Why Asdrubal Should Stay

With the major league trading deadline coming in less than three weeks, the rumor mill has been very active, especially regarding the Cleveland Indians.

Most of the supposed deals have the Tribe getting pitching, since they rank 12th in the American League in ERA, and recently their bullpen has provided more ups and downs than the roller coasters at Cedar Point.

However, one that hit this week really shocked us. ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that Cleveland is talking to the St. Louis Cardinals about SS Asdrubal Cabrera, who is having a down year to this point in the season.

While the Cardinals have a lot of young pitching in their organization, this seems to be the kind of move that would be made if a team was out of the pennant race or in the off-season, not 2-1/2 games out as we approach the All-Star break.

This is true for several reasons. First, Cabrera isn’t hitting as well as he has in the past, meaning his market value is down. Here are the shortstop’s OPS over the last few years–

2009     799
2010     673
2011     792
2012     762
2013     722

His lifetime OPS is 752, so right now he is 30 points below his average season, and around 70 points behind his best seasons of ’09 and ’11. At 27 years old, he figures to still be capable of getting back to the 800 level.

Many people feel the Tribe can afford to deal the two-time all-star because of the availability of Mike Aviles, but that is poorly thought out for two reasons. Aviles is a much better hitter as a part-time player, hitting just .250 in his lone year as a regular in Boston last season. His career batting average is .275.

Also, who would replace Aviles on the bench? The Indians’ success this season has come in part because their bench is very strong, getting big production out of players like Aviles, Ryan Raburn, Jason Giambi, and Yan Gomes.

Who would take over Aviles’ role as the utility infielder? That’s a big question that GM Chris Antonetti has to think about.

A trade would make sense if the Tribe would be getting back a proven major league starting pitcher in return, but it doesn’t appear that would be the case. Most of the names involved are Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal, Michael Wacha, and Carlos Martinez, all top 10 prospects for the Cardinals.

However, out of the four of them, Miller has the most experience, a total of 19 big league starts. As good as Miller is reported to be, there is no evidence that he will be a successful starter for a team in a race for the playoffs. Plus, his highest inning total in the minors is 151, meaning the Cleveland front office would want to limit his to around 175 for the season.

He has already thrown 104 on the season.

This trade would make a lot more sense in the winter. By then, prime prospect SS Francisco Lindor will have half a year at the AA level, meaning he could be promoted to the bigs sometime during the 2014 season.

The Indians could get away with a half-year of Aviles starting as short with Lindor taking over in the middle of the year. Don’t forget the Tribe has a plethora of middle infield players on the horizon, with SS Ronny Rodriguez playing at Akron now and maybe moving to Columbus soon.

Dealing a player like Cabrera for pitching help would make sense since the Tribe would be dealing from strength. Just not now with the team in contention.

That just doesn’t make sense.

Signing Bynum Well Worth the Risk

Less than a week ago, we posted a blog criticizing the Cleveland Cavaliers relative inactivity since the NBA signing period started on July 1st.

Not that Earl Clark won’t help, but that’s not exactly the big splash fans of the wine and gold were looking for.

However, GM Chris Grant has caught our attention, and we are pleasantly surprised.

First, he inked free agent G Jarrett Jack, who we liked when he came in the league as a rookie out of Georgia Tech. He’s a solid combo guard, averaging 11.0 points and 4 assists per game for his career.

Jack should combine with Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters to form a solid backcourt. There are 96 minutes per game available at guard, and these three players should be able to divide them up without a significant drop off in production.

He’s a lifetime 45% shooter from the field, and 36% from beyond the three-point line. He also makes free throws, connecting on 85% since he entered the league.

His last two seasons, he’s averaged 15.6 points and 12.9 points per game.

It is not difficult to see him getting significant minutes for Mike Brown next season.

He was a star in the playoffs for Golden State this year, scoring 17.2 a game, but we caution not to get to carried away with post-season numbers. His regular season stats speak for themselves.

Then, Grant took a gamble and signed C Andrew Bynum to a two-year contract with only a reported $6 million guaranteed. An excellent low risk, high reward move.

If Bynum can play, he’s a quality NBA center, who will be just 26 years old next season, and has averaged 11.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in his career.

In his one season playing for Mike Brown, the big man scored 18.7 points and grabbed 11.8 boards per night. That was two years ago.

Unfortunately, that was the last time Bynum played, as he missed all of last season after being traded to Philadelphia with knee problems.

So, the Cavaliers should proceed by thinking anything Bynum gives them will be a bonus.

That means they still have to sort out the logjam at the power forward and center spots, and they still need a small forward.

There were several reports that Grant isn’t done yet, but you have to figure any future moves will come from trades, as the Cavs have only the mid-level exception left (approximately $2.6 million).

You would have to think if a deal is to be made, it will involve one of the big men that the wine and gold are stockpiling. And if you can parlay one of those guys (Varejao?) for a legitimate small forward, you would have to think long and hard about it.

That doesn’t mean it was a bad signing. If Grant doesn’t take a chance on the former Laker, then he signs a few more minor free agents which probably don’t make a huge impact on the Cavaliers.

This way, he gets Bynum, who if healthy is a top five center in the NBA and will be with the team for two years. And if he isn’t the parties can part ways at the end of the season, and Grant is free to pursue someone else.

That’s a win-win scenario if there ever was one.

Grant was patient and seems to have done a solid job. Here’s hoping he’s still working to improve the 2013-14 edition of the Cavaliers. The guess here is he is.

Ease Up Tribe Fans, Still a Long Way to Go

Going into the weekend wrap around series against the Tigers, we heard many fans of the Cleveland Indians saying the worst the Tribe could do was split the series.

Apparently, anything less than that and these people thought the Indians would be out of the race.

Terry Francona’s bunch lost three out of four contests, yet they are just 3-1/2 games out of the top spot in the AL Central, with 73 games remaining. There is almost three months left in the season, so if the Tribe can make up one game a month, they would be right there for the division lead.

We understand that Cleveland fans panic where at all possible, but a quick check of the American League standing show the Orioles 4-1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the Eastern Division, and the Yankees five games back.

Do you think either of those teams think they are facing long odds to make the post-season? Of course not.

That isn’t to say the Indians’ front office should be feeling good about the ballclub either. The pitching staff needs bolstering, particularly needing an innings eater to give some rest to a bullpen that has been worked hard thus far.

Right now, Francona and pitching coach Mickey Calloway have two starting pitchers that have trouble completing six innings, and another spot in the rotation that is currently unoccupied, at least until Zack McAllister returns from his finger injury.

Ubaldo Jimenez is the ultimate “five and fly” guy these days. For the most part, he has been okay, keeping his team in the game most of the time, but when the fifth inning ends, he is usually around 100 pitches. And when he starts to get fatigued, he starts walking batters, so the manager has to get him out of there.

Francona and Calloway are also being careful with lefty Scott Kazmir, removing him from the game when he gets near 100 pitches. Since, Kazmir spent the last couple of years on baseball’s scrap heap, that’s probably not a bad idea.

GM Chris Antonetti is looking for a good starter, according to reports, looking at the Cubs’ Matt Garza and supposedly the Brewers’ Yovani Gallardo.

The latter is having an off-year in 2013 (7-8. 4.85 ERA), but won 13, 14, 17 and 16 games in the four years prior with ERAs under 4.00 in a hitter’s park.

Garza has gone 5-1 in ’13 with an ERA of 3.22, but has a plus fastball. He’s had some arm problems, and is only 62-62 for his career, despite outstanding stuff.

Another guy to look at is the Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija, who is 5-8 with a 3.54 ERA. To us, he could be a guy like Doug Fister is for the Tigers. He blossomed once he left a losing organization.

The former Notre Dame wide receiver (he was Brady Quinn’s favorite target) throws in the high 90 MPH range and averages a strikeout per inning on the season. Away from Wrigley Field, he has a 2.71 ERA.

The price tag for Samardzija might be a little higher than it would be for Garza, who will be a free agent at the end of the year, but he’s only 28 years old and can’t be a free agent until 2016.

He would be #1 on our wish list if the Cubs make him available.

Another starter is needed pretty quick to aid this beleaguered staff. Hopefully, Antonetti doesn’t have to wait until the deadline to make a move.

Until then, relax Tribe fans. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played.

Cavs Lack of Action Tiresome

It is beginning to seem like the same old song for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

They have multiple picks in the draft, have plenty of salary cap space, are involved in a bunch of trade rumors, and then do nothing.

Yes, we know the off-season is far from over, and there is plenty of time for GM Chris Grant to make big moves to improve his basketball team. Heck, last season’s biggest trade, that of James Harden to Houston, didn’t occur until a couple of days before the regular season started.

But it seems like the same ol’ song for the wine and gold.

Owner Dan Gilbert publicly proclaimed this was the last draft lottery his team would be involved in after winning the first pick, but right now, the Cavs don’t look any closer to a playoff team than they did the day the season ended in the middle of April.

Grant has accumulated a lot of young talented players, most notably Kyrie Irving, but also Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, Tyler Zeller, and new first round pick Anthony Bennett. Still, they lack a legitimate small forward, and a true center.

You want power forwards? Then Cleveland should be where you search with Thompson, Bennett, Anderson Varejao, and free agent signee Earl Clark all on the roster. Obviously, Mike Brown can play one of those guys at center, but they would be out of position.

The problem is year after year, fans are told that the Cavs are acquiring assets, getting draft picks and cap space so they can be a player in major trades, much like the Celtics were when they traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

With all the player moves made around the league in the past week, the wine and gold sat idle, while supporters called for patience and understanding.

Al Jefferson, a proven NBA center went to Charlotte, the league’s worst team for three years and an estimated $41 million.

Grant’s defenders immediately pointed out it was a bad contract. On the other hand, the Cavs are paying Varejao $8 million per year to mostly not play.

Jefferson is 28 years old, hasn’t missed more than five games in a season in the last four years, and is a career 16 points, 9 rebounds a year guy. He will be 32 when the contract ends. He couldn’t help the Cavs?

Enough of the talk about cap space! It is meaningless if no one wants to take your money, and if you study free agent movement in the NBA, no high-profile player is coming here as a free agent.

They didn’t when LeBron James was here (although part of that was his fault), and they aren’t going to come now.

The best bet for a big man now is a poison pill contract offer to restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic, a 6’11” center from the Timberwolves. He averaged 16.3 points and 8.8 rebounds with Minnesota last season, and is one of the leading free agents still available.

There has also been talk of how Dwight Howard’s signing in Houston may make Omar Asik available. He averaged 10 points and almost 12 boards for the Rockets last season. He makes almost $15 million next season.

The point here is all of the losing is getting old, and the promises of getting better are even older.

The Cavs need some veteran players to teach and help the young guys to win. Having a bunch of young players and hoping they will figure it out has only worked once in recent memory (Oklahoma City).

If Gilbert and Grant want to get basketball fans in Cleveland excited, they need to do more than talk. And they need to make a good move, not just one for the sake of making one.

Cavalier fans are tired of talk. They want something to get this team back in playoffs not just for 2013-14, but for a while.

Tribe Needs to Add Starter to Rest Bullpen

While we all wish the nation a happy birthday today, the other thing that make July 4th significant to a baseball fan is that is less than four weeks away from the trading deadline in the sport.

And with the Cleveland Indians sitting just a half game out of first place in the AL Central Division, GM Chris Antonetti is very much a buyer, trying to improve his club for the stretch run.

There is debate as to what Antonetti should persue. Should he get another solid bat, some help for the bullpen or another starting pitcher?

We go with the latter, although another southpaw of the bullpen would be nice as well.

The reason we feel this way has been made evident in the last week of games, of which the Indians have won five of six contests.

Checking out the innings pitched by the starters in each of those games–

Bauer             1/3 IP
Carrasco 5-1/3 IP
Jimenez            5 IP
Masterson       9 IP
Kluber     5-1/3 IP
Kazmir             5 IP

Outside of Masterson’s complete game last Sunday, the Tribe’s starters are putting a tremendous strain on the bullpen, which could explain some of the struggles the relief corps have experienced this season.

Of contending teams, only Toronto’s starters (5.42) and Baltimore’s starters (5.67) have thrown less innings per game than Cleveland’s (5.72). And the Orioles recognized that need and traded for Scott Feldman, who threw six innings in his first start.

By contrast, Oakland and Boston led the league, both averaging over six innings per start.

Masterson has given Terry Francona almost seven innings per start this season, showing that he indeed is a workhorse, and for the most part has kept the Tribe in the game in each of his starts. However, his innings per start is by far the best on the roster.

Ubaldo Jimenez has been improved this year, there is no questioning that. Still, he is only averaging 5.22 innings per start, mostly because he is around 100 pitches at that point in the game. Yes, there have been some early exits for the righty because he’s been hit, but for the most part, he’s kept the Tribe in the game, but only for about five frames.

The same for left-hander Scott Kazmir, averaging 5.28 innings per start. Francona is being careful with him for sure, since he was pitching in an independent league last season, but he hasn’t been able to pitch deep into games.

Corey Kluber has been a pleasant surprise for the staff, but he is also throwing less than six innings in an average start. And his last two outings, he has not seen the seventh inning.

The Tribe misses Zack McAllister, who was able to complete six innings in over half of his 11 starts. He’s been replaced by Carlos Carrasco, who is averaging five innings per outing, and that includes a seven inning start vs. the Royals.

A pitching staff can endure one or maybe two pitchers who can’t go deep into games, but right now, the Tribe has an entire rotation of these guys, with the exclusion of Masterson. That’s the reason Francona loves to have as many relief pitchers as he can on the roster.

Antonetti would love to have another starter who can soak up innings on his staff. That will keep guys like Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, and the three guys at the end of the game (Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano, and Chris Perez) fresh for August and September, when playoff berths can be decided.

The bullpen shouldn’t have to pitch four innings every night.

Tribe Hits Halfway Point in First

The calendar hit the month of July and the baseball season hit the halfway point just days apart.

And the Cleveland Indians are sitting in first place, a half game ahead of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.

It speaks to the balance of the American League, something we said would occur before the season started, that the Boston Red Sox have the league’s best record, but their mark is just five games ahead of the Tribe.

The Indians have the fifth best record in the AL, so please, no complaints about the weak Central Division. Terry Francona’s bunch have better records that the Rays, Blue Jays, Angels, and is just 2-1/2 behind the Orioles.

They have been streaky, without a doubt, and there may be another losing streak to come at some point, but the Indians are contenders as things stand today, and really, that’s all you can ask for.

Thanks to Friday night’s doubleheader sweep in which Cleveland scored 29 runs, they rank 4th in the AL in runs per game, scoring 4.83 runs per game. The numbers back up that ranking, as the Tribe ranks 4th in on base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS.

Yes, the Indians do strike out, ranking 3rd in the league, but they are just behind Boston, who has the best record in the AL. But they also have more athleticism than last year, as they are tied for the lead in stolen bases with the Red Sox.

It seems that Francona’s old team is statistically the same as his new team.

On the pitching side, the Indians are a conundrum. They are 12th in the league in team ERA, but have 10 shutouts as a team, which leads the AL. They have the league leader in shutouts in Justin Masterson, who is pitching more like the 2011 version than 2012.

There is no doubt the biggest surprise in the rotation is Corey Kluber, who has gone from not making the team out of spring training to have six wins and a 4.16 ERA.

Scott Kazmir’s last two starts have been outstanding, allowing just one earned run in 14 innings. He does have a 4.83 ERA which means there have been a few outings where he has been rocked.

Zack McAllister was consistent before he hurt his finger, and Ubaldo Jimenez has been okay, but he has had issues completing six innings per start, which puts a lot of strain on the bullpen.

Speaking of the relief corps, they have been up and down as well, but now that Chris Perez and Vinnie Pestano are healthy, maybe this group can regain the form of the past couple of years. They certainly have the arms, with Joe Smith, Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, and Matt Albers all capable of getting big outs.

The left-handers have been questionable, although Rich Hill has been better lately now that he finally regained his arm slot.

GM Chris Antonetti will have to improve the team at the end of the month when the trade deadline comes, and getting another solid southpaw for the ‘pen could be his most important move.

The other may just be getting another solid starter to provide depth, preferably someone who can soak up quality innings.

After all the complaining (including here) about the Indians’ organization the past few years, this team is right in the thick of it. It’s too bad the fan base haven’t noticed yet.

Brown Has to Develop Players

When the Cleveland Cavaliers rehired Mike Brown as head coach for the 2013-14 season, they knew they were getting a strong defensive presence, something the team needed the past couple of years.

The Cavs allowed the sixth most points in the league last season, and they allowed the highest shooting percentage against in the NBA as opponents shot 47.6% vs. the wine and gold in 2012-13.

However, in this tenure with Cleveland, Brown will also be charged with developing a bunch of young players, something he didn’t have to do in his first term as Cavaliers’ head coach.

Yes, we know he made LeBron James into a solid, if not great defender, but James is a different story. He was touted as being one of the league’s best from the minute he was drafted into the NBA.

In Brown’s first year as Cavs head coach, the only young player who received a lot of playing time was Anderson Varejao, then in his second season with the team, and he only appeared in 48 games that season.

Brown’s second season with Cleveland included a roster with Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson as rookies. Gibson ranked 10th on the team in minutes, while Brown, the Cavs’ first round pick played just 202 minutes for a team than went to The Finals.

Granted, the Cavaliers were in a different mode then. They were trying to win titles, and there wasn’t time available for rookies, and it wasn’t a priority for the head coach to develop players.

The only rookie to get significant playing time in Brown’s final three years as Cleveland’s coach was J.J. Hickson, who has developed into a journeyman at best.

In the coach’s one full season leading the Lakers, again, he was guiding a team built to win and win now. There wasn’t time to bring a rookie in and give that player significant minutes.

Now, the Cavalier squad that Brown is guiding is totally different. It is a roster full of young talented players that need to be finished off and learn how to win. Brown can help with the latter by emphasizing defense, but it is unclear if he can make the young core of talent better players.

This is only because there is no track record of the coach doing just that.

What Brown has proven in his coaching career is that he stresses defense and he can win when he has the best player on the floor, which he had most of his tenure as the bench boss because he had James and Kobe Bryant.

Can he make Kyrie Irving the NBA’s best point guard? Who knows?

Can he develop Dion Waiters into a championship quality #2 guard who can average 18-20 points per night?

Can he transform Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller into big men who can play big minutes for a playoff team?

Can he show Anthony Bennett the ropes and make him a contributing player as a rookie?

The answer to all of these questions is that we just don’t know. But Brown will need to do at least three of those things if the Cavs are going to return to the NBA’s elite teams. It’s just another reason he was a curious pick to be the new coach of the wine and gold.

It should have been something that was taken into consideration. If the coach can’t make the young core better, then it won’t be long until Brown is looking for another gig.

Cavs Collecting Talent, Still Need Leadership

The Cleveland Cavaliers surprised quite a few people with the first pick in the NBA draft.

After weeks of speculation about Nerlens Noel and Alex Len being GM Chris Grant’s top choice, the Cavs went with F Anthony Bennett from UNLV at number one.

The question mark on Bennett is whether or not he is a tweener, too small to play power forward and not quick enough to guard small forwards. He does have an NBA body, measuring at 6’7″ and 240 pounds. He’s big enough to not get pushed around by older NBA veterans.

On the other hand, looking at him from the offensive end, he could be a match up nightmare for opposing forwards because with his size, he can overpower many small forwards in the league, and if other teams put a power forward on him, he will be too quick for them.

However, he needs work on defense, which he will get from coach Mike Brown. He reportedly also needs help with his aggressiveness on the boards, which again, the coaching staff will work on.

One question that will need to be addressed with Brown is how well he works with young players. He didn’t seem to have a lot of patience with guys like Shannon Brown, but he will need to tolerate rookie mistakes from Bennett, and the team’s second first round pick in Sergey Karasev.

Karasev is 6’7″ and can shoot the basketball, given a score of 10 out of 10 in shooting on NBADraft.net. He is reportedly a good passer and has a good feel for the game, but he needs to get stronger. It was reported that Grant had coveted him for a while, and the rumor was the Cavs were going to trade up to #13 to get him, but he fell to them at #19.

The problem with the Cavaliers right now is still the absence of a veteran to give guidance to all the young players. That is a definite need, someone who can teach Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, and Dion Waiters how to win in the NBA.

Also, Bennett was a good player in college, but we don’t feel he was a dominant one. Last year, Anthony Davis was clearly the best player in the college game. You can’t say that about Bennett, and if you can’t dominate at the college level, what makes anyone think he can be a great pro.

That’s why we advocated dealing the first pick if at all possible.

Right now, Cleveland has one potentially great player in Irving, and a bunch of other young players who might develop into solid NBA players, or they might not.

And they seem to be collecting guards with Irving, Waiters, Karasev, and second round pick Carrick Felix. They still don’t have a big man who can put the ball in the basket on a consistent basis.

Perhaps Tyler Zeller will be that player in his second year, but no one can be sure of that.

We realize they still could make a trade or do a sign and trade before the season started. But right now, it is tough to project this team as the playoff team owner Dan Gilbert said he wanted.

Hate to put a damper this soon on draft night, but if there no more moves for the Cavs, it looks like another long winter for the wine and gold.

Tribe Needs to Look at Ticket Prices

There is no question that the Cleveland Indians alienated their fans for the past several seasons.

After the 2007 season in which they missed the World Series by just one game, they acted like someone was going to tell them it was their turn to win someday, so they could be inactive.

They traded two Cy Young Award winners in C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee, and traded a professional hitter who said he wanted to stay here in Victor Martinez. All three were gone by the time the 2009 season ended.

Later, after a 2011 season is which they were surprisingly in contention until Labor Day, when the Detroit Tigers finally got hot and ran away, they were inert in the off-season following, setting up a 2012 campaign where they were depending on players like Shelley Duncan, Casey Kotchman, and Derek Lowe.

To be fair, they did deal two top pitching prospects for Ubaldo Jimenez at the deadline in ’11, but that move hasn’t worked out the way GM Chris Antonetti wanted. The fact it hasn’t worked out for Colorado is of little consolation.

However, last winter, the ownership seemed to get the message that the fan base was unhappy with the way things were being run. After Travis Hafner’s large deal finally ended, the front office went out and signed Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn to multi-year contracts.

Unfortunately, the people who buy tickets seem to be holding a grudge because the Tribe ranks last in the American League in attendance.

While many fans obviously have a wait and see attitude regarding this team, it is a better team and while they struggled mightily at the beginning of June, they have ripped off eight wins in the last 12 games and currently sit just four games behind the mighty Tigers in the AL Central.

And they are very good at home.

Whether or not the Indians can make the playoffs isn’t the issue because the American League is very strong. Heck, all five teams in the AL East are above the .500 mark.

We said at the beginning of the season that 13 of the 15 teams in the AL had legitimate chances to get to the post-season, and yes, the Tribe was one of those teams.

So where are the fans?

This is a city with blind loyalty to the Browns, a team with two winning seasons since 1999. In that same time period, the Indians have had five such seasons, making the playoffs three times.

We checked the prices for the next home series for the Tribe when they come home from this trip to Baltimore, Chicago, and Kansas City. They take on the Tigers on July 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th.

Seats in the upper deck and the bleachers are being sold for $23.60 apiece for the Friday night game. Meaning it costs almost $100.00 for a family of four to attend.

In order to sit behind home plate, it will cost you $80.00 for a single seat.

If the Indians want families to go to the games, they are making it tough, particularly when the fortunes of the team have soured a lot of baseball fans in Cleveland.

The Tribe did the right thing in lowering the cost of concessions in the off-season, but it doesn’t do much good if they don’t get people to make the trip to Progressive Field.

Perhaps it is time to look at the ticket prices as well. Lower them so people will want to see what the new Indians are all about.

The prices might be lower than many franchises, but apparently they are still too high for the fan base.

Whatever the reason, the front office needs to look at why fans aren’t clicking the turnstiles.

Young Athletes Too Arrogant to Care About Where They Play

After the Miami Heat won the NBA title, Cleveland Browns’ players Josh Gordon and Phil Taylor expressed how happy they were about the Heat’s triumph. These comments did not play well with fans in on the North Coast.

While certainly, Gordon and Taylor have the right to feel anyway they want on Miami’s victory, they obviously didn’t use a great deal of common sense.

Many of today’s younger athletes do not take the time to get to know the area in which they play, and to find out what will be a popular stance within the community and what won’t be.

If Gordon and Taylor had any idea about the sports history in this city, they would have kept their feelings to themselves.

It was a lesson the Cavaliers learned during LeBron James’ first game at Quicken Loans Arena wearing another uniform besides the wine and gold. His former teammates greeted him with open arms for the most part, and James woofed at the Cavs’ bench much of the game before an assistant coach finally told him to shut up.

The fans of northeast Ohio and Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert was appalled at the reaction of the team, and when the two teams met later in the year, it was a different attitude. Everyone in the organization knew that James was now the “enemy”.

The ridiculous part of Gordon and Taylor’s comments were that the Cleveland Browns have basically sucked for the last 14 years. Fans of the football team in Cleveland are used to getting their hopes up throughout the spring and summer, only to spend the fall watching the franchise compile a record of 5-11 or 4-12, whichever you prefer.

A more appropriate comment from the two players would have been if they said they watched the Heat celebrate, but can’t wait for a chance to have a party like that in Cleveland, when the Browns win the Super Bowl.

You notice that no one in the Indians organization said they were happy to see the Heat win.

Think about how much Tribe supporters have taken to Nick Swisher because he says he is excited to be here. Comments like that go a long, long way in gaining acceptance and love from the fans.

However, too often, young athletes have a lack of respect for opponents and the fan base.

Watch games and see how often today’s players feel the need to show up their opponents. Whether it is “generational” or not, it isn’t right.

Just yesterday, we witnessed a city recreation baseball game in which a player on a team winning 14-0 decided to score the 15th run by turning a cartwheel to touch home plate.

It’s a good thing he didn’t bat again in the game, because he probably would have the imprint of a baseball in his rib cage today.

Players who toil in Cleveland have to know what the area’s feeling are for James and the Heat. And we understand that as professional athletes, they like to watch excellence and enjoy watching James, currently the best player in the NBA.

Still, discretion is needed as well.

As we said before, Gordon and Taylor can wear Heat gear every minute of the day when they are in their houses or when they are outside of the Cleveland area.

However, they should understand that talking publicly about supporting them in northeast Ohio is like waving a red flag in front of a charging Bull.