Love Is Exactly What Cavs Need

Kevin Love returned to the floor and was in the starting lineup Thursday night when the Cavaliers took on the Utah Jazz.

He played 19 minutes, scoring 10 points, and probably most importantly, grabbed 9 rebounds.

With his return, now the Cavs can officially start their playoff push, with 14 games remaining in the regular season.

When Kyle Korver returns from his foot injury, Tyronn Lue will have a full roster at his disposal for the first time since really the end of December.

And no doubt, their will be rest for “The Big Three” once the Cavs playoff position is etched in stone. They are currently a game and a half ahead of Boston for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, and two games ahead in the loss column, although we don’t think that matters to the team.

The wine and gold went 7-6 in Love’s absence, a far cry from their 34-13 record when the big man from UCLA is on the court.

Their is no question that Love is a lightning rod, mostly from fans, around northeast Ohio. When the Cavaliers lose, he is usually the first player to get the blame.

He’s not tough enough, he missed wide open looks, he can’t defend, etc.

However, two things were noticeably absent while Love was out. First, it was obvious the Cavs need a third scoring option behind LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Too many times, those two had 25+ points, and the next best total by anyone was something like 14.

Love scores 20 points per game, and on those occasions when James and Irving are off the floor, he provides another scorer. So, for the most part, Lue can have two of the trio on the court at all times.

They also missed Love on the glass, where he averages 11 caroms per night. In the 13 games Love was absent following his knee scope, Cleveland was outrebounded in 10 of those contests.

In the ten games before Love was out, the Cavs was only outrebounded twice. Clearly, his presence is very important on the glass, particularly the defensive boards.

As for durability, Love has played in more than 70 games, five times in nine years, including the last three before 2016-17.

His last two injuries were a shoulder separation which knocked him out of the playoff during his first year with Cleveland, and the knee scope this season. It’s not like he’s constantly spraining ankles or has a chronic knee issue.

As for his defense, we know he’s not going to make an NBA All-Defensive team anytime soon. On the other hand, he’s not the open door he’s portrayed to be on that end of the floor either.

His defensive win share is 2.o, which among power forwards is very similar to Serge Ibaka and Derrick Favors, and better than Blake Griffin. Let’s just say he’s not great, but he’s not a sieve either.

So, if you want to replace Love during the off-season, know that you will need to replace his rebounding and scoring, and he averages 20 points and 11 boards per night. The other players who do that? Think DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Good luck getting one of them.

Besides, remember that the Cavaliers are the NBA’s defending champions. You know who was on that team? Yep, Kevin Love.

Tribe Injuries Cause Fans Angst

With the Cleveland Indians winning the American League championship in 2016, expectations in northeast Ohio are as high as can be.

With these expectations come the worry that sports fans in this area are famous for. That angst popped up for Tribe fans at the end of last week when both 2B Jason Kipnis and starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco were reported to be injured.

Kipnis is dealing with pain in his shoulder area and will sit for two weeks before trying to play again. Skipper Terry Francona said this will put Kipnis on the disabled list for the season opener in Texas.

Compounding the concern on Kipnis is Michael Brantley’s injury. Brantley suffered a torn labrum diving for a flyball in September 2015, and missed virtually all of 2016 with the problem and later developed tricep tendonitis.

So, of course, since Brantley missed most of last year, fans and media alike extrapolate that Kipnis will miss a significant amount of time.

Now, we don’t know the Kipnis’ ailment is minor, but Francona did say Kipnis could DH right now, and could play second too, but the team is taking a precaution. Obviously, it is better for Kipnis to miss the first couple of weeks of the regular season rather than miss a month later.

What is puzzling is the Tribe’s solution to the problem. To most, the obvious move is to put Jose Ramirez back to his natural position, and use someone else (Giovanny Urshela, Yandy Diaz, etc.) at the hot corner.

However, it seems Tito wants to keep Ramirez at third, and play a combination of Erik Gonzalez, Michael Martinez and others at second.

We understand Francona loves Martinez and values his glove, but the guy is arguably the worst hitter in the majors (his career OPS is 507), so you can’t put him in the lineup on a regular basis.

We would love to see Diaz get the first shot. He’s been a .300 hitter in the minors (854 OPS in ’16) and reports out of Goodyear say he seems like he’s one of those guys who could fall out of bad and hit a line drive.

Urshela has a very good glove, but didn’t hit (608 OPS) in his brief shot in 2015. However, he was called up before spending a full season in AAA, and remember, he wasn’t regarded as a top ten prospect in the organization.

Carrasco’s elbow showed some swelling after a lackluster start on Wednesday, and Francona said he will miss a start.

If he has to miss some time, Mike Clevinger should be the choice to replace him, although in the beginning of the year with off days, his absence could be minimized.

Clevinger started some games a year ago, and made the post-season roster, and the front office has slotted him for the “sixth” starter role anyway. It just may be those spot starts come in April instead of the middle of summer.

Carrasco’s elbow didn’t show any structural damage, so hopefully it’s just some inflammation and he will be fine with some rest.

While no team wants injuries, and the Indians are no exception, having players miss some time early in the year, when the schedule has some off days, is better than being out later in the year, as the Indians found out when Carrasco and Danny Salazar missed time in the playoffs.

Fans should try to relax a little and hopefully the injuries to Kipnis and Carrasco won’t result in a lot of time being missed.

Remember though, the Indians overcame Brantley’s injury a year ago to win the AL Central Division, and the starting rotation’s hurts didn’t stop them from making the World Series.

Shocking Trade A Positive For Browns Front Office

The front office of the Cleveland Browns continues to do business in an unorthodox way, which, of course, is why they can polarizing among both the national and local media.

They aren’t “football guys”, we know that, and the Browns went 1-15 last year, so it’s hard to put any trust in them, but we feel they are laying the groundwork for the future.

That should have been done in 1999 when Cleveland came back into the NFL, and it could have been done several times and several regimes since, but instead the franchise went for quick fixes, and have just two winning seasons and one playoff spot in 17 seasons.

The most surprising and talked about move was the trade with the Houston Texans, involving QB Brock Osweiler.

The first reaction was this is who the Browns want to move forward at the quarterback? The guy benched by the Texans before his first season ended after inking a deal paying him $18 million?

Instead as more details came out, Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta simply gave up some salary cap space, of which the Browns have plenty, to get a 2018 second round draft pick, which Houston had to throw in the deal for Cleveland to take Osweiler.

The old guard didn’t understand the move, Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian blasted the move hours after it happened.

A day later, when Terrelle Pryor signed with the Redskins, the Browns were hammered for giving away cap space instead of reaching an agreement with the wide receiver.

Now we hear fans wondering why the Browns just don’t give Osweiler a shot at the job in training camp.

First, Cleveland still has almost $70-80 million (depending on the source) in salary cap space, and let’s face it, there aren’t enough quality free agents remaining to spend that kind of money this off-season.

So, the money isn’t an issue.

And the Browns get to add to their cadre of high draft picks they have accumulated over the next two drafts. Obviously, if you are afraid of success in drafting, then having more picks gives you a better chance to get good players.

As for Osweiler, his season last year was a nightmare, and although he get a lot of credit for winning with Denver in 2015, there are plenty of questions about him.

He’s made 22 career NFL starts and has two games with a passer rating of over 100.0. Before you challenge us, we know that passer rating isn’t the end all in evaluating quarterbacks.

By contrast, Browns’ rookie QB, Cody Kessler, has three games with a rating higher than 100.0 last season. If you complete a good percentage of throws and avoid interceptions, you will have a good rating.

Remember also that the Texans went to the playoffs last year, so obviously Bill O’Brien felt strongly that Tom Savage gave his team a better chance to win.

Meanwhile, here is a memo to all media people in Cleveland…We are pretty sure the Browns know they need a quarterback, and they will get one this off-season, whether it is drafting one early or getting one in a trade (Jimmy Garoppolo).

So, please stop with the idea the front office hasn’t done a good job because they haven’t addressing the “most important position in professional sports”!

Relax, they know it’s a problem. They will take care of it.

Until then, can we get off the notion that Brown, DePodesta, and the analytical people don’t know what they are doing?

Cavs’ Defensive Issues Are Due To All The Changes.

Our initial reaction after the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night was they looked like they had never played with each other before.

Which, of course, is true.

Think about it, Derrick Williams has been with the team for about three weeks, Deron Williams about two. Kyle Korver has been with the wine and gold since early January (he didn’t play on Thursday), so he’s never been on the floor as a teammate of JR Smith, who missed two and a half months with a thumb injury.

This presents a problem offensively, as Deron Williams learns where the rest of the players like to get the ball so they can score.

And as great as LeBron James is, and as much as he studies his teammates as well as opponents (remember how he told us we watched tape of Korver to see where he likes to catch the ball), even he admitted last night how tough this year has been with all the comings and goings due to roster moves and injuries.

There have been too many games recently where the James and Kyrie Irving are scoring almost half of the Cavs’ points.

Anyone still want to tell us how Kevin Love isn’t important to this team?

Love is a guy who is scoring more than 20 points per game, and in addition to that, is a huge factor on the defensive boards. Anyone else notice the increasing amount of offensive rebounds the Cavaliers are giving up?

It is even a bigger problem defensively. On that side of the ball, there is a great deal of trust, knowing you can pass an opponent off to another member of the Cavs, but you have to know they are going to be there.

Think about what Tyronn Lue has had to do on the fly.

He got Korver basically to replace Smith when he went down, and although Korver isn’t a horrible defender, he tries to hide his lack of quickness with knowing where to be, he isn’t as good a defender as Smith, who emerged last year as very good on that end of the floor.

Love isn’t an elite defender, but he is better than most people think, but replacing him in the starting lineup with Channing Frye is a large drop off in defense. The wine and gold’s defensive rating takes a huge hit when Frye is on the floor.

Another issue with Love being out is that it has taken a toll on the Cavs’ chief interior defender, Tristan Thompson.

Thompson seems to be getting worn down as the season has progressed, having to battle opposing big men basically by himself over the past few weeks.

No doubt this was the biggest reason Andrew Bogut was signed, and also that it appears Larry Sanders will be inked to a deal in the coming week.

Smith is back now, and hopefully Korver’s foot won’t cause him to miss too many more games.

Love should back soon as well, perhaps in about 2 weeks.

Getting everyone back, and getting some extra practice time before the playoffs begin could be the biggest remedy for the defensive issues the team has had.

They need to play and practice together to get the trust back on the defensive end of the floor. That should greatly decrease the glaring breakdowns when the opponents have the ball.

With all of the shuffling on who is and isn’t available on a nightly basis, something is going to suffer, and it’s usually defense.

When that improves, this team will be very difficult to beat.

Is Browns’ Plan Working? We Say Yes.

We had a smile on our face last week when the New York Jets released WR Brandon Marshall and CB Darrelle Revis.

Obviously, the grin wasn’t because the players were let go, but rather the report attached to these roster moves, saying the Jets front office were considering going with a full blown rebuilding process, much like the Browns starting in 2016.

That would kind of fly in the face of the critics of Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta’s strategy.

Brown and DePodesta were widely second guessed for what they did with the Browns roster, mostly by the media, and mainly because they weren’t “football guys”, and they were doing something different.

You have to admit it’s kind of funny that another NFL team is said to be considering the plan to strip down the roster and start over.

It couldn’t have been too stupid of a plan then, right?

Today starts the free agency period for the NFL, and we will guess the Browns will be active, signing two or three should be starters with their massive salary cap space.

It has been reported they will sign WR Kenny Britt, who caught 68 passes for 1002 yards for the Rams, another team who had quarterback issues a year ago. In 2015, Britt averaged 18.9 yards per catch.

Britt is 28 years old and presumably will replace Terrelle Pryor, who is a free agent.

It would not be surprising if Britt is the oldest free agent Cleveland signs.

The players the Browns are targeting are coming off their first contract, putting them in the 25-26 year old range. They are experienced, but still in the prime of their careers.

And if you can fill two or three starting spots with free agents, in narrows the focus of the draft, so you can concentrate on specific areas of need.

For example, it would seem that the Browns need two or three starters in the defensive secondary. If you sign a free agent (Johnathan Cyprien from Jacksonville?), then you can focus on cornerbacks and free safeties in the draft.

Or like another free agent, center JC Tretter from Green Bay, 26, who is reportedly signing with the Browns. Tretter bolsters the offensive line, providing an anchor in the middle.

Another thing that humors us is the love from the writers who cover the Browns for Myles Garrett now that they saw the impressive workout from the pass rusher at the Scouting Combine.

You have to ask the question was this the first time they ever saw Garrett? The national guys have been saying the Texas A & M product is the most talented player in the draft since the end of the college football season.

Now that they’ve seen Garrett’s combination of speed and power, suddenly, Cleveland should look for their quarterback with the 12th overall selection, instead of picking one first overall.

This is something we have been saying all along. It would no longer be surprising if Mitchell Trubisky or Deshaun Watson still available when Cleveland’s turn comes up again at #12.

Certainly, fans would be very happy if the Browns could get one of those guys, right?

That’s why the best thing to do is what it appears the front office will do. Take the best player at #1, and get the QB later.

Early Spring Battles For Tribe

Baseball’s exhibition games have been played for just a little over a week, and the Cleveland Indians are right where they should be record wise.

We have long maintained a .500 record is what every team strives for, so as to not overly encourage or discourage a fan base.

Of course, after your team goes to the seventh game of the World Series the previous year, it should be difficult to temper expectations.

Because of the World Baseball Classic and the number of Indians playing in it, several young players will get a longer look than normal, not only because of the tournament, but also due to a longer spring training.

As we have said previously, there aren’t a lot of open spots on the 25 man roster, barring injuries. There is one spot open in the bullpen, and the utility man position is also up for grabs.

We also have serious doubts that Michael Brantley will open the season on the active roster, so there is an extra spot open for manager Terry Francona.

The frontrunner for the last spot in the bullpen would seem to be Shawn Armstrong, who has put together three straight scoreless outings to open exhibition play.

The real reason Armstrong should be the leader is his 1.84 ERA at Columbus last year and his 72 strikeouts in 49 innings.

The other contenders are Joe Colon (15.75 ERA in four innings), Perci Garner (3-2/3 innings, allowed 5 hits and 5 walks), Nick Goody ( 3 scoreless innings), and rule 5 draftee Hoby Milner (one horrific outing, but 7 strikeouts in four innings). Milner has to be offered back to Philadelphia if he doesn’t make the big league roster.

The utility man spot is complicated. Erik Gonzalez should be the front runner because he is out of options and the organization could lose him if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster.

Gonzalez is primarily a shortstop and is very good defensively at that spot. Good enough that he could definitely help another team if they have a chance to get him.

The other primary contender is Michael Martinez, a Tito favorite, and also a guy respected by the clubhouse.

Martinez is solid defensively at several positions, but is also has been one of the worst hitters in the major leagues over his career.

He is also not currently on the 40 man roster, which means someone would have to be removed if he were to make the team.

Our guess is that Gonzalez gets the job with Martinez being the good soldier, starting the season in Columbus where he is just two hours away.

That is, unless both make the team as outfielders replacing Brantley on the roster to open the year.

With Brantley healthy, we would expect the outfielders to be him, Tyler Naquin, Abraham Almonte, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Brandon Guyer.

Assuming Austin Jackson is healthy, he would be the favorite to take Brantley’s spot to start the season. If he can’t go, you could see both Martinez and Gonzalez open the year on the big league roster, or perhaps Chris Colabello makes the team.

On the other hand, a lot could happen between now and April 3rd, when the Tribe opens up in Texas.

But keep on eye on these players to see how they handle being the frontrunners.

Can Cavs-Warriors Be Analyzed Accurately?

It seems like a constant debate in Cleveland, Ohio every spring. Can the Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors?

Last year, there was a great deal of hand-wringing over this, but as we said then, in reality, the wine and gold doesn’t have to worry about Steve Kerr’s team until the Warriors win the Western Conference and the Cavs are the Eastern Conference champs.

Look, we understand Golden State is a great team. They won the title in 2014-15 in six games over Cleveland, and lost in seven games to the Cavs last year. You don’t get to the NBA Finals two years in a row unless you are an excellent squad.

And yes, the same can be said for Tyronn Lue’s club.

The question has gained traction again after the NBA trading deadline came and went, and Cleveland added Deron Williams and Andrew Bogut, who were waived and traded/bought out of their current situations and joined the Cavaliers.

When JR Smith and Kevin Love get healthy, Lue can legitimately go 12 deep with a solid core of talent.

Point guard? He can use Kyrie Irving and Williams.

#2 guard? He has Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Kyle Korver at his disposal.

Small forward? James is still the best player in the sport, and another recent acquisition, Derrick Williams provides incredible athleticism in reserve, and Richard Jefferson doesn’t seem like he is 36 years old.

The Cavs have Love and Channing Frye to play the four, and Tristan Thompson and Bogut who can handle the middle.

Does all the depth added by GM David Griffin translate into being better than a Golden State team that added one of the premier players in the sport in Kevin Durant.

To do that, the Warriors lost some of their famous depth, including Bogut, who is now wearing the wine and gold.

Can the Cavs repeat as champs if they play Golden State again?

First, the Warriors will probably have a tougher time getting through the West than Cleveland will, because of the presence of San Antonio, Houston, and the LA Clippers.

All three teams are better than the Cavs chief challengers, the Celtics, Wizards, and Raptors.

The other factor is it is difficult to evaluate the Warriors because of two things, one of which is the LeBron factor.

James is still the preeminent player in the game, and it is difficult to bet against him in a seven game series. When he is making a decent number of shots from outside, he is impossible to guard.

You also have to figure in the rest of the league’s fear of the Warriors.

We believe one of the reason’s the Warriors are 50-11 this season is most of the team’s in the NBA don’t play the style needed to beat them.

They try to play the Warriors’ style, which is not effective because they are better at it than everyone else, so you will probably lose.

You don’t see many opponents getting physical with Golden State, bumping them on picks, challenging Steph Curry defensively, etc.

Some of that is most team don’t have the personnel to do that like the Cavs do, but we feel some of that is the intimidation factor. Other teams are afraid of the Warriors embarrassing them.

The Cavaliers do not have that fear. They know they can beat Golden State. They lost in six games without Irving and Love two years ago, and overcame a 3-1 deficit to win last year.

We understand that on paper, the Warriors still look like the better team, but as we learned last June, the game is not played on paper.

That’s why it is tough to analyze a third title matchup.

Browns Media Continuing QB Envy

Yesterday, Cleveland Browns’ executive Sashi Brown returned to his lawyer roots and basically sidestepped any question thrown at him by the media.

As usual, what did they expect him to do? Did they really think Brown was going to tell them exactly what the Browns were going to do in free agency and in the draft?

Brown even said the team would be interested in listening to offers for the first overall pick, and of course, he should listen. What if Indianapolis offered QB Andrew Luck for the choice? You would have to take it.

Now, that’s not likely, so the probability is Cleveland will keep the first overall pick, and should take Texas A & M pass rusher Myles Garrett.

To be sure, this will offend the wacky members of the media here who are obsessed with the quarterback position. We have often said these people’s jobs don’t depend on making good choices in the draft, so they are always in favor of picking a QB.

In our opinion, one of the top three quarterbacks available this year (Mitch Trubisky, Deshaun Watson, or Deshone Kizer) will be there at #12, when the Browns have their second pick in the first round.

So, you can still get a first round passer and also get the guy most scouts/draft experts think is the best player in the draft.

Does anyone else think it’s funny that the people who believe you have to use a first round pick on a QB are also enamored with potential free agent Kirk Cousins? Cousins was a fourth round pick. How did he overcome that status to become a productive starting quarterback in the NFL?

We also don’t believe for a minute that Jimmy Garoppolo is off the market. Our guess is no one is offering the first round pick the Patriots thought they could get for Tom Brady’s back up, so they are trying to drive up the price.

Remember the Patriots traded Jamie Collins to the Browns because they didn’t want to pay him big money. If Brady wants to play three or four more years, they aren’t going to pay huge cash on his back up.

That means New England is motivated to move the former Eastern Illinois product, which puts another QB on the market.

Add to that mix, Tyrod Taylor and possibly Colin Kaepernick, although we don’t know how much interest there will be in him because of his recent performance, and now you have five quarterbacks who are out there for teams in need.

Most draft gurus say besides the Browns, the following teams drafting before Cleveland need QBs: San Francisco, Chicago, New York Jets, and Buffalo.

We don’t believe that all four will choose quarterbacks, because at least a couple of teams will feel the same as the Browns and determine none of the college guys are worth a top five or top ten pick, and will either trade down or wait until round two.

So, in our opinion, there is no need to trade up or take a QB with the first overall pick. Someone will be there at #12, hopefully Watson or Trubisky.

As for the Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta? They aren’t going to say anything worthwhile.

Griffin The Magician.

When JR Smith went down with his thumb injury around the beginning of the year, the depth of the Cleveland Cavaliers took a serious hit.

Coach Tyronn Lue was really only using three or four (depending on the day) players off his bench anyway, so he tried putting DeAndre Liggins into the starting lineup so he could still use Iman Shumpert, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye off the bench.

Unfortunately, opposing teams discovered Liggins can’t make an outside shot and they quickly left him alone, which allows them to close the driving lanes for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

So, Lue adjusted and moved Shumpert into the starting lineup, but it left a gaping hole on the wine and gold’s bench.

And with the short bench, James and Irving were forced to play more minutes than we are sure both the players and the coach would have liked.

Then, GM David Griffin sprung into action as he has each of the last two years.

First, he trading struggling outside shooter Mike Dunleavy to Atlanta and brought in Kyle Korver to replace Smith’s outside marksmanship. And unbelievably, Griffin saved salary cap money in this move.

Korver’s shooting accuracy has declined since his all-star season in 2015, but Griffin correctly thought it was just a slump and Korver has hit 50% of his three point shots since arriving in Cleveland.

A few weeks ago, he signed Derrick Williams, the guy picked right after Irving in 2011, as a free agent after he was released by Miami.

Williams is a tweener, not big enough to play exclusively at power forward and not quick enough to play exclusively at small forward. However, in today’s NBA, Williams can be an effective bench player, which he has been here, averaging 10 points per game in the seven games with the Cavs.

Plus, Lue is also giving him tough defensive assignments too. He guarded Derrick Rose against the Knicks and Jimmy Butler vs. the Bulls. His length and quickness are perfect for Cleveland on the defensive end.

It’s still a small sample size, but the early returns look like Williams can be an asset for the Cavs.

Yesterday, Griffin added another piece to the bench by signing veteran Deron Williams after he was released by Dallas. Williams is a three time all star and played with James and Kevin Love on the 2012 US Olympic team.

Williams should ease the ball handling/play making role that seems to be solely on James and Irving. He played 40 games with the Mavericks this year, averaging 13 points and 7 assists in 29 minutes per night.

You have to think Williams can be very effective in less minutes and also surrounded by James, Irving and the rest of the Cavs. His presence should allow those two to play less minutes through the end of the season.

And it also seems likely that Griffin will add another big man, possibly Andrew Bogut, to the bench, perhaps as early as next week.

The price for all these additions? Dunleavy and a first round draft pick.

Griffin also kept Cedi Osman, a Turkish player whom Cleveland has the rights to, and supposedly can play.

Lue and James are the other keys to these moves. The organization has shown a tremendous ability to integrate new players quickly and seamlessly. That’s a tribute to how they run the locker room.

The Cavs may just have the deepest roster in the league right now, particularly when Love and Smith are healthy. That should be huge as the season goes down the stretch and heads into the playoffs.

Can Griffin pull another Larry O’Brien Trophy out of his hat for his next trick?

Baseball Is Back Today!

In many respects, it seems like Game 7 of the World Series was just yesterday, and in others, it feels like an eon ago.

But today is the first exhibition game in Goodyear, Arizona for the Cleveland Indians, as they take on the team they share their complex with, the Cincinnati Reds.

It is our first opportunity to see Edwin Encarnacion in a Tribe uniform, and we also get to see the heroes of a year ago: Jose Ramirez, Jason Kipnis, Andrew Miller, and the Tribe’s resident superstar, Francisco Lindor.

For the most part, the opening day is pretty much set, with Terry Francona looking for one more reliever to fill out the bullpen, and he’s also looking for who will be the utility man, and Tito has mentioned that spot is up for grabs between Michael Martinez, Erik Gonzales, and Ronnie Rodriguez.

We would also assume that Michael Brantley will not open the year on the active roster, so there is probably an extra outfield spot open too.

With the Indians being the defending American League champions, the main thing to focus on this spring is the organizational depth.

To win a division, you know you will need more than 25 men contributing to the cause, so the main players to keep an eye on are the guys who will open the season in Columbus, but will probably be called upon by Francona at some point to contribute during the regular season.

So, the players we want to watch are Yandy Diaz, the 25 year old who hit .318 with a 854 OPS between Akron and Columbus a year ago, and who can play 3B and the corner outfield spots.

Watch Gonzalez, also 25 and who has a sterling reputation as a defender, but who is blocked in Cleveland by the presence of Lindor. Gonzalez hit .296 with a 779 OPS at AAA last season, and could be the bait at the trading deadline to bring a piece that Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff need for the stretch run.

We are also interested in seeing the depth in the starting rotation this spring. You know the Indians will need more than five starters throughout the regular season, so we want to watch Mike Clevinger, Cody Anderson, Carlos Frias, and Tim Conroy perform throughout the spring.

Those guys will be counted on to make starts for the big club this summer, and they will be needed to win games.

Same with the pitchers making up the bullpen depth. Francona and Mickey Callaway will need Shawn Armstrong (if he doesn’t make the team), Perci Garner, Joe Colon, and Nick Goody during the long regular season.

Luckily, the Indians have this depth, another example of the great job done by Antonetti and Chernoff.

One player we haven’t mentioned is C Francisco Mejia, who is widely regarding as the organization’s best prospect, and whom Francona has already said can be an impact hitter.

We also will be watching two outfielders who could be in Cleveland before the end of the season in CF Greg Allen and Bradley Zimmer. Both of these guys could be playing big roles in Progressive Field if they have good starts in AAA.

Enjoy the fact that baseball is back, but look at the future for this organization. The present looks very solid already.