Cavs’ Warts Show In Disappointing Game One.

Sometimes, it stinks to be right. That’s how we felt last night watching all our fears about the series between the Cavaliers and Knicks come true.

We were concerned about the Cleveland bench, and led by Josh Hart, the New York reserves outscored the Cavs’ by a 37-14 count. Hart not only scored more (17 points) than the wine and gold’s bench, he also outrebounded them, grabbing 10 boards.

The Cleveland bench had just five.

We were also worried about the rebounding of the Knicks. Cleveland spent the last two months of the regular season losing the battle of the boards, and indeed, the same thing happened in game one, as New York grabbed 51 caroms to the Cavs’ 38.

We have been complaining about the lack of size for the Cavs since the trade deadline, when the organization decided to let Kevin Love go. Love can’t guard on the perimeter anymore, and his shooting dropped off when he injured his thumb.

We felt they would add another big man to the roster to replace Love on the buyout market. Instead, they picked up Danny Green and Sam Merrill, two wings, neither of whom saw action in game one.

And by the way, former Cleveland big man, Isaiah Hartenstein had eight points and five rebounds.

Our other concern was J.B. Bickerstaff. The coach had a week of practices to decide who would get action in the playoffs, and the only member of the bench who made an impact in the game was the last player he used, Cedi Osman.

Osman had nine points and two rebounds and drew the defensive assignment against Jalen Brunson in the fourth quarter, and we thought he acquitted himself quite well.

The first big man sub used by Bickerstaff was Dean Wade, who somehow was put on Julius Randle, and was abused by the Knicks’ star in seven minutes, and Cleveland was outscored by 14 minutes while he was on the floor.

Cleveland out-shot the Knicks from the floor (43.4% to 42%) and from three (32.3% to 27.6%). The young Cavs inexperience showed, missing six free throws (NY missed just three), including a pair each by guards Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.

Mitchell tried to will the Cavs to victory, scoring 38 points and dishing out eight assists, but he got very little help. Garland had 17, but also five turnovers. Evan Mobley seemed a bit tentative around the basket, hitting just 4 of 13 shots.

We saw some criticism of Jarrett Allen, but he had 14 points and 14 boards and dished out 4 assists, the second highest total on the team.

New York predictably left Isaac Okoro open on the perimeter and he missed all four of his attempts from long range and went one of six overall. The Cavs need Okoro’s defense on the floor, but he can’t be a liability on the offensive end.

And Caris LeVert, who finished the regular season strong, had an off night, making just one shot in seven tries, and had just one assist and one rebound.

The good news is the Cavs know now what kind of performance is needed in the playoffs. And we have always said until the ultimate game in the series, the even numbered games are most important. The Cavs can even things up on Tuesday night, and if they lose that one, it could be a very short visit to the playoffs for the wine and gold.

Simply, Garland, Mobley, and LeVert must be better in Game 2. We wonder if we will see Osman earlier in the next game. And why not use Lamar Stevens, who may be the “grittiest” Cavalier?

But it will be a big issue if the Cavaliers cannot hold their own with New York on the glass. The defensive job isn’t over until you get possession of the ball.

Gonna Be A Tough Series For Cavs Against The Knicks

The NBA playoffs start this Saturday and the Cleveland Cavaliers will be hosting the New York Knicks Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

Many fans are using the Cavs’ 51 regular season victories and the home court advantage in the series to proclaim a win in the best-of-seven series and an advancement to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

We have our doubts.

This doesn’t mean we think the wine and gold will lose to the Knicks, but it will be a very difficult series for J.B. Bickerstaff and his squad.

In the regular season, teams play the way they play. The league schedule is such that there is very little practice time, so coaches set a style of play and a plan and the players execute. In the playoffs, coaches take advantage of things their opponents do not do well, and they exploit weaknesses.

This isn’t to say the Knicks have no areas where Cleveland can attack them, nor are we proclaiming Tom Thibodeau a genius. Yes, Thibodeau has more playoff experience than Bickerstaff, coaching in 61 post-season games.

His record is just 25-36. The last time he won a series was in 2015-16 when his Bulls were eliminated by the Cavaliers. His last two times in the playoffs have resulted in first round losses in five games.

Our worry is the lack of depth for the Cavaliers will hurt them against the Knicks, who are much deeper. Earlier in the season, we felt if the Cavs got production from one or two of the non-core players on the roster, they had a very good chance to win.

And we include Caris LeVert in the core player category.

This means Bickerstaff needs solid games from one of these guys on the nightly basis: Isaac Okoro, Cedi Osman, Ricky Rubio, or Lamar Stevens.

Okoro has missed the past few weeks with a knee issue and no doubt his defense will be needed, particularly against Knicks’ guard Jalen Brunson. Okoro missed the last regular season game vs. New York, and Brunson went off for 48 points.

We are also concerned about the decline in rebounding for Cleveland over the last two months. The Cavs outrebounded their opponent for four of the first five months of the season (January was the exception), but March and April (18 games) have been a different story.

Opponents are grabbing five more caroms per game since the beginning of March. You can be a very good defensive team, but your job isn’t done until you corral the missed shot. Lately, this has been an issue for Cleveland. It’s one of the reasons we have advocated getting another player with size who can play.

And we do remember Jarrett Allen did miss some time during this period, which didn’t help. By the way, the Knicks are third in the league in offensive rebounds this season.

No doubt, the Knicks are going to try to devote attention to Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, the Cavs’ primary scorers. Hopefully, Cleveland uses Evan Mobley to ease the pressure. The second-year player increased his scoring from 15.7 points per game before the All-Star Game to 17.5 after. His rebounds and assists increased too.

We will learn a lot about not only the players, but the coaching staff in this series. That’s one of the reasons we wanted the Cavs to get in a seven game series last year. We would already know.

This series will go at least six or seven, the people who think it will be a five gamer and likely viewing with rose colored lenses.

Playoff basketball is back in Cleveland. That’s the best news of all.

Guards’ Last Week In Our View

We are sure he wasn’t the first to say it, but former Indians’ broadcaster, the late Mike Hegan used to say if a team can win three out of every five games, they will be doing just fine. If a baseball team plays at this pace, they win 96 games and now, with the expanded playoffs, will be playing in October.

The Cleveland Guardians have done just that after 10 games, winning six of them. The odd thing and probably a bit troubling is four of the six victories have come in extra innings.

The good thing is they still count.

If not for the extra-inning games, the bullpen would be rested after the second run through the rotation as all five starters gave Terry Francona at least five innings, with Zach Plesac giving the Guards seven on Sunday. The shortest outing was Cal Quantrill’s five on Saturday night.

Hunter Gaddis really helped out in this regard with six one-hit innings in the west coast trip finale in Oakland on Wednesday. He will get a bigger (and better) test tonight against the Yankees.

Offensively, the Guardians continue to put pressure on opposing pitchers because they get men on base, leading the AL in walks in the young season.

The middle game vs. Seattle was frustrating because the Guards only scored two runs, but they had nine hits and six walks in that game, and more often than not, if you put 15 men on base, you will score more than two runs. They just couldn’t come up with the big hit.

Sometimes the big hit is a home run, and the Guardians ranked second last in the American League in long balls last season, and unfortunately, that hasn’t changed through ten games this year. Cleveland is tied with Detroit for the least homers with just five.

No doubt part of that is the Guards haven’t exactly played in balmy weather this far, whether it be in Seattle, Oakland, or Progressive Field. Cleveland is fourth in doubles and lead the league in triples but are still fourth from the bottom in slugging percentage.

Part of that is Josh Bell’s slow start (3 for 35). Bell was signed to give the Guardians some much needed power, but right now, it hasn’t shown up. On the plus side, Bell has drawn eight walks, so hopefully the home runs and extra base hits are on the horizon.

One troubling area thus far is the lack of blocking pitches by the new catching trio. Hopefully, it is just a matter of the newcomers not working with the pitchers until spring training, but the Guardians lead the Junior Circuit in wild pitches with 11.

Last year, Shane Bieber had five all season. He has three in two starts in 2023. Emmanuel Clase had four in 2022, he has two already in ’23. We mention both of those hurlers because the wild pitches cost them both a run in the past week.

Bieber’s success is dependent on getting ahead in the count and then throwing a wicked breaking pitch in the dirt. If the catchers can’t block that pitch, it’s a big issue. Hopefully, as Mike Zunino, Cam Gallagher, and Meibrys Viloria work with the staff more, this number will start to go down. And Zunino did do a much better job last night.

Cleveland pitchers aren’t wild. The leaders in walks allowed are both relief pitchers, with Clase and Enyel De Los Santos each issuing four.

When it starts costing the team runs, it gets magnified, and as we said two of the wild pitches came back to haunt the team this past week.

Browns Still Have Faith In Watson. Without A Doubt.

Even though the Cleveland Browns had a pretty good free agent signing period, most pundits still don’t seem to think that highly of Kevin Stefanski’s squad, thinking they are still not a playoff team.

Most of that comes from the lack of faith in QB Deshaun Watson, who didn’t exactly light up the league when he returned from suspension for the last six games of the 2022 season.

After all, Cleveland went just 3-3 in the games Watson piloted the team, and his best passer rating in the half dozen starts was in the win over the Commanders, and he was only 9 for 18 in that game, but threw three touchdown passes with no interceptions.

The football press seems to have lost confidence in Watson, despite his last complete season in which he threw for a league-leading 4823 yards, and had 33 TD tosses and just seven picks. The Texans went 4-12 that year, allowing the sixth most points in the NFL.

Some folks in the local media have extrapolated that lack of faith from the national media and attribute it to the Browns’ front office, after all, what did Watson do in those last six games to make anyone think he can lead Cleveland to the postseason in 2023?

Don’t buy into that.

First, when the Browns decided to move off of Baker Mayfield following the 2021 campaign and go after Watson, they didn’t do it based on a whim or irritation that Mayfield had problems with some teammates and perhaps didn’t see eye to eye with Stefanski.

They did it because one of the league’s best quarterbacks, which Watson was at the time, was available and the Browns’ thinkers saw it as an opportunity to get a great QB in his prime, after all Watson will be just 28 years old when the season begins.

Really, what do you think is more indicative of Watson’s abilities, the three year period from 2018-20, when he led the Texans to two playoff appearances, including a wild card win over Buffalo, and followed that up with his individual excellence in ’21, or the last six games of last year, following a year and a half layoff?

The Browns’ front office, GM Andrew Berry, Paul DePodesta, and Stefanski did their due diligence, studied Watson’s time in Houston and we are sure it was discussed that it might be a long, long time before a QB as good as Watson, and in their prime would come available.

So, they went all in.

The Browns get charged with being dysfunctional all the time, particularly when they lose a game, but to us, being dysfunctional involves making knee-jerk decisions based on emotion. Losing faith in Watson after those half-dozen games at the end of last season would fit that profile.

They know what they traded for and they saw Watson in practice, meaning they’ve seen him more than anyone else. We are sure they still think they made the correct decision on giving up a lot of future assets for a player they believe can solve their quarterback problem for years to come.

And let’s face it, if they are wrong about the former Clemson quarterback, they made a colossal mistake, one that will take them years to recover from.

When you make a move like this, there is no going back, and that’s why the Browns went hard in free agency. They know the time to win is right now. We are sure they are confident that Deshaun Watson is the man to take them to the Super Bowl.

Losing faith on this would be a sign this leadership group is doomed.

Shining A Spotlight On Plesac

The Major League Baseball season is still young, very young in fact. However, if you are a player with a poor recent track record, you still start the season with something to prove.

That’s the way we feel about Guardians’ starting pitcher Zach Plesac, whose first start on Monday didn’t go as well as he wanted, no doubt, and we are sure the coaching staff and front office were disappointed as well.

Plesac burst on the scene somewhat unexpectedly in 2019, after just 14 starts at the AA and AAA levels. That season, he made six starts at Akron, compiling a 0.96 ERA, and then was promoted to Columbus, where in four starts, he went 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA.

He made his major league debut in Fenway Park on May 28th, throwing 5-1/3 innings allowing just one run, and finished the year with an 8-6 record and 3.81 ERA in 116 innings.

The following season was the COVID shortened year, but Plesac pitched well, going 4-2 with a 2.28 ERA in eight starts. However, there was an incident where he broke the virus protocol by leaving the team hotel in Chicago after a Guardians’ win.

Since then, the right-hander has made 50 starts, going 13-18 with a 4.58 ERA, and that includes a 3-12 mark last season. Plus, he’s suffered self-inflicted injuries the past two seasons, both from letting his temper get away from him.

We figured when he broke a bone in his hand punching the mound in Seattle last August (it was done in a very good start), the front office would make a move during the off-season to give the pitcher a fresh start somewhere else.

But a move wasn’t made and the Guardians are trying everything to salvage him as a quality big league starter.

The Guardians seem to have a profile for their players. They like solid humans, who grind it out, putting the team above all else. We don’t know Plesac personally (obviously), but he seems like he doesn’t fit that mold.

Breaking the COVID protocol, injuring yourself twice, those things don’t exactly fit being a good teammate, and in his first outing he was visibly upset when Amed Rosario lost a pop fly in the twilight, a ball that could have given Plesac a scoreless first inning.

He gave up a hit to allow a run right after, and then came out in the second and basically gave up five straight bullets off of Oakland bats. Did his teammates show displeasure when he did that?

To us, he’s also become a bit of a nibbler, falling behind in counts and then having to make too good of a pitch.

It’s not the one bad start in 2023, it’s the last 50 starts that put Plesac on watch. With Triston McKenzie’s injury, the Guardians don’t really have an option to replace him in the rotation, but if he has more outings like Monday or when McKenzie is ready to go, he could wind up being the odd man out.

We are sure the organization doesn’t want to rush Gavin Williams or Tanner Bibee either.

Hopefully, Plesac can start his turn around Sunday in his next start. If he is to have a future in Cleveland, he needs to pitch better and be mentally tougher.

Impressions Of A Great Opening Weekend For Guardians

We were very impressed that the Cleveland Guardians went into Seattle, a playoff team a year ago, and took three of four in their opening series.

Especially because the Guards had all kinds of problems scoring runs vs. the Mariners last season. They scored just 11 runs in the seven contests against Seattle last season.

There were several positive things that caught our eye in baseball’s first weekend of the season, and yes, we know it’s just four games.

Guardians’ fans have to be impressed with Aaron Civale’s debut, throwing seven, two-hit innings at the Mariners. The right-hander was on a track for an all-star berth in 2021, when he was leading the AL in wins at the time of his injury (he was 10-2 with a 3.44 ERA).

He made just 20 starts a year ago with a variety of injuries and threw just 97 innings. Getting back to his ’21 form would be a big boost to the starting rotation, particularly since Triston McKenzie could miss as much as two months.

What about Tim Herrin’s major league debut on Sunday? The 26-year-old southpaw faced four batters and struck them all out. It’s the ultimate small sample size, but if he can give Terry Francona and Carl Willis another left-handed option when Sam Hentges returns, that would be outstanding.

One of the things Cleveland lacked the past few years is any offense at all from the catching position. Mike Zunino isn’t a great offensive player either, but what he does more frequently than Austin Hedges or Luke Maile, is run into a pitch every once in a while, and sends it over the fence. He has 147 career homers.

Sunday, his three-run dinger gave the Guards a temporary lead. His lifetime batting average is just .201 and he strikes out, a lot. But the power does play.

Oh, and by the way, Bo Naylor went 5 for 13 over the weekend with two homers at Columbus.

The bullpen was also very impressive over the weekend, with James Karinchak’s hiccup on Opening Night the only blemish. In total, the relievers soaked up 14-2/3 innings, allowing just three earned runs.

That heavy toll can’t continue, but again, it’s only four games.

As for Karinchak, we don’t think it was a pitch clock issue to blame for his first outing, it was more that he couldn’t throw his curveball for a strike, and the Mariners took advantage.

Newcomer Josh Bell didn’t have a big weekend at the plate, going just 1 for 12, but he did walk six times, and avoiding making outs is a very good thing. We are sure the hits will start coming.

The only issues to keep an eye on are Zunino’s ability to block pitches, Cleveland had six wild pitches in the series (they had just 49 all last year). That’s something Hedges was outstanding at and it is easy to overlook.

We are sure Sandy Alomar Jr. will work with him on that.

Hunter Gaddis kept the ball in the park Friday night (he gave up 7 homers last year in 7 innings), but he also only gave Francona 3-2/3 innings, and Cal Quantrill couldn’t get out of the fifth.

We aren’t concerned about the latter because of his track record, but the Guards need some length out of Gaddis, if he’s going to stick around for a while.

It was a great opening weekend to be sure, but it’s a long, long season ahead of the Guardians. We are sure everyone prefers to be 3-1 rather than 1-3.

Cavs Still Have Work To Do In Last Week Of Season

We have reached the last week of the NBA regular season and the Cleveland Cavaliers have just four games remaining.

Their “magic number” to clinch home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs is two, and the four games they have left are against the teams currently in 12th, 13th, and 14th place in the Eastern Conference.

The Knicks are in the fifth position and they play a pair against Indiana (the Cavs’ opponent tonight), the Wizards (11th place), but they have a tough one at New Orleans, who is fighting for their playoff position in the west.

We aren’t putting too much stock Friday night’s loss to New York at home, as we are hoping J.B. Bickerstaff wasn’t about to show Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks’ coach, how he was going to defend G Jalen Brunson.

That’s the only explanation we can come up with because Brunson lit up Cleveland for 48 points.

Bickerstaff went with Donovan Mitchell on Brunson and really didn’t waver from that, but again, in a seven game situation we are sure the Cavs would blitz the Knicks’ point guard and force the ball out of his hands.

Of course, two of the Cavs’ better defenders, Jarrett Allen and Isaac Okoro, did not play but both will be ready when the playoffs start in two weeks. Still, because the Cavs are a team that hangs its hat on the defensive end of the floor, it was a bit startling to see Brunson get 48 points, even though he did take 32 shots.

New York didn’t have Julius Randle, out at least two weeks with an ankle sprain, and we bring this up because we would love to see the Cavs clinch the fourth spot sooner than later because then Bickerstaff can start giving some of his regulars some time off.

We have been saying this for some time, but the Cavaliers are not a particularly deep team and we can see by having Allen and Okoro out forces Bickerstaff to use players he probably wouldn’t want to use in a post-season situation.

And the less playing time the top players for Cleveland get going forward, it would seem to minimize an injury risk.

Our guess is the coaching staff will lean heavily on his four core players (Mitchell, Darius Garland, Allen, and Evan Mobley) a lot in the playoffs, playing each of them 35-40 minutes per night.

Behind this quartet, we would expect Caris LeVert to get the next most court time, likely between 30-35 minutes.

If he goes with the higher amount, that would be 195 minutes out of a possible 240, leaving 45 minutes remaining. Okoro likely gets the majority of the time, around 25-30, probably depending what he is doing on the offensive end.

We would expect Ricky Rubio and Cedi Osman to get what is remaining. Meaning he the Cavs will play eight, which is what most figured all along.

But there still is work to do. The Cavaliers need to win two more games, or less if the Knicks stumble. And they need to get everyone healthy and have them stay that way.

Guardians Should Add Another Division Title

It’s finally here. If you are a baseball fan, it’s what you looked forward to since the last out of the World Series. You knew it was getting closer when spring training started, but now it’s here.

Opening Day!

When we were younger, the start of a new season held hope for a Cleveland Indians’ fan in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. We thought maybe this year we would catch lightning in a bottle and could get to the World Series.

Of course, that was a young, foolish thought. It wasn’t until 1995 that it happened, and really, despite our criticism at times of the team, they’ve been good more often than not since then.

We think the Guardians will win the AL Central this season, and perhaps last season’s surprising campaign can be the jumping off point for another run of post-season appearances. It’s a very young roster with a very strong farm system.

Besides the catching spot, currently being held by veterans until prospect Bo Naylor is ready, which should happen sometime this summer, the oldest Guardians are perennial MVP Jose Ramirez and newcomer Josh Bell.

Ramirez is simply one of the best players in baseball, and probably the most underrated. Recently, ESPN (yeah, we know) ranked him as the 13th best player in the game, which is ridiculous. There simply aren’t 12 baseball players right now better than Jose Ramirez.

In the last six seasons, he has finished in the top four in the MVP balloting four times and finished sixth in another year. 13th? It shows how little the people who cover baseball at the four letter network know about the game.

If Bell has an average season for him, say 25 HR and 90 RBI, it will lend some thump to a lineup that ranked 14th in the AL in homers last season. Although the Cleveland lineup did a great job producing runs considering the lack of power (6th in the AL in runs), having the ability to put a tally on the board with one swing of the bat helps.

The players to watch are Andres Gimenez and Steven Kwan. Can they improve on last year’s numbers? They are 24 and 26 respectively, so they should still be on the upward path of their careers. If they do, they will put up special numbers.

A baseball mantra is a team can’t have enough pitching, and this has been the pillar of the Cleveland organization over the past 10 years. They’ve had three Cy Young Award winners, and one of them, Shane Bieber remains the staff ace.

Triston McKenzie’s injury puts a bit of a damper on the rotation, but if Aaron Civale can stay healthy, that’s a plus. The biggest question mark has to be Zach Plesac, who hasn’t been effective over the last two seasons.

By the middle of the year, hurlers like Gavin Williams (5-4, 1.96 ERA at AA and A) and Tanner Bibee (8-2, 2.17 ERA at AA and A) could be ready to take his spot.

We are particularly bullish on Williams, who has the profile of a workhorse ace at 6’6″ and 255 pounds. He fanned 149 batters in 115 innings last season. Bibee is no slouch in that regard, whiffing 167 hitters in 133 frames.

The bullpen is the most volatile part of any baseball team, but when the back of the ‘pen is anchored by Emmanuel Clase, that’s a reason to feel somewhat comfortable. Over the past two years, Clase has a 1.33 ERA and has allowed only five home runs in 148 appearances. He’s also only walked 26.

We never take for granted a winning baseball team in Cleveland. After 30 years of hoping to find a winning season, this is rather fun.

Cavs’ Needed To Make The Playoffs This Year. They Did!

Before the NBA season started, we felt the goal of the Cleveland Cavaliers should be to avoid the “play-in tournament” nonsense that the NBA put in place and get to a seven-game series.

Sunday night’s win over the hapless Houston Rockets clinched that for JB Bickerstaff’s squad. The wine and gold have won 48 games so far, and should hit the 50 win plateau in 2022-23.

How many times in franchise history have they reached that mark without LeBron James on the roster? Well remember, the Cavs did have a pretty good team in the late 80’s and early 90’s, getting 57 wins in 1988-89 and ’91-’92, and had 54 victories in ’92-’93.

It hasn’t happened often.

When Koby Altman pulled the trigger for Donovan Mitchell last summer, we were skeptical. The Cavs’ identity was the big front line last season, and trading Lauri Markkanen took away the unique style Cleveland was playing.

Also, the trade did not address the Cavaliers’ lack of size in the backcourt. They were still starting two small guards.

Watching Mitchell play night in and night out changed our mind. He will make either the second or third team All-NBA this year, and there were games this season where he willed Cleveland to victory.

He’s averaging 4.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game in addition to his 27.4 points. And he and Darius Garland have meshed very well. The latter is scored the same as a year ago (21.7 last year, 21.6 this season) and his assists aren’t too far off, down from 8.6 to 7.8.

Mitchell was reportedly a defensive issue in Utah, but he has bought in to Bickerstaff’s defensive mantra and gives effort each and every night.

If anyone questions the deal because of what was given up, we would say if you can get a top 15 player in the league, it would seem to be worth the price.

It will help this young group of Cavaliers, only Mitchell (26), Caris LeVert (28), and Cedi Osman (27) are over 25 among the top eight players in terms of minutes played, to get in a seven-game series to see the intensity of the games, and to make adjustments on a nightly basis.

And that goes for Bickerstaff as well.

Mitchell has played in 39 playoff games in his career, more than Jarrett Allen, LeVert (each with 9), Garland (0), Evan Mobley (0), and Osman (14) combined. No doubt, he will be leaned on heavily to guide the inexperienced guys through the grind.

It could mean a lot for the careers of Garland and Mobley in particular to be exposed to basketball’s post-season.

If the standing hold and the first-round opponent are the New York Knicks, we anticipate it will be a very tough series, and that’s a good thing. There shouldn’t be any more games against the Rockets, Hornets, or Pistons when you get to this point.

The Cavs’ style of play, defense first, controlling the pace should play well in the playoffs. However, teams will focus on Mitchell, so others are going to have to take advantage. And we would love to see Mitchell not settle for the long jump shots and attack the basket more.

He seems unstoppable at times doing that.

It’s been a long time (1997-98) since a Cavaliers’ team without James made the playoffs, so that is not anything to dismiss. They should celebrate the accomplishment. That they didn’t is a good sign for this group.

Browns Use Free Agency To Balance Roster

Back in the late 70’s or early 80’s, we remember an essay in Bill James’ Baseball Abstract about the Montreal Expos. The Expos at the time had Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Wallach, Ellis Valentine, and Warren Cromartie (look them up), but couldn’t get over the hump to win the division.

James’ theory was even though Montreal had these five great players, the rest of their everyday lineup was so poor, it offset how good the stars were.

You may ask what that has to do with football. We thought about this in evaluating what the Cleveland Browns did in free agency.

You see, the Browns have star players. Myles Garrett is one of the best defensive players in the NFL, and Nick Chubb is arguably the best running back.

They have their quarterback now after trading for Deshaun Watson, and have a pair of Pro Bowl guards in Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. Amari Cooper is an upper echelon wide receiver, Denzel Ward is one of the better cover corners in the league, and David Njoku is showing flashes of becoming an excellent receiving tight end.

But after those stars, the roster fell off pretty quickly in terms of quality.

So, although many Browns’ fans felt there were no big splashes in terms of free agency (Jessie Bates or Javon Hargrave), they signed a lot of solid players with upside, so the balance of the roster went from a “2” to a “5”, and that is probably what is needed.

GM Andrew Berry redid the defensive line, signing Dalvin Tomlinson and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo initially, and then added two more defensive tackles as wild cards, low risk, high reward players to improve the depth.

They didn’t get the kind of production out of John Johnson III the past two years, so they signed Juan Thornhill, more of a pass defending safety, and one rated higher by Pro Football Focus, for whatever that is worth.

They had two solid wide receivers in Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones, but they lacked speed, a guy who could take a short pass and make it a big gain. So Berry traded for disgruntled WR Elijah Moore, the 34th overall pick two years ago, and followed that up by signing veteran Marquise Goodwin, late of Seattle.

Cleveland also added a tight end who has worked with Watson before in Jordan Akins.

They traded the 42nd overall pick for Moore but got a third-round pick back. Some of criticized dealing the pick, the highest Cleveland had, but moving it for someone who is 22-years-old and has had two productive seasons in the NFL already? No brainer.

They also upgraded the special teams, adding Matt Adams, Mike Ford, and Jordan Kunaszyk.

We understand all teams think they are better after the free agent period, no team plans to get worse by adding talent. But the Browns had a very top heavy roster in 2022, and Berry and the front office needed to balance it out for this year.

Didn’t they see this last season? It’s a good question, because we thought the organization seemed to punt in ’22 because of Watson’s suspension. It seems odd to do this when you haven’t won an NFL title since 1964, but…

The Cleveland Browns made a lot of changes since the end of the season. Two coordinators have been changed, and a good part of the roster has too. Unfortunately, we have to wait until fall to find out if the latest plan worked.