Browns Add Experience, Winners

If you are an NFL fan, today is kind of like Christmas morning.

It’s the first day of free agency, and as of 4 PM, free agents are free to sign with other teams. It’s the first opportunity to start filling some holes on your roster, and it also changes what players teams are looking at in the draft.

The Browns started the league year strong by filling the gap created with T.J. Ward going to free agency by signing S Donte Whitner, a former Glenville High star and Ohio State standout.

Whitner has spent his pro career with both the Bills and 49ers, and has made the Pro Bowl twice. He’s a hard hitter and brings winning experience to the Browns, having made the playoffs each of his years with San Francisco.

Being a local product, he also brings an understanding of how much the Browns mean to the city, something he and QB Brian Hoyer can communicate to the rest of the squad.

GM Ray Farmer also addressed the lack of inside linebackers on the team by signing veteran ILB Karlos Dansby, previously with the Arizona Cardinals and reportedly are close to signing Arthur Moats, who played for Mike Pettine in Buffalo last season.

Dansby is older than former Brown D’Qwell Jackson, but he’s a much better player, ranking among the top inside linebackers in the league according to some websites, and made second team All-Pro last season.

Moats is just 25 years old and a good character guy, winning the Bills’ Walter Payton Award last season. At his age, he should still be improving as a player.

It is telling that all three free agent additions are on the defensive side of the football, which of course is Pettine’s area of expertise. And in Whitner and Dansby, you have two players who have been in the Super Bowl.

Also, it looks like all three players are leadership/character guys too. That’s not to cast dispersions on Jackson or Ward, but the new coach wants his kind of leaders on his defensive unit.

The spending also makes it appears that Farmer has a mandate to make the Cleveland Browns better in the win-loss department, and to do it as soon as possible. The days of accumulating draft picks and salary cap space appear to be over.

The Browns could sign more players in free agency, and may even do it today. However, their next big order of business is to resolve things with C Alex Mack as soon as possible.

We’ve heard people say that if Mack doesn’t want to be here, then let him go, but since the offensive line is already full of holes, it wouldn’t be prudent to create another one at center.

It also wouldn’t be good for Hoyer or whoever the quarterback is to see pass rushers coming right up the middle and be in his face immediately.

Farmer gave Mack the transitional tag for a reason. The team didn’t want him to leave and wanted to buy time to work out a long-term deal with the two-time Pro Bowl lineman.

Teams that go 4-12 can’t afford to let good players leave.

Brown Not Right Guy to Lead Cavs in Future

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ slim playoff chances seem to be dwindling everyday, meaning soon it will be time to look forward to the 2014-15 season, and another appearance in the draft lottery.

It also means the organization has to look within, examining whether or not they have the correct people in place.

Has acting GM David Griffin done enough to keep the job going forward? His deal for Spencer Hawes looks good, and here’s hoping the wine and gold can keep the big man for the future because he can do one thing desperately needed on this squad, he can shoot.

Whether or not Griffin stays, one thing is clear: The Cavaliers need to find a new head coach next season because Mike Brown isn’t the guy to change things around here.

Brown is a great guy, but he came here with a reputation as a defensive coach, but so far the results aren’t there. Cleveland ranks in the middle of the pack (16th) in field goal percentage against, and 17th in the league in scoring defense.

That hardly speaks to a great defensive mind.

While some will say that this is his first year with this group of players, why have other new coaches have success around the league?

Memphis hired Dave Joerger to replace Lionel Hollins after a successful season last year, and Joerger still has the Grizzlies third in the league in points allowed and 10th in defensive field goal percentage.

Charlotte hired Steve Clifford, an obscure NBA assistant, and he has turned the Bobcats into one of the league’s better defensive squads, ranking 5th in points allowed and 7th in shooting percentage against.

The Cavaliers have played 64 games already this season and they are still trying to figure out how to play effective defense? That doesn’t reflect well on the relationship Mike Brown has with his players, who obviously haven’t bought in to what he is teaching.

The Cavs still give up too many easy shots, allow players to get to the basket with ease, and have lapses at inopportune times on the defensive end.

And as the old saying goes, you can’t fire 15 players, so it’s the coach who has to go.

Besides the lack of progress on the defensive end, Brown’s offensive game plan is highly simplistic and is based pretty much solely on having players takes their man off the dribble. When the defense takes that away, there is no alternative.

And Brown has no history of developing young players either, and the Cleveland roster is full of them.

First overall pick Anthony Bennett hasn’t contributed much this season, but in the team’s recent six game winning streak, he was getting some minutes and averaged eight points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

Since, he played more than 15 minutes in a game just twice.

In last night’s loss to the Knicks at home, second leading scorer Dion Waiters played a grand total of 14 minutes. How does that happen?

Tristan Thompson hasn’t improved, Luol Deng, a two-time all-star in the NBA looks lost on the court, and even the Cavs’ franchise player, Kyrie Irving’s numbers are down across the board from last season.

One of last year’s first round draft picks, Tyler Zeller, has his minutes fluctuate on a nightly basis.

Mike Brown has had success in the NBA as a head coach, but in every year but this one, he has coached one of the sport’s best players, be it either LeBron James or Kobe Bryant. Without one of them on the team, he looks like just another guy.

The 2014-15 version of the Cavaliers needs a head coach who will demand and command the respect of the young players on this roster. If Dan Gilbert wants this team to move forward, he needs to find that man.

It won’t happen with Mike Brown.

Tribe Versatility Important to Team Success

When Eric Wedge managed the Indians, many fans thought his ideal team would consist of players who could all play every position on the field. He loved versatility.

His most noted experiment involved trying to make Ryan Garko, a college catcher, who quite frankly had no speed whatsoever into an outfielder, playing him in both LF and RF.

He used Casey Blake, a third baseman by trade, at 1B and in the outfield.

He loved guys like Chris Gimenez, who could catch and play other positions, and when then-GM Mark Shapiro traded for Mark DeRosa, he had to be ecstatic.

The problem for Wedge was he tried to make young players, who were playing everyday (Garko) play other spots, and the guys like Gimenez are marginal major league players at best.

We say this because if you look at the current Indians’ roster, they have a bunch of players who can play multiple positions.

The difference is Terry Francona’s team is littered with guys who have performed in that role for most of their major league careers, and in most cases, have flourished moving around the field and not being in the lineup everyday.

The main players on Francona’s bench are veterans Ryan Raburn and Mike Aviles. Raburn can play the corner outfield spots as well as both infield corner spots and even 2B in a pinch.

Aviles can play all of the infield spots and even played a few games in LF last season.

And although neither of them will get 500 at bats in a season, when they get around 300 plate appearances in a season, they are solid big league hitters.

Everyone points out that Raburn will likely not be as productive as he was last season (901 OPS in 243 at bats), but his career average is .258 with 10 HRs per year and a respectable 762 OPS.

Aviles is a career .273 hitter and gets around 8 homers per year.

Francona was a master last year of putting players like Aviles and Raburn in situations where they would be productive, and there is no reason to think the same won’t be true in 2014.

Now, the Tribe is trying to improve the versatility of the Tribe by giving Carlos Santana some playing time at third base. While no one really believe the plan is for Santana to play full-time at the hot corner, he gives the skipper an option against a tough lefty to put Santana there instead of Lonnie Chisenhall.

The difference in the Santana conversion and those of the Wedge era is that the player went to Francona and the front office and wanted to make the move instead of being a full-time DH.

This way, the former and current back up catcher can play a day or two at first base, allowing Nick Swisher a day off or a day at DH, maybe a day at third, and catch one game to give Yan Gomes a day off.

If a young player isn’t on board with the move, then it doesn’t have as good a chance of succeeding. Besides, Santana was a third baseman in the minor leagues, so he’s played the position before.

It’s a tribute to the locker room that Francona and the front office have crafted that Santana wanted to make this move.

Watching this move from his view as an ESPN analyst, Eric Wedge is surely envious.

Cleveland Can’t Win on Z’s Night

This Saturday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers will retire the number of long time center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, a player who overcame some major foot problems to make two all-star teams and was a starter on the only squad in franchise history to make the NBA Finals.

Unfortunately, the hanging of #11 from the rafters in being overshadowed by word that LeBron James is going to show up to honor his long time teammate.

Ilgauskas invited him, as is his prerogative, as a group of select people he wanted to share the evening with.

And it does say a lot about James that he would take time away from the NBA grind to be there for his friend. The Heat does play on Friday night and has Saturday and Sunday off, and really he could benefit from the time off.

Still, no matter what happens Saturday, Cleveland is going to come out a loser.

James has said he will not appear on the court, so the chances of a public booing of him are slim.’

But fans will know he is in the building.

Our city’s network nemesis, ESPN, has already started the discussion talking about whether or not he will be greeted with derision, and if that occurs, to be sure they will break out the jersey burning footage they have close at hand in their archives.

In all seriousness, why shouldn’t he be booed? He not only left the team, near where he grew up, to go play elsewhere, and he put together a network television show to do it.

Why would anyone in Cleveland ever forget that?

It’s kind of weird that anyone would question why that kind of animosity exists here. Of course, there isn’t really anything to compare it to, because it hasn’t happened before.

If James wasn’t booed, the four letter network would probably spin it that the fans are getting their hopes up that James will return to the Cavaliers as a free agent after this season, and color the town as desperate to bow down to “The King”.

And just by showing up, a number of the “he’s coming back” brigade will return to the forefront, proclaiming his presence as an indicator he is thinking about coming back to Cleveland, and those same people will say that since Ilgauskas works in the Cavs’ front office and he and James are friendly, this surely means that he will be back playing at The Q as a member of the home team in 2014-15.

Or it could just mean that the league’s best player wants to honor a man he played with here for a long time. Remember, when the Cavaliers clinched their first spot in the Finals, the man who LBJ immediately sought out and hugged was Ilgauskas.

Regardless, James’ appearance does two things: It rips the scab off the healing that has been done since he departed for Miami, and it gets people to have the crazy hope that he will return to the wine and gold next season.

For what it’s worth, we think he will play for the Cavaliers someday, but probably as a guy in his late 30’s to finish his career.

The worst part of it all is that Ilgauskas’ ceremony is taking the backseat. He deserves an honor (although we question the whole jersey retirement) because he played more games for the Cavs than anyone else.

This Off-Season, It’s Time for Cavs to Deal Andy

The Cleveland Cavaliers probably won’t make the playoffs this season because they have too much of a deficit behind Charlotte and Atlanta and a tough March schedule to maneuver.

Still, it was the right move to try to get in the post-season, and the trades obtaining Luol Deng and Spencer Hawes were worth making, and an effort should be made to keep both for next season.

After all, the Cavs are still a very young team with Kyrie Irving just turning 22 years old, Dion Waiters just reach that age in December, and Tristan Thompson will hit 23 years of age later this month.

All three players have plenty of improvement which will be made by experience and getting stronger with age.

Even Hawes won’t turn 26 until just after the season ends, and he has played well in a Cavs’ uniform thus far, averaging almost 14 points and nine rebounds since coming over from Philadelphia at the trade deadline.

Keeping the free agent would give the wine and gold depth so they can finally make the move they should have made the season after LeBron James left town for Miami.

It’s time to deal Anderson Varejao.

Every year, the Cavaliers trick themselves into thinking “Wild Thing” will be healthy, because when he is, he is a quality NBA big man, averaging almost 8 points and 8 rebounds per game, mostly due to a highly active style of play.

He takes charges, dives for loose balls, and keeps plays alive and does so with relentless effort.

Because he’s been the best big man on the team since James left, he has often been overexposed, playing too many minutes. When that happens, the Brazilian gets hurt, thus having no impact on the team.

This has been a trademark of Varejao’s career. He misses a lot of games, playing 75 games or more just three times (’06-’07, ’08-’09, and ’09-’10) in his ten-year NBA career.

Yes, injuries are a part of sports, but when it happens to the same players year in and year out, it is not a coincidence. They are injury prone, thus no longer reliable to the team they play for.

The same thing happened with Courtney Brown for the Browns, and Grady Sizemore for the Indians. They simply couldn’t stay on the field long enough to make a contribution.

In those four years since he appeared in 76 games in 2009-2010, Varejao has missed 162 out of a possible 291 games, that’s more than half of the contests played by the wine and gold.

He has currently missed the team’s last 10 games with a back injury.

Assuming he will be back soon, the acquisition of Hawes means Mike Brown can play Varejao less minutes, meaning he will have a better opportunity to stay in the lineup, and off of the training table.

The Cavs need to establish Varejao’s health for the rest of the season so they can use him as a trade chip this summer in an effort to help the organization. The last few years, his injuries were season ending, so nobody was willing to deal for him until he showed he could get back on an NBA floor.

His skill set would be very important to a team trying to make a push toward a title, so however the GM is this summer, should be able to make a favorable deal for Cleveland.

It will be a bittersweet day, because Varejao is the last link to the glory teams in Cleveland, including the one that made the NBA Finals in 2007. But the time has come to make the move.

What is needed is for Varejao to get back on the floor this season.

Releasing Veterans is Just Business in NFL

We sometimes need to be reminded that professional sports are a business.

The Cleveland Browns reminded everyone of that this week when they released longtime linebacker D’Qwell Jackson rather that pay him a roster bonus that would have had him get over $9 million for the 2014 season.

Jackson has been a solid citizen and a great representative of the Browns since being drafted by Cleveland in 2006. He fought back after missing a year and a half with a torn pectoral muscle and resumed his place as a team leader and a solid player on the field.

However, he was due to be paid as an elite player in 2014, and quite frankly, Jackson is not a Pro Bowl type player.

If there was no salary cap, the Browns could take care of a good soldier, a player who wore the Cleveland uniform with pride and distinction.

And we understand the Browns have a ton of room under the cap right now, but if you are going to pay someone at the rate elite players are getting, they have to perform at that level.

Right now, D’Qwell Jackson is just not an impact player.

And now there are rumors that defensive lineman Ahtyba Rubin could be the next player to draw his release from the team.

The argument is the same. Rubin is a solid player, but he won’t be making the Pro Bowl any time soon, and he is due to be paid like someone who is an All Pro.

If the release of Jackson and Rubin help the Browns keep Alex Mack, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and T.J. Ward, who went to Hawaii for the first time in 2013, both of whom are free agents, then it is well worth it.

Obviously, new GM Ray Farmer, with a fresh set of eyes, wants to upgrade the talent on the Browns, and if you have to get rid of two solid players to keep two real good ones, plus keep cap room to add more good ones, then it really is an easy decision.

Northeastern Ohio sports fans are very loyal, particularly to players who have been here for a while. That’s why there is affinity for the Indians of the late 90’s, and the Browns of the late 80’s.

From a practical standpoint, it is not as though Jackson and Rubin have played during the glory days of the franchise. They’ve been on mediocre football teams, ones that have consistently lost ten or more games for the last six seasons.

Why wouldn’t the team look to replace them with younger, less expensive players that have a bigger upside? That’s being a smart general manager.

As we always say here…the only thing worse than being a bad football team is being a bad, old football team.

The Browns are one of the youngest teams in the NFL, but that shouldn’t preclude management from trying to replace players who are no longer getting better because of age with younger guys.

You can blame the Browns for insensitivity, but the player’s union should share the brunt as well because they have priced average veteran players out of jobs.

If Rubin is indeed released, there is no question that both he and Jackson will catch on with other teams, but at much lower salaries than they would have received from Cleveland.

This is a lesson on sports with salary caps in the 21^st Century. It stinks for good guys like D’Qwell Jackson and Ahtyba Rubin, but that is the reality.

Cavs Ignore Shooting as Part of Game

While we are always critical of Cavaliers’ coach Mike Brown’s offense strategy, he does work under the handicap of not having an excellent shooter on his roster.

The Cavaliers rank last in the NBA in field goal percentage, making just 42.3% of their shots from the floor. And from beyond the three-point line, they are slightly better, ranking 21st among the 30 teams at 35.0%.

To illustrate the importance of shooting, here are the top five teams in the league in making shots: Miami, San Antonio, Houston, Oklahoma City, and Dallas. All five of those teams would be in the playoffs if the season ended today.

Now, this percentage can be raised by fast break opportunities which lead to high percentage layups and dunks.

So, a more accurate gauge of pure shooting would be the three-point field goal percentage, and again, out of the top five in this category (Spurs, Pelicans, Wizards, Trailblazers, and Warriors), four of them would also reach the post-season.

Why is having shooters important? Well, the obvious answer is the score is kept by putting the ball through the basket.

Still, the real reason you need them is to spread the floor, especially when you have put together a number of guards who excel at driving to the basket like Cleveland has with Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters.

And when the shot clock is running down, you can get the ball to a shooter who has a decent chance of making a long shot.

The closest thing Mike Brown has to a threat from outside is swingman C.J. Miles, who hits 39% from outside the arc. Acting GM David Griffin did take a good stride in this direction in obtaining Spencer Hawes, who is making 40.5% from distance this year.

There is no one else on the roster that opponents need to respect when they are standing beyond the arc.

To be fair, former GM Chris Grant did covet Bradley Beal in last year’s draft, but Washington snapped him up before the Cavs turn with the fourth pick which turned out to be Waiters.

Beal is currently 13th in the NBA in 3 point field goal percentage, making 41.9% of his shots.

Brown’s mentor, Gregg Popovich has embraced the three pointer, with two players among the top 20 in accuracy, and to be fair, when Brown was here before, he had snipers like Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, and Boobie Gibson on the roster, all guys who could knock down the open three.

Irving is the Cavs’ most frequent shooter from outside and makes 36% of his attempts, but he is one of the guys who make their living driving to the hoop, and opponents want him to take that shot because he is so lethal going to the basket.

Waiters is the same type of player, but when you watch a game, don’t you wish we would go to the hoop more instead of shooting long jumpers? Opponents do too.

The Cavs need a player like Kyle Korver or Jamal Crawford or Marco Bellinelli, a pure shooter that defenses respect and are forced to account for when they are on the floor. Players like that also provide useful targets for Irving and Waiters when they penetrate.

Grant may have started to address the situation by drafting Sergey Karasev last year, but right now Brown considers him too green and too much of a defensive liability to get off the bench.

That’s not helping the current team, and it put too much of a burden on guards to get to the basket to create any kind of scoring.

Just another reason this Cavalier team has struggled to meet expectations.

The Manziel for Browns Debate

With the NFL Draft Combine going full mode right now, once again attention has drifted away from the turmoil in the Browns’ front office to who should they take with the 4th overall pick in the draft in May.

And of course, this brings up Texas A & M quarterback and former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel. Certainly, he would bring excitement to what has become a moribund franchise, but would that translate into victories and playoff spots.

Browns’ fans don’t want relevance, as one Cleveland sports talker always espouses, they want wins. No one will be happy if there is plenty of buzz about the Browns and they finish 5-11 once again.

Our question to people who are begging for the Browns to take Manziel is would they bet a year’s pay that he will succeed in the NFL? Because that’s what Cleveland GM Ray Farmer has to do. If he’s not the answer, then Farmer has to explain his pick to owner Jimmy Haslam.

On Friday, the discussion centered on size, both Manziel’s height and the size of his hands. He didn’t receive good marks on the first set of measurements, coming in at under six feet (5’11-3/4″), but he had the biggest hands out of the top three passers entering the draft, larger than Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles.

However, do these two things help Manziel with probably the most important job an NFL quarterback has, the ability to read defenses and put his team into plays that will succeed against the opposition.

Johnny Football’s supporters will point out that he is taller than the Super Bowl winning quarterback, Seattle’s Russell Wilson. However, critics (such as us) will point out that Wilson is not really an elite NFL passer, and while he did pilot the winning team, the Seahawks’ defense and running game had more to do with the victory.

If you made a list of the top ten quarterbacks in the league today, Wilson wouldn’t be on it. That supports our theory that GM Ray Farmer and his scouting staff should draft the best player available with the fourth selection, not the best QB left on the board.

Veteran scouts also seem torn on the Texas A & M quarterback. While many love his ability to make plays, others say he is quick to leave the pocket and leaves plays on the field. Others feel he’s a solid top ten pick, and conversely some scouts think he’s the biggest risk among the possible early selections.

Our thought is Farmer should take the best player on the board, because none of the holy trio (Bridgewater, Bortles, or Manziel) are Andrew Luck or even Robert Griffin III. The Browns have to get a player who can impact winning in 2014 with the choice, not someone who may have to be replaced a year from now.

Teams that overdraft QBs are usually still looking for replacements, just ask Jacksonville who selected Blaine Gabbert early and Minnesota, who did the same with Christian Ponder.

And it is not like the only need the Browns have is at that position. They still need a talent infusion for the entire roster, even with six Pro Bowlers. They still need another wide receiver, offensive line help, a running back, inside linebackers, and safety help, particularly if T. J. Ward leaves via free agency.

Manziel might be the sexy pick, but sexiness doesn’t win football games in the NFL.

Cavs Continue to Push for Playoffs By Getting Hawes

If you are one of those fans in Cleveland that is always looking toward next year, it was a bad day for you yesterday.

Acting Cavaliers’ GM David Griffin decided to continue the team’s pursuit of a playoff spot by acquiring 7’1” center Spencer Hawes from Philadelphia. The price wasn’t extravagant either, as the wine and gold parted with two second round draft picks and two players who aren’t currently in Mike Brown’s rotation: C Henry Sims and F Earl Clark.

Why would anyone complain about that price?

Second round picks in the NBA are like lottery tickets. Sometimes one will pay off, but most times, you throw them away because they are useless.

On the other hand, Hawes is just 25 years old, and averages 13 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, and he definitely can be used as a stretch big man, hitting almost 40% of his shots from outside the arc.

As the owner’s son has been known to say, “What’s not to like?”

Yes, Hawes can be a free agent at the end of this season, so he could be a rental player for the rest of the season. But, neither Sims nor Clark was probably going to be on the roster next season, so really, what did Griffin give up?

Besides, maybe the Cavaliers continue to play well and Hawes wants to stay with the Cavs. We realize the doomsayers can’t fathom that, but it is possible.

Our first thought when the deal was rumored is that Anderson Varejao must be hurt worse than the team is letting on. The newcomer gives Brown another solid big man to go with Tyler Zeller, Tristan Thompson, and Anthony Bennett.

If Varejao can return soon, it means that the coaching staff can cut down on his minutes to around 25 per night, which may just keep him healthier, and should have been the plan for him all along.

And Hawes outside shot should open things up for those guys and Varejao, when he comes back to operate near the basket. Too often, both bigs are in the paint clogging things up so it is difficult for Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters to go to the basket.

Hawes should help immediately, and also provides another veteran who has been around the league for years, like Luol Deng.

Speaking of Deng, there were plenty of rumors about the Cavs shopping him, but no deal was made, which is also a good thing. Mainly because Cleveland still doesn’t have an alternative at the small forward spot.

Yes, we understand Deng is also an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and has made comments, which appear to show he is unhappy here, but if Griffin has a chance to sign him this summer, they have a better shot with Deng spending the balance of the season in Cleveland.

Besides, if the wine and gold can stay hot and make the playoffs in let’s say, the 6^th seed, maybe the former Bull looks at a pretty good future here with a lot of young talent, and stable leadership.

Deng would have looked crazy if he would have said he liked it here among all the chaos when he first arrived.

Things change in team sports.

Just a few weeks ago, Irving and Waiters couldn’t stand to play together. Chris Grant gets fired and Dan Gilbert and Griffin have a “come to Jesus” moment with the players, and they look like they actually like each other.

A lot can change by the end of the playoffs, and here’s hoping the young Cavaliers can get their first experience in the post-season.

Thoughts of Dealing Masterson are Silly

The Cleveland Indians avoided arbitration with Justin Masterson yesterday by signing him to a one-year deal at a little less than $10 million per year.

They can still talk about a multi-year deal since Masterson can be a free agent at the end of this season, but with the recent deal between Ubaldo Jimenez (four years, $50 million) and the likelihood that the Reds and Homer Bailey will agree to a six-year, $100 million deal, the odds of the Tribe’s #1 starter staying here past 2014 seem remote.

Of course, the reflex for all Indians’ fans was to trade the big right-hander since he likely will walk away at the end of the season.

As usual, there are several flaws in that argument.

First, everyone assumes that Masterson will have the same kind of season he had last season when he won 14 games with an ERA of 3.45. However, you don’t have to go that far back to find a season where Masty went 11-15 with a 4.93 ERA.

That was 2012.

Another season like that, and Masterson’s price will come way down.

The second reason is that the Indians were a playoff team last season, and would like to make it again this season.

No matter what you get for Masterson, they likely won’t impact this year’s team as much as a proven starting pitcher who will throw 200 innings for Terry Francona’s team.

If the Tribe had won 76 games last season, you might consider trading a player you may not be able to sign after the season, and looking toward 2015, but the reality is Cleveland won 92 games in ’13, and would like to make the playoffs again this season.

Now, if the Indians struggle at the start of the season and approach the July 31^st trade deadline being out of the race for the post-season, then it makes sense to see what you could get in return for the big righty.

But, you can’t move him right now unless you could make a deal that helps the ballclub this season.

Now we’re going out on a limb here, but another situation that bears looking at is the qualifying offer the Tribe made to Jimenez after last season.

GM Chris Antonetti could do the same with Masterson, thus keeping him in a Cleveland uniform for one more season at $14.1 million for 2015.

And we don’t know if Masterson has to have a six-year deal like Bailey appears to be getting in Cincinnati. Perhaps, he would be willing to listen to a four-year hitch, because he likes it here and of course, the Francona factor.

In recent seasons, the Indians have not wanted to go more than three years with a pitcher, but a guy who has been a horse and an innings eater might be an exception.

Of course, the pressure is on Masterson to have another solid season to make the Indians and/or other teams want to offer him a four-year deal following the 2014 campaign.

The point is you can’t deal your #1 starting pitcher coming off a playoff season and heading into a season where you want to get back to the post-season

It wouldn’t make sense to the players who inhabit the clubhouse, or to an already questioning fan base.