Moving Quantrill Is Odd, Getting Barlow Is Good

Former Guardians’ manager Terry Francona, and yes, it’s weird to write that, used to say that when you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get some more. Apparently, Cleveland is no subscribing to that adage with one of their first off-season moves.

In order to add rookies Daniel Espino and Cade Smith to the 40-man roster, the Guardians designated Cal Quantrill for assignment.

Quantrill will likely never be in the conversation for a Cy Young Award, but he is a reliable starting pitcher.

The Guards received minor league catcher Kody Huff from Colorado, he played in A ball last season. Team president Chris Antonetti said the Guardians didn’t think Quantrill was worth the likely $6 million he would receive in arbitration, and in a vacuum, he’s probably right.

However, sometimes there is hidden value. With Shane Bieber (who may be traded) and Triston McKenzie coming off injuries, if they aren’t ready, the starting rotation right now looks like Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Logan Allen, and a mixture of Hunter Gaddis, rookie Joey Cantillo, Xzavion Curry, and perhaps Cody Morris.

That would be three second-year starters, who have no proven track record in the bigs, and a bunch of arms without a track record in the majors.

Wouldn’t Quantrill, a proven big-league starter have some value to Cleveland? He has made 94 big league starts, pitching to a 4.06 ERA in those outings.

If you were a contending club, or one who says they are, you would want pitchers who you know can give you a decent outing. And as much as we like Bibee, Williams, and Allen, we don’t know if they will pitch as well in 2024.

So, if we were Antonetti and Mike Chernoff, we’d be looking for an established starting pitcher. Our philosophy as a GM would be to guard against things as best you can if things go wrong. With the injuries to Bieber and McKenzie, and depending on second-year players, we think a lot could go wrong.

Cleveland did make another trade on Friday, getting reliever Scott Barlow from San Diego for Enyel De Los Santos.

De Los Santos had two solid years here, pitching in 120 games with a 3.18 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 119 innings, but seemed more comfortable in a sixth or seventh inning role. His ERA is almost a run higher in the 8th than in the 7th in his career.

Barlow has closing experience, saving 53 games with the Royals from 2021 to 2023, including 13 last year before being dealt to the Padres. He’s also a strikeout pitcher, fanning 393 hitters in 332 innings for his career.

He should give Emmanuel Clase some relief at times, because he seemed to be the only reliable alternative the team had in ’23.

And he would also seem to move Trevor Stephan, who struggled mightily in the second half last year into more of a 7th inning role.

The Guardians also signed Ramon Laureano to a one-year deal, after he hit .243/.342/.382/724 after being released by Oakland. He also has a career 791 OPS vs. lefties since coming to the major leagues.

They paid Laureano a reported $5.1 million next year, and that makes us wonder about Myles Straw’s future. Laureano can play CF and RF, and is a good defensive outfielder. It’s hard to see Cleveland paying Straw $4.9 million (and it escalates in ’25 and ’26) and Laureano.

Just something to keep an eye on and the hot stove season moves on.

No Watson, But Browns Will Need To Find A Way

Well. it didn’t take long for the euphoria of a road win over Baltimore to be drowned out. Yesterday, the Browns announced that Deshaun Watson has a fracture in his shoulder and will miss the rest of the regular season.

Suddenly the Browns, sitting with the third best record in the AFC at 6-3 are unstable at the most important position on the field. Watson was coming off an excellent second half against the Ravens, completing all 14 of his passes and leading the team back from a 31-17 deficit in the fourth quarter.

It’s a tough blow for the Browns, but it will be interesting to see how the organization will go from here.

We understand that fans will be downhearted and thinking “woe is us”, but GM Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski will not be doing that. They will be figuring out how to win without their starting quarterback going forward.

We didn’t think Stefanski was thrilled with P.J. Walker’s play after the Seattle game because of all the turnovers, so apparently rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson will get the nod vs. Pittsburgh.

We are sure the offense will also play it close to the vest in an effort to limit turnover opportunities and that’s fine. We saw in exhibition games that the rookie’s legs can be a weapon.

However, you would think Berry will be looking over what QBs are available now that the trading deadline has passed. The best candidates seem to be Joe Flacco, Colt McCoy or Nick Foles.

If you sign a veteran, it will take him some time to ramp up and learn the offense, so it would seem it’s DTR for the next few games, unless he plays good enough to win games.

Among the veteran free agents, Flacco is 38-years-old and played in five games with the Jets last season, famously guiding New York to a comeback win over Cleveland. He completed 57.6% of his passes with five touchdowns and three interceptions. He also brings the mobility of a flagpole.

McCoy is 37 and played in four games with Arizona last year, completing 68.2% of his throws with a TD and three picks. It would seem he could handle a short passing offense right now.

Foles is the youngest at 34, and he played in just three games with the Colts last season, completing 59.5% of his throws with no touchdowns and four throws to the opposition. Since leaving Philadelphia after the 2018 season, he’s been pretty mediocre.

Before the season started, we had the opinion the success of the Browns hinged on the play of Watson. If he was back to his Houston form, the Browns would be a very good football team in 2023. And if not, Cleveland made a big mistake.

Because the defense has played this well in ’23, we have changed our opinion. This team can still get to the playoffs without Watson this season. If Stefanski can coax decent quarterback play out of whoever starts, we still believe the post-season is in play.

The players and coaching staff are not going to give up on the season. Both groups understand how talented this football team is. We said earlier in the week that the Browns were a power running team and that hasn’t changed with Watson’s injury.

The timing of this, coming off a big win, does suck though. No disputing that.

Make No Mistake, The Browns Are One Tough Football Team

The Cleveland Browns showed unbelievable toughness and patience in a huge road win at Baltimore Sunday, defeating the Ravens 33-31 to move to 6-3 on the season.

The toughness was evident in running for 178 yards against the league’s second-best defense. Led by Jerome Ford’s 107 yards on 17 carries, the running backs and offensive line set a tone in the trenches, and it was a huge factor in the game.

The patience is from the coaching staff. Cleveland trailed 14-0, 17-3, 24-9, and 31-17 in this game, and Kevin Stefanski stuck with the game plan, continuing to mix the run and the pass, and it paid off with a win.

We think Stefanski in the past would have gone pass happy being down two touchdowns, even in the first half, but perhaps with his experience, he has learned it is a long game. Maybe that sort of thing happens when you keep a head coach for more than two years.

For many years, we have been envious of Pittsburgh and Baltimore and the winning culture developed by both teams over time. Well, it looks like the Browns are starting to develop a culture, a style of play.

Many fans and media rhapsodized about Deshaun Watson directing a wide-open offense, with five receivers spread out, and the team throwing the ball all over the field. But that’s not what this team is about.

The 2023 Browns are a physical power running team even without Nick Chubb. Cleveland has run for 150 or more yards in six of the nine games this season, while only one opponent (Indianapolis) has been over that mark.

It’s an old football adage that you can’t win in the NFL unless you can run the ball and stop the run. Right now, the Browns are doing both pretty well.

In the passing game, Cleveland is getting the ball to their playmakers. Amari Cooper had another fine game with six catches for 98 yards, and TE David Njoku shook off an early drop to grab six passes for 58 yards, including a play on the final drive where he carried a Baltimore defender for at least 10 yards.

Defensively, it was another solid performance by the #1 unit in the league statistically. The scoreboard shows Cleveland allowed 31 points, but seven came off the pick six on the game’s second play, and another touchdown came after James Proche fumbled a punt on the Browns’ 11 yard line.

And in that latter situation, the Ravens were stopped twice only to see a couple of “ticky tack” calls give them more opportunities. It was like an 11 play drive to get those 11 yards.

Both teams had a defensive score, as Greg Newsome took his first NFL interception to the house, and Jim Schwartz’ unit held the Ravens to 306 yards and sacked the elusive Lamar Jackson three times.

And of course, they had a key stop in the fourth quarter to get the ball back for the game winning drive.

It’s the second time this season the Browns have defeated “the best team in the league”, having defeated the 49ers earlier, and the Ravens were getting that label before this week.

Next Sunday is another opportunity to avenge a defeat with Pittsburgh coming to town. A look at the conference standings shows only Kansas City with less losses than the Browns.

This is tough football team, northeast Ohio, just like you always wanted. And there is no reason to think the Browns won’t be in the thick of the playoff chase as the calendar turns to December.

Helping Mobley And Questioning The Cavs’ Pace

It’s still early in the NBA season for sure. Common wisdom says the season doesn’t really begin until the Christmas Day games are played. We aren’t worried about the Cleveland Cavaliers at this point, but we do wonder about some things.

As pretty much every coach does, J.B. Bickerstaff said he wanted the Cavs to play with more pace this season. They were last in that category a year ago and they have moved up to 11th in 2023-24.

However, that increased pace has come with a price. The wine and gold led the NBA in defensive efficiency last season and have dropped to 11th this season. To be fair, the Cavaliers have played the league’s best offense in Indiana twice and have also played high octane Oklahoma City twice.

We understand Koby Altman wanted to improve the three point shooting this season, signing Max Strus and Georges Niang. However, can the Cavs play a style that spreads the floor while still playing their defensive anchors, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

Many teams have shifted to an offense with one man inside and the other four players spread out around the perimeter. With Allen and Mobley, the Cavs cannot do that.

That’s okay. It’s not necessary to play like everyone else. There are many ways to win in the NBA.

The key in our opinion is Mobley. We have heard fans and media alike complain the third-year player has not taken “the leap”. To date, he is averaging 16.1 points per game, down a bit from the 16.2 a year ago. His rebounding, assists, and blocks are all up.

Our response when we are asked about the big man is usually what are the Cavs doing to help him put up better numbers. We feel a more productive Mobley makes the wine and gold a better team.

Bickerstaff and his staff have to make it a point to get Mobley involved in the offense more, and the easiest way to do that is to get him the ball at the high post, where with his height and court vision, he can be effective. Think about him as sort of a Nikola Jokic type, without the dribbling up the court.

From there, he could play the high/low game that has been effective with Jarrett Allen on the blocks, attack the basket, or if a double team comes, he can find the open man. The underrated part of Mobley’s game is his passing in our opinion.

What is needed though is some sacrifice from Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell to get Mobley some touches at the elbow. For Mitchell, he can pass the ball and then get it back off a cut.

That would require more of a half court approach, and that would mean slowing the pace a bit, which is turn probably helps the defense. Again, it’s early and with the injuries that cost Allen and Garland time in the season’s first two weeks, perhaps Cleveland just needs to find a rhythm.

On the other hand, maybe it’s just a matter of getting done with this trip and having a stretch of seven of eight games at home. However, it does appear quickening the pace has hurt the Cavs’ defense.

It’s a season of adjustments, and maybe Bickerstaff has to pull back on the throttle a bit to find the team’s comfort zone.

On The Guards’ New Skipper

The Cleveland Guardians picked the successor to Terry Francona earlier this week when they tabbed Steven Vogt to be the new skipper of the Guards.

Is it a good move? We have no idea. Vogt just retired as a player after the 2022 season and spent last year as Seattle’s bullpen coach. He just turned 39 years old earlier this week. He made two all-star teams as a player.

That’s what we know about Vogt. We aren’t going to make any claims as to how he will do as a manager because he’s never done it before. And that doesn’t mean he will not be good at the job; it simply means he has no track record.

The front office did their due diligence reportedly speaking to Francona and other experienced skippers about what they feel was the best attributes to having success as a manager. They felt Vogt had those qualities and it is a good thing that he can still recall what it was like to be a player.

It reminds you what things you can ask a player to do.

Apparently, Sandy Alomar Jr. will remain on the coaching staff and his experience should be invaluable to Vogt as he navigates his way through a 162 game regular season. And Carl Willis, the Guardians’ long time and very successful pitching coach will also remain on the staff.

Vogt couldn’t hope for two better guys to be able to bounce ideas off, and hopefully, he listens to them as well in terms of communication from a manager’s standpoint, rather than that as a veteran leader.

He should develop a relationship with Jose Ramirez as soon as possible. Ramirez is the Guardians’ de facto captain and bonding with him and getting his support will go a long way into having the rest of the roster buying in.

Francona liked having veteran leadership in the locker room. In his first year in Cleveland, he had Jason Giambi in that role. Because Ramirez has been here awhile, an older player isn’t needed for that purpose, but Vogt and Ramirez need to be a team.

We would like to see the new pilot and the organization be a little more flexible about starting the season with rookies in everyday spots. Francona seemed to be a little more concerned with cold weather affecting the performance of rookies, but we would like to see them as opposed to mediocre veterans with track records.

It is a bold choice for sure and for that we commend the front office.

Speaking of the front office, they already improved the catching situation by claiming Christian Bethancourt on waivers from Tampa Bay. He belted 11 homers last season (635 OPS) and has a rocket for an arm, he pitched for a bit in the minors early in his career.

He doesn’t have a great strikeout/walk ratio, but is certainly better than Cam Gallagher, who put together one of the worst offensive seasons we have seen in a long time.

We don’t understand the other waiver pick up, 1B/OF Alfonso Rivas, who slashed .303/.422/725 with Pittsburgh and San Diego last season. He’s not an on base guy and doesn’t have a lot of pop either. He is having a good winter league season and had good numbers in AAA last season.

Just seems like a AAAA player right now. However, he may not be on the 40-man roster by the time spring training begins.

And that spring training will be guided by a new manager for the first time since 2013. Maybe Vogt can be the first World Series winning manager for Cleveland since 1948.

Workmanlike Win, Big Week Ahead For Browns

Workmanlike. Professional. Those are the words we are using to describe the Browns domination of the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Cleveland won 27-0 and moved to 5-3 on the season.

The Cardinals came into the game with a 1-7 record and were starting a rookie, Clayton Tune at quarterback. So, the Browns did what should have been expected by every fan going into the contest. They totally controlled the game.

Still, Arizona is in the NFL but the Cleveland defense held them to 58 yards of total offense and sacked Tune seven times. We didn’t get excited about the performance, but it was still satisfying, if that makes sense.

We wanted Deshaun Watson to play in this game in order to get the rust off before a couple of big divisional games against Baltimore and Pittsburgh, and he did just that, completing 19 of 30 throws for 219 yards and a couple of touchdowns.

He also ran three times for 22 yards, but there were a couple of plays early when he could have run and instead dumped short passes to Jerome Ford. We thought that was good thinking on his part and something the coaches reminded him of before the game.

However, even with Watson, Kevin Stefanski ran the ball a lot, 40 times to be exact, although that includes the three carries by Watson. Certainly, having Watson available is much better than playing P.J. Walker, but we couldn’t help thinking the Browns are a power run team, even though Nick Chubb isn’t playing.

Cleveland has run for 150 yards or more in five of their eight games and has only been below 100 yards twice, the first two games after Chubb was injured.

Stefanski is still using a lot of not only two or three tight end sets, but he is using offensive lineman Nick Harris at fullback to add another blocker to help the running game. Right now, that’s the Browns’ offensive identity.

Also, this was the first game all year where the brown and orange did not turn the ball over. It was only the second time they won the turnover battle (the Colts’ game was the other) and they are 2-0 in those contests.

That trend will need to continue in the next two games against the Ravens and Steelers. Baltimore allows just 262.5 yards per game defensively, second to Cleveland’s 234.8. It shapes up as a rugged defensive battle.

Remember the Browns started Dorian Thompson-Robinson the first time these two teams met, and Cleveland turned it over three times, gaining just 166 yards for the game. And the 131 yards rushing Baltimore gained was exceeded only by Indianapolis’ 168 in the 39-38 win on the road.

Jim Schwartz knows Baltimore will want to establish the run, as the Ravens are the #1 running team in the NFL and making the job more complicated is having to keep Lamar Jackson in the pocket.

And it would also be nice if TE Mark Andrews was kept in check, he has killed the Cleveland defense so many times in his career, it borders on ridiculousness.

There are now only three teams in the AFC and five overall with less losses than the Browns are we are now into November. The next two weeks should serve as a measuring stick as to where this team, and both its offense and defense are as the holiday season commences.

We are still confident this is a playoff team. Here’s hoping next Sunday doesn’t shake that feeling.

Reviewing Cleveland’s Prospects From Five Years Ago

We believe that the basis for having a good organization in major league baseball is to have a very good player development program. Especially if you are a smaller market team.

Although we think every major league team could spend tons of money on players (after all, they are all millionaires or billionaires), many teams have a philosophy of not spending, a lot of them because the bang isn’t worth the buck.

For every Corey Seager or Marcus Semien from the newly crowned world champion Texas Rangers that works out, you have a Javier Baez or Jason Heyward.

However, in building a farm system, fans need to understand that the payoff rate for prospects is also not good.

We like to do this every winter, but let’s take a look at the Guardians’ farm system from 2018, five years ago. A system that ranked in the middle of the pack among major league teams, at #15.

Who has worked out, who hasn’t. Here is the list from Baseball America:

1). Francisco Mejia
2). Triston McKenzie
3). Bobby Bradley
4). Nolan Jones
5). Shane Bieber
6). Yu Chang
7). Willi Castro
8). Greg Allen
9). George Valera
10). Will Benson

In our books, there is one all-star type player from this list, and that’s Bieber, who won a Cy Young Award in the COVID shortened season of 2020. He’s 60-32 lifetime, made two all star appearances and thrown 200 innings twice. He has had injury issues in two of the last three seasons.

Although we think McKenzie is very good if he can stay healthy, and he was good in the second half of 2021 and in ’22 (11-11, 2.96 ERA), right now, there is concern over his elbow. But, if he can pitch, he’s a very good starting pitcher.

Mejia was the most highly regarded prospect, but we don’t think the organization felt he could be a full time catcher and traded him to San Diego for Brad Hand. In over 1000 big league at bats, he has a 678 OPS (.239/.284/.394). He never reached what was projected for him.

The book is still out on Jones and Benson, both of whom had very good seasons after being traded by Cleveland after the ’22 season. Jones had a 931 OPS for Colorado, but we worry about a strikeout rate that is over 30% in his time in the big leagues.

Benson had an 863 OPS with Cincinnati, but he fanned in 31.3% of his at bats. High strikeout rates don’t bode well for long term success in the majors.

Bradley, Chang, and Allen never found extended success in the majors, and although the latter two played in the bigs last season, neither are on 40 man rosters heading into the winter.

Castro was traded to Detroit, but had his best year with the Twins this season as kind of a super-utility player, playing six positions, and had a 750 OPS with 33 stolen bases.

What was funny to us was that we’ve been talking about Valera for so long. He had an 816 OPS between AA/AAA in 2022, but fell to 718 at Columbus last season, fighting a lot of injuries. He has pop and patience, but the batting average in his minor league career is just .242, but he gets on base 36.3% of the time.

So, out of the top ten, the successes are Bieber, McKenzie, Jones, Benson, and Castro, although the latter three should be re-evaluated at this time next year.

Valera is still a prospect, probably still top ten in the Cleveland system. The other four simply didn’t pan out.

Keep that in mind when you look at the list that will come out this winter.

Maybe Cavs Need To Slow Pace, Play Better Defense

The Cleveland Cavaliers have entered the 2023-24 season with a seemingly endless list of injuries, and they are going to have their work cut out for them to not bury themselves in the standings.

They are 2-3 already and have two games against the Warriors and another game against Oklahoma City next week. If they don’t get Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen back soon, it shapes up as a very difficult early season for J. B. Bickerstaff’s squad.

Getting two players who made the all-star team two years ago will no doubt help the Cavs, but so far, we sense a difference about this team, and it’s not anything good.

Perhaps the Bickerstaff learned something in the first four games. Coaches always come into training camp talking about increasing pace, wanting to play faster. Of course, last season Cleveland played at the slowest pace in the league.

In the first four games, they increased the pace to 18th in the NBA and lost three of the first four. Last night, probably because they were still shorthanded, they slowed it down, and won.

Coincidence? Maybe, but maybe not.

Sometimes teams can handle things at the defensive end even though they are playing faster, and maybe someday the Cavs will be able to do that. Right now, it doesn’t seem like a good fit, and again, it could be because of the injuries.

However, we still see some things haven’t changed with this organization.

We have crusaded for the addition of more size for a few years now, and the Cavaliers don’t seem to think it is necessary. Not having Allen just shines a spotlight on this. Cleveland has just five players 6’10” or more on the roster, but outside of Evan Mobley and Allen, they really don’t use them.

Outside of Mobley, those players have accumulated just 62 minutes of playing time in the first four games, and 29 of those are from rookie Emoni Bates, who is essentially a guard or small forward. Tristan Thompson (6’9″) has been a tough inside force the last two games.

The Cavs have remained pretty close on the rebounding side of things, mostly because Max Strus has grabbed 7.0 per game, far exceeding his career rate of 2.3. But taller and bigger players can defend better.

And right now, the Cavs, who ranked 1st in defensive efficiency last season, are now 16th in the same category.

We know the organization put an emphasis on bringing in shooters this off-season, but it hasn’t paid off. Cleveland is certainly taking more threes, taking almost eight more per game than a year ago (37.8 vs. 31.6), but they are 20th in percentage of makes, down from 12th a year ago.

If your defense isn’t up to par, you need to have better shot selection. Right now, that’s not the case for the wine and gold.

The Cavaliers still seem to struggle to get Evan Mobley involved in the offense. Mobley ranks 4th on the team in shots, and two of the players ahead of him (Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert) have already missed a game. Sometimes within games, it seems like the big man is totally not involved offensively.

We are a believer in a hierarchy in getting shots, and with Garland and Allen out, Mobley should be getting the second most shots on the team.

There is no doubt the injuries have limited Bickerstaff’s use of the bench. Isaac Okoro, who has played very well to begin the season, has to start. Ty Jerome has missed two games with an injury, which pretty much leaves Georges Niang as the only second unit player in the role he was supposed to be in to start the year.

It’s just five games. And getting Allen, Garland, and LeVert back will surely help. But, the Cavs need to get back to their defensive roots and not be so dependent on the three-point shot.

That’s how they progressed from the time Bickerstaff started to being a playoff team. It’s their identity.

Key Turnovers Cost Browns (Again!)

We agree with the premise that play calling is overrated in the NFL. What this means is the execution is more important than the play call.

We are in the minority on this though, and that’s why we are sure that Browns’ coach Kevin Stefanski will be hammered throughout the week about the third down play with two minutes to go and the Browns holding a 20-17 lead in Seattle.

We know no one will want to do this, but why doesn’t the coach get credit for an offense that gained 385 yards, the second highest total all year (week 2 vs. Pittsburgh) without their starting QB and without Nick Chubb.

The Browns also controlled the clock, chewing up almost 37 minutes in time of possession.

The pass that would up being intercepted (off the helmet of a Seattle player) was a safe throw, but not executed properly. We asked someone who played QB in college and NFL Europe if it was a bad play call and was told no, the passer has to know where pressure is coming from and go somewhere else with the ball.

And there were two other receivers open.

The people saying the Browns should have run the ball in that situation are using the same logic the head coach used. Stefanski called a safe play and if Walker completes it, the Browns run out the clock and win the game.

The “should’ve called a run play” folks are assuming if the Browns do, they make the first down. There is no guarantee of that either.

And we are sure Seattle was playing run first.

While that pass was kind of flukey, having it deflect off a helmet, having P.J. Walker playing quarterback continues to be a problem because of turnovers. He was responsible for three more yesterday, giving him seven in the three games he’s appeared in this season.

FYI, that’s way too many.

Really, it’s amazing Cleveland is 4-3 on the season considering they have lost the turnover battles in six games in 2023! They are -9 on the season, and that simply isn’t a recipe for winning games in the NFL.

If Andrew Berry doesn’t trade for a veteran QB by today’s deadline, why not take another look at rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson against Arizona this Sunday? We know the rook struggled in his first start vs. Baltimore, but he didn’t get all the practice reps that week because the organization thought Deshaun Watson was going to be able to go.

Maybe, DTR can hold on to the ball better, and yes we know what he did against the Ravens.

And if you want to second guess Stefanski for something in Sunday’s game, we are curious as to why Kareem Hunt wasn’t in the game in the fourth quarter.

Hunt was Cleveland’s leading rusher on the day, and as usual, ran hard, getting 55 tough yards on 14 carries. This isn’t to denigrate Jerome Ford, who gained four yards per carry playing most of the final quarter, but Hunt is a dependable back for sure.

All in all, a victory next Sunday at home puts Cleveland at 5-3, and only the division leaders in the AFC have less losses and they all have two. Without Watson and Chubb, that’s not bad.

And we will say the same thing as we said after the week two loss to Pittsburgh. Eliminate the mistakes and things will be okay.

Browns Have To Improve Passing Game…By Trade?

The NFL trading deadline is on Halloween and there are rumors the Cleveland Browns will be active. However, if they are active, what will they focus on.

With Deshaun Watson’s shoulder issues, they should be on the hunt for a serviceable backup quarterback.

The Browns are built to win this year. They have a tremendous defense and GM Andrew Berry spent a lot of salary cap space on that side of the football, bringing in several defensive linemen to help out new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.

Simply put, the Browns do not have a functional pass offense. Even with Watson playing the first three games, Cleveland ranks second last in the NFL in passing yards, ahead of only the New York Jets.

They won the last two games with yeoman efforts from the defense, not allowing San Francisco to move the ball after an opening drive and creating turnovers against the Colts which led to at least 17 points.

Logic says that is not likely to continue.

P.J. Walker inspires no confidence even though he was at the helm in the last two games. He’s completed just 50% of his passes, hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass, but he has thrown three interceptions.

And it’s not like Walker is a running threat either. He’s run the ball just six times for four yards.

When Watson returns to the field again is anyone’s guess, and that’s not an insinuation that he doesn’t want to play, which we agree is total nonsense. It just seems like this is an injury where he could return next week against the Cardinals or he could be out another month.

No one seems to want to set a firm timetable, and we get that.

Because of that, Berry has to go out and get another quarterback. There is too much at stake for this season.

This may sound contradictory, but we also don’t want to pay an exorbitant price in a deal either. This is because we don’t want to replace Watson, we simply want to find someone better than Walker.

Here is what we mean about having a professional passing attack. The Browns’ opponent today, the Seattle Seahawks have five receivers with 10 or more catches and averaging over 10 yards per reception.

Cleveland has one, Amari Cooper who has caught 24 balls for 389 yards. Donovan Peoples-Jones is averaging 12.1 yards per catch but has just nine receptions on the season.

The Falcons rank middle of the pack in the league in passing yards and they have four receivers who fit this profile.

Elijah Moore and David Njoku rank first and third in terms of receptions for the Browns and both average just nine yards per catch.

Since Watson has been out, Cleveland QBs have not thrown a TD pass and has six picks. That’s just not acceptable, let alone for a team poised to make a playoff run.

Berry has to find someone who can complete simple 10-15 yard passes on a regular basis, something that shouldn’t be difficult to do.

We know coach Kevin Stefanski said he is happy with the quarterback room right now, but really what is supposed to say?

We don’t want to hear about trading Josh Dobbs, because no one was outraged about it at the time, and although Dobbs hasn’t played poorly, Arizona has only reached 20 points once in the last four games.

The Browns and Berry simply can’t take any chances. They have too much at stake to not have a decent passing attack.