Guardians Can’t Get Traction, And Know When To Question Tito

Treading water. Two steps forward, one step back. Stagnant.

These are all words that can be used to describe the Cleveland Guardians’ season to date. They are 28-33 after 61 games, and almost half of their games have been decided by one run, 29 of them, and they are 12-17.

By the way, winning one run games is pretty much luck. Bad teams can do well in them. The Kansas City Royals are 18-43 for the season. They are 7-6 in one run games. The Oakland A’s are 8-11 in these contests, and they are 13-50.

Sixty games into the season, and the Guards haven’t swept a series, and they’ve only been swept in a series once, that by the New York Mets.

Because of all of the close games, the decisions made by Terry Francona become magnified by fans, and most of the second guessing comes from emotion. Never forget that the word “fan” is derived from fanatic.

And we understand the frustration. We have said many, many times that Francona is not infallible, he makes mistakes. All managers do, but we don’t watch every game of other teams, so people don’t see the mistakes.

When a team’s bullpen isn’t going well, particularly the back end of it, the failures get magnified. While Emmanuel Clase hasn’t been as dominant as last year, he still leads the league in saves, and he’s only allowed one home run and walked just seven batters.

Getting to Clase has been the issue. The two primary set up men starting the year, James Karinchak and Trevor Stephan, have been prone to the long ball, and giving up dingers turn around games in a hurry. Enyel De Los Santos has been getting the job done, but he coughed up a lead on in the opener vs. Boston.

So, what does the skipper do? Our guess is he will go back to Karinchak and Stephan, with some Sam Hentges mixed in. We’ll see how that works out.

To us, the more concerning thing is the continued playing of guys who simply aren’t producing. We understand it’s a long season, but 61 games have been played, and while we are not saying to release anyone, the continuation of writing their names in the lineup every day is an organizational problem.

The Guardians’ best position playing prospect is Bo Naylor, and he is playing at the highest level of the minor leagues. The current Cleveland catchers rank last in the American League in WAR (wins above replacement player).

Is the organization really telling us Naylor couldn’t help the big league club? We have noted that Naylor has walked 46 times at Columbus. Mike Zunino and Cam Gallagher have combined to walk 16 times. At the very least, Naylor would make less outs than the catchers in Cleveland.

The second lowest rank in WAR among positions is shortstop. The Guardians’ roster and minor league system are loaded with highly ranked middle infielders. Do the Guards need to play Amed Rosario each night or could we look at possible alternatives that possibly could do better.

If you want to question Francona or the front office about something, these latter two issues would be better things to complain about.

Keep in mind though, that usually their patience gets rewarded, like the use of Josh Naylor vs. left-handed pitching.

The easiest thing to second guess is bullpen usage, because if the pitcher who comes in doesn’t do their job, the Guardians lose. The problem is everything is magnified because the offense hasn’t been doing its job and every other game is decided by one run.

Analyzing The Browns? To Us, It’s All On Watson

Every once in a while, we talk about the sports media in northeast Ohio being obsessed by the Cleveland Browns. We have three major league professional sports teams in the area, but we believe it is safe to say at least 85% of the coverage, both print and broadcast wise, is focused on the NFL team in town.

Over the past two weeks, the organized team activities (OTAs) have taken place, and from what we have heard and read, we believe the Browns have a solid chance to win the OTA Super Bowl, because they have looked great these past two weeks.

Really, they are a glorified practice without pads and in shorts, akin to playing touch football. Now, we understand the coaching staff has started to put the schemes in place, so the players will be ready with training camp open for real at the end of July.

So, we aren’t saying they aren’t important, but remember, this week’s activities are the only ones that are mandatory. Players don’t have to attend, and some of the team’s best players have not been there, but somehow Myles Garrett is the one who appears to have been singled out by many folks.

Those critics will claim Garrett should be there because he’s a leader on the team, but we think Nick Chubb and Joel Bitonio are both important voices in the locker room, and neither have appeared at the OTAs. What makes Garrett different?

We are sure Garrett has been in contact with Kevin Stefanski and new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and is up to speed on what the team is doing these past two weeks. Heck, he may be talking to both of them on an everyday basis.

If those two aren’t concerned, then the media and public shouldn’t be either, not that we would know if anyone in Berea is upset. They generally don’t tell anyone anything.

But we digress.

There is so much conversation about the Browns when really the evaluation of this football team is quite simple to us. It hinges on QB Deshaun Watson.

Quite simply, if Watson plays like he did in his last three seasons in Houston, the Browns will be playoff contenders at the very least.

In those three years, Watson completed 68.3%, 67.3%, and 70.2% of his throws and had at least 3800 passing yards in each, culminating in a league leading 4823 yards in 2020. Houston went 11-5 in the first of those years, and 10-6 in the second, before their defense allowed the sixth most points in the NFL in ’20, resulting in a 4-12 record.

If Watson plays like he did in his six game return a year ago, with a 58.2% completion rate, then the Browns will not be any good, and likely will be looking for a new coach for 2024.

And if the latter occurs, Cleveland is basically screwed because of the enormous price the franchise paid for Watson, which of course included three first-round draft picks.

It would also start once again the search for a franchise quarterback, something the Browns have been looking for since Bernie Kosar started getting banged up physically. That’s a road no one should be willing to revisit.

So, whether people like it or not, it’s all on Watson. Personally, we feel he was one of the top five QBs in the sport in Houston and we see no reason why he cannot return to that form.

However, it’s seeming weird that folks want to invent all kinds of other scenarios for the Browns’ success. They added a top-notch defensive coordinator with a history of success.

The roster is dotted with stars on both sides of the ball.

If Watson is the Watson of old, there is no reason for not having a playoff season.

The Rosario Dilemma

Last season, Amed Rosario was a key cog in the Cleveland Guardians winning the American League Central Division championship.

He was third in the league in hits with 180 and led the AL in triples with nine. He was a big reason the Guardians’ offense put pressure on opposing defenses. Along with leadoff man Steven Kwan and #3 hole hitter Jose Ramirez, the Guards would go first to third relentlessly with three speedsters at the top of the lineup.

Rosario isn’t an on base machine, because he rarely walks, but he hit .283 and had a .312 on base percentage, so he was effective where he was at.

However, the shortstop’s value as an everyday player comes from his batting average because as we said, he doesn’t walk, and he really isn’t an extra base hit machine either.

For example, last year Rosario slugged .403 about the same as Kwan. What makes Kwan a better than average offensive player was his .373 on base average, about 60 points higher than the man who follows him to the plate most nights.

FYI, Kwan’s OBP has dipped this season to .342.

The three seasons Rosario had an OPS+ of over 100 (that’s average), his batting averages were .287 (2019), .282 (2021), and .283 (2022). If he’s not hitting at around the .275 level, he’s a poor offensive player. Right now, he’s at 65.

Now you make think that’s true for everyone, but it’s not. Currently, Josh Naylor has an OPS+ of 109 and he’s batting just .253. But Naylor walks a bit more and has 16 extra base hits, making his slugging percentage .437.

The right-handed hitter currently has the worst OPS+ among Cleveland regulars, yes worse than Myles Straw (77), Mike Zunino (73), and Will Brennan (82). Another disappointment for the Guardians is free agent signee Josh Bell, and he’s at 92.

Cleveland lives with Straw’s below average offense (for how much longer, we will see) because he’s an elite defensive centerfielder, a Gold Glove winner a year ago.

Rosario is a below average defender. He ranks last on the Guardians in defensive runs saved, just behind Zunino. You can probably make the argument that of the shortstops currently on the big league roster, including Andres Gimenez, who played the position in the minor leagues, he’s the worst defensively.

That list would include Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, and Brayan Rocchio, who has played a pair of games there.

So what gives?

We realize many people will use the argument that Rosario is a close friend of Jose Ramirez, who lobbied for a contract extension for him last season, but we refuse to believe that’s the reason, management keeps writing his name in the lineup.

We think it’s the usual patience vs. stubbornness we see from the organization all the time. They believe based on the past two seasons, Rosario will get hot any day now, and the team will reap the benefits.

But that’s the problem with hitters whose entire worth is based on batting average and another problem with players who don’t have an idea of the strike zone. Rosario’s strikeout to walk ratio for his career is 607:136, he’s never walked more than 31 times in a season.

His walk ratio is actually up this year (5.8% compared to his lifetime mark of 4.5%), but his strikeout rate (22.3%) is also higher (19.9%). Pitchers usually figure out they can get these guys out without throwing strikes, thus the effectiveness wanes.

We aren’t saying to “run away” from Rosario, as Francona likes to say. However, we are saying perhaps it’s time to see what Freeman and/or Arias can do with increased playing time.

That Rosario can be a free agent after this season, doesn’t help his argument.

Cavs Need More Than Tinkering To Advance Next Year.

In watching the NBA playoffs, we continuously think about the Cavaliers’ first round defeat in five games at the hands of the New York Knicks. We think about it because the Eastern Conference’s 8th seed, the Miami Heat, advanced to the NBA Finals

We also think watching the Heat and this is a huge off-season for the Cavs’ organization, and the heat should be turned up on the seats of both Koby Altman and J.B. Bickerstaff.

In reading wrap ups about the series, it seems the scapegoats for fans and some media are Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen.

Mitchell takes blame because he is the star player, and when many national analysts look at a team’s failure, they perceive the problem as the best player simply didn’t play well enough.

Allen takes blame because Cleveland was hammered on the boards, and since he’s the center, it’s his fault. We aren’t saying he’s blameless, but part of the problem was the Cavs’ defensive philosophy. Allen was in help mode and was caught out of position.

Our feeling is the coaching staff did little to help either player. The Knicks were trapping Mitchell and Darius Garland to force them to give up the ball, but it seems the coaches never came up with a counter.

Why not move Mitchell off the ball and have him run off screens to get open and get the ball where he can just shoot it with a good look? As of Allen and Mobley, it doesn’t seem like the wine and gold run anything for either offensively. Therefore, teams don’t really need to guard them to take away anything.

As for Altman, he gets a lot of praise for getting Mitchell and drafting Mobley. While we can debate the price for the former, it doesn’t take a special basketball mind to go after a multiple time all-star player. It takes guts to give up what is needed, but it’s not like he found a diamond in the rough.

He did take a chance on Mobley in some regards, as we didn’t think he would have made an impact so quickly because of his slight build. But there is no questioning his talent.

NFL general managers make their reputation on finding gems in the later rounds of the draft, the 4th, 5th, and 6th rounds. To us, NBA GMs make their bones finding solid players to make up the bench.

Right now, we would say Altman has not done a good job in that regard, and let’s face it, he whiffed on the Isaac Okoro pick at #5, despite what the organization continues to tell you.

Of the 58 players in that draft who played in the NBA, Okoro ranks 51st in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player). Among the players the Cavaliers could have selected are Tyrese Haliburton, who made the all-star team this season, Onyeka Okongwu, who was selected with the very next pick (9.9 PPG, 7.2 RPG this year), and the player we wanted, Obi Toppin, a 6’9″ player who can play on the wing.

Because of injuries, Dylan Windler simply hasn’t contributed, and when he has played, he’s made just 32.2% of his threes, belying his reputation as a shooter.

And the bench just isn’t there. The front office has decided to sign veteran big men the last two years who simply can’t play anymore (Ed Davis and Robin Lopez). They’ve put an immense amount of trust in Dean Wade, who we feel would be at the bottom of most team’s rosters.

He signed Sam Merrill after the trading deadline, apparently to add shooting, but Merrill has been hanging around the NBA for three years and has played in 11 games since his rookie year.

Despite Altman’s comments about staying the course this off-season, if the Cavaliers want to contend for a spot in at least the Eastern Conference finals, they have to bolster the roster from spots #8 through #10, and get much better at small forward.

Doesn’t sound like tinkering, does it?

Guardians Have To Solve A Problem. This Time A Good Problem.

In baseball, there is an adage that you cannot have enough pitching. Terry Francona offers a corollary when he says when you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get some more.

In the next week or so, we will find out what the Cleveland Guardians will do when starting pitchers Triston McKenzie and Aaron Civale come off the injured list.

Civale made two starts at the beginning of the season, while McKenzie was injured at the end of training camp and has been out the entire season.

The Guards weathered the storm with the help of their so called “pitching factory”. They used Hunter Gaddis, who was going to make the Opening Day roster out of the bullpen as a starter to replace McKenzie, and when Civale went down, they went with Peyton Battenfield first, and then went to Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee, when Gaddis struggled.

Battenfield went 0-5 with a 5.19 ERA before he went on the IL with should soreness, but Allen and Bibee seem to have earned the right to stay on the big league roster.

Allen, a lefty, has made seven starts covering 39.2 innings and posted an ERA of 2.72 striking out 43 batters, walking 11, and allowing 39 hits. He really has had just one bad start, that vs. the Angels, who peppered him with eight hits in 4+ frames.

Otherwise, he has given his team a chance to win in every other start.

If possible, Bibee has been even better, going 1-1 with a 2.88 ERA in his six starts, pitching 34-1/3 innings, allowing 28 hits and fanning 34 batters, walking eight. He too had a struggle in just one of his outings, a 3-2/3 inning effort vs. Detroit where he allowed seven hits and four runs.

It is safe to assume both have earned their place on the varsity roster, but remember, the organziation will likely want to manage the innings for both as the season goes on.

Both pitched 132 innings a year ago, their most since turning professional. Conventional wisdom would say the brass will want to keep them around 150-155 this season. Adding 20 innings per season is kind of the mark in trying to avoid arm issues.

There is one open spot in the rotation, the one Gaddis currently holds, so according to reports, Civale will take the next turn against Minnesota on Friday night.

As for McKenzie, do the Guardians go with a six man rotation to limit the innings for Allen and Bibee? Or could have move Cal Quantrill back to the bullpen to help a relief corps that is searching for outs.

Right now, McKenzie is scheduled to pitch the series finale in the Twin Cities this weekend.

The problem with the Quantrill move is once you do it, it would be difficult to bring him back to the rotation if the two rookies start to falter.

Another option would be a modified six man rotation is which Shane Bieber pitches with his preferred fifth day, and the others worked off of that.

Allen could have made the decision a bit easier, but he threw an absolute gem yesterday, allowing just three hits and whiffing 10 in seven shutout frames.

We will see what Terry Francona and the front office decides later in the week.

Guardians Failing In All Aspects Right Now

The Cleveland Guardians are close to reaching the 1/3rd point of the season, so claims that it is “still early” are ringing hollow. Right now, there are more negatives about certain facets of the ballclub than positives.

The offense has been abysmal, ranking last in the American League in runs scored, behind even to woeful Oakland A’s, and a quarter run per game behind the next lowest squad the Detroit Tigers.

The league average OPS is 721 and the Guards have exactly one player above average, their perennial all-star Jose Ramirez. The players who rank behind Ramirez(804) are Steven Kwan (678) and Josh Naylor (670).

That is, of course, unless you count Tyler Freeman in his 20 plate appearances. Freeman sits at 771 in a very, very small sample size.

As a team the Guardians are last in OPS and slugging percentage and are 13th in on base percentage. It doesn’t take a genius to tell anyone that if you don’t get players on base and once they are on, you cannot move them, you are going to have a problem scoring runs.

They pride themselves on making contact, but too often they aren’t very patient at the plate. Last night, Will Brennan’s first plate appearance involved Cardinals’ pitcher John Flaherty making five pitches to get him out, and not one was a strike.

The pitching staff is respectable, ranking 7th in the AL in staff ERA, but the bullpen has been a big issue as of late, and the signs tell us Terry Francona is losing a bit of faith in his relief corps.

Last Sunday, he allowed Shane Bieber to go the distance in spite of having a jam in the bottom of the 8th inning. Bieber also stayed in perhaps one hitter too long Friday, walking an extra hitter, before Trevor Stephan came on.

Stephan had to be relieved in the bottom of the 8th after getting into trouble, but thankfully, Enyel De Los Santos got a double play grounder.

James Karinchak has walked 16 in just 21.1 innings. So, he can’t be used in a close game unless there is absolutely no other option.

Closer Emmanuel Clase leads the league in saves with 17, and also he’s not walking people (5 in 25 IP) and not giving up the long ball (just 1 HR allowed), his strikeouts are down (18) and the balls put in play are finding holes.

Cleveland relievers are giving up the long ball in bunches, and last weekend’s series in New York was a microcosm, as home runs allowed changed the course of two games.

There is an old baseball axiom the says, you show me a bad bullpen and I will show you a bad team.

The defense also hasn’t been up to par. Amed Rosario has messed up some routine plays and the wild pitch epidemic continues, the Guardians were 11th in this category a year ago, and sixth this year.

And in trying to create time for Gabriel Arias, he’s playing rightfield and let’s just say the inexperience shows every so often.

Also, because the hitters cannot get on base, Cleveland cannot use the running game. The Guardians had two stolen bases twelve times in their first 27 games. In the last 23 contests, they’ve done it just once.

Right now, the Guardians are lacking in every aspect of the game. Yet, they are still just 4.5 games out of the division lead. We are getting to the point in the season where patience and stubbornness is becoming one.

We Agree Cavs Need Shooting. They Need Taller Shooting Though

In examining where the Cleveland Cavaliers need to go this off-season, we have focused on the need for size. The Cavs are small in the backcourt and at small forward, and we believe they need to get bigger in order to grow as a team.

They also need shooting. Cleveland finished 12th in the NBA during the regular season in three point field goal percentage at 36.7%, but they were 24th in attempts from beyond the arc. Their top three long range shooters, Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Caris LeVert took 53% of the team’s threes.

To be fair, Golden State’s top three-point makers, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Jordan Poole took 57% of the Warriors’ shots from beyond the arc, but Curry and Thompson both make over 40% of their threes.

If you look at the number of threes taken per game for Cleveland, Mitchell took 9.3 (probably too many), Garland 6.0, and LeVert 4.4. (Note: Kevin Love took 4.8/game). Cedi Osman is next at 4.1/game. Beyond that, you have Dean Wade, Ricky Rubio, and Isaac Okoro, and none of that trio attempted more than three per contest.

And only Okoro ranked in the top eight in minutes played for the season.

In looking at the NBA’s final four teams remaining and the Milwaukee Bucks, who had the best record in the league, only Miami’s top three long range shooters in attempts (Strus, Herro, and Vincent) took more than 50% of the Heat’s three pointers.

Here are the other teams mentioned–

Denver (Porter Jr., Murray, Caldwell-Pope) 47.1%
Boston (Tatum, Brown, White) 44.8%
Los Angeles (James, Brown Jr., Walker IV) 35.4%
Milwaukee (Holiday, Allen, Lopez) 34.5%

It doesn’t seem like taking a lot of threes leads to success. The top five in attempts per game were Golden State, Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, and Utah. Three playoff teams. However, the top five in percentage made (Philadelphia, Golden State, LA Clippers, Denver, and Brooklyn) all qualified for the post-season.

It’s too easy for opponents, especially when it comes to the playoffs to guard three-point shooters if you only have a few, particularly when one of those three are bringing the ball up the floor. It’s also tougher when two of your primary long distance shooters are smaller players.

Over the weekend, several players were mentioned as possibilities for the Cavs over the offseason. Players like Donte DiVincenzo (6’4″), Max Strus (6’5″), Jordan Clarkson (6’5″) and Seth Curry (6’2″) were discussed. Our problem with this group is it still makes the Cavaliers a very small team outside of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

We know it won’t be easy, but we believe if the Koby Altman and Mike Gansey are looking to upgrade the wing positions, it should be with someone in the 6’7″ or taller height wise.

Perhaps someone like Jerami Grant (6’8″) who the Cavs probably can’t afford after he averaged 20 points per game with Portland. But you might be able to get Jalen McDaniels (6’9″) who averaged 9.4 points splitting the year between Charlotte and Philadelphia. He shot just 33% from three this year, but shot 38% a year ago.

A dark horse would be Keita Bates-Diop (6’8″), who averaged a career high 9.7 points/game with San Antonio, shooting 39.4% from behind the arc.

Yes, the Cavs need shooting. Moreso, they need taller people who can shoot. It’s the proverbial killing two birds with one stone.

Guards Haven’t Played Well, But They Are Still Close

Before the 2023 baseball season started, we thought the Cleveland Guardians would repeat as American League Central Division champions. However, we did acknowledge that because last year’s squad had so many young players, it would be difficult to project how they would perform this season.

They simply didn’t have a track record.

Last season, the Guards finished sixth in the league in runs scored, this year, they are tied for 14th in runs per game with Detroit. Their bullpen has been giving up long balls by the bushel. This past weekend against the Mets, the relievers surrendered three more gopher balls to run the total to 21 on the season.

The entire staff has allowed 49.

The Guardians have struggled the entire season except for the first week, and since then their record is 16-24. That’s a .400 winning percentage. However, they still sit just 3.5 games behind Minnesota in the division, so if things can turn around (soon would be good), this ballclub can still return to the post-season.

Bad bullpens usually mean bad teams. The good thing is some tweaking of the pecking order could turn everything around.

Emmanuel Clase takes the brunt of the criticism, and there is no question he is not the same guy he was at the end of last year. However, he has been immune to the home run ball that has plagued the ‘pen, allowing just one. His strikeout numbers are down, and the ground balls he is giving up are finding holes.

The bigger worry is James Karinchak, who has allowed six dingers in 19.1 innings. Trevor Stephan has allowed four in 19.2 frames. Eli Morgan and Nick Sandlin have allowed three each.

One of our basic rules about relievers? They can’t give up walks, and they can’t give up home runs.

We were concerned about Andres Gimenez, who had a tremendous season a year ago (837 OPS), because of his strikeout to walk ratio (112:34). He had an on base percentage of .371 because he was hit by a league-leading 25 pitches.

He still gets hit a lot (eight times to date), but seems susceptible to the high fastball this season, and he has just 11 extra-base hits in 2023, compared 46 a year ago. The pop simply hasn’t been there. Gimenez is still playing great defense and is just 24 years old, so he still should be on the rise as a player.

We were concerned about the signing of Mike Zunino, although we were more worried about his extreme lack of contact throughout his career. He had a reputation as a solid catcher though, and we know that’s what the Guardians emphasize at that position.

So far, there seems to be a disconnect between the pitching staff and Zunino. With Zunino, the Guardians’ pitchers have pitched to a 4.66 ERA. With Cam Gallagher behind the dish, that figure is 2.57.

Check out these numbers–

Gallagher Zunino
Shane Bieber: 1.64 ERA 3.83 ERA
Cal Quantrill: 2.89 ERA 4.73 ERA
Emmanuel Clase: 3.12 ERA 3.65 ERA
James Karinchak: 1.04 ERA 7.84 ERA

Those are four key pitchers for the Guardians who are having more success with Gallagher handling them. To be fair, rookies Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen seem to work well with Zunino, but still overall, there is quite a disparity between having Zunino, who seems to have a problem blocking pitches in the dirt, and Gallagher.

It’s one thing to trade the offense because you are getting exceptional defensive, like Cleveland received from Austin Hedges, but when you aren’t getting the defense, it becomes an issue.

We are coming up on Memorial Day and that means the season isn’t so young anymore. The Guardians haven’t built off a 92 win season liked they hoped. But they are still close enough to get where they want to be.

That doesn’t mean the organization should not be concerned though.

RIP To The Greatest. #32

On Friday, the sports world and northeast Ohio lost a legend. Jim Brown, the greatest running back in the history of the NFL passed away.

We can only remember one season of Brown’s unbelievable career, his last season of 1965. That year, he led the NFL defending champs back to the title game, losing to Green Bay in a mud bowl 23-12. We watched that game in color, at a time when no one had colored televisions.

Brown was dominant in ’65, winning his eighth rushing title in his nine years in the league, gaining 1544 yards. He gained 677 more yards than his next closest competitor, the great Gale Sayers, who rushed for 867.

He was the NFL MVP that season.

Famously, he went to make the movie, The Dirty Dozen, in the off-season and when filming took long, and he missed the start of training camp, the Cleveland owner, who will not be named here, gave him an ultimatum. Brown simply retired. In his prime.

When Brown left pro football, he was the all-time leading rusher with his 12,312 yards. The great 49er runner, Joe Perry was second at 9,723. Now Brown is 11th, but there is still one rushing statistic the incomparable Brown still is the all-time leader.

Brown AVERAGED 104.3 yards rushing per game. No one in the history of the NFL has ever done that. The closest is Barry Sanders at 99.8. Nick Chubb, a player beloved by the current fan base in northeast Ohio and rightly so, because we recognize a great runner when we see one, comes in 9th all-time with 84.5 yards per game.

We believe Jim Brown is the greatest football player ever. And we say that because quarterback for us should be in a separate category. Tom Brady is the greatest QB ever, but does anyone really think he could play another position?

We believe Brown would have been a tremendous linebacker or safety, or tight end, or really, whatever the hell he wanted to be.

We would like to ask people who the greatest lacrosse player ever was, and folks would look quizzically when asked. The answer is most people consider that to be Jim Brown. Imagine being the greatest ever in two sports.

By now, everyone has seen the iconic picture of Brown with Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor), Muhammad Ali, former Cleveland mayor Carl Stokes, Brown’s former teammate Bobby Mitchell and several other former teammates to support Ali’s refusal to enter the draft for the war in Vietnam.

That meeting took place on June 4, 1967 in Cleveland at 10501 Euclid Avenue, and was organized by Brown.

We have had many arguments over the years about Brown’s standing in pro football and where he ranks. As we said, we consider him to be the GOAT, the greatest. The only players who we believe come close are Jerry Rice and Lawrence Taylor.

Brown was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971, meaning he lived 52 years after being inducted, and other inductees say when Brown walks into the room, everyone, and these are the greats of the sport, stand up.

That’s the respect Jim Brown had among his peers.

We know the Browns will spend this season remembering their greatest player. On social media, we thought about putting “32” at the 50-yard line all year and highlighting the 32-yard stripes in brown and orange.

We also thought instead of “BROWNS” in the end zone, how about “BROWN” and putting “Jim” above it. A tribute to the greatest Cleveland football player ever.

It is not often we are sad due to the death of a non-family member or close friend. But sadness is what we felt on Friday. We know Jim Brown had some issues in his personal life and we are not minimizing those problems. But the city of Cleveland lost an icon.

And that makes us sad.

In Evaluating Stefanski, Look At All Head Coaches

The Cleveland Browns seemed to have pushed all chips to the center of the table. Over the weekend, GM Andrew Berry traded for three-time Pro Bowl DE Za’Darius Smith from the Minnesota Vikings for some mid-level draft picks.

Smith has accumulated ten or more sacks in three of the last four years, and in the one year he didn’t, he played just one game due to injury. We would seem to be a perfect complement to Myles Garrett, and also is another defensive lineman, which new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz loves to collect.

However, the thing that most of the local media comes back to in evaluating the Browns is Kevin Stefanski, and is he a good enough coach to lead the Browns deep into the post-season.

Our opinion on coaching in the NFL is that in no other sport can coaching make as much of a difference as it does in pro football. It happens all the time. Heck, it happened to Stefanski. Don’t forget he took over a 6-10 team and went 11-5 and made the playoffs.

But we also believe there aren’t many difference makers among the head coaches in the NFL. We believe there might be five coaches who are special.

Of course, Bill Belichick is on that list. And unfortunately for the Browns, two of the other ones play in the AFC North, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin and Baltimore’s John Harbaugh.

That duo has put together a “culture” that winning must be attained, and they will do everything they can, including playing non-traditional football in order to win.

Certainly, Andy Reid is one of the sport’s top coaches. His success in two different places, two Super Bowl wins, three championship game appearances, and his consistent style of staying ahead of opposing defenses put him on the list.

And that last comment about Reid is key. A lot of the coaches who make an early difference do so because they do something so one has seen before, but when opposing coaches figure out a way to combat that, and they usually do, they have nothing.

As a result, the winning ends, and they are looking for a new gig in three to four years.

So, being able to adapt is what makes a good coach in our opinion. We don’t like “system coaches”, ones who have a certain style of play and can only coach that style. We think the epitome of coaching is looking at your talent and designing a plan that gets the most out of those players.

Putting players in positions where they cannot succeed is bad coaching.

Can Stefanski someday be in the class with Reid, Tomlin, and Harbaugh? Probably not, but our point is those guys are rare finds. If the Browns make the playoffs this season, he will no doubt return for a fifth year as head coach, and likely go into his sixth season.

He has two new coordinators this season, and of course, adding Schwartz is a huge move. As for why he didn’t change defensive coordinators sooner. It’s tough to fire people you work with every day, especially for a long time.

We understand the fans and media want to be cold blooded, it’s football after all, but remember than coaches look at the games differently than fans do. They have to.

Stefanski was part of the reason the Cleveland Browns didn’t succeed last season, after all, he’s the head coach. But it is also true the players weren’t good enough, there wasn’t enough depth, and the defense wasn’t up to par.

And if they don’t make the playoffs this season, he will likely be fired and a new coach will be brought in. Unless you are in the upper echelon of head men, that’s the way the NFL works.