Just when baseball fans started looking forward to spring training, which is less than a month away, Cleveland Indians’ fans had another wet blanket thrown on any optimism they may have had.

It was reported that the Washington Nationals have inquired about dealing for CF Grady Sizemore and P Fausto Carmona of the Indians.

Now, it is true that the Tribe front office can’t do anything about rumors, and the report didn’t say if GM Chris Antonetti hung up on Nationals’ GM Mike Rizzo.  People who cover the Indians say there is absolutely no truth to these reports, and thank goodness for that.

Coming off back-to-back 90 loss seasons, it would be a slap in the face to any remaining fans the ballclub has to trade it’s best starting pitcher, and a guy, who although hampered by injuries the last two years, is one of the lone power threats on a team without a lot of pop.

There should be no more trades for prospects.  If a trade is going to be made, it should yield somebody who can help the major league roster today. 

The last two seasons have to be the bottom if there is a future for the current regime.  The general apathy in Cleveland surrounding the Indians will only expand if they end the 2011 season with 70 victories once again.

There is no doubt this is an important campaign for the Dolan family, Mark Shapiro, Antonetti, and the rest of the front office.

Speaking of Sizemore, in his absence last season, the Indians had the least productive offense from its centerfielders (mostly Michael Brantley and Trevor Crowe) than any other team in the major leagues.

Yes, Sizemore is being paid a lot of money this season, and no one can be sure if he will revert to the player he was in 2005-08, when he was arguably the best young player in the game, but if you’ve made your mind up to deal him, wouldn’t you want to see if he can come back?

If the management had any foresight at all, they would approach Sizemore about a contract extension based on incentives.  His value may never be lower, and he might be interested in some guaranteed money.

Instead, they will wait, watch him have a good season, and then not be able to sign him after the 2012 season when he’s eligible for free agency because he will demand too much money.

If the team really believes it is going to contend in 2012, isn’t a healthy Sizemore a necessity?  And if he isn’t healthy, he doesn’t have a lot of trade value anyway.  So, there is no logical reason to deal him at this time.

We have written before that if the Tribe wants to shed some salary, they need to assume some of Travis Hafner’s salary in order to move him, particularly for an experienced starting pitcher.  The reason behind such a move would be Hafner is not performing up to his contract.

Unfortunately, most of the AL teams have signed DH’s for 2011, so it appears that window would be closed.

Trading productive players because of their salary makes the organization look stupid.  Trading players who are at a low in terms of market value is poor business. 

Putting a losing team on the field is also a bad way to promote your product.

The Cleveland Indians need to improve in 2011.  Trading established players for more prospects wouldn’t be prudent for them.

KM

The Cleveland Cavaliers continue to lose.  They’ve now lost 17 games in a row, and 25 out of their last 26 contests.  It’s a wonder Fox Sports Ohio analyst Austin Carr hasn’t started talking to himself during the games.

Still, you had to feel for the team when Daniel Gibson missed a three pointer that could have ended the losing skein against New Jersey.  Gibson’s emotional response showed that ending this is very important to this team.  His teammates didn’t know how to console him.

Coach Byron Scott said he felts like tearing his hair out, if he had some, after a recent practice in which he asked his players to run some offensive sets, and even after three months of training camp and the regular season, the guys couldn’t run the plays.

That should tell you everything you need to know about the players wearing wine and gold right now.

They seem to have a very low basketball IQ.

If you think back to the past few seasons, the signs of this were evident, but were covered up by the presence of LeBron James.  When James wasn’t out on the floor, the team was disjointed at times, and frequently took silly, ill-advised shots, and unforced turnovers were on the menu as well.

Scott’s Princeton offense requires the guys to be basketball players.  If you are being overplayed, you make a backdoor cut.  You screen for other players.  You hit the open man.  You make the basic pass.  You basically play your offense based on how the defense is playing.

It’s not the pick and roll offense played by most teams in the NBA, nor is it a beat your man off the dribble, penetrate, and kick the ball out to your teammates for open looks. 

The current players are so ingrained with the way things were for the past seven years, they have forgotten to play the game.  Either that, or they’ve decided they have no faith in Byron Scott.  The first option is probably the current one.

The number of rookies and free agents he has had to give playing time to in the last two months exacerbates Scott’s problem in teaching a new way of playing offense.  All of a sudden, Christian Eyenga, Alonzo Gee, Samardo Samuels, and Manny Harris are getting a lot of minutes.  It wasn’t supposed to be that way.

However, this is a problem with the players of today.  They aren’t schooled in fundamentals, and it is difficult for many of them to execute a play properly. 

It doesn’t help that he doesn’t have a point guard who is a leader.  Scott had that in New Jersey with Jason Kidd, and in New Orleans with Chris Paul.  At this point, the wine and gold’s leader is Antawn Jamison, but he doesn’t have the ball in his hands a majority of the time.

The coach is used to having a guy who is an extension of him out on the court, and he doesn’t have that in Cleveland.  That’s why the most important thing for the future of this franchise is getting a true point guard, and an elite one, whether it is in the draft or in a trade.

There aren’t enough players on this current roster who understand the game of basketball at the NBA level.  That’s why you can see a difference in play now that guys like Joey Graham and Gibson are back.  They aren’t all-star players, but they know the game. 

Scott is in teacher mode right now, but he needs patience to get this team turned around.

JK

Cleveland Browns fans are a curious lot.  Most fans were unhappy with former Eric Mangini, but it seems they were only dissatisfied with him if former Oakland and Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden replaced him. 

When team president Mike Holmgren hired Pat Shurmur, they became unhappy again.  Shurmur wasn’t an offensive coordinator on an elite offensive team, he was only a coordinator for two years, no one heard of him prior to the Browns’ coaching search. 

It seems like the fan base is against Shurmur before he’s been in charge for one mini-camp.  That’s not fair to him.

First, the guy he replaced didn’t exactly bring playoff contention to Cleveland.  He was 1-11 in his first season, and lost the last four games of his second year.  The best thing you could say about the Browns under Mangini is that they were inconsistent. 

Now the fans are in an uproar over the hiring of the offensive and defensive coordinators, and if Shurmur, GM Tom Heckert and Holmgren don’t hire the guy the fans want, well once again, the supporters of the team will be angry.

They did hire Dick Jauron, an experienced defensive coach, who also was the head coach of the Bears and Bills.  The team needed to hire someone who knew his way around the NFL in this capacity because Shurmur has already hinted that he will spend much of his time on the offensive side of things.

Jauron was the first defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars under Tom Coughlin from 1995-98.  That team went 4-12 in their expansion year to a pair of 11-5 finishes in Jauron’s last two years there.  The highest defensive rank achieved in his tenure was 15th in yards allowed in 1996.

After five years as the Bears’ head coach, which included four seasons under .500 and a 13-3 division winning season in 2001, he was the Lions defensive coordinator for two years before taking over in Buffalo.  Again, his defensive ranks were not very impressive. 

In three full seasons as the Bills’ coach, he went 7-9 every year before being let go during the 2009 campaign. 

However, people seem to be excited because he’s been around the NFL a long time.

Look, Jauron might work out well here in Cleveland, this is not to suggest he’s a terrible defensive coach.  However, you need players.  Heckert will need to bring in a great deal of defensive talent here because outside of NT Ahtyba Rubin, CB Joe Haden, and S T.J. Ward, there is a lot of age on that side of the ball.

LB Scott Fujita is a keeper, and LB Marcus Benard and Matt Roth should be able to fit in with Jauron’s schemes.  What this says is most of the front seven have to be overhauled from a talent standpoint.  That’s what fans should be concentrating on instead of worrying who will be the offensive coordinator and does Dick Jauron represent an upgrade from Rob Ryan.

As for the offensive side of the ball, Shurmur said he is going to call the plays, so it isn’t a critical as the guy in charge of the defense.  The Browns need to find someone who shares the new west coast offensive philosophy of the organization, rather than finding the next offensive genius. 

Browns fans need to relax and be patient.  It’s difficult since they haven’t won a title since 1964, and haven’t made the playoffs since 2002, but they need to let Pat Shurmur coach a game before being critical. 

They need to stop thinking every move made by a sports team in this city is the wrong one.

JD

A local sports talk show host today said he is optimistic about the Cleveland Indians.  WKNR’s Tony Rizzo said the Tribe had some pieces in place, and were in better shape than most people think.

This is brought up because despite what is written in this space, that is true.  The Indians do have some good players, however, the hole in Rizzo’s statement is the management of the team refuses to do anything to supplement the talent.

There are many positives things that can be said about the 2011 Cleveland Indians.

RF Shin-Soo Choo may just be the most underrated player in major league baseball.  He will be 29 years old this summer, and has been remarkably consistent, hitting .300 each of the last two years.  He’s also belted 20 and 22 HR’s the last two years, and has put up OPS of 883 and 885 in ’09 and ’10.

SS Asdrubal Cabrera has been a big league regular for three and a half years and is just 25 years old.  He’s a lifetime .284 hitter and had 52 extra base hits in 2009.

C Carlos Santana will not turn 25 until a week after Opening Day, and although he missed the last two months of last year with a knee injury, he showed the potential people have talked about for the last two years, especially from a hitting standpoint.

And Michael Brantley showed promise in the second half as well, hitting .284 after the All Star break, although he needs to add a little more pop.  He won’t be 24 until May.

From the pitching side, Fausto Carmona’s ERA last season was 3.77 as he showed signs he can be an effective major league pitcher after two horrible years.  He’s just 27 years old. 

Carlos Carrasco pitched well in his September call up, and should have earned a spot in the 2011 rotation at the age of 24. 

Add in the return of Grady Sizemore, another year of health for Travis Hafner, and some farm system products very close to the big leagues, and it isn’t a stretch to say the Indians could be competitive in 2011. 

However, they need some help from management. 

With all of these young players, why couldn’t the front office pony up some cash for an experienced player.  Not one who has seen better days, but someone who could contribute to a winning ballclub.

It didn’t have to come in free agency, you could have made a trade.  Two young starting pitchers were traded this off-season for nothing more than prospects. 

Would you feel better about the Tribe’s chance if a Zack Greinke or Matt Garza was in their starting rotation?  Both of those guys are under 30 years old and would have been in the Indians’ control for at least two years. 

Instead, the front office is banking on the minor leaguers.

This is not to say the team should ignore the farm system.  For a mid-market team, it is a necessity to keep developing young talent. 

However, if you can trade unproven young players for proven young players, you should make that move.  Sometimes, the minor leaguer never does a thing in the big leagues.

Of course, the Cleveland Indians spend most of their time talking about “the process”, and the inequities of the finances in major league baseball.  That’s their fallback position on everything.

They would rather feel sorry for themselves than put themselves in position to win. 

That’s why the fans have checked out on the current regime.

KM

After a disastrous west coast trip, which featured a 55 point loss to the defending world champion Lakers as well as more injuries cropping up, the Cleveland Cavaliers return home tomorrow night to take on the Phoenix Suns.

The wine and gold have lost 13 in a row, and 23 of their last 24 games, and really there is no hope on the horizon.

Their best player, Anderson Varajao, is out for the season with a torn tendon in his foot.  Their starting point guard, Mo Williams, has been in and out of the lineup with a hip problem. 

Thus, coach Byron Scott is forced to give a lot of minutes to guys who were recently signed (Alonzo Gee), are undrafted rookies (Manny Harris and Samardo Samuels), and played much of the season in the D-League (Christian Eyenga). 

That’s a recipe for a dismal season.

Now all Cavs’ fans can hope for is seeing how the team stands in the draft lottery and what kinds of trades will be made before or at the NBA trading deadline. 

Unfortunately, the players GM Chris Grant would like to deal are aging, have bad contracts, or just aren’t very good. 

Antawn Jamison fits two of those categories.  He definitely a guy who could help a team making a championship run.  Heck, that’s why the Cavaliers traded for him last season. 

The veteran is averaging 16 points and 6 rebounds per game.  However, he’s 34 years old and will turn 35 in June.  He also has a large contract which still has another year to go after this season.  And his numbers are down this season from his career norm, and at his age, it is doubtful he will get better next season.

Grant would love to trade him for young player with some upside, but who is going to make that sort of deal?

Williams presents a similar situation for the front office.  The best way to market him is as a Jason Terry type player, a guy who can come off the bench and provide instant offense and can handle the ball as well.

However, the 28-year-old is a lifetime 44% shooter, but this year is hitting just 39% of his shots.  Even worse, for his career he has made 39% of his three-point attempts, and is making just 27% of his tries this season.

Yes, the hip injury is probably a factor, but Williams’ shot has appeared flat since his injured his elbow last season.  And a flat shot is an inconsistent shot.

Varajao would be the most desirable player in the eyes of other teams, but he can’t be traded since he is out for the season.  Contending teams would have craved his hustle, rebounding, and defensive ability.

Daniel Gibson might interest some teams, but he’s another player who needs to stay healthy.  He’s had problems with this in the past, and has missed much of the last month.

It has been rumored that the Bulls are interested in the sharpshooter. 

Grant would love to make a move for either Jamison and/or Williams, but it won’t be easy to move them.  That’s not to say it’s impossible, but don’t count on the Cavs getting a potential superstar in return.

Seriously though, can Grant wait until the end of next month when the deadline comes?  Watching losses pile up is no fun for the fans and the owner. 

No one wants a team to make moves for the sake of making moves, however, right now this team is losing in blow out fashion on a nightly basis.

Chris Grant needs to make this team competitive, and the sooner, the better.

JK

Should we really just start treating the Cleveland Indians like some sort of sitcom?  That might be the best way to approach the team, who will be gathering in spring training a little over a month from now.

The moves they are making are for laughs, right?

The other day, The Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes said the Tribe would like to get an experienced starting pitcher, but they likely spent the cash they allotted to free agents when they signed OF Austin Kearns to a $1.3 million deal last month. 

First, CSP said at the time that the Indians needed Kearns like a proverbial hole in the head, because Shelley Duncan is a better alternative as a right handed hitter than Kearns against southpaws.  Yes, there is no question that Kearns is a better defensive player, but with a projected starting outfield of Shin-Soo Choo in right, a healthy Grady Sizemore in center, and Michael Brantley in left, it’s not like Manny Acta will be needing a defensive replacement very often.

Trevor Crowe is also currently on the 40-man roster, and is a decent defensive outfielder as well. 

Once again, it appears to be a case of the Indians could sign Kearns, so they did.  They think it showed their fans that they are willing to spend money. 

At the time, we said the front office would be better off putting whatever cash it had available into the starting rotation, or at the very least the pitching staff as a whole.  Spending on an outfielder should have been well down the list of needs.

The comedy in Hoynes’ article was that apparently the Cleveland Indians set aside about $2 million to spend on free agents.  Kind of like taking a knife to a gun fight. 

If that’s all the ownership can muster up in their efforts to improve the team, then they need to find a buyer and soon, because their idea of comedy isn’t very funny to their fans.

Now it is said the Indians are looking at moving Jason Donald to 3B, so they can keep Jayson Nix at 2B, where he is adequate defensively.  More laughs at the fans expense.  Seriously, what kind of blackmail evidence does Nix have on the people who run the Tribe?  He’s a stiff.

Nix hit .234 with 13 HR and 29 RBI with a 705 OPS on the season.  His OPS after the All Star game was 653, a mediocre figure at best.  And we are moving other people around so this guy can start?  No wonder this team has lost more than 90 games the past two seasons. 

Donald probably isn’t good enough to start at 2B on a contending team (wait it gets better…we got him for Cliff Lee!), but he could keep the hot corner warm for when Lonnie Chisenhall is ready.

But if you are going to move him, move him so either Cord Phelps (.308 with 8 HR, 54 RBI, and an 825 OPS at AA and AAA last year) or one of the organizations top three prospects, Jason Kipnis (.307 with 16 HR 74 RBI, and an 878 OPS at A and AA last year) can move in at second base.

One of the reasons the Tribe gets off to bad starts each year is they keep marginal (read: terrible) aging major leaguers on the roster to start the season, guys like Jamey Wright and Mark Grudzielanek.  They are looking to do this again with veteran SS Adam Everett, who main skill is with his glove. 

Everett will be 34 by the time spring training begins, and is a career .243 hitter with a lifetime OPS of 642.  Basically, he can’t hit his way out of a paper bag.  However, it seems the Tribe is hellbent on keeping him on the 25 man roster to open the season.

They keep making the same mistakes over and over again.  It’s not funny. 

TV shows which are hilarious draw large ratings.  People build their evening around watching these shows.

No one does this with the Cleveland Indians.  The organization is more of a tragedy at this point.

MW

It appears the rumors are true and it is likely the Cleveland Browns will have a press conference tomorrow to announce Pat Shurmur as the team’s next coach.

Already, the paranoid fans of the team are upset with the hire because Shurmur has no previous head coaching experience.  The Browns’ last coach, Eric Mangini, had three years experience as an NFL head man.  How did that work out?

Some people are still pining for Jon Gruden, who said he wasn’t ready to come back to coaching.

Others are complaining about the choice made by team president Mike Holmgren.  Why should trust be put in him?  Shurmur is the same kind of hire as Chris Palmer or Romeo Crennel.  Except that he’s not. 

Why?

Because the hire is being made by a football man.  Owner Randy Lerner signed off on the last few head coaches:  Mangini, Crennel, and Butch Davis. 

Lerner is a guy who is passionate about the Browns and has a boatload of money, but he really only knows the game as a fan.  He’s hasn’t spent the majority of his life coaching football players the way Holmgren has.

That’s a huge difference.  It’s also why it was important for Lerner to hire a guy like Holmgren. 

He’s brought in a guy like GM Tom Heckert, who based on last year’s draft, is off to a promising start in his Cleveland career.  Holmgren has also brought in guys to handle the salary cap, new scouts, etc. 

He saw what was here when he was hired, and decided to bring in people who have worked in the NFL before.  This organization needed experience, and experience from other teams that have had success.

As for criticism regarding faith in Holmgren picking the right man for the job, it is true that the president has not hired a head coach before. 

However, during his tenure as a head coach, he hired many assistants for his staff.  Among those he hired in those roles were Gruden, Andy Reid, Steve Mariucci, Ray Rhodes, and Mike Sherman.  All of those guys went on to be head coaches in the NFL.

Obviously, he saw something in those guys to indicate they could coach in the NFL.  Why wouldn’t the same ability to recognize people who could be good assistant coaches translate into finding a good head coach?

Shurmur has coached under Reid in Philadelphia at the pro level, and he was an assistant at Michigan State under Nick Saban, who won two college national titles.  He’s been around winning.

So, part of the allure for The Big Show is that the new coach comes from his coaching tree.  That means everyone in Berea will be on the same page when it comes to how to win football games.

It will be important for Shurmur to bring in offensive and defensive coordinators with experience.  That’s the formula for success used by Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Atlanta when they hired younger guys who had never been head coaches in the NFL.

Look, Mike Holmgren is the first successful football man the Cleveland Browns have had running the show for a long time.  We have to trust the decisions he is making. 

It’s the nature of sports fans in this city to look at the downside of any move made by one of its teams.  Whether or not Pat Shurmur is the guy to lead the Browns back to the playoffs, only time will tell.

However, you have to trust Holmgren.  He has a winning record as a coach, and he’s hired some assistant coaches who have done real well in the NFL.

JD

You can already hear the panic in Browns fans. They are uneasy about the rumors that Rams’ offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is being reported as the front runner for the team’s vacant head coaching position.

The fans had their hearts set on Jon Gruden, and anything less is a disappointment to them.

No one has any idea on whether or not Shurmur will emerge as a great head coach or not, but it is unfair for him to be dismissed because he doesn’t have a high profile.

Did anyone hear of Mike Tomlin before Pittsburgh hired him? Was John Harbaugh a household name prior to being hired by Baltimore? What about Mike Smith in Atlanta? Not many people knew of him before he was hired in Atlanta. All three have turned out to be pretty good head coaches in the NFL.

Also, being an outstanding coordinator is no guarantee of future success as the headman. The NFL coaching scrap heap is loaded with guys who were the “coordinator du jour” once upon a time, but their success on one side of the ball didn’t translate to wins and losses.

Let’s remember that one of the Browns’ better coaches in the post-Blanton Collier era was an obscure assistant with New England and New Orleans back in the 70’s. That would be Sam Rutigliano, who along with Don Coryell in San Diego, was among the first coaches to feature a high octane passing attack.

It really comes down to whether or not the new man can command respect in the locker room and get the team together for one common goal…winning. It’s not all X’s and O’s. It’s how you handle people.

Look at Tomlin during Ben Roethlisberger’s suspension early this season. He refused to make excuses and instead told everyone on the roster that he expected to win, just as if the starting quarterback was there. They started out 3-1, and won another division title.

That’s what the Browns need from their next leader.

There are very few sure things as head coaches. The Gruden disciples forget that he was 4-12 in 2006 before finishing at 9-7 in his last two years in Tampa.

In fact, after winning the Super Bowl in his first year there, he won more than ten games just once afterward, an 11-5 mark in ’05.

We’d all take 9-7 for the Browns based on the last three seasons, but it is not like the Buccaneers were a perennial playoff team with Gruden in charge.

And it would be a great thing for the franchise if Gruden agreed to become the Browns’ next head coach. He’s won a Super Bowl and has made multiple playoff appearances.

It’s just that there is nothing for sure when it comes to picking a head coach.

If you trust Mike Holmgren to run the football operations of the Cleveland Browns, then you have to trust that he will pick the right guy. It’s not picking the hot coordinator and who can put together the most sophisticated offense; it’s about choosing a man who can work with the front office to win here.

When all is said and done, coaching is a people business. It’s about getting players to follow where you are leading. It’s not getting the best name; it’s picking the best man for the job.

JD

The Cleveland Cavaliers are nearing a place among the worst teams in NBA history.  Only an overtime victory at home against the New York Knicks is saving the wine and gold from a 20 game losing streak. 

The Cavs are now 8-28 on the season, have lost nine in a row, and with four games against pretty good to very good teams on the balance of a five game west coast trip (Suns, Lakers, Nuggets, and Jazz), the losing skein will likely extend to 13 straight, and 23 losses in 24 contests. 

As many hoped, this team is headed toward getting a lot of ping pong balls in the springs annual draft lottery.  However, how many true impact players are available in the 2011 NBA Draft?  Right now, it doesn’t look like a lot of franchise turning players. 

The answer is to get some other young developing players with a lottery pick in order to start winning again.  Can new GM Chris Grant get that done?  It remains to be seen.  The Cavs are trying to use the trade exemption received when LeBron James left for Miami to get some extra first round picks, as depending on what day it is, they are either involved in a possible Carmelo Anthony deal or not involved at all.

What is clear is that the team must get better on defense.  The Cavs are eighth worst in the league in allowing points, fourth worst in opponents’ field goal percentage, and worst in defensive three point field goal percentage.  That’s the profile of a bad defensive team.

Outside of Anderson Varajao, who is nursing an ankle sprain, the Cavs do not have one player who can guard their man straight up. 

The guards cannot stop penetration, which forces the inside players to help out, thus leaving their men open for dunks and layups.  When the ball is entered to the post, the guards have to drop down and help out, leaving wide open perimeter shots, many of them from behind the arc, leading to the horrible performance against the three pointer.

Until Cleveland defenders can handle their own men, or least more than one can, this is going to continue to be a problem. 

Another problem with the defense is that the non-post defenders aren’t quick enough to get back and contest the outside shot.  Coach Byron Scott seems to be trying to combat this by using more athletic wing players, such as newcomer Alonzo Gee, and rookies Christian Eyenga and Manny Harris in these positions. 

There has been plenty of speculation as to what the next moves should be to start the rebuilding process, and they should involve improving the defense.  Most nights, the wine and gold score enough points to win games in the NBA, but they can’t stop their opponents. 

Mo Williams was a key contributor on teams that had the league’s best regular season record two straight years, but he isn’t a good fit here anymore.  The Cavs need a point guard who can stop penetration and take care of the basketball.  This basketball team still makes way too many unforced turnovers, which lead to layups and dunks on the other end of the floor.

If the Cavaliers are going to recover from the horrible season, winning the draft lottery isn’t the only cure.  Look at Washington.  They got the #1 pick in John Wall, and they are still 9-26.  The Clippers have sensational Blake Griffin and they are at 11-24. 

Other things have to be done, and it starts at the defensive end.

JK

Happy 2011!  This sports year in Cleveland has to be better than 2010, only because it could hardly be worse. 

The city’s best hope going into ’10 was the Cavaliers and we all know what happened there.  That Tribe skipper Manny Acta is now the longest tenured coach/manager among the three professional sports teams here is all you need to know about the state of sports in Cleveland. 

Thank goodness for Cleveland State’s basketball team, which has started out its season 15-1.  At least they deserve out interest.

All this being said, here is the state of the franchise’s on the north coast going coming into 2011—

Browns.  Right now, the Browns would have to be on top of the heap among the franchises here in terms of having good leadership at the top.  Mike Holmgren is a football man and his hire of GM Tom Heckert was outstanding based on the latter’s first draft here.

Holmgren does have a huge decision to make on who will coach the team in 2011, and he gave former coach Eric Mangini an opportunity for a second year after four straight wins to finish the 2009 season.  He no doubt will hire a head coach with an offensive background, one more in step with the president’s ideas on how to play the game.

Another draft like last season by Heckert will put the Browns in contention for a playoff spot next season.  Yes, next season!  Remember, he draft three starters in ’10.  Other holes will be filled through free agency, particularly bringing in some younger guys to help an aging defensive front seven.

Cavaliers.  The wine and gold took the biggest hit in 2010 when LeBron James left via free agency (technically, it was a trade, but we know what really happened).  The best things the franchise has going for them is an owner who professes that he wants to win, and coach Byron Scott, who has built two teams (New Jersey and New Orleans) into contenders.

However, they have an inexperience GM in Chris Grant, who thus far hasn’t made an impact move despite his team losing 16 of their last 17 contests.  The minor moves the team has made have increased the athleticism of the team, although it hasn’t translated into wins.

The hope for the Cavs is the NBA draft lottery, where they should have a good chance for a very high draft pick.  The downside is that many teams are yearly participants in the lottery and never show considerable improvement.  You still have to make the right moves, and Grant is unproven at this point.

Indians.  It is telling that the best thing to happen to the organization recently was the induction of former Tribesmen Bert Blyleven and Robbie Alomar to the Hall of Fame.  Unfortunately, Blyleven’s last season here was 26 years ago, and Alomar’s was 10 seasons past.

Otherwise, things at Progressive Field continue to be a mess with the ownership hacking away at payroll and sitting and basically watching the entire Hot Stove season, making several very minor moves to try and improve the team.

The farm system is being built and is well stocked, but there isn’t an impact type player in the system that everyone thinks is a can’t miss prospect. 

The worst part for the organization is the apathy of the fans.  There’s no outrage about the horrible state of the team since their last playoff appearance in 2007. 

2011 couldn’t be worse than 2010.  Or could it?

MW