Browns Continue to Search For Identity

If you ask Browns’ coach Mike Pettine and GM Ray Farmer to tell you how they envisioned their team winning games this season, we are sure they would tell you victory could be accomplished with a strong defense and an offense that can run the ball effectively.

Three games into the season, they better improve that plan or come up with a new one because both were virtually non-existent in today’s 27-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders, which dropped the Browns to 1-2 on the season.

The Raiders gashed the Cleveland defense all day long, and as you can well imagine, if the Browns’ supposed best defender, CB Joe Haden, is having a bad day, the rest of the defense is struggling too.

Haden was assigned to rookie WR Amari Cooper to start the game, and the first year player out of Alabama had a huge first drive, catching three passes for 54 yards, and Jim O’Neil’s unit was off to a very long day.

And once again, Oakland’s running game, which had struggled for the first two contests, flourished today, as Latavius Murray ran for 139 yards on 26 attempts, and overall the Raiders hammered the Browns for 155 yards and a 5.2 average per carry.

This has now been a problem for two years under the Pettine/O’Neil coaching staff (really, it has been a problem since 1999), and our question is, when will it be fixed? It’s a complete and utter joke right now, and it is time for the staff to come up with an answer.

The Browns’ defense allowed 469 yards of total offense, and created only one turnover.

We said it after the opening day loss to the Jets, and we will repeat it today. If the Browns don’t play very good defense, it will be a long, long season for the team.

Their success is predicated on stopping the opposing offense. It is where they have expended a great deal of money through free agency, and high draft picks.

As for the offense, once again, the inability to run the ball or even to commit to the run was left lacking.

Cleveland ran for just 39 yards against a team allowing 118 yards per games against the rush.

On the first drive for the Browns, they tried two runs and threw four passes. The second drive? The same, two running plays and four pass plays (one a sack). The next possession was a three and out, consisting of two passes and a run.

If you are going to commit to the run, you have to stay with it. Does Pettine and offensive coordinator John DiFillipo think they are going to open every game gaining five yards per carry?

Isaiah Crowell had just 10 carries for 36 yards, one a 17-yard jaunt just short of the end zone. The Browns tried him twice from the one, but he could not get it in.

The turning point of the game came late in the second quarter after the Browns’ Travis Coons kicked a 24-yard field goal with 1:44 left in the first half.

The Raiders quickly went 65 yards in five plays to tack on a TD before halftime and give Oakland a confidence boost, and a 17-3 advantage.

Josh McCown was okay, completing 28 of 49 throws for 341 yards with two touchdowns and a pick.

However, three times by our count, he had Travis Benjamin behind the defense and couldn’t make a connection. We guess the “luck” Johnny Manziel had a week ago in completing those throws wasn’t with the veteran today.

So, the supposed soft part of the Cleveland schedule is over, and it is off to San Diego next week to take on a Chargers team that was embarrassed by Minnesota today. It won’t be any easier.

If Pettine and his staff cannot get this defense and running game to be any better. Any hopes of building an identity this season could be out the window.

That’s very disconcerting for the football fans of northeast Ohio.

Last Two Weeks Shows Tribe Need Off-Season Help

After GM Chris Antonetti made the deal with Atlanta sending Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn south, the Cleveland Indians started to play better and worked their way back to the outside fringe of the wild card race.

However, once in that position, the Tribe went back to a win one, lose one stretch, and dropping the first two games of a key series against another contender, the Minnesota Twins, virtually eliminates Terry Francona’s team from post-season consideration.

In a way, that’s good, because it won’t give anyone on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario a notion that the Cleveland Indians are a solid baseball team heading into the winter.

We see four position players who should have starting jobs when the 2016 season opens at Progressive Field on April 4th:

2B Jason Kipnis
SS Francisco Lindor
C Yan Gomes
?? Michael Brantley

Every other position should have competition.

The question mark around Brantley is because we think a move to 1B could be in the cards for him. He’s played the position in the minor leagues, and if the front office finds it easier to find a LF, then perhaps Brantley can be the new first baseman.

We say that because we do not think Carlos Santana will be back in ’16, because he will be dealt.

Santana, a polarizing figure because the sabermetric people love him because he walks, However, he is just slightly above average offensively in the AL, hitting just .234 with 17 HR and 79 RBI with a 749 OPS. The league average is 729.

The switch-hitter will be 30 years old next year, meaning he should be entering the decline phase of his career. It would be best for Antonetti to move Santana to a stat based organization while he still has value. Remember, the Tribe owes him $8 million next year with a club option of $12 million for 2017.

We would also like to see Jose Ramirez back with the team, although he might have the best trade value among the everyday players whom the Indians would be willing to deal.

3B? Giovanny Urshela is excellent defensively, but can he hit enough to play everyday?

CF? Abraham Almonte is a nice fourth outfielder, but the Indians need someone better to hold down the fort until Bradley Zimmer is ready to take over, and hopefully that will be late next season.

RF? Lonnie Chisenhall has been great defensively, but we have seen his up and downs with the bat over the years. Out of all the other positions, Chisenhall may be the guy we would give a shot to, at least in a platoon role.

LF/1B/DH? As we said, Brantley will hold down one of these spots, and he is developing into one of the league’s premier hitters. But the other two spots need people who can hit, and with the game changing, guys who hit for a good average, that don’t strike out excessively, and have a little pop would be fine.

Chris Johnson does whiff a lot, but we’d be willing to give him a share of one of these spots to start next year.

We understand that we are talking about a lot of changes, but we believe going with the status quo is not prudent if the Tribe wants to make the post-season.

Antonetti needs to be looking to upgrade at more than half of the positions in the lineup for next year. And we understand they may not be blockbuster moves, just incremental improvement at those spots would be acceptable.

We will discuss the pitching staff next week.

The Pro and Cons on Tito’s Managing

Ever since Terry Francona became the manager of the Cleveland Indians after the 2012 season, he has more or less been the face of the franchise, which is kind of unusual for the manager of the team.

He came to the team with the cache of winning two World Series titles in Boston, breaking the infamous “Curse of the Bambino”, the first world title in Beantown since 1918.

And in his first season with the Tribe, he took a team that finished with 68 wins in ’12, and led them to a spot in the Wild Card game, leading the Indians to 92 victories, a whopping 24 win turnaround.

Last season, Francona had his squad in contention until the final weekend of the regular season, finishing with 88 wins, the first consecutive winning seasons for Cleveland since 2000-01.

There is no question Tito is a player’s manager. He keeps everything in the clubhouse for the most part, and his players love that. And from reading the book about his years in Boston, he likes to have veterans around to police the locker room, feeling constructive criticism means more coming from one’s peers than always from the skipper.

So, there is no question here, that the atmosphere Francona has created in Cleveland has a great deal to do with changing the culture, and contributes to the team’s success.

Even this year, it would have been understandable if the Tribe would have folded its tent, especially when they fell 10 games below .500 in early August.

However, they have roared back into the fringe of contention and as we enter play tonight they are 4-1/2 games out of the second wild card, and only three games back in the loss column.

The point that this team never gives up is the strongest recommendation we can make for Francona’s managing style.

In terms of in-game tactics and lineup construction, well, that’s another story.

Last week, in a key game against Kansas City, trailing 2-0 in the ninth inning, the Indians got the first two runners on base. Francona then pinch hit Mike Aviles for Jerry Sands, and anyone watching the game knew a bunt was coming.

We could see the strategy if it were a tie game (a fly ball would win it), or even down one run (can score tying run with an out). However, down two runs, it is a horrible mistake.

You had three outs remaining, and you gave one up on purpose.

Aviles did bunt, and didn’t advance the runners. Soon, the game ended in a 2-0 defeat.

The Indians lead the American League in sacrifice bunts with 44, a statistic that drives sabermetric people crazy. We kind of agree. Giving up outs is crazy.

Francona no doubt has his favorites, and it usually a veteran player. He has somehow given Aviles almost 300 at bats, despite a 623 OPS, a mediocre figure by any standard.

And his lack of usage for newly acquired Chris Johnson, a career .300 hitter vs. left handers, seems odd too. If we were in charge, Johnson’s name would be in the lineup everyday right now, with Giovanny Urshela struggling.

We have addressed Francona’s stubbornness in the past, his patience has developed into that at times.

His recent bullpen strategy has developed into that lately, as set up men Zack McAllister and Bryan Shaw have struggled since the beginning of August, yet the skipper hasn’t tried any alternatives.

He’s also been tentative in bringing along young players save for Francisco Lindor and Urshela, but that’s because he had no alternatives.

If he does, the young guy, whether it be Tyler Holt, Jesus Aguilar, or even Zack Walters (not a fan) gets sporadic at bats, which usually results in no production.

We would agree that the clubhouse presence is more important to this team than the lack of strategic performance, at least for this organization.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t drive us up the wall.

Panic Can Be Eased, Browns Now 1-1

It was doom and gloom all week in Cleveland regarding the Browns, after they played a horrible game in the season opener and got hammered by the New York Jets.

The reality is most teams that turn the ball over five times will probably lose, and a 21 point loss might just be the average margin of victory.

Today, they didn’t turn the ball over once (more on that later), and surprise, surprise, the wound up winning their home opener, defeating the Tennessee Titans, 28-14 at First Energy Stadium.

The turnovers were the difference as the Browns’ defense forced three of them, and harassed rookie QB Marcus Mariota all day long, sacking him seven times as Cleveland evened its record to 1-1.

The Browns were aggressive early, as Johnny Manziel found WR Travis Benjamin for a 60-yard touchdown pass on the second offensive play to give Cleveland an early 7-0 advantage.

After a Terrance West fumble (Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine had to be smiling to themselves after that), the offense took advantage of the short field to move 50 yards in seven plays into the end zone as Isaiah Crowell ran it in from 11 yards to make it 14-0.

It seemed that Pettine and offensive coordinator John DiFillippo went a little conservative in the play calling after that, probably to take pressure off of Manziel, making just his third professional start.

They got a bonus at the end of the half when Benjamin struck again, taking a punt 78 yards to another TD. However, “The Rabbit” wasn’t done.

After the Titans climbed back into the game with two touchdowns to make it 21-14 with a little over six minutes to go, on a 3rd and 6 from midfield, Manziel scrambled away from pressure and found Benjamin again for a score on a play that looked like Johnny Football’s days at Texas A & M.

Manziel threw just 15 times, completing eight for 172 yards and the two touchdown tosses.

Now, for the negatives in the victory.

Once again, the Browns had problems against the run, particularly in setting the edge, forcing runners inside. The Titans ran for 166 yards, with Dexter McCluster getting 98 of them on just 10 carries.

The defense did a little better on third down, allowing 7 of 16 conversions, but did not get off the field well in the first half.

To be fair, because Cleveland scored on big plays, Jim O’Neil’s unit was on the field for 35 minutes today, so fatigue could have been a factor.

Manziel fumbled two more times, but was fortunate that his teammates recovered both miscues. He must be more diligent with ball security, particularly when his team has the lead. If either ball had been recovered by Tennessee, we might be talking about a different outcome today.

Who did well? Besides Benjamin, Crowell gained 72 yards on 15 carries and gashed the Titans in the second half.

Duke Johnson showed improvement as well, getting 43 yards on 12 totes of the pigskin.

Armonty Bryant had 2-1/2 sacks and John Hughes had 1-1/2 as well, as there was much more pressure on the QB than last week.

It didn’t show in the stats, but Tramon Williams was solid too, making nice open field tackles to stop Titan ball carriers short of first down yardage.

And Andy Lee is showing he was worth the 7th round draft pick the Browns used to get him, as he is proving to be a great weapon. He averaged 53.2 yards on six punts.

So, the Raiders come to FES next week in another winnable game. Still, the Browns have to play well, and improve on this week’s performance if they want to get over .500.

However, the panic about an awful season should be abated for a week. The Browns showed that when they play like they want to (run the ball, play solid defense), they are capable of winning games.

It’s Still Just One Game For Browns

There isn’t much more that could have gone wrong for the Cleveland Browns last Sunday against the New York Jets in the 31-10 loss in the season opener.

Five turnovers, 12 penalties, a defense that couldn’t stop the run or put pressure on Ryan Fitzpatrick, and an offensive line that struggled all day were the main culprits in a resounding defeat.

However, the beatdown doesn’t relegate the team to a 2-14 or 3-13 season.

Last year, four teams were thumped on the opening weekend for pro football.

Green Bay was hammered by Seattle 36-16, yet finished the year at 12-4.

New England was beaten by Miami 33-20, yet ended the season at 12-4 and hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.

The Rams lost to Minnesota 34-6, but they wound up at 6-10 at season’s end, and the Giants were beaten by the Lions, 35-14 and also finished 2014 at 6-10.

To be sure, the Browns are probably closer the last season’s Rams or Giants than they are to the Packers or Patriots, but it serves to remind us that it is just one game, and this Sunday’s contest vs. Tennessee is a chance for redemption.

The ultimate example that you cannot examine an entire season based on the first game of the year comes from 1989 and our rivals to the east, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As you may remember, the Steelers opened the campaign at home against the Browns in Bud Carson’s first game as a head coach and received a 51-0 shellacking.

Pittsburgh turned the ball over eight times and had just 53 total yards of offense in the blowout. By the way, that Pittsburgh team featured noted Johnny Manziel fan Merril Hoge.

The next week, the Steelers were hammered once again, this time on the road in Cincinnati, 41-10. This time, they didn’t turn the ball over at all, but their defense was gouged by 520 total yards by the Bengals.

Did that Pittsburgh team finish with the overall number one pick in the draft?

No, they righted their season, won the last four games of the year, and made the playoffs with a 9-7 record.

To be fair, the Steelers were guided by a Hall of Fame coach in Chuck Noll, who by that time had won four Super Bowls, but it shows what can happen by judging a team on such a small sample size.

We don’t know what will happen the rest of the year for the Cleveland Browns, and we agree that if the defense doesn’t play significantly better than they did last weekend, it could be a long, long season.

The Browns may have played their worst game of the season in week one. We understand that right now, we don’t have any other performances to compare it to, and with all of the hype that goes into the opener, the disappointment of a horrible game hits fans hard.

On the other hand, the Browns could come out and confuse rookie QB Marcus Mariota like Ohio State did in the national championship game, and have success running the ball that they need. Those things would likely add up to a victory and a 1-1 record to start the year.

We would be more concerned if the Browns played well and still had their heads handed to them. They played horrible and lost.

That could have happened in week seven, and it wouldn’t have been a huge deal.

Bullpen May Be What Kills Tribe’s Chances

This would have been unbelievable to fathom about six weeks ago, but somehow, the Cleveland Indians still have a shot, albeit slim, at a playoff spot.

In fact, if they win tonight, they will gain on someone because since the Rangers and Astros are playing each other, one of them has to lose, so Terry Francona’s squad would be either 3-1/2 or 4 out with a victory this evening.

The hitting has picked up and the starting pitching continues to be solid even with injuries to Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, mostly because Josh Tomlin and Cody Anderson have picked up the slack.

Because the Indians aren’t a great team, another leak has sprung up and right now, Francona is showing stubbornness in not trying something different.

And that would be the bullpen, more specifically, the two guys the skipper has used in the 7th and 8th innings for most of the season, namely Zack McAllister and Bryan Shaw.

Neither pitcher has been particularly effective since the beginning of August.

McAllister has a world-class fastball, clocked in the upper 90s MPH, but doesn’t have a reliable off-speed pitch, which is exactly the reason he is no longer a starter. When he has good fastball command, he can be a solid bullpen option, but lately? Not so much.

Since August 1st, here are his statistics–

13-1/3 IP, 15 hits, 5 walks, 14 strikeouts, 3 home runs allowed, and a 4.05 ERA.

That’s not exactly locking down the opposition hitters.

Shaw has been in his role longer, dating back to the second half of the 2014 season, and perhaps the wear and tear of working as much as he has is taking a toll.

And although he has a plus heater, and can have a biting slider, as of late, that pitch has been hanging, and a slider that doesn’t slide gets hit a long way.

Here is what Shaw has done since the end of July–

20-1/3 IP, 27 hits, 5 walks, 16 strikeouts, 3 homers allowed, and a 4.43 ERA.

The troubles these two have gone through are taking a toll on closer Cody Allen, who has often been used for more than one inning lately, and that could cause another problem over the last three weeks of the season.

As we all know, Tito is extremely loyal to his guys, and seems willing to go down with the ship with McAllister and Shaw.

It would have been nice had GM Chris Antonetti would have gone out and got another bullpen arm before the end of August when he saw his team creeping back into contention.

What can Francona do?

He has started giving some high leverage work to veteran Jeff Manship, who came into the year with a career ERA of over 5.00. He’s been doing the job, as he has a 1.11 ERA for the Tribe covering 32-1/3 innings.

Guys like Ryan Webb and Austin Adams haven’t been lights out in their limited chances, so a bold choice would be to see what rookie Shawn Armstrong can give the team.

Armstrong has pitched 5-2/3 innings with the big club and hasn’t allowed a run, striking out seven. He had 16 saves at Columbus, fanning 80 hitters in 49-2/3 frames.

There is a precedent for such a move. In 2002, the Angels won their only World Series title using Francisco Rodriguez throughout the stretch and the playoffs.

It has been done.

Francona just has to stop being stubborn and try someone else. The Indians aren’t in a situation where they can lose a game in the late innings. It’s a gamble for sure, but it’s not like McAllister and Shaw have been dominant either.

Defense Must Be Very Good For Browns to Win. It Wasn’t Vs. Jets.

If the Cleveland Browns want to succeed, they must be a very good defensive team.

Unfortunately, today they weren’t and they lost yet another season opener, getting pounded by the New York Jets, 31-10 at Met Life Stadium.

To be sure, people will point to the five turnovers by the Browns as the reason they lost, and they certainly didn’t help the cause, but we will point to several things that didn’t put Jim O’Neil’s defense in a good light.

In the first half, the Browns dominated play yet trailed going into the locker room 14-10.

In baseball, announcers and managers talk about response runs. After you score, the pitcher has to shut down the opposition.

The Cleveland defense failed to do this in the first half.

After the Browns took the lead in the second quarter on a touchdown pass from Johnny Manziel to Travis Benjamin. It only took the Jets six plays and 80 seconds to tie the game.

Of course, it didn’t help that the defense forced a turnover (it turned out to be the only one for Cleveland) when Tashaun Gipson picked off QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, but was stripped of the ball by WR Brandon Marshall (more on him later).

Two plays later, the Jets tied the game. The interception and resulting fumble was probably the turning point of the game.

After trading punts, the Browns took the lead on a Travis Coons’ field goal, but once again the Jets marched right down the field in nine plays, moving 72 yards in 2:20 to take the lead going into the half.

It doesn’t help your defensive play when the unit’s best player, All-Pro cornerback Joe Haden gets abused by the player he is assigned to shut down. Marshall caught six throws for 62 yards and a TD, but he also extended several drives with third down conversions.

The defense allowed seven third down conversions out of 13 opportunities.

Haden will play better because he’s been excellent in the past, but today simply wasn’t his day.

As we mentioned before, the turnovers didn’t help and was a big reason the Browns didn’t have the lead going into halftime.

Starting QB Josh McCown led a masterful opening drive, moving the Browns 82 yards from their own 9, to the Jets 9, before a penalty on John Greco put Cleveland in first and goal from the NY 14.

On third down, McCown escaped pressure and ran up the middle. Instead of sliding and putting his team in position for a short field goal, he tried to hurdle a defender and fumbled the ball away. He also suffered a concussion putting the ball in the hands of Manziel.

Then came the Gipson fumble later in the half.

So, instead of being up 10-0 with the ball and momentum, because everything was running according to game plan, it was tied at seven.

Two other problems for Mike Pettine to address. First, the running game, save for the quarterbacks, was non-existent. The Browns ran for 104 yards, with Manziel and McCown accounting for 58 of those yards. The longest run by any running back was eight yards.

The other issue was NO sacks of Ryan Fitzpatrick by the Browns’ defense. The Jets also ran for 154 yards, and not being able to stop the run doesn’t allow a defense to get after the passer.

This was the biggest weakness of the team last season, and to be fair, the Browns did a solid job in the first half vs. the run. But they couldn’t get pressure on Fitzpatrick and that has to change.

Regardless, the Browns come home next Sunday for Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans, who won big against Tampa Bay.

They need to eliminate mistakes, and the defense has to play better, much better.

If they don’t show a very good defense, those 3-13 predictions may just come true.

Browns Not As Bad As People Think

Sunday afternoon, the Cleveland Browns open another NFL season on the road against the New York Jets.

The training camp was filled with hamstring pulls, and the media brought up the quarterback situation once again, as if GM Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine don’t realize the position needs an upgrade.

And of course, the media continued to hammer away at the “dysfunction” of the franchise, with every misjudgment in terms of talent, or even how the play in the pre-season is held up as proof of that.

We have a different view. Remember that the Browns were 7-5 heading into a home game against Indianapolis, who advanced to the AFC title game in January.

Cleveland outplayed the Colts that day, except that Brian Hoyer had a terrible game and Andrew Luck and Indy pulled out a 25-24 win, dropping the Browns’ record to 7-6.

We have always said that when the Browns get decent play at quarterback, they win, and it would have been true on that Sunday, because if Hoyer had been merely good that day (he was 13 for 30, 136 yards and two picks), the Browns would have been 8-5, very much in the race for a playoff spot.

Now, we are a firm believer in “you are what your record is”, but that game sticks in our collective craw. The entire season changed on that contest.

Mike Pettine went to an unprepared Johnny Manziel the following week in Cincinnati, and both Manziel and Hoyer were hurt vs. Carolina, forcing undrafted Conner Shaw to start the season finale at Baltimore.

A game the Browns lost 20-10 with their third string passer.

Our point is that this isn’t as bad of a football team as people think.

The biggest weakness the Browns had a year ago was the inability to stop the run, and it appears they addressed that with the drafting of Danny Shelton and the signing of Randy Starks as a free agent. We won’t know for sure until they line up for real on Sunday, but if Cleveland improves in that area, with their strong secondary, the defense will be among the league’s best.

That will keep them in most games.

And that brings us back to our earlier statement that the Browns can win with decent quarterback play, which means not turning the ball over. That will be Josh McCown’s job and challenge this year.

As usual, the key to the season will be how the Browns handle the AFC North. They proved last year that the gap has closed, and they defeated the Steelers and Bengals in dominating fashion, and lost to Pittsburgh and the Ravens on the last play of the game.

If they can split the divisional games, they can win seven games again this season, albeit with a tougher schedule, and may even get to the break even mark.

We don’t see the other teams in the division being substantially better than they were a year ago.

There are three keys to the season in our view: 1). Improved defense vs. the run. 2). Josh McCown’s ability to not turn the ball over. 3). Avoiding catastrophic injuries, which change the season of most NFL teams.

If the first two things happen, the Browns will continue on the path of improvement.

Tribe Can’t Sit on Recent Success This Off-Season

The Cleveland Indians played their best 27 game stretch of the season (1/6th of the year) going 17-10 over that time, and remaining on the fringe of the wild card race, just five games behind.

The problem right now is the number of contests in dwindling to a precious few, so the Tribe will need to be even better than 17-10 over the balance of the schedule to have even a chance.

The biggest news over the span of these games was the deal that sent underachieving and overpaid veterans Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher to Atlanta. Immediately, the team started playing better.

Why? Because of what we’ve been saying all along, replacing Bourn with even a decent player would help the team and the resurgence of Lonnie Chisenhall, the continued development of SS Francisco Lindor, and the addition of Chris Johnson (who came from the Braves in the deal) has helped.

Bourn, and his 608 OPS were replaced by Abraham Almonte, who was acquired from San Diego for reliever Marc Rzepczynski, and has improved the hitting with his 857 OPS.

Lindor’s OPS is 785, much better than Jose Ramirez, who was playing SS and had a figure of 542. And Chisenhall’s second half OPS of 897 is far superior than the man he replaced, Brandon Moss, who had a 695 figure.

Once again, the Tribe’s over patient approach got them in a rut that will be very difficult to escape.

The pitching got better as Josh Tomlin and Cody Anderson has turned the fifth spot in the rotation into a more that serviceable turn.

The staff ERA has now improved to the 4th best in the American League.

The bullpen has sprung some holes, mostly from the home runs allowed by set up men Zack McAllister and Bryan Shaw, who combined have allowed 13 dingers on the season.

The recent good play has fans the happiest they have been all season, but the worst thing the front office can do is buy in to this stretch of winning baseball.

In our view, Cleveland has four everyday spots that should be etched in stone going into the winter: LF Michael Brantley, 2B Jason Kipnis, C Yan Gomes, and Lindor, who the front office still needs a possible replacement around in case of a sophomore slump.

That would leave CF, RF, 1B, 3B, and DH as spots to fill.

In center, although Almonte has been very good defensively, there is no evidence he can hit like this on a regular basis. In right, Chisenhall has done nothing more than prove he is streaky, although his defense has been surprisingly good.

At 3B, Giovanny Urshela’s bat concerns us that he cannot hit enough to be a regular, and Carlos Santana has been better lately, but still doesn’t provide the offense needed at a premier offensive position.

We would like to leave the rotation as is, but GM Chris Antonetti may have to move a starter to get the bat needed. The Tribe is developing some depth with Tomlin, Anderson, currently disabled T.J. House, possibly Gavin Floyd, and youngsters Ryan Merritt and Adam Plutko ready to help in 2016.

The bullpen is wide open, and we would be open to dealing one of the three back end guys (Cody Allen, McAllister, and Shaw) with the bounty in the farm system, guys like Shawn Armstrong, C.C. Lee, Tyler Sturdivant, Trey Haley, and lefty Giovanni Soto ready to help next season.

The point is the front office cannot get complacent and believe this kind of play will occur all year in ’16 with these players. They have to improve the roster, simple as that.

If not, they might have the same problems that started this season and will discourage the fan base even more.

Browns Settle on 53, But They Aren’t Done Yet

Except for the NFL Draft in the spring, no day is awaited with more anticipation among Browns’ fans than final cutdown day, when the front office decides which 53 players have made the team.

And, of course, with the reputation of the dysfunctional team that permeates both nationally and locally, critics were ready to hammer GM Ray Farmer.

First, a couple of things to say about the process. It is a game within the game. Sometimes, players get cut because management knows they can get through unclaimed by another team so they can be put on the practice squad.

Second, the front office knows that the 53 players they decide on Saturday will not be the same players who will suit up a week from today when Mike Pettine’s squad takes the field in New Jersey.

Much of the uproar from fans and media (and even one player) early in the day involved WR Josh Lenz. Lenz had a solid pre-season and a good game Thursday night, but was let go by Farmer.

Lenz is a good player, but the Browns knew if Terrelle Pryor were to be let go, another team would pick him up, and they’ve seen enough of the former Ohio State quarterback to know they would like to see more.

On the other hand, Lenz will probably not be claimed by another team, and could end up on the practice squad. That’s what we mean about a game. And Farmer played it correctly.

The second point involves the final roster as it stands right now. There will certainly be more changes afoot.

Cleveland is only carrying six offensive linemen, which is one or two short of what they will need. As we said the other day, the back ups in place during camp weren’t getting the job done, so we knew Farmer would be looking for help on the waiver wire.

They will pick up at least one lineman via that method this week.

The other big news was that last year’s third round pick, RB Terrance West was either going to be cut or traded. One media member even reported that Farmer and Pettine liked Shaun Draughn better than West. Draughn was cut later that afternoon.

Perhaps West will be traded today and Draughn will be brought back, but what harm is there in asking a team that needs running backs if they are interested in a player who will be a reserve for your team? To us, that’s just being smart.

What if Dallas or Houston were willing to give up a second round pick for West? Then, you’d make the deal, no?

The Browns are probably worried about how West will be in the locker room if he is not getting touches, and are hoping to take care of that issue. But they don’t want to give him away.

We always say everyone is tradeable for the right price. Not that this would ever happen, but if Green Bay offered you Aaron Rodgers for Joe Haden, you would turn it down? Of course not.

The point is, let’s see what happens in the next few days with the roster, because it will no doubt change.

On the other hand, we don’t see any glaring examples of potential starting players getting cut either.

That won’t stop the criticism of the “dysfunctional” Browns though, will it?