Baseball Doesn’t Need Major Changes

Baseball is in the news this week, not for stuff pertaining to spring training or possible roster moves, but rather for changes being considered to speed up the game.

Although we agree that there are things that can be done to move along the pace of the game, the idea of starting a runner at second base to start an inning once the game in tied after nine is blatantly stupid.

Ideas like this shows us that Commissioner Rob Manfred is chasing casual fans in favor of the hardcore fans who love the game and everything that surrounds it.

We know the average game takes about three hours to play, and really cutting ten minutes off of that time would be great. But that can be done in a series of ways.

The first thing would be to eliminate the constant stepping out by hitters between pitches. Hitters need to stay in the box and umpires should allow pitchers to throw to the plate if they are ready.

Batters have to ask for time out, the umpires don’t have to give it to them.

The second thing is to call a strike a strike. How many times in the course of a game do you say to yourself, “where was that pitch?” We understand that there is an art to drawing walks, we have one of the best in the game in doing that in Carlos Santana.

We have no problem watching a game where there is a pitcher’s zone, as long as the umpire is consistent. The game moves much faster.

In terms of the extra inning rule, which will take effect in the low minors this year, there wasn’t a more riveting game last year for the Tribe than the 19 inning victory over Toronto on July 1st.

Yes, the fact the Indians had a 13 game winning streak helped, without a doubt. We were at one of the local casinos while the game was going on, and crowds were gathered around the televisions that are at the bars. They weren’t moving either.

And when Cleveland won, a huge roar went up throughout the building. No one was bored by the length of the game, except for a few young members of the media here. Of course, they don’t understand the game.

Why pick on baseball? The length of an NFL game continues to grow every year because no one runs the ball anymore and every time a pass is not completed the clock stops. Granted, it has become so easy to complete passes, there aren’t many stoppages of play.

We understand baseball is played everyday, while pro football is just once a week. But no one is complaining that NFL games that used to fit in a three hour window, now take 3:30 or 3:45 to play.

Remember, it takes that long to play 60 minutes of football.

The NBA games are also lengthening. Again, no one is complaining.

The people who are complaining about baseball are people who aren’t going to games. Do you ever hear someone who was at a 9-7 game that took three and a half hours, complain about the game being too long?

Of course not, the complaint usually comes from people who don’t like or understand the game.

Slight Change In Browns’ Plan?

Looking at the current roster of the Cleveland Browns, one thing stands out, or should we say, the absence of one thing stands out.

Take a look at the experience column. Three players have been in the NFL for more than 10 seasons. TE Gary Barnidge and OL John Greco have been in the league for ten years, while stalwart T Joe Thomas has been in the league for 11 seasons.

This comes after the release of two veterans yesterday, QB Josh McCown and DB Tramon Williams were both given their walking papers, and actually, probably a year too late for both of them in our opinion.

If you look at the ages of the roster, those three, plus DL Desmond Bryant, P Britton Colquitt, and WR Andrew Hawkins represent the only players on the team that have passed the big “3-0”. Colquitt is probably safe, but it would not be surprising if the other two were let go, before the new league year starts.

The significance of the releases of McCown and Williams is it frees up another $11 million in salary cap space for the Browns. This is where the slight change in the Browns’ plan comes in.

Our guess is the front office is going to make a splash in free agency, and not like before when they signed guys like Donte Whitner and Karlos Dansby, players well past their prime, but brought in as culture changes.

Our belief is the Browns will go after some players finishing their first pro contract, players just entering the prime of their career to speed up the building process. With a tremendous amount of money below the salary cap, an estimated $113 million, perhaps Sashi Brown and Hue Jackson can bring in three starters, plus the draft class which will include five picks in the first 65 players taken.

Those are guys you want. Most of those guys are in the 25-27 years of age range, and signing them to a three or four year deal takes them through at the most age 31. And that seems right in line with what the Browns plan is.

Get good young players and let them grow together, and hopefully you can win sooner than later.

It is hard to argue with that logic. It may just allow the Browns to fill six or seven spots in the starting lineup, and a few of those will be with players who have a track record in the league.

The point men for this will be Jackson and new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. They will have to sell these players and their agents, that Cleveland isn’t the vast wasteland of the NFL and they are building something to last.

Of course, they will probably have to overpay to do this, but when you are $113 million under the cap, that’s not a big deal either.

And we believe that number will grow, because it would not be a shock if Bryant and Hawkins are cut soon as well.

It’s a subtle shift, but one that should speed up the process of winning. And that is something we can all buy into.

Super Bowl Sunday? Browns Still Don’t Know

Today is Super Bowl Sunday.

It is also a day that fans of the Cleveland Browns have never been excited about. In the 51 years of the Super Bowl era, the Browns have never taken part in the game, let alone win the Lombardi Trophy.

Cleveland hasn’t been close to getting to the ultimate NFL experience since the 1989 season, 27 long and mostly dreadful years.

However, in the first 24 Super Bowl years, the Browns got to the what would now be the conference title game five times.

We all know about the game’s most famous upset in Super Bowl III, when the Jets, led by Joe Namath, beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts 16-7. What is forgotten is the Colts got there by hammering the Browns 30-0 in the NFL title game.

The Colts avenged their lone regular season defeat that day.

Coach Blanton Collier’s crew got to the brink of the Super Bowl the very next year, losing to the Minnesota Vikings, who then lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the last AFL/NFL championship tilt.

That was the last success for what was really the remnants of the Paul Brown era in Cleveland, although the Browns made the playoffs in 1971 and 1972, but didn’t advance in either year.

In ’72, they did put a scare into what turned out to be the undefeated Miami Dolphins, leading in the fourth quarter before a blocked punt turned the game around and Don Shula’s team escaped with a win.

Cleveland didn’t win a playoff game again until 1986, although they did have a brief period of excitement when Sam Rutigliano was the head coach and the Browns became one of the first teams to emphasize the passing game.

In 1980, the Browns won the AFC Central and lost to Oakland in the famous “Red Right 88” game where Brian Sipe threw an interception with the team in point blank range for a game winning field goal.

To be fair, the conditions were horrible that day, and kicker Don Cockroft misses two extra points early.

The closest the Browns got to the Lombardi Trophy was 1986, with the AFC Championship in Cleveland, and Marty Schottenheimer’s squad took a 20-13 lead over Denver in the 4th quarter after Bernie Kosar hit Brian Brennan for a 48 yard touchdown strike.

Watching that game, we felt the Browns were going to get to their first Super Bowl. But then John Elway orchestrated the drive and Cleveland lost in overtime, 23-20. Denver lost the Super Bowl to the Giants.

The following year the same two teams matched up again, and again a bitter disappointment greeted Browns’ fans as Earnest Byner fumbled as he tried to score the game tying TD.

What made that game particularly galling was that Cleveland came back from a 28-10 deficit to the brink of tying the contest.

Denver again went on to lose the Super Bowl to Washington.

The last time the franchise got close was two years later, when they again lost to Denver, this time with Bud Carson at the helm.

Kosar’s finger was injured and the Browns got thumped in Denver, 37-21, and once again the Broncos got obliterated in the Super Bowl, this time by the 49ers.

Since then, the Cleveland Browns have won one playoff game, with one of today’s Super Bowl coaches, Bill Belichick, patrolling the Cleveland sidelines.

That’s been it.

Now, the Browns have started its most ambitious building process in the history of the franchise. They gutted the roster, purging most of the veterans and are now starting to build with a boatload of draft picks, which they hope will turn into a franchise quarterback, and a host of good young players they hope will lead the team back to the playoffs.

And eventually, into the first Super Bowl Cleveland has ever been a part of.

There aren’t many franchises that haven’t been to the Bowl, and the only two who pre-date the game itself are the Lions and Browns.

So, Browns fans will watch the game today without the experience of ever being part of the festivities.

But it is worth reminding everyone that the team has come close a few times, and in the early years of the game, the Browns were a contender to get there.

That was a long, long time ago unfortunately.

Tribe Front Office Keeps Improving Team.

The Cleveland Indians aren’t kidding around this winter.

Fresh off an American League championship and a trip to the World Series, the ownership and front office of the team have thrown any caution they have had in the past to the wind, and are hell bent on improving the ballclub

All fans were giddy with the addition of one of the game’s most prolific and consistent sluggers in Edwin Encarnacion. He fits perfectly into the middle of Terry Francona’s lineup.

Yesterday, Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff bolstered the already strong bullpen by adding lefty specialist Boone Logan on a one year contract.

Logan is a prototypical LOOGY (left handed one out guy), holding left-handed hitters to a .142 batting average in 2016. In his career, lefties are hitting .233 against him (670 OPS) and he has struck out 34% of them.

His addition should eliminate any need for Francona to use Andrew Miller early in a game, like the 5th or 6th inning, to get a key left-handed hitter. That means Miller and Cody Allen can be used in the last three frames to get the toughest hitters opponents can bring up to the plate.

The Tribe bullpen is deep and they are good. Besides late inning guys Allen, Miller, and Bryan Shaw, Francona has Dan Otero, Logan, and Zack McAllister to work earlier if needed.

And in reserve, he has young arms like Shawn Armstrong, Kyle Crockett, Perci Garner, Nick Goody, Joe Colon, and rule five draftee Hoby Milner that could contribute during the season.

They say statistically a big league team needs ten starting pitchers to complete a season, and the Tribe has depth there as well.

Besides the five current starters (Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, Trevor Bauer, and Josh Tomlin), the team has Mike Clevinger, Cody Anderson, and Ryan Merritt who will start the season in Columbus.

Since the end of the season, the front office has also added lefty Tim Cooney from St. Louis, who had made six starts for the Cardinals in 2015 before missing last year with calcium deposits in his shoulder. He will provide depth.

And last week, the Indians traded for Carlos Frias from the Dodgers who has made 15 major league starts in his career.

There is no question pitching can be volatile, and as Francona is wont to say, when you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get more.

The front office heeded his advice.

With an offense led by Encarnacion, Francisco Lindor, Jason Kipnis, and Carlos Santana, the Tribe should score enough runs too. Don’t forget they also have Jose Ramirez, and solid role players in Lonnie Chisenhall and Brandon Guyer as well.

And if Michael Brantley can stay healthy and return to being one of the league’s best hitters? The Tribe might just be the team to beat in the AL.

It’s been a long time, probably since 2001, that Cleveland baseball fans could say that.

But in baseball, there are no for sures. There are always injuries, and that’s why you need depth in the organization, which the front office recognized.

This isn’t 2008 or 2014, the last two times the Cleveland Indians made the playoffs. This winter, the organization didn’t rest on its laurels. They added on to the American League Champions.

Defense Is Cavs’ Biggest Issue

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in a funk.

Perhaps it’s an annual thing, because they seem to go through this each of the last two Januarys, or maybe they are simply bored as the season has just passed the halfway point.

Maybe it’s a hangover from the franchise’s first title last summer, and they will be able to turn the switch after the All Star game at the end of February.

Whatever, it’s not very pretty to watch.

Monday’s loss to Dallas was embarrassing. Yes, they are missing two starters due to injury in JR Smith and Kevin Love, but so were the Mavericks, who were without Deron Williams and Andrew Bogut.

Dallas is the third worst team in the Western Conference at 18-30 and have a below .500 record at home. And they played the night before and picked up a huge road win, perhaps their biggest of the year, at San Antonio.

Still, the Cavs couldn’t take advantage. They continue to struggle away from Quicken Loans Arena, dropping to 11-10 on the road for the season.

And while LeBron James continues to say the team needs a backup point guard, the biggest need for the wine and gold is to improve their defense.

Yes, if you play an up tempo game, you are going to give up points in the NBA, but the Cavs have allowed 100 or more points in 13 of the last 14 games. In the first 33 games this season, Cleveland held their opponents under 100 points 13 times.

That’s why in today’s “tryout camp” for veterans that the Cavs are having today, we would look for defense first.

Now, that being said, we don’t want players who don’t have any ability to put the ball in the basket, like say DeAndre Liggins. Those players become liabilities when you have the ball and allow teams to double on James and Kyrie Irving.

However, we would look to sign players who can defend, but also have the ability to score. We understand that sounds like an oxymoron, but Tyronn Lue has players who can shoot at his disposal, guys like Smith, Channing Frye, and Kyle Korver.

But outside of Smith, they are not strong on defense.

What is really needed though is an accountability from the current players on the defensive end. We have seen too many opposing players getting by their defender, which causes someone to help, and that leaves someone wide open on the perimeter.

If the help doesn’t arrive, then it’s a lay up. That is happening far too often, and it isn’t just elite players causing problems. Heck, Dallas had Yogi Farrell, currently on a 10 day contract, and Seth Curry, not Steph Curry, parading to the basket.

That just comes down to personal responsibility. Keep your man in front of you. We know they are capable of doing that, which plays into our boredom argument.

We understand there probably isn’t a real threat to the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference, but that doesn’t mean if these bad habits aren’t curtailed soon, other teams might feel like they have a shot.

Part of the Cavs’ mystique is many other teams are defeated before they take the floor. That’s something they don’t want to lose, and stepping it up on the defensive end is a step in that direction.

Our Annual Plea…Take Best Player With First Overall Pick.

Many people call the period between the college all-star games and the actual NFL draft the silly season because of all the rumors and draft speculation that is posted and talked about.

In Cleveland, the silly season usually manifests itself in many media members talking about getting a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And if you think the Browns should not take a QB with their first pick, which this year happens to be the first overall choice, then you are supposedly kidding yourself because the Browns will never win unless they get the franchise signal caller.

So, we would like to debunk a few myths.

First, we would not pick a QB with the first pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, but there is no question the Browns need a quarterback. Our premise is the same as it has always been, if you have the first pick, you should take the consensus best player, which by all accounts is Texas A&M edge rusher Myles Garrett.

By the way, Cleveland has needed a pass rusher for virtually 50 years. So, you can’t go wrong there.

Second, while it is true that outside of Houston, all the teams that made the playoffs had very good passers, having a good QB doesn’t get you into the playoffs.

New Orleans has Drew Brees, did they get in? What about the Giants, who have Eli Manning? The Chargers have Philip Rivers, surely they got in, right?

The answer in every case is no.

Again, we aren’t saying having a very good quarterback isn’t important, we are simply saying that you need to build around the guy too. So, you need to have other good players besides a QB to win in the NFL.

The most ridiculous argument we hear is that if the Browns really like a certain player, then they should just draft him first overall. They forget that the draft is like a game. You judge where a player may be available, and take him as close as you can to that pick.

We are sure that the Patriots liked something about Tom Brady, otherwise they wouldn’t have selected him at all, but they didn’t take him with their first round pick.

Besides, the Browns have a ton of draft picks to move up if they get nervous about the player they want being chosen.

For example, we happen to like Deshaun Watson from the national champion Clemson Tigers as a QB. No one has him being the first overall pick, so it would be a mistake to take him there.

All you are doing is pushing good players down to the better teams.

Maybe Sashi Brown and Hue Jackson can take him at #12, we would be alright with that. But if they see or hear a team at #9 or #10 is interested, they have the picks to move up to #7 or #8 to select him.

And they would still have the consensus best player coming into the NFL this spring.

Perhaps their intel says Watson would be taken at around #25. Then, they could take the best player on their board at #12, and then move up from the first pick in the second round to grab Watson at let’s say, #23.

You just don’t go crazy and pick the 25th best player in the draft with the first overall pick because you need a quarterback. That’s a recipe for staying mediocre.

How many teams move up to a spot early in the draft to get a top notch quarterback anyway?

We know that Brady with a sixth round choice. The Steelers got Ben Roethlisberger with the 11th overall pick, they didn’t trade up.

Matt Ryan was the third overall pick, but Atlanta didn’t trade up for him. And the fourth team in the conference championships, Green Bay, got Aaron Rodgers because he famously fell to them in the draft.

The Redskins gave up a king’s ransom to get Robert Griffin III in 2012. How did that work out for them? The Rams and Eagles moved up to get Jared Goff and Carson Wentz last year.

The jury is still out.

The Vikings (Christian Ponder), the Jaguars (Blaine Gabbert) and the Bills (E. J. Manuel) all reached for quarterbacks in recent years, trying to get “the guy”. How has that worked out?

We have every expectation that the Browns’ front office will upgrade the quarterback position by the end of the NFL draft, whether by taking a guy they really like, or trading for a young, up and coming player, like Jimmy Garoppolo.

They don’t need to use the first overall pick to do it. In fact, in this year’s draft, it would be the dumbest thing they could do.

January = Drama Month For Cavaliers

It’s the first month of the new year and once again there is drama and anxiousness regarding the city’s professional basketball team.

When you think about it, this has become an annual rite of passage.

In 2015, the team endured LeBron James missing two weeks to basically refresh his body. The Cavs actually dropped below the .500 mark at one point (19-20), and then GM David Griffin traded Dion Waiters and some draft picks for JR Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Timofey Mozgov and the team took off.

Oh, and there was the team bonding bowling trip then coach David Blatt took his squad on.

That team went on to win the Eastern Conference and ultimately lose to Golden State in the NBA Finals.

2016 brought the blowout loss to the Warriors on Martin Luther King Day and the shocking firing of Blatt with the Cavs sitting at 30-11 for the season.

It was a bold move by Griffin, and it turned out to be the right move as well, as the wine and gold went on to win its first NBA title.

So why would you think 2017 would be any different? Apparently, the title doesn’t change everything.

The Cavaliers are going through their first rough patch of the season, losing three of six on a west coast trip and then losing to New Orleans and Sacramento.

The defense has been non-existent and the foul shooting deplorable.

And then LeBron James made comments about the roster and it has been reported that he and owner Dan Gilbert are at odds about the money being spent on improving the roster.

Yep, it’s January alright.

We understand James’ comment about the roster and we believe he is talking more to his teammates than he is to the front office. He is saying that the players can’t continuously look to himself, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love to get things done.

The rest of the team has the ability to make some things happen and they need to step it up.

James keeps talking about another point guard, or playmaker as Griffin says, and we feel another inside defensive presence is a more pressing need. Right now, Tristan Thompson is the only quality interior defender on the roster, and the team certainly could use another big man.

As for the discussion with the owner, we are sure James wants to make sure the luxury tax, of which the Cavs are paying a ton, isn’t a deterrent to defending the title.

James has to believe that the Warriors, Spurs, and any other contenders will add to their roster by the trade deadline, and to be sure, he wants assurances Griffin will not be hamstrung by tax concerns.

But the current roster has to play better too. It seems like a little complacency has set in and right now, the wine and gold have been playing sloppy–too many turnovers and laziness on the defensive end.

They are getting every team’s best shot as the defending champions, and they aren’t responding.

That’s not something Griffin and/or Gilbert can fix. It must come from within the locker room.

We would start by putting Kyle Korver in the starting lineup and putting everyone else back into the roles they were in before Smith went down with his injury.

We would also start giving some minutes to Kay Felder and Jordan McRae, thus cutting back on playing time for James, Irving, and Love.

We may see that as soon as tonight.

Right now isn’t the time to panic. It’s just a normal January for the Cavaliers.

Can NFL/NBA Go Back To Thinking Defense Is Important?

Somebody once said about sports that you never hear crowds chanting for offense, but Defense…Defense is heard many times at the end of both NFL and NBA games.

We realize that this will make us sound like “get off my lawn” guy, but really haven’t things gotten out of control in favor of the offense in both professional football and the NBA?

Watching last weekend’s AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, we realized that these offensives are basically unstoppable and the only way to stop a top notch NFL quarterback is to force him to throw quickly by pressure.

The final score in the NFC was 44-21, while the AFC score was 36-17, a total of 118 points between the four teams.

Ten years ago, still in the era where virtually every rule is in favor of the passing game, the scores were very similar. Indianapolis beat New England 38-34, although it was a battle of all time great quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, while in the NFC, Chicago (behind Rex Grossman?) beat the Saints, 39-14.

Twenty years ago, the Patriots beat the Jaguars 20-6, and the Packers beat the Panthers 30-13. That’s a total of 69 points.

So, almost 50 more points were scored this weekend in conference championship games! These are supposed to be the best of the best teams.

Thirty years ago, the NFC title game was a shutout, the Giants beat Washington 17-0. It was the third consecutive whitewashing in the NFC. Since then, there has been just one shutout in a conference title game, in 2000, when the Giants beat the Vikings 41-0.

It simply has gotten too easy to throw the football in the NFL. Granted, we had four of the best QBs in the game playing last weekend, but the four combined for 68% completion percentage on 172 throws with 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

Do you realize that four of the all time leaders in passing yards are playing right now? They are Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Eli Manning, and Ben Roethlisberger. Add in Peyton Manning, who retired after last season, and that’s half of the top ten.

Two more passers, Philip Rivers and Carson Palmer, are in the next five in terms of yardage.

In basketball, the NBA changed the rules a few years to encourage offense, as the games were beginning to have scores with both teams in the 80s, and it wasn’t an enjoyable game visually.

So, they basically said you can’t hand check the point guards. So, now the sport, once dominated by George Mikan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O’Neil, is controlled by point guards.

Currently, four of the top ten scorers in the NBA are point guards (Russell Westbrook, Isaiah Thomas, James Harden, and Damian Lillard), and two more (Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving) rank 11th and tied for 12th.

Quite frankly, these guys are too quick to guard out of the floor, and with the ability to “carry” the ball, when the opposing team needs a stop, they put it in the hands of one of these guys and they deliver.

To that point, the four guys in the scoring top ten are also in the top ten in terms of free throws attempted, as is Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has the ball in his hands a lot at crunch time.

FYI, twelve players take more free throws than LeBron James. Take that for what it is worth.

We aren’t suggesting going back to the way things were 20-30 years ago, but perhaps the rules restricting defense can be relaxed in both sports, especially in the NFL where the quality of play has declined in recent years.

It used to be said that defense wins championships. Right now, that can be crossed off the sports cliché lists.

Changes, Injuries Hurting Cavs Right Now

The Cleveland Cavaliers still sit at the top of the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings at 30-12, but they’ve hit a little bit of a slump.

They have split their last eight games, six of those coming on a long trip that spanned from Brooklyn to Golden State.

It appears the changes that have occurred to the roster have caught up a bit to Tyronn Lue and the guys in wine and gold.

First, they lost JR Smith to a thumb injury that will keep him out of the lineup until the middle of March at the earliest. That led Lue to replace him with DeAndre Liggins, but he is not a very good outside shooter, and the league figured that out pretty quickly.

That forced Lue to start Iman Shumpert in Smith’s usual spot, which takes away from the defense on the second unit.

For example, Lue started newly acquired Kyle Korver, Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson, and Liggins with LeBron James at the start of the second and fourth quarters, and San Antonio went on runs both times.

Getting Korver is another change for Lue to handle. He doesn’t seem to know exactly how he fits right now, mostly because of the very little practice time the team has had since he arrived.

Perhaps the best thing to do is to start Korver in Smith’s spot and put everyone back in their accustomed spots, the way it was early in the year when the Cavs were rolling.

Another complication has been nagging injuries to two of the “Big Three”, an ankle problem for Kyrie Irving and a back issue for Kevin Love.

Irving is shooting the three ball like he did two years ago, and his assist numbers are the highest since before James returned to the team.

In the seven games right before he hurt his ankle vs. Boston, Irving averaged 24 points and 10 assists per game with slightly less than three turnovers.

Since returning to the lineup, he has played eight games. His scoring is fine at 23.5 points, but his assists are down to 4.5 and his turnovers are over three per night.

He just hasn’t found the groove he was in before the ankle issue.

Love’s back has been bothering him since the New Orleans game the day after New Year’s, and his production has dropping off dramatically.

He has scored over 20 points just once in that span and hasn’t shot over 50% in a game since the Cavaliers beat the Lakers on December 17th.

Besides the back issues, it seems like the Cavs have gotten away from getting Love touches near the basket, as he is relying more and more on three point shots.

In last night’s loss to the Spurs, Love took 15 total shots, 11 of those from behind the arc.

The team needs a healthy Kevin Love to succeed, but the lack of depth at the #4 and #5 spots in the lineup make it tough for that to happen.

We know James has lobbied for a back up point guard, but right now, the weakness that needs to be addressed is interior defense, which hasn’t been good as of late, and really the only player who can be counted on the contribute there is Tristan Thompson.

GM David Griffin needs to get another big, and the sooner the better.

We have faith that Lue will get the rotations down quickly and when Korver is more acclimated to the team, the Cavs will start playing well again soon.

We know what this team is capable of, and the talent is certainly there. They are simply going through a period where a lot of players are nicked up and others have had to change their roles.

Lue and Griffin have earned the trust that they will take care of this. With three home games following Monday’s game in New Orleans, and then five out of the next six on the road, it might be time to right the ship.

Thome In ’18, And Other Hall Of Fame Thoughts

A year from now, Cleveland Indians’ fans will be waiting for the results of the Baseball Hall of Fame voting with great anticipation.

Jim Thome will be eligible for the first time and with over 600 home runs in his career and not even any anecdotal connection to performance enhancing drugs, he should be a strong candidate to get elected next year.

He would be the first player to play the majority of his career in a Cleveland uniform since Larry Doby was inducted in 1998, and we believe he would be the first Indians to be elected by the baseball writers since Lou Boudreau in 1970.

It says a lot about the state of the franchise from 1960-1994 that it has been 46 years since the Tribe had a Hall of Famer that played to the Indians in the prime of his career.

Thome played 55% of his games with Cleveland, and coincidentally hit 55% of his 612 home runs in an Indians’ uniform. He also played every one of his games with the Tribe through age 31.

He belted 200 more long balls with the Indians than he did with any other team.

Omar Vizquel will also be eligible for the first time, although he likely will not get in on his first year on the ballot.

The shortstop, best known for his defense, won 11 Gold Gloves and managed to get 2877 hits in his long career. He was a solid offensive player through age 39 with the Giants when he hit .295 with a 749 OPS.

With Trevor Hoffman and Vlad Guerrero just missing enshrinement this year and Chipper Jones being eligible for the first time along with Thome, it may be tough for all four to make it into the Hall.

That makes it doubly tough for Vizquel in 2018.

As for yesterday’s results, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens received over 50% of the vote for the first time, and only three players who attained that level did not finally get into Cooperstown.

Many experts are saying the increase is due to younger voters, who didn’t cover the game in the “Steroid Era”.

Our opinion is they should talk to the writers who did cover the sport then and talk about what happened. This is a situation where the statistics do not tell the entire story.

We weren’t alive when Lincoln was assassinated, but we know what happened. Not doing the research is not doing your due diligence.

Those players blatantly cheated, and we understand some players who used may already be enshrined, like Ivan Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell. We would not have voted for Pudge, who was mentioned in Jose Canseco’s book.

There is nothing that concrete on Bagwell.

After watching the last installment of Ken Burns’ documentary on the game, which addresses the best hitter and pitcher of that generation using PEDs, we can’t understand how anyone could vote for either after watching.

And yes, they were great players before they took performance enhancers, but that doesn’t mean you should overlook that they used.

What they did wasn’t fair to the players who didn’t use, and their accomplishments have hindered the candidacies of players like Fred McGriff, Jeff Kent, and Mike Mussina.

Hopefully, a year from now, we will have cause to celebrate Jim Thome, the first true Tribe player in a generation to make the Hall of Fame.

Another thing many of us have never seen in our lifetime.