Mercifully Football Is Over, Now The Changes Begin For Browns

The NFL seemed to be merciful in ending the Cleveland Browns’ season before any other team’s this season.

A year after a playoff year, finishing 11-6, the Browns went 3-14 following a 35-10 defeat at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens.

The ownership has said time and again GM Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski will be back next season, but we would guess we would see news about any changes to the coaching staff or in the front office this week.

We are going to go against the norm and say this should not be the start of a long rebuilding process. There is talent on the roster, particularly probably the best defensive player in the game in DE Myles Garrett and a Pro Bowl shutdown corner in Denzel Ward.

And sorry everyone, Garrett should not be traded for a bunch of draft choices who will never be as good as he is. He is only 29 years old and has plenty of great seasons to come. Give him a new contract and 3-4 years from now, if things still look bleak and the future Hall of Famer wants to go to a winner, the Browns can do right by him and trade or release him.

There is an entire cottage industry of chronicling the misfortunes of the Browns over the last decade. (Did you know Bailey Zappe was the 40th starting QB since 1999?).

Some of it is deserved. If we were in the front office, we would put a muzzle on certain members of the coaching staff and some executives. Why would people leak word of Deshaun Watson competing for the starting QB job next summer or have Ken Dorsey say Dorian Thompson-Robinson has potential?

Dorsey was let go by the organization pretty much immediately after the season ending loss, along with offensive line coach Andy Dickerson.

What’s the comment about being silent and having people think you are stupid?

Cleveland must get better quarterback play. That is first and foremost. And any talk of bringing Watson back is dumb. He has played 19 games with the Browns and has played probably less than 10 decent quarters. At this point, thinking a change in offensive strategy or coordinator will make him regain the skills he had prior to the trade is lunacy.

If they like one of the passers coming into the league via the draft, they should draft one, but they should not feel the need to force-feed that player onto the field.

They also need to get better at running back. We would love to see Nick Chubb back, but they need to find a younger version of the back who wears #24.

And they need an offensive coordinator who understands the importance of running the ball and is willing to make a commitment to doing it.

The defense isn’t bad. True, they played much better a year ago, but they allowed the least first downs in the league. Even yesterday, until the fourth quarter, they kept Cleveland in the game. Remember, the first Baltimore TD was an interception return, a too common sight in 2024.

On that side of the ball, some younger players stood out. DT Mike Hall, injured in the finale, looks like he can play. Second year DE Isaiah McGuire looks like a player, so does LB Mohamoud Diabate, CB Cam Mitchell, and don’t forget DE Alex Wright, who was injured after week four.

Offensively, we would be remiss in not mentioning WR Jerry Jeudy, who also made the Pro Bowl catching 90 passes this season, amazing since he played with one professional passer.

The worrisome part of this is the first thing that needs to be done is recognizing who can play and who can’t. The talent evaluators thought DTR was better than Tyler Huntley. They started DTR in two games when based on yesterday, Bailey Zappe is better.

And we have our weekly mention of trading a second-round pick for WR Elijah Moore.

They have to correctly evaluate what changes need to be made. If they are honest with themselves, we think they can win. Next season.

Cavs Giving Some Vibes Of “Miracle” Team

Think about it for a bit…29-4

The Cleveland Cavaliers started this season with a 15-game winning streak, but right now, they’ve won eight in a row, and started an always tough west coast swing the Friday after Christmas, and won handily against Denver, Golden State, and the Lakers.

One of the indicators of how good a basketball team is their margin of victory, which is second in the NBA at 11.88, just behind Oklahoma City’s 12.0. The only other team over ten points per game are the defending champion Celtics (10.73).

At this point of the season, the NBA is kind of lopsided. There are only six squads that sit 10 games over .500, while there are five teams that still have not reached the 10-win mark.

If you look at teams who have a legitimate chance to end the season by hoisting the Lawrence O’Brien Trophy, there is no doubt the Cavaliers are one of those teams. It is remarkable to think that it was just the 2018-19 campaign where the wine and gold won just 19 games, and they followed that with the same number of victories in the COVID shortened season.

The national media talks about Kenny Atkinson’s club, but they haven’t really been a huge story in the Association to date. One reason is the people who cover the NBA seem to have an agenda on what stories will be important before the season starts, and it is hard to break into that realm.

The other reason is playoff success. This iteration of the Cavs (Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley) have only one a single playoff series, the seven-game victory over Orlando last season.

However, the darlings of the Western Conference, Oklahoma City have done the same. The only difference is the Thunder did not make the progression from also ran to the “play-in tournament” to losing in the first round, to winning in the first round like Cleveland.

And despite this tremendous start to the season, the reality is the real season for the Cavs starts in the playoffs.

These Cavs remind us a bit of the “Miracle at Richfield” team from 1975-76. That team had nine players who averaged over 15 minutes a game, whereas Atkinson plays ten players regularly and when injuries have occurred, other players have stepped in to take their place in the rotation.

We have talked about how Mitchell, the team’s star, is playing a career low 31.5 minutes a night. The ’75-’76 Cavaliers had a former All-Star in Nate Thurmond anchoring the second unit, and the star of the franchise’s early years, Austin Carr, also came off the bench.

Both teams could shoot from outside. The ’76 team, who got to the Eastern Conference Finals, had outside marksmen like Carr, Bingo Smith, Campy Russell, and Dick Snyder. This year’s squad lead the NBA in three-point shooting, making an absurd 40.7% as a TEAM!

The next best percentage is the 38.8% being made by the Knicks.

We have seen people saying nothing should be done by president of basketball operations Koby Altman at the trade deadline. However, we disagree.

Yes, this group has amazing chemistry, but they still need another post presence in case of an injury to Allen and/or Mobley. And we also think that could use another wing defender with some length.

This team has amazing depth, particularly at the wing position. With Max Strus’ return, Atkinson now has Strus, Caris LeVert, Isaac Okoro, Georges Niang, and Sam Merrill to play on the wing.

And we haven’t mentioned rookie Jaylon Tyson, who when pressed into service has done a solid job.

The one thing Altman has seemed to always prioritize is character. The Cavs haven’t really had a “knucklehead” or “diva” on their roster for a long time. So, we have no doubt if a deal is made, the addition will fit right into what is working right now.

In a week, the Cavs and Thunder get together in Cleveland. That just might be an NBA Finals preview.

Another Loss Brings More Puzzling Questions For Browns

It was another mind-numbing, head scratching performance by the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, capping their home schedule with a 20-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

If you thought it couldn’t get worse from the early season offensive struggles with Deshaun Watson at the helm, the Browns have now scored in single digits the last three contests, the last two with overmatched Dorian Thompson-Robinson calling signals.

At least Watson would put up at least 10 points per game. His low was the 13 scored against Washington in week five.

Offensively, Cleveland had a decent day running the football, gaining 114 yards (their 4th best of the season) on 28 attempts. And although we understand the Browns were trailing most of the second half, they still decided to have their inexperienced, ineffective QB put the ball in the air 47 times.

Thompson-Robinson completed 24 of those throws for 170 yards, and had an interception, the 10th of his career vs. just one touchdown pass.

The Browns said they wanted to take a look at the second year QB when he has time to prepare for games, and if true, they can’t like what they’ve seen. Jameis Winston has a reputation for throwing interceptions, and his career percentage is 3.5%.

DTR in his 14 games, including five starts, has a percentage of 4.4%. Add that to a career completion percentage of 52.4% and you can see he’s not ready to be a starter in the league, and really, you have to question whether or not he should be on a roster.

Which leads to another question. Why did the Browns cut Tyler Huntley in order to keep Thompson-Robinson? It leads us to believe there is an agenda, in that case being the GM drafted one and signed the other as a free agent.

We understand general managers have a fondness for players they drafted, but good organizations (note, we said good) make evaluations based on how people play, not where or by whom they were drafted by.

Is Huntley a better quarterback? He’s played 24 games in the NFL with 13 starts and has completed 65% of his throws with 10 TDs and 8 interceptions (1.8%). Yeah, he’s better without a doubt.

Which leads us to this question. Should Andrew Berry be making the draft picks this upcoming spring? It’s hard to make a case for him.

Yes, he’s been without a first-round choice for the last three seasons. However, he’s only selected one player who has made a Pro Bowl, LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. The first round picks he did make; T Jedrick Wills and CB Greg Newsome aren’t cornerstones of the team.

He’s made some good trades, like the ones for Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy, but he also dealt a second-round pick for Elijah Moore, whose roster spot is tenuous at best.

Does anyone trust Berry to change the landscape of the Browns in this draft where they likely will have a top five pick? It’s difficult to make that argument.

The Browns’ front office makes too many errors trying to justify bad decisions which is a twofold problem. The best thing to do if you mess up is to admit it, move on and get better.

There was another report this week about Watson competing for the QB job in training camp. If it is not true, then the powers that be should say nothing about him, so apparently someone is putting that out there.

Why? The guy doesn’t want to play in Cleveland.

By next Saturday night, this nightmare season for the Browns will be over. We still think Kevin Stefanski should be the coach next year, but someone needs to be held accountable for Watson and the offensive coaching staff firings.

Running it back with the same group shouldn’t be an option.

Still Concerned About Guards’ Off-Season

Yes, we know spring training for the Cleveland Guardians doesn’t start for another six weeks, but as the calendar is ready to change to 2025, it does appear the franchise is continuing with their frugal ways, forcing the front office to continue with their Dusty Springfield philosophy (Wishin’ and Hopin’).

After winning 92 games and advancing to the American League Championship Series last season, the Guards have dealt two mainstays of that team, Andres Gimenez and Josh Naylor.

We supported the Gimenez move as Cleveland owed him $97 million over the next five years, a lot to pay for excellent defense and a mediocre bat.

We understand the Naylor move too. Naylor is eligible for free agency following the season, and much like Prince Fielder twenty years ago, there is concern about how his body type will age.

The problem is so far, the front office (and we include ownership here) has only spent the savings from trading Naylor and did it by signing 39-year-old Carlos Santana.

Santana has been a very productive player in his career, but it seems like Cleveland is banking a lot on A). someone who is 39, and B). someone who hit .219 with a 676 OPS vs. righties last season.

Do they view Santana as an everyday player or a possible platoon partner with Kyle Manzardo?

Many fans have a poor opinion of the current ownership because they have been reluctant to push the chips in the middle of the table. After a 92-win season and a spot in MLB’s “Final Four”, it would seem to be the time to loosen the purse strings.

As of today, the Guardians still have a starting rotation with a lot of question marks. They have Tanner Bibee, but Gavin Williams hasn’t made the jump to reliable starter yet. They did trade for Luis Ortiz, who should open the year in the rotation, but who is the other proven starter?

They did re-up with Shane Bieber, but he won’t be ready until mid-season.

Pitching wins in the post-season, but you have to score runs in the regular season, and last season, the Guardians were 7th in runs scored, ahead of only Detroit among playoff teams.

But they traded their third best offensive player in Naylor.

Right now, the lineup has just two proven everyday hitters in Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan. We view Santana as a platoon piece. Lane Thomas is a little above average (741 career OPS) and still has a concerning strikeout to walk ratio.

No matter how high people are on Manzardo, Jhonkensy Noel, Brayan Rocchio, and even Chase DeLauter, none of them have a proven track record in the big leagues.

To have a productive batting order, we feel you need six to seven solid bats. Perhaps Manzardo and Juan Brito can give Steven Vogt’s lineup some length, but how can they feel that way for sure?

We have always felt the front office’s job is to have a contingency plan should the young players not be doing the job. We don’t see that right now. The lineup has too many large questions.

As for ownership, once again they are failing their fan base. Attendance was up last season, and the franchise gained a lot of buzz as the season went on because of the way they played. But it appears they are still holding on to money with a tight fist.

Perhaps by the end of January, they will make a financial commitment and bring in some players who can fill in some holes.

Hope is not a plan. The Guardians need to do better.

Garrett Is In Concert With The Fans In Saying Get It Fixed

Myles Garrett caused quite the commotion last Friday in his weekly chat with the media, telling the Browns’ front office to get their act together.

And as usual, there was a lot of overreaction from the media and Browns’ fans.

First, Garrett did not ask to be traded. In fact, he said he wanted to finish his career with the Browns. He said he did not want to be part of a long rebuilding program such as the one the team started in 2016 when they stripped it down and rebuilt from the ground up.

Garrett was the first pick in the ’17 draft after Cleveland went 1-15. He played on a team that went 0-16 in his rookie year.

He will also be 29 years old next season and understands his NFL future isn’t going to be lengthy.

We compare it to LeBron James’ second tenure with the Cavaliers in which he continually put pressure on the front office to put a winning team on the court. He didn’t want to be on a real good team, he wanted to be with a group that can compete for titles.

Garrett has played for the Browns eight seasons and has participated in three playoff games, winning one. He will likely be named to his sixth Pro Bowl this season, and of course was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year following last season.

And when he retires, he will likely head to Canton to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Since 1960, he’s the greatest defensive player the Browns have ever had. He’s just would like to see how the team is going to compete next year and the following seasons. He’s tired of wasting his talents on what has turned out to be a mess of a season.

In a way, Garrett was talking for the fans. He was on a squad that made the playoffs a year ago, with coaching and leadership that guided the team through four different quarterbacks.

After the season, the front office decided to make wholesale changes to that coaching staff and overhaul an offense that proved to be pretty effective.

Gone were people like Alex Van Pelt, Bill Callahan, and Stump Mitchell. Since Cleveland’s first run to the playoffs in 2020, the Browns have been a running team, led of course by Nick Chubb. In the defensive end’s comments Friday, he talked about the lack of a running game this year, and how that impacts his side of the ball.

He probably can’t believe after all these years; wholesale changes were made to a winning season. Frankly, we thought the same.

And all the changes were made to suit a quarterback who came here with great numbers but hasn’t really produced since he arrived in town.

As the best player on the team, he feels it is fair for the powers that be show him what the plan is going forward. Maybe he saw the reports that they were planning to give Deshaun Watson a shot at the QB job next year, and he knows that’s not going to work.

Perhaps he just wants to be reassured this isn’t going to be another total rebuild again. Teams in the NFL go from fourth to first place every year, why can’t the Browns do the same thing next season?

That 1-15 team that Garrett and David Njoku arrived to play with didn’t have players like Denzel Ward, Grant Delpit, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Jerry Jeudy, and Wyatt Teller on it.

We are sure the front office’s plan didn’t include making their best player upset.

Garrett is with the fans on this. He’s saying to the front office, “get it fixed”. He’s earned the right to make that comment.

This QB Looked A Lot Like The One Who Started The Year For Browns

The ugly season authored by the Cleveland Browns continued on Sunday with another abysmal offensive performance in a 24-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Queen City dropping their record to 3-12.

It was the 10th time this season the Browns failed to gain 300 yards of total offense. Of the five games they exceeded that total, Jameis Winston was at the controls in four of them.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson was the starting quarterback and frankly, the offense looked a lot like it did in the first seven games with Deshaun Watson at the helm. He was skittish in the pocket, looked to escape very early, not giving receivers a chance, and of course, running himself into sacks.

The game started promising for the Browns as Jerome Ford ripped off a 66-yard run on the game’s very first play. But true to the Ken Dorsey offense, Ford carried just nine more times on the day, gaining 92 yards on the ground as Cleveland felt the need to have a very inexperienced QB throw 34 passes.

The Browns rank 28th in rushing attempts and 27th in yardage this season, which is by far the worst ranking for any offense coordinated or guided as a head coach by Kevin Stefanski.

Until last year, his teams were always in the top ten in rushing, and last season finished 12th and that was with Nick Chubb being injured in the second game of the year.

And when you think about it, the identity of the Cleveland Browns is the running game, tough, physical football. The greatest running back in the history of the game, Jim Brown, played here.

So did Marion Motley, Leroy Kelly, Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt, Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner both gained 1000 yards in the same season, and of course, Chubb has been one of the best runners of the last 10-15 years of NFL football.

It’s in the DNA to run the ball in Cleveland, and currently the Browns have an offensive coordinator who doesn’t like to run the ball.

Apparently, Stefanski’s success of running the football and using the play action pass didn’t figure into the decision in choosing the offensive coordinator because their ideas on offense seem to be at odds with each other.

To us, the first step to making this football team respectable when it has the football is to go back to the identity of the franchise and what the head coach clearly likes to do, and that is establish a solid running attack.

Back to Sunday’s loss. After that opening run by Ford, the Browns got no points because D’Onta Foreman fumbled on the one-yard line, presumably his last carry as a member of the brown and orange.

Cleveland’s biggest weapon of late, WR Jerry Jeudy was made useless by the switch in quarterbacks from Winston to Thompson-Robinson, who mostly dinked and dunked with short passes to Ford and David Njoku.

The turnover issues didn’t end with Winston’s benching as DTR threw two, and his career ratio now stands at one touchdown and nine picks in 180 attempts. We think we can all see he is not a legitimate starter in the NFL.

Congratulations to Myles Garrett on getting his 100th sack of his illustrious career. The front office has work to do in rebuilding this roster quick so Garrett will want to remain a Brown.

And of course, Dustin Hopkins missed an extra point, his only kick of the day. His confidence is clearly shaken, and he should not be kicking any more this year.

Not that these last two games really matter. It will be interesting to see at what point Stefanski pulls the plug on the DTR experience and goes to Bailey Zappe.

Merry Christmas! The Browns don’t play until Sunday!

A Pair Of Puzzling Moves For The Guardians

Hopefully, the Cleveland Guardians let us in on the grand plan pretty soon. All of their fans would like to think the organization wouldn’t take a step back after a trip to the American League Championship Series, but right now, there has to be some anxiousness.

That’s what has to be the thought after the Guardians traded Josh Naylor, who hit 31 home runs and knocked in 108 for Cleveland in 2024 to the Arizona Diamondbacks for right-handed pitcher Slade Cecconi, who had a devilish 6.66 ERA last season.

The Guardians ranked just 7th in the AL in runs scored for the season, and in the second half of the season they were near the bottom, and yet they dealt one of their best offensive players.

There are extenuating circumstances to this deal.

First, Naylor would be a free agent after next season, and with Kyle Manzardo ready to play first base, the odds of signing Naylor long term were slim, especially because it’s the Guardians.

The return wasn’t much. Cecconi is 25 years old and has pitched 104 big league innings, sporting a 6.06 ERA, allowing 117 hits. We would guess unless he has a tremendous spring training, he will open the season in AAA.

Since the season ended, the organization shed a large contract and a potential free agent for a young pitcher who should be in the starting rotation, although he has only 30 big league starts.

Not really looking like an organization that is “going for it” in terms of taking the next step and getting to the World Series.

However, the Hot Stove season is not over and hopefully there is a big move coming soon.

It does appear the ownership wants to stay in the same area as last year in terms of payroll, despite an attendance boost and some nice post-season gates. We’ll probably soon hear from the local media defenders of the Dolan family and how tough they have it financially in a small market.

Making the trade even more confusing was the signing of veteran Carlos Santana, whom the Guards will be paying $12 million next year, albeit on a one year deal. In his third stint with Cleveland, he seems to be a platoon partner with Manzardo, having hammered right-handed pitching with Minnesota last season at a 934 OPS.

He had a .354 on base percentage vs. righties.

The switch-hitter has played 1334 games with the organization and ranks tied for 6th in homers with 216, and second in walks.

Right now, the Guardians aren’t as good as they were last season. We like Manzardo, but he’s still not a proven player, so Cleveland has question marks on the right side of the infield.

They are still short in the starting pitching depth as well. We have maintained we were okay with a deal for Naylor if it were a baseball trade for a proven starter, but that’s not what it was.

So, the front office is still on the clock. They need to improve this team, which won 92 games a year ago in a surprisingly tough division.

Fans will be understandably upset, but they aren’t the reason another move needs to be made. The front office traded one of their leaders, which won’t sit well in the clubhouse.

It also may not sit well with Jose Ramirez, who took a hometown discount to remain here.

Hopefully, Guardians’ fans won’t have to wait long for some much-needed good news.

Cavs Getting Threes From Good Shooters

It seems the NBA is going through a controversy about the three-point shot. Watching some games, it seems like all that is missing is the rack of balls used doing the contest on All-Star Saturday night.

One of the games’ best young players, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, is shooting over 10 threes per game (he’s making 42.4%), and Boston’s Jayson Tatum is doing the same. In all, five players are shooting that kind of volume.

Four of the guys ranking in the top ten in attempts are shooting less than 36% from distance. We know the analytics say making 33% of the threes is the same as shooting 50% from the field, but our numbers show a made two-point shot is better than a missed three-point shot.

This brings us to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Many people have talked about their shooting this season, but they rank just 10th in the league in taking shots from beyond the arc, but they lead the NBA in percentage, knocking down 39.9%.

The teams who have taken the most threes are Boston (13th in percentage made), Chicago (9th), Charlotte (17th), Golden State (12th), and Minnesota (14th).

What we think that says about the wine and gold is they aren’t just shooting threes to shoot them, they are getting quality looks and having good shooters take those shots.

The Cavaliers who have taken the most threes are Donovan Mitchell (9.2), Darius Garland (6.8), Sam Merrill (5.5), Georges Niang (4.6), and Dean Wade (4.3). Two of those players, Merrill and Niang have reputations as snipers, meaning they are first and foremost long-distance shooters.

Mitchell is knocking down 40.4% from beyond the arc and Garland is at 41.8%. The two players with the reps are at 33.3% (Merrill) and 36.3% (Niang). Wade is shooting just 30.5%, and we wish he would not take as many shots from outside.

Wade is a career 36.4% three-point shooter, but if you take out his seven best three-shooting games (yes, we know he had them) in which he knocked down an unreal 38 of 57 shots, his career percentage drops to 33.4%.

What we are saying is that if his first couple long range shots don’t fall, he probably should get closer to the basket.

Other Cavs’ players have been super-efficient from long range. Isaac Okoro and Caris LeVert are both making around 49% from three, while Ty Jerome and Evan Mobley are both around 40% as well.

In our mind, the reason for all of the three-point shooting is the success Golden State had from 2015-2019 and the analytics group.

However, the reason for the Warriors’ success were both of their primary long-range shooters, Stephan Curry and Klay Thompson, both knocked down over 40% from behind the line.

People always talk about Trae Young’s range, but he’s 35.2% from three. LaMelo Ball likes to hoist them too, but he’s 37.2% for his career, and around 35.5% over the last two years.

It’s one thing to take three-point shots, it’s another to make them. Part of the Cavaliers’ early success is having good shooters taking good shots. Shooting them doesn’t make a team effective, making them does.

Mistakes, Turnovers, And Other Assorted Errors Lead To Yet Another Loss

When you lose the turnover margin 6-0 in an NFL game, we would guess the odds are monumental against winning the game, so perhaps the best thing we can say about the Cleveland Browns is they only lost 21-7 to the defending Super Bowl champs despite that turnover margin.

The game started well with the defense forcing a three and out, but unbelievably, James Proche fumbled the punt and Kansas City recovered and quickly scored a touchdown.

It was the first of several special teams’ errors, mostly penalties, although Proche also caught a punt inside the five-yard line, and fair caught a few more because we assume he was cautious about fumbling another one.

Jameis Winston was benched after throwing three interceptions for the second game in the last three games and has now thrown eight the last three contests. Who starts next week? Our guess would be Dorian Thompson-Robinson, although on a postgame show, both Josh Cribbs (can he come back and return kicks) and Eric Metcalf both thought Winston still is the best option.

Before the game, it was reported that the team could bring back Deshaun Watson next year. We understand Watson is still under contract, but why would anyone in the organization leak that news, especially now? If asked about him, just say “no comment”.

Whether or not the Browns stay with Winston, there is simply no way you can bring Watson into training camp next summer, salary cap hit or not. Seeing his name infuriates most fans, so what is the point of having discussions about him?

Back to the game, another downer was the injury to Nick Chubb, lost for the season with a broken foot. Chubb did lose a rare fumble, but also had 41 yards on nine carries, and seems to be getting some of his explosiveness back. The last two games he has 20 carries for 89 yards, more like traditional Chubb numbers.

The Browns need to bring him back next year.

Also, kudos to Jerry Jeudy who caught 11 passes for 108 yards, his third 100+ game in the last five and we went over the 1000-yard mark on receptions, the first time he accomplished this.

We were concerned about him early in the year, but he has found a rhythm with Winston, so at least there is that.

As happens on losing teams, players seem to play their way off the roster. Last week, we mentioned Kadarious Toney and Dustin Hopkins. This week, we became tired of Germain Ifedi, who can’t seem to get lined up correctly (and picked a dumb unsportsmanlike conduct penalty last week).

Geron Christian started last season for the Browns at left tackle and did a decent job, and he’s with the team. Why not start him for the rest of the year?

We already discussed Proche, but let us add Elijah Moore, who kind of has no role with the team. Moore was supposed to be kind of an all-purpose player who can make big plays, but he’s averaging 8.7 yards per reception on his 55 catches.

Let’s just say, we’d like to see more of Michael Woods II and Jamari Thrash going forward.

Three games left in this dreadful season. Who takes the snaps next week at Cincinnati? The guess would be Thompson-Robinson, but who knows, perhaps it’s Bailey Zappe.

It feels like the season can’t be over soon enough.

Looking At Second Base in ’25 For Guardians

With the winter meetings now history and the Cleveland Guardians making two trades, which both came out of nowhere, we can take a look at how the team shapes up, although there is still plenty of time to make moves with spring training not starting for two months.

Friday, team president Chris Antonetti named four candidates to play second base in place of Andres Gimenez: Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Daniel Schneemann, and rookie Juan Brito.

We said the other day that Brito should get the first shot. Why? It’s kind of weird to say this, but partially because we haven’t seen him in the big leagues.

Arias will be 25 next season and has 563 plate appearances with the Guardians. He has a 624 OPS in those at bats, and a strikeout to walk ratio of 182:42 and a 32.3% K rate. He has pop when he hits the ball, and that mesmerizes certain fans, but he simply hasn’t been very productive.

Freeman will be 26 and has the most big league at bats out of the quartet with 637 plate appearances and a 632 OPS. His strikeout to walk ratio is 94:42. He was the regular CF in April and May and was doing an acceptable job, but had a slump in June and after Schneemann was called up, lost playing time.

He has an 802 OPS in AAA, which is a pretty good pedigree.

The left-handed hitting Schneemann got off to a great start in AAA last year and carried it over to the big club, hitting .263 in June with a .362 on base average. After the All-Star Game, he hit .202 with a 555 OPS. The organization loved his versatility, but our opinion was the coaching staff loved him a little more than he deserved. He will be 28 this coming season.

Brito is a 23-year-old switch hitter who came over from Colorado for Nolan Jones. He has a career OPS in the minors of 834, including 807 last year in Columbus when he hit .256 with 88 walks and 61 extra base hits.

The Guardians hit more home runs last year than in 2023, but the number of doubles went way down. Brito had 40 doubles for the Clippers last year.

He doesn’t have a great reputation with the glove, and the organization started playing him at 1B, 3B, and RF last season, but as we say many times, get the lead and you can put a glove in the game, either Arias or Freeman, because we don’t think too much of Schneemann’s glove.

Also, have to think Angel Martinez is also in the mix, but his 635 OPS might suggest he needs more time in AAA, as he only has 169 plate appearances and will only be 23-years-old.

Despite getting Luis Ortiz, the Guardians still need starting pitching. Yes, they kept Shane Bieber, but he likely won’t be ready until the second half of the season.

We wonder what the cost would be for a guy like Lance Lynn (7-4, 3.84 ERA, 109 Ks in 117 IP for St. Louis) or a Jose Quintana (10-10, 3.75 ERA in 170 IP for the Mets) would cost.

Both guys would soak up some much-needed innings for Steven Vogt.

And yes, we would still consider Hunter Gaddis for a move back to the rotation. He’s more valuable getting 15-18 outs than three.

Antonetti did say the team has some money to spend with the trade of Gimenez. We still believe the Guardians should increase the payroll from last year anyway, but the reason for the deal was to get out from what was looking to be a bad contract in a couple of years.

Let’s hope that wasn’t media speak by the organization.