Browns Goal: Make Watson & Chubb Together Be Scary

This is the silly season for the NFL. Free agency starts next week on March 15th, with the “legal tampering” being able to be done next Monday.

All over the landscape, fans are talking about what players they can bring in to help for the 2023 season.

And in Cleveland, it’s all about creating salary cap room since the Browns are currently over the cap. Browns fans being Browns fans, they talk about trading one of the higher paid players on the team for draft picks in order to create room to sign a veteran free agent.

Usually though, those higher paid players are the best players on the team, so does it really make sense to toss away a good player when you need to win next season?

It’s the mentality that all draft picks will turn out to be great players, which as we know doesn’t happen, and trading a proven star player for picks AND salary cap space is most likely just filling a hole by creating another one.

Which brings us to the latest stories saying the Browns should consider trading Nick Chubb because either Cleveland is going to throw on every down next season or to create cap space so they can improve the defense.

First, let us say that anyone is tradable for the right return. For example, if the Kansas City Chiefs offered the Browns Patrick Mahomes for Chubb or a team offered you two first round draft picks for him, you have to make the trade. We all know that’s not going to happen though.

We are sure the offense is going to change from a ground and pound style to a more passing friendly attack next year anyway. Why do we say this? How many games did you watch with Jacoby Brissett at QB and wonder why Cleveland didn’t run the football more?

Kevin Stefanski likes to put the football in the air.

And it’s Stefanski’s job to make sure Deshaun Watson and Chubb can play together and have the offense thrive using both. It’s not an either/or situation.

We have wondered for years why Chubb hasn’t been used more in the passing game. Was it simply because it was a good way to get Kareem Hunt on the field and get Chubb some rest?

Chubb did catch 36 passes in 2019, the year before Stefanski took over, but last season was his high in receptions with the current head coach. He had 27. And quite frankly, if the Browns gave Chubb 20 less carries and converted that to 20 more catches, why would that be a problem?

It would seem to us getting the ball in space to a punishing runner like Nick Chubb would pose a big problem for opposing defenses, and not being hit by defensive linemen would be good for Chubb’s longevity.

But the real answer here is getting to a point where both Watson and Chubb can be very productive. And that’s on the coaching staff. Having weapons like the QB Deshaun Watson and Nick Chubb shouldn’t be a problem. It should be an embarrassment of riches.

Cavs’ Need To Solve Bench Problem.

Since February 1st, the Cleveland Cavaliers have gone 10-4, but it seems like they are still in state of flux.

In this span, the Cavs have bought out Kevin Love and the remaining members of the second unit, save for Caris LeVert, have been wildly inconsistent.

J.B. Bickerstaff has said he is using his bench personnel based on game situations, meaning it depends on the opponent. We disagree with this, but as we all know, we are not, nor ever have been an NBA coach.

We know the players are grown men, but we still feel when players know how they will be used, they feel more comfortable and that leads to better performances.

We get the Cavs didn’t want to get into the luxury tax this season, and we understand why. They want to save that for next year, when they figure to make a deeper run in the playoffs.

That said, we continue to see a very top-heavy roster, one that will need to be tweaked going into next season if the Cavs want to contend for an Eastern Conference championship.

The front office and coaching staff have put a lot of faith in certain players and over the last month, those players haven’t justified that confidence, and right now, it’s a problem for the Cavs.

We know once the playoffs start, the rotation will be tightened, and Bickerstaff will likely use just eight guys. LeVert will no doubt be one, and Ricky Rubio will be the other. Who’s the third non-starter to get time?

Bickerstaff has established a defensive mindset for the team and that’s great. In the seasons between LeBron James leaving with Ty Lue as coach until Bickerstaff took over, there seemed to be no identity for the wine and gold. The current coach gave them one.

However, it seems like every roster move and decision about playing time is based on how a player defends, and that can be problematic because it puts the entire scoring burden on Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.

If one of that quartet is having an off night, more often than not, it’s a huge problem for the Cavs.

Isaac Okoro is still starting and after a brief stretch in January and early February where his shot was falling, particularly from three-point range, he has returned to his usual performance. In his last 10 games, he’s scoring 6.4 points per game on 43% shooting from the floor and is 9 of 32 (28.1%) from long distance.

In Dean Wade’s last 14 games, he is averaging 2.6 points and 3.3 rebounds a game. He’s shooting 32.5% from the floor and 27% from three.

Cedi Osman was making 45.8% of his shots before the All-Star break, averaging 21 minutes per game. Since the break, his time has dropped to 17 minutes, missing one game entirely, and his shooting has dropped to 35%.

In our opinion, we don’t think the coach has ever been a real fan of Osman’s game, and we differ there. We think Osman should start because opposing defenses would have to guard him, and we feel he could be an effective slasher and passer.

We would still like to see Lamar Stevens get more time in the last 15 games to see if he can be a rotation piece, and he showed what he can do last night. Stevens is a solid defender and has a decent mid-range game. He doesn’t shoot a lot of threes, because he knows he’s not effective from out there.

At this point, we think he’s a better option than either Wade or Okoro.

The hardest thing for a coach to realize at times is when he is being stubborn. We hope Bickerstaff uses these last five weeks of the season to kind of hold tryouts for who should earn playing time in the playoffs.

Right now, no one is really stepping up on the offensive end of the floor.

If Guards Have A Bullpen Opening, Who Takes It?

Every year, Terry Francona gives a talk in spring training to the entire roster, the 40 man and the non-roster invitees. It has been reported (we say that only because we aren’t present) that he always discusses how everyone in the room will be counted on to have a successful season.

As we know, stuff happens every year. At the beginning of camp last year, could we have seen Oscar Gonzalez, Enyel De Los Santos, or Will Brennan being contributors?

Some of us thought Gonzalez could get a shot and that Steven Kwan deserved a shot, but enough of that.

Slumps happen, some players don’t put up the numbers they did in the past, and certainly, injuries always play a role.

Right now, the Guardians’ bullpen is in that state of flux because of injuries.

It was reported earlier in the week that southpaw Sam Hentges has some shoulder inflammation and is “week to week”, which doesn’t sound like he will be ready for Opening Day. That’s a big blow because the big lefty is the only proven piece that throws from the left side.

And De Los Santos and Nick Sandlin, both of whom figured to be in Seattle on March 30th, have not pitched in an exhibition game.

Now, bullpen guys can get ready faster than starting pitchers because they usually work just one inning at a time, so conceivably if they are ready to go by the middle of March, there is a good chance they will not miss any time.

To be fair, closer Emmanuel Clase hasn’t pitched in a game either.

Many people had another left-hander, Tim Herrin, making the 26 man roster to open the year, but with Hentges’ shoulder barking, he seems to be a lock to make the team.

Francona and pitching coach Carl Willis like to use their big-league relievers early in games to get a look at better hitters. On Friday, Herrin pitched the fourth inning.

If Herrin becomes a lock, and the Guards bring 13 pitchers north (or northwest since they open in Seattle), who gets the last spot?

If the staff wants someone who could pitch multiple innings, they could go with someone like Xzavion Curry or Hunter Gattis, both of whom were starters in the minors last season, and by the way, also made some big league starts, each getting a pair with Cleveland.

Both have faced high quality hitters in Arizona (visit Baseballreference.com) and have fared well. Gattis has fanned six in 4-1/3 frames, allowing just one hit, but three walks. Curry has a pair of two inning outings, allowing five hits, but just one run.

Or they could go with Konnor Pilkington who did make 11 starts with the Guards last season, going 1-2 with a 3.88 ERA. His problem was throwing strikes, walking 32 batters in 58 frames.

Another 40-man roster option is recently acquired Jason Bilous, who fanned 131 batters in 105.2 innings in the White Sox’ system last year. He did have a 6.30 ERA between AA and AAA though, as his control has been an issue.

The Guardians seem to view him as a reliever, as he has made two one inning appearances thus far, striking out four and walking a pair.

There is still time for De Los Santos and Sandlin to be ready, but Hentges may not have enough time to get back by the end of the month.

So, Francona and Willis have to sort out some candidates to take his place.

Cavs Heading Down The Stretch, Still Have Things To Decide

Before the NBA season started, we felt a reasonable goal for the Cleveland Cavaliers was to get into the real NBA playoffs, meaning finishing in the top six of the Eastern Conference and avoiding the play in tournament.

As of today, the Cavs sit in the #4 spot, five games ahead of Miami, who currently sit in the seventh spot. The Heat have 19 games remaining, while the Cavs have 17.

The two teams play a back-to-back in Miami next week, so the Cavaliers have a chance to solidify their position.

Now that the season has about six weeks left, we are sure the Cleveland organization would love to stay no lower than they currently are, which would mean home court advantage in the first round.

After last night’s loss to Boston, the Cavs come home to face the Celtics next week before the trip to South Beach. Then the schedule eases up a bit.

The notable games remaining are a date with the Sixers at home on March 15th, another back-to-back against the Nets, currently the 6th seed, the following week and a home date with the Knicks, 5th in the East on the last day of the month.

We would guess going 11-6 the rest of the way should get the 4th spot. That’s a 50 win season.

We do hope the last 17 games allows J.B. Bickerstaff to settle his bench heading into the playoffs.

With Isaac Okoro seemingly a fixture in the starting lineup, the sixth man is Caris LeVert, who has done a solid job despite his detractors, averaging 11.6 points, and four rebounds and four assists per game. He’s knocking down 36% of his three-point shots as well, and as we noted around the trading deadline, he’s one of the few Cavaliers who can go out and get his own shot.

We loved Kevin Love as a big man reserve, particularly his rebounding, but the organization didn’t and we still feel the wine and gold is a big man short.

Ricky Rubio would also figure to get regular time from here on out, except of course for back-to-back games, as the Cavs are bringing him back slowly because of the knee injury. In just under 17 minutes per appearance, he’s dishing out 3.5 assists. He’s shooting just 30%, but that will come with more floor time and his legs getting stronger.

We have wondered if Bickerstaff trusts Cedi Osman, and recent games haven’t changed that opinion. He didn’t get in the game last Sunday against Toronto and played just five minutes last night.

He is getting his lowest number of minutes since his rookie year, and really, his shooting numbers aren’t all that different. We like him at the three because other teams have to guard him. He’s a threat to score.

It has been reported that newcomer Danny Green will start getting regular minutes, but he is also recovering from a knee injury, and he’s also a wing, the same as Okoro and LeVert. He is a 40% career shooter from behind the arc.

Dean Wade is the only player over 6’8″ getting time with the second unit, but we feel he’s more of a wing as well. We think Wade is a very good defender outside, but on offensive, he still seems reticent to shoot the ball.

It scares us that there is no one currently on the roster who can fill in if Jarrett Allen and/or Evan Mobley are out of the lineup.

Robin Lopez is limited because he really has a problem with quicker players, more so than Love did. So, hopefully, that’s an area Koby Altman and Mike Gansey are looking at as the season winds down.

We would like to see some kind of consistency in how the bench is used as the Cavs head into the playoffs. We would guess the players would too.

Loving Baseball’s Pitch Clock

There is no question the older people get, the more they complain about change. With spring training games being played, we have heard a lot of former MLB players and current veterans complaining about the pitch clock.

We love the game of baseball and its traditions. We also love the pitch clock.

Some of the recently retired players have waxed poetic about baseball not having a clock, the only major professional sport not measured by time. Hate to break it to these folks, but it’s still not.

Baseball is still measured by 27 outs. If it takes three and a half hours to get to that, then that’s how long the game will be. There is still no time limit like the 60 minutes of game time for football and hockey or the 48 minutes for basketball.

All the pitch clock is doing is preventing the ridiculous adjustment of batting gloves, jerseys, batting helmets. and other protective equipment by hitters, and the constant fidgeting on the mound by pitchers, taking extra time so can “recover” from the previous pitch.

When Mike Hargrove was dubbed the “Human Rain Delay”, he was an anomaly. Now, pretty much every hitter in the game was stepping out after every pitch redress themselves.

It was a ridiculous amount of non-action. Both the hitters and pitchers abused the system and the powers that run Major League Baseball, usually clueless in matters both on and off the field, made the correct decision here.

The sport is trying to get the casual fans back. The hardcore folks are going to be engaged no matter what happens. However, the inaction caused games to be averaging three hours long, and because the action came in spurts, the casuals found something else to do.

Professional sports are in the entertainment business.

As for the other rule changes? We still don’t like putting a runner on second base to start an inning in extra frames. With the pitch clock trimming time off the game, we don’t see a need to change the rules of the sport now. A compromise could have been playing under the regular rules of the game up until the 12th, and then using the “ghost runner”.

The bigger bases aren’t a big deal and likely won’t be noticeable, but limiting the number of pickoff throws a pitcher can make again changes the fabric of the baseball.

And we don’t like banning the shift either. We know that both basketball and football have tied the hands of the people playing defense, but we feel baseball is better than that. The reason for the shifts was hitters being taught to hit with “launch angles” to go over the defenders instead of exploiting that the opponents were leaving a vast part of the field wide open.

Banning the shift won’t stop the increasing number of strikeouts plaguing the game, but the success the Guardians had last year might. Cleveland’s contact approach paid off for them and if they have another great season in 2023, maybe other teams will adopt putting the ball in play.

Can’t understand why anyone would be against the tedious dead time during a game though. It doesn’t make any sense. Get on the rubber and pitch, get in the box and hit.

Pretty simple to us.

Time For Cavs’ Bench To Step Up

On February 13th, the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the San Antonio Spurs to extend their winning streak to seven games and raise their record to 38-22.

Since then, the Cavs have played six halves of basketball and of those six, one-third of them have bee ghastly.

The last game before the all-star break was against another Eastern Conference contender for a home court advantage spot in the first round of the playoffs in the Philadelphia 76ers, and the wine and gold were overmatched in the first half, trailing 63-38 at intermission.

The Sixers hit 8 of 15 three point shots, and the Cleveland bench plus Isaac Okoro shot 4 of 13 from the floor and hit a lone shot from behind the arc in seven attempts.

Cleveland rebounded to outscore the Sixers 74-55 in the second half, but Philly shot 5 of 12 in the second half from three-point range. The Cavaliers not named Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley scored six points on two of six shooting.

J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad played a more complete game at home against Denver in the first game after the break, but still dropped a game to the Western Conference leaders. But the Nuggets torched the Cavs from long range, hitting 17 of 36 threes, including 10 of 18 in the second half.

For the game, Cleveland hit just 6 of 26 long-range shots. The Cavs’ bench plus Okoro made just one three-point shots in nine attempts.

The Cavaliers went to Atlanta on Friday and laid another egg on the road, getting overmatched by the Hawks in the first half, heading into the locker room down 81-57. The bench bunch contributed just 10 points in the first half on 3 of 14 shooting and the Hawks made seven of their dozen three-point attempts.

For the game, Atlanta hit 15 of 28 from beyond the arc.

The Cavs have prided themselves on their defense over the past two years, but in the last three games, they’ve allowed 123 points per game and created a huge halftime hole for themselves in the two of those contests.

We have pointed out all season long that the Cavs’ recipe for victory is the “Big Four” to play well and have at least two players from the second unit have solid games. Over the last three games, they have gotten little from the substitutes.

Caris LeVert is the #1 reserve for Cleveland, but in the last three games, he has scored just 11 points total on 5 of 10 (1 for 6 from three) shooting. He has to score for the Cavs to be successful.

Dean Wade has five points taking just five shots. Okoro, who starts but isn’t one of the four principal players has 13 points on 4 of 12 shooting (2 of 7 from distance).

The best reserve has been Cedi Osman, who missed the Sixers’ game, but has averaged 7.5 points in the two others.

Somebody simply has to step up for Cleveland to win.

Another issue has been Mitchell’s long-distance shooting. Cleveland’s lone all-star shot 41% from distance through December but has hit just 33.5% since the calendar changed to 2023. We know he’s been bothered by a sore groin, but his three ball isn’t falling, he has to get to the basket more.

We understand how the regular season has very few games, but tonight’s is a big one for Bickerstaff’s club. They need a win and they’ve lost to the Raptors in all three games between the two teams.

The bench bunch has to get it going starting tonight. And the point guards need to get LeVert going early. The team needs his scoring and ability to create shots to be successful.

Are Browns “All In”? It’s About Time!

The latest sports topic making the rounds is whether or not the Cleveland Browns should go “all in” for the 2023 season. When you think about it, it’s kind of ridiculous.

Unless a team is clearly rebuilding, they should always be trying to win, particularly in the NFL where teams go from last place to first place every year. Just this past season, Jacksonville went from 3-14 to 9-8 and the AFC South title and won a game in the wild card round.

We have been critical in the past of the Browns’ sign in the bar mentality at times, you know, “Free Beer Tomorrow”. We feel it creeped in last year when Deshaun Watson was suspended, it seemed like the attitude at times was that because Watson would only be available for six games, the organization was better off looking toward next year.

When Jimmy Haslam and Andrew Berry traded three first-round picks for Watson and guaranteed him over $200 million, it signaled that the Browns have to make the playoffs for any season to be successful.

And remember, Cleveland also has Myles Garrett in his prime. Nick Chubb, probably the league’s best running back over the past few years is coming off a career best season. Denzel Ward is a top cornerback. And on the offensive line, let’s just say Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller, and Jack Conklin, all very good or All Pro players in Bitonio’s case, aren’t getting any younger.

And with the replacement of both defensive coordinator Joe Woods and special teams coach Mike Preifer, head coach Kevin Stefanski knows the Browns have to be either in the post-season or miss it by a tie breaker with a really good record.

What we mean there is although it is unlikely, let’s say the Browns finish 11-6 and still don’t qualify, we highly doubt ownership and the front office is going to fire the head coach.

However, the coaching staff changes, particularly two coordinators, signals this is a make-or-break year for this regime. We all know what former coach Jerry Glanville said about what NFL stands for: Not For Long.

We will continue to say the Browns have a good roster. They had a terrible defense last season, and despite Watson’s struggles when he did come back, the defense is the reason Cleveland was 7-10.

They hired an experienced defensive coach with a track record of success in Jim Schwartz and frankly even if no personnel changes are made, and we know there will be, the defense will be better because of the new coordinator.

As for the concern about Watson, if he’s not the quarterback he was in Houston, the Browns are screwed, and it will take them years to recover. We aren’t looking at those six games as a representation of what he will be going forward. And people currently ranking him in the 16th-20th range among QB’s seem to have an axe to grind, or are caught in the “it’s the Browns” mentality

We believe he will return to form though. He will only be 28 when the season starts.

We would bet everyone, from Paul DePodesta, to Andrew Berry, to Kevin Stefanski knows that barring catastrophic injuries, the Browns better have a very good season.

And it’s about time for that.

Love’s Time Here = Sacrifice

We discussed the Cavaliers’ decision to let Kevin Love go previously and wanted to take the time today to discuss his tenure with the wine and gold.

By now everyone knows Love has signed with the Miami Heat, meaning he is also taking his talents to South Beach, only he didn’t have a primetime special to announce it.

The Cavs have a back-to-back coming up in a couple of weeks (March 8th and 10th) in Miami, and hopefully Love doesn’t play a factor if Cleveland loses either of the two contests.

Time really flies because Love has been with the Cavaliers for nine seasons. It just seems hard to believe.

We would maintain no player ever sacrificed more than Kevin Love. We aren’t talking about money here, because as we all know, Love was paid very handsomely to stay in Cleveland after LeBron James and Kyrie Irving departed. No, we are discussing how he sacrificed his stats in order to win.

When Love arrived in town, he was coming off a 2nd team All-NBA season with Minnesota in which he averaged 25.9 points and 12.4 rebounds per game. He averaged 18.3 shots, and the previous three years with the Timberwolves, got between 17.4 and 18.3 shots with them.

He was also 2nd team All-NBA in 2011-12. Since Irving was 3rd team All-NBA in 2014-15, people should realize Love, not Irving, was the more accomplished player when the deal was made to send the first overall pick in Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett to the Wolves for Love.

Love had to make the difficult transition from being the best player on a mediocre team, the Wolves were 40-42 in his last season up north, to being the second or third option on a team with title aspirations. His shots per game dropped to 13.5 per game with the Cavaliers.

There were some adjustments for Love and we all remember the “fit in” of “fit out” comments by James in Love’s first year in town. But in the end, it worked out with four straight Finals appearances.

His minutes also dropped. Some of that was due to the Cavs blowing teams out and some was due to nagging injuries, but he was playing 36 minutes with Minnesota, and his high with Cleveland was his first season here at 33.8 minutes.

Ultimately, Love did make two all-star games with the Cavs, bringing his career total to five. They were in the last two years of “the LeBron era”, 2016-17 and 2017-18 when he 19.0 points (his Cavalier high) and 11.1 boards, and 17.6 and 9.3 respectively.

After he signed the extension to remain here, injuries became more prevalent, and he played just 22 games in the first year after James signed in LA, but he did play 56 of the 65 games in the pandemic season of 2019-20, scoring 17.6 points and getting 9.8 rebounds per game.

Last season, he remade himself as a sixth man, the leader of the second unit, playing in 74 games and scoring 13.6 points as well as grabbing 7.2 caroms in just 22.5 minutes a night. The reduced minutes kept him healthier and he was a key part of a resurgence for the franchise, with their first year over the .500 mark since they went to four straight NBA Finals.

If you want to remember Kevin Love as a Cavalier, remember he was the ultimate teammate. He did the things, the “little things” teams need to be done in order to be successful. He probably could have continued to put up huge numbers, but he wanted to win.

And he was a huge part of putting the only championship banner for the franchise in 2016.

Thank you and fans here will always be appreciative.

Can’t See The Wisdom In Love Buyout

We don’t like giving up on athletes who can still play.

That’s why we are having a hard time wrapping our head around the Cleveland Cavaliers’ decision to reach a buyout agreement with Kevin Love.

We do understand that Love is a defensive liability, he can no longer guard quicker guards on the perimeter. Look at the top scorers in the NBA. Nobody can guard them because mostly, you aren’t allowed to play defense in the league anymore.

Damian Lillard is averaging 31.4 points, Ja Morant 27.3, Donovan Mitchell, Kyrie Irving, and Trae Young are all averaging over 26.5 per contest. These are all talented players, but under today’s rules, they are very difficult for anybody to guard on the perimeter.

The consensus among people we know and we read is that Love can still play in the league and at a solid level. And we have an issue that J.B. Bickerstaff basically made him an outsider.

Just a little over a month ago, on New Year’s Eve and on January 2nd, in back-to-back victories over the Bulls, Love had games of 20 points and nine rebounds and followed it up with 12 points and 17 boards. We don’t think the veteran lost it in a six-week period.

That’s not a criticism of Bickerstaff either. Every coach does some things that we would do differently, it doesn’t mean we want that guy fired.

Bickerstaff is a defense-first coach. When he took over, we felt the Cavaliers as an organization didn’t have an identity, the coach established that defense was going to be the trademark of the wine and gold.

And certainly, Dean Wade gives the Cavs better perimeter defense than Love. We have said before that we believe Wade is underrated for his ability to guard and overrated for his shooting.

In the 14 games Wade has played since he returned from his shoulder injury, he’s averaging 4.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, shooting 44% from the floor and 35% from three. Love is shooting 35% from three, despite a hand injury that occurred early in the season.

When Love was benched on January 26th, we thought it was to give his thumb, which he fractured in mid-November, an extended rest to finally heal, and for him to get his shot back on track. In January, his three-point shooting had dropped to 22.9%.

We don’t like the “per 36 minutes” statistic, but Love was still rebounding, with the second-best rate on the team, behind only Evan Mobley.

Maybe Bickerstaff could have cut Love’s minutes a bit and still kept him in the rotation, maybe giving him less minutes in the second half of games when defense is at a premium.

Again, going back to the first line in the piece, we hate giving up players who can still contribute if you don’t have to.

Also, Love’s defensive issues are due to the seemingly idiotic way the NBA plays the pick and roll these days, switching on everything. In our opinion, that’s allowing the offense to dictate your defense. It simply makes no sense. Every team wants their guard against an opposing big man, or to put it more simply a quicker player vs. someone who can move as well.

It’s also troublesome that the two teams who are most interested in securing Love’s services are teams very near the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference standings: Philadelphia and Miami.

That should tell the Cavs’ front office this wasn’t handled correctly.

Guardians’ Roster Pretty Set Starting Camp

When we last saw the Cleveland Guardians, they lost a series deciding fifth game to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series. They had a 2-1 series lead after a dramatic walk-off win in game 3 but couldn’t finish off the Bronx Bombers.

Still, they were the youngest team in baseball and went farther than anyone expected in the 2022 season.

This weekend, the Guards start a much-anticipated spring training, getting ready for a season which they hope will end with another Central Division title.

While the season could be memorable, this training camp likely will not be. After a major roster turnover last year, the front office and Terry Francona shouldn’t have too many decisions to make, of course, barring injuries.

From our point of view, there are only three decisions that need to be made: Backup catcher, extra infielder, and the last spot in the bullpen, probably a left-hander.

Mike Zunino was signed as a free agent over the winter and will serve as the primary catcher, assuming he is fully recovered from the thoracic outlet surgery on his left (non-throwing) arm done last year. Cleveland would like to have rookie Bo Naylor start at AAA to play everyday at the beginning of the season, so the second catcher on the roster is up in the air.

The team brought in former Royal Cam Gallagher (career OPS 656), Meibry Viloria (556), Zack Collins (623), and still has Bryan Lavastida, who opened last season with the big club.

Viloria and Collins are left-handed hitters which give them a platoon advantage, but with the Guardians’ organizational philosophy, it will come down to who the team trusts the most defensively and in handling the pitching staff.

We believe Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, and Richie Palacios will vie for the two bench spots that are available. We know who the starters are and Will Brennan will likely take one bench spot. Arias played a little outfield at AAA and in winter ball, and Palacios played mostly outfield with the big club (he played three innings at 2B) and being able to play in the dirt and on the grass probably gives them an edge.

Freeman has strictly been an infielder in the minors and we believe the organization is higher on him than the other two long term, and because of that, they may want him to start the year playing everyday at Columbus.

As for the bullpen, it may come down to whether or not the staff wants a reliever who can soak up multiple innings in a game, which would give an edge to a Cody Morris or Konnor Pilkington, or do they want another lefty to team with Sam Hentges?

Many think 26-year-old southpaw Tim Herrin will get a long look. Herrin struck out 101 hitters in 69-1/3 innings last year between Akron and Columbus. He did have a 5.36 ERA in AAA last year, giving up six home runs in 47 innings.

Relievers who walk people and give up home runs don’t have a long shelf life in the big leagues. But Herrin is someone to watch in Arizona. As for Morris, the front office may want him stretched out as a starter in case he is needed in the major league rotation.

The exhibition games start a week from Saturday and some players could get extra opportunities because of the World Baseball Classic. As for that event, our sincere hope is no one from the Guardians gets injured playing in it.