Kevin Love arrived, and that pushed Thompson down the food chain, where he became a role player on a title contender, a role he can and did excel in.

As a big man, Thompson had an ability to be able to guard smaller players when switching in pick-and-roll situations, a very valuable skill, and one that was a key in the Cavs’ 2016 NBA title.

He was also a relentless offensive rebounder, averaging 3.3 per game for his career and upping that total to 4.1 in the playoffs.

He was durable too, playing every game from his second year in the Association through his fifth year.

However, the last two seasons have seen a drop in Thompson’s game. First, he’s never developed an acceptable jump shot from around 10-15 feet out like former teammate Anderson Varejao did.

He has always been and still is a liability on offense, as his main skill is crashing the boards. Other than that, he doesn’t have to be guarded.

His defense has slipped as well. He had a defensive rating of 108 in the three years he played before James came back, and improved that to 106, then 104 in the championship season.

Last year, it fell back to his rookie level and is now a career worst 112.

Perhaps Thompson’s playing through the bumps and bruises all those years is coming back to bite him, because he’s missed 22 games this season.

Unfortunately for Tristan, the Cavs are 19-3 in those games, which brings into question Thompson’s role with the team not only this season, but going forward.

Since Larry Nance Jr. arrived at the trade deadline, there is a discernable difference in how the wine and gold play with Nance in the game as opposed to Thompson. Nance is more active and definitely a quicker leaper than TT, who needs to gather himself before jumping.

Thompson can still be an important piece for the Cavs, but he needs to be fully healthy, and it looks as though it should be as a guy coming off the bench.

We know coach Tyronn Lue has loyalty to the guys who won a title, both Thompson and JR Smith, so will Lue be willing to make the change for the good of the team?

The other issue with Thompson is his contract, which pays him $16.4 million per year this season, and increases by roughly a million more in each of the next two campaigns.

That’s far too much for what the team is receiving in return, leading to speculation the front office would like to move him this summer.

The point is Thompson may have been the 4th or 5th best player on the team, a key piece, two years ago, but he isn’t that anymore.

Can he fix that this summer? Of course. Do we think it is likely? Our guess would be no.

It comes down to back for the buck. It is likely that Thompson performance and role this post-season determines his fate.

Early Spring Roster Battles For Tribe

Exhibition play is a little over a week old in Goodyear, Arizona and what that means mostly is we are closer to the start of the regular season, which is now just 24 days away.

We have always maintained the perfect record for spring training is around .500, because it doesn’t give the fan bases of a bad team any unrealistic expectations, nor does it worry supporters of good teams, like the Cleveland Indians.

The best news to come out of the desert is it appears Jason Kipnis is healthy and ready to go.

We were never in the trade Kipnis camp, because he is coming off a poor, injury plagued season, so the Tribe front office was never going to get value, it would have been strictly a salary dump.

The negatives have been on the injury front where Danny Salazar likely will not be able to open the season on the big league roster, and OF Brandon Guyer has had some set backs as well, although we aren’t sure his timetable was to open the year on the active list.

Salazar’s injury simply means Terry Francona and new/old pitching coach Carl Willis don’t have to make a decision on whether or not they have to move a starter to the bullpen.

As of right now, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, and Josh Tomlin will make up the starting staff.

With Guyer and Michael Brantley likely to be on the disabled list to start the season, it opens up two outfield spots, with holdovers Abraham Almonte, Tyler Naquin, Greg Allen, and Yandy Diaz battling with Rob Refsnyder, Rajai Davis, and Melvin Upton Jr. to make the Opening Day roster.

Quite frankly, we think each spot will go to one in each group.

The first group has two switch-hitters in Almonte and Allen, with Naquin swinging from the left side and Diaz the right. The latter has been playing most infield, so maybe versatility wins out.

The brass knows what Almonte can do and Allen could probably benefit from some time at AAA. In the latter group, Refsnyder offers the multi-position option, while Davis and Upton are trying for one last shot at a big league roster.

To date, neither of the veterans have done much in games, but this is the Indians we are talking about, and we know Tito and his staff love veterans.

We would keep Diaz, putting him in LF to start, and Refsnyder would also get a shot because he can play both infield and outfield.

In the bullpen, the loss of Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith leave two openings, but the recent signings of veteran Matt Belisle, Carlos Torres, and the claiming of Ben Taylor from Boston would make them the leading candidates to win the job.

Torres is durable, pitching in 65 or more games in three of the last four years in the bigs, and Belisle ended last season as the Twins closer, pitching great in the second half, after solid years in Washington and St. Louis.

One reliever to watch is Nick Goody, who has struggled so far in Arizona. He doesn’t have the track record of some of the other arms, so he could find himself the odd man out if he doesn’t start pitching better.

Again, it’s early. But the players we talked about are the ones in battles to make the trip north to Seattle on March 29th.

Which can’t get here fast enough.