Suddenly, The Cavs Have Depth At Center

For a long time, the Cleveland Cavaliers played without a true center. Sure, Tristan Thompson was a solid player and did a fine job manning the position in his time in Cleveland, but he’s really a defensive minded power forward.

At 6’9″, he battled against guys taller than him, and basically outworked them, but he wasn’t a “true” center, even in today’s NBA.

Last season, the organizational philosophy changed at the trade deadline when Detroit decided they wanted to unload the contract of Andre Drummond, and GM Koby Altman decided to deal some spare parts.

Since getting Drummond, the Cavs have added veteran Javale McGee via a trade with the Lakers in the off-season, and recently picked up Jarrett Allen from the Nets in the James Harden blockbuster.

When Kevin Love is ready to play, which may be soon, along with Larry Nance Jr., J.B. Bickerstaff will now have cadre of very good big men to put on the court.

Even with Love out, McGee hasn’t been able to get on the court much as Drummond and Allen take all the minutes at the pivot.

Allen will turn 23 in April and is the future for Cleveland. He’s a restricted free agent after the season, and quite frankly we can’t see any scenario in which they do not match any offer given to him, if indeed, they haven’t come together on an extension before that.

He has averaged 13.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2 blocked shots per game in the eight games he has played with the Cavaliers, and that is in just 25 minutes per night.

Everyone figured it was going to be a long shot for Drummond, who has been outstanding this season, leading the league in rebounds at 15.1 per night, while scoring 18.5 points and adding three steals or blocks per contest, to sign with the Cavs long term, but now Altman can deal from strength because Allen would be an outstanding replacement.

Going forward, the combination of Allen and McGee makes a lot of sense because they seem to be similar players, giving Bickerstaff a seamless transition when he substitutes, especially on offense.

Drummond plays a different game when Cleveland has the ball. He likes to back his way down into the low post with the dribble, which doesn’t put him a good position to pass the ball outside when double teams come. He also plays more with his back to the basket, traditional center play.

It would not be surprising if the 27-year-old free agent to be will be traded soon to either a contender or to an organization looking to use his expiring contract to create cap space for the off-season.

And contrary to rumors nationally, we don’t think there is any way Altman will buy out Drummond and allow him to become an immediate free agent. He’s too valuable as a trade chip.

Despite how well the Cavs have played this season, a credit to their head coach, they still are a ways away from having a roster that can rank in the top half of the Eastern Conference standings, and they are playing well enough that a high lottery pick isn’t likely.

Even though the NBA game has changed and guards are featured more, there still is a place for big men who can protect the rim. It seems like the Cavs’ organization has remembered that, and are now the place to come to for other teams looking for the same thing.

Some Praise For The Tribe: Getting Hernandez and Rosario A Plus

It has been reported that Indians’ president Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff had to ask Paul Dolan for additional funds to sign free agent outfielder Eddie Rosario. If that’s true, it should be a troubling situation for fans of the team.

Thankfully, the ownership gave them the okay.

However, on face value, it was good to see the front office improve the 2021 edition of the Tribe. Adding 2B Cesar Hernandez and Rosario certainly give the lineup a better chance to score runs.

Hernandez gives Terry Francona a legitimate leadoff option. He has a lifetime .352 on base percentage, and was slightly higher than that a year ago at .355. We know people don’t like the label of “ballplayer” in describing players, but that’s what Hernandez is, he knows how to play the game.

Rosario gives the Tribe a left-handed power bat they needed. A lot of pop from that side of the plate left with the departure of Carlos Santana and the trade of Francisco Lindor. But Rosario is a hitter who has a 162 game average of 28 HR, 90 RBI, and a 788 OPS.

And as a Twin at least, he loved hitting at Progressive Field, belting 11 homers in 45 career games, batting .353 with a 1031 OPS. He tormented the Indians for years while in a Minnesota uniform.

You would have to think the top five in the batting order is now set, with Hernandez and Rosario joining Jose Ramirez, Franmil Reyes, and Josh Naylor. This quintet should be very productive, especially if Naylor become the kind of hitter we think he will be.

However, we believe you need seven solid hitters to have the kind of offense needed to make the playoffs. That means two of the other four batters have to come through.

Right now, we believe those four are Roberto Perez at catcher, Andres Gimenez at SS, and whoever emerges in rightfield and centerfield.

We would love to see rookie Daniel Johnson claim one of those spots, and you have to figure Jordan Luplow with be somewhere in the mix, especially against left-handed pitching. We would still like him to get a shot at playing full time, because as we have said in the past, he didn’t have huge platoon splits in the minors.

By the way, we also think the Rosario signing probably forces Naylor to first base.

Now, as for the comment about needed to go to ownership to get extra money to sign Rosario.

As vociferous critics of the Dolan ownership, this just makes us shake our head. Even with Rosario, the payroll would appear to be around $50 million to start the season. Outside of Tampa Bay, who else is competing with a payroll that low?

It is another reason we believe one of the catchers, either Perez ($5.5 million) or Austin Hedges ($3.28 million) will be moved before the season gets underway. It doesn’t make sense if you want to reduce spending on players to have one of the highest paid guys in uniform on the bench in every game.

It would also be a reason that the club is listening to offers for recently acquired Amed Rosario. If the Tribe is going to slot Gimenez in at short, A. Rosario is likely headed for a super utility man with Cleveland, and perhaps a candidate for an outfield spot, probably CF.

However, it has been reported both Oakland and Cincinnati are interested in the former Met, so maybe the Indians can strengthen another area, rightfield, bullpen, an added starting pitcher, in a deal.

The Tribe’s season will come down to scoring enough runs and can their very young rotation hold up over a 162 game (or whatever the season will be) campaign.

They did get better in the former last week. However, is it enough?

Trading For Watson Is A Waste Of Browns’ Resources.

There is no question that there are fans and people who cover the Cleveland Browns that are a different breed. The media, in particular, have a different view of the city’s professional football team.

While the Indians can trade Francisco Lindor and people seem to think that’s okay, when it comes to the Browns they speculate about replacing the quarterback who led the team to its first playoff appearance since 2002.

It started with Houston QB Deshaun Watson’s pronouncement that he wants to be traded away from his current team. Immediately, there were folks in northeastern Ohio thinking the Browns should make a deal for the former Clemson quarterback, who by the way, Cleveland could have drafted.

Watson is a talent, that’s for sure. We believe he is one of the top four QBs in the NFL. We don’t include rookie in making this evaluation, but we feel the other three are Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson.

Yes, the Texans were a terrible team this season, but in Watson’s first full year as a starter, when Houston finished at 11-5, he was sacked the most times in the NFL. There are people who believe Watson sacks himself at times.

All of those other guys we listed have won one Super Bowl each, although Mahomes has a chance to win another next Sunday. Now, we understand the passers who have dominated the sport over the past two decades (Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger) are a little long in the tooth.

Besides that pair, no other active QB has won more than one Lombardi Trophy.

We aren’t saying you don’t need a great quarterback to win the championship, you certainly do, but we are saying having a great quarterback doesn’t guarantee a berth in the Super Bowl.

The current Browns QB, Baker Mayfield got his team to the playoffs in his third season, and won a playoff game, giving him the same number of playoffs wins as Watson.

To us, if you don’t think about replacing your quarterback if you are a playoff team unless he is the reason you cannot advance in the post-season. At this point, that does not describe Baker Mayfield.

His critics, which we feel have a dissenting opinion because they wanted the Browns to draft either Sam Darnold or Josh Allen in the 2018 draft, blame him for not driving the team down the field after the Karl Joseph interception in the fourth quarter of the 22-17 loss to Kansas City.

In reality, the reason the Browns lost that game was their defense couldn’t get off the field when they had the Chiefs in a 3rd and 14 situation. The defense was the weakest point of the team all year, because of injuries, and it couldn’t come through when it was needed.

And that defense will get better in the draft, where the Browns have nine picks. They would almost certainly have to give up some of those choices if they were to go after Watson, that doesn’t make any sense.

Those critics feel having Watson at the helm gives the Browns a better chance to win the AFC title and get to the Super Bowl, but how do we know Mayfield can’t do the same thing? How do we know Mayfield won’t be even better next season in his second year under the tutelage of Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt, and he can be on the same level as Watson.

He should get that opportunity.

If you could trade Mayfield for Watson, straight up, we would think about it. If you said trading for Watson would guarantee a Super Bowl for Cleveland, we would do it.

But there are no guarantees. Baker Mayfield is the Browns quarterback and he played well in the playoffs and won one game.

That should be the end of the argument. Period.

Hall Of Fame Voting Should Be Debated, Not Condemned

There’s an old saying that any publicity is good publicity, and in that vein, it’s been a good week for Major League Baseball. The debate around the Hall of Fame voting has certainly brought attention to the sport on shows that normally don’t talk about the sport.

We are a “small Hall” person. Cooperstown is the most difficult Hall of Fame to gain admittance to, and that’s fine. You should be a great player to be enshrined there.

Unfortunately, the social media era has changed things. Many voters are shamed according to who they vote for or don’t vote for. That’s wrong. The person voting earned a vote by covering baseball for many years and they are entitled to their opinion, something that isn’t taken into consideration these days.

Should some broadcasters be given a vote? People who cover the sport on a daily basis should obviously be considered along with writers. No problem with that at all.

One continuing controversy is what to do with the players who used PED’s. We feel they should not be included in the Hall. We hear the argument that many of these players were great before they started to enhance their performance, so they should be enshrined.

Try that argument on your significant other.

And please don’t use the tact that some PED users are already in Cooperstown. It’s a bad argument. It’s the same as using the fact that Rabbit Maranville (look it up) and his .258 batting average (658 OPS) are in the Hall, so others with similar statistics should be in.

That the writers (in this case) made a mistake does not mean more mistakes should be made.

We find it fascinating that people don’t vote for Curt Schilling because of things he has said or written, which gave him no advantage on the playing field, but vote for Bonds or Clemens. Bonds made himself a player you basically couldn’t pitch to after he turned 35 years old.

His best years were ages 36-39. That’s not unusual?

Look, we wouldn’t want to hang around with Schilling, and understand his views make a lot of people uncomfortable. But he’s a Hall of Fame pitcher, and despite his wishes about not wanting to be on the ballot next year, we are hoping he gets elected in 2022.

The writers do make mistakes. As Tribe fans, one of them that we hope gets rectified by the Veteran’s Committee is Kenny Lofton. The leadoff man on the great Indian teams of the ’90’s received just 3.2% of the vote in his first year of eligibility in 2013 and was removed from future ballots.

However, Lofton deserves the nod. With a .299 lifetime batting average and a .372 career on base percentage along with 2428 hits, we think Lofton was overlooked because he played in the same era as the greatest leadoff man of all time, Rickey Henderson.

It took Tim Raines, a similar player, ten years to get in. In fact, of the top ten similar hitters to Lofton (according to Baseball Reference.com), four are in the Hall, and a fifth, Ichiro Suzuki, will be.

The Veterans Committee has made mistakes too. The selection of Harold Baines raised some eyebrows.

For what it’s worth, if we had a vote, we would have voted for Schilling and Jeff Kent. That’s it.

The point is voting for the Hall of Fame is a subjective process. And because of sports, it should be fun to have arguments about it. It’s also a privilege for the writers who participate, and most of them take it very seriously.

A small Hall is fine for us. We’d rather that than the NFL’s method of putting in a lot of players simply because they now work on the broadcast side of things.

No Surprise, Tribe Ain’t Spending The Cash They Saved

Imagine being a regular customer at a department store, say Macy’s, and you go into the store and find they are no longer offering clothing from Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, or Nike.

Think about going to a high class restaurant like Morton’s and finding out the best thing on the menu is now hamburger.

You’d be a little disappointed, correct? That’s how is was for supporters of the Cleveland Indians on Sunday morning reading the team is interested in free agents like Kevin Pillar and Jonathon Schoop.

Talk about generating excitement? Well, this falls about a mile short.

While these guys aren’t bad players, Pillar had a career best OPS in the shortened 2020 season, and Schoop has had solid seasons, but outside of 2019 with the Twins, hasn’t really been a regular on a good team in recent years.

Still, it’s a step down from having a roster that included Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Carlos Santana, Edwin Encarnacion, Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, and Mike Clevinger. Ramirez is still here and the team still has the current Cy Young Award winner in Shane Bieber, but most of the balance of the roster hasn’t proven much at the major league level.

Once again, we aren’t saying the Indians should have a $170 million payroll, although we do not believe for a minute that any major league baseball owner is suffering financially. On the other hand, we don’t get gutting the payroll to around $40 million, which would be one of the lowest figures in the sports.

Cleveland isn’t the Pittsburgh Pirates. After winning 98 games in 2015 and losing the Wild Card game, the Bucs win total has dropped since then, to 78, 75, 82, and then 69 in 2019. They finished with just 19 wins in 2020.

At that point, a total rebuild is understandable, and probably necessary. The Indians win totals over that same time period are 81 in 2015, to 94, 102, 91, 93, and then a 35-25 record last season. Wouldn’t you want to see how long you can keep the success going?

If fans are allowed into Progressive Field at some point in 2021, our guess is it won’t be long until we hear about attendance issues, and how people aren’t flocking to the ballpark.

This complaint is developing into a game of chicken with the ticket buyers, and it’s one the Dolan ownership will never win. They are insulting the customers, and tell us in what business does that work?

Yes, the number of fans going through the turnstiles has dropped since 2017 (FYI, the Indians don’t tell you they had the second largest increase in attendance from ’16 to ’17), but it hasn’t dropped like a proverbial rock.

The largest drops from ’17 to ’18 was in Toronto, followed by Miami, Kansas City, Detroit, and Baltimore. From ’18 to ’19, the most significant decreases were in Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco, Detroit, and Washington, who by the way, won the World Series that season.

The Tribe’s 2019 attendance (1.74 million people) ranks fourth since 2010 (behind 2011, 2017, and 2018). So, it’s not as bad as the ownership would like you to believe.

What happened in 2009 to cause attendance to fall off then? It was the last salary dump by the organization, trading Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez. Funny how that works.

Since the end of the 2018 season, the Indians have traded Kluber, Yan Gomes, Bauer, Clevinger, Lindor, and Carrasco, and let Michael Brantley and Santana walk away as free agents.

Eventually, that’s going to have an effect in the standings and among the fan base.

It’s a heck of a gamble by the ownership that their front office will be able to cobble together a contending team with that sort of talent drain.

They are also underestimating the intelligence of their fan base.

Sexton’s Hard Work Pays Off

When Collin Sexton was drafted eighth overall in 2018, he was just 19 years old. As fans, we probably don’t remember things like that enough.

Think about when you were 19, we, like you, probably did a lot of dumb stuff. Fortunately, most people don’t do those things in front of thousands of people who are paying to watch you, nor do you do them as part of a group where the other members are folks who have been doing it longer than you.

We were critical of Sexton when he first came into the NBA. He seemed to dribble incessantly. Fans used to keep track of the possessions the Cavaliers had where Sexton and only Sexton touched the ball.

His veteran teammates didn’t like playing with him for that reason.

Still, there were things that should have been looked at as positive signs. Sexton is a basketball junkie, working on his game endlessly. There were stories about how Cavs’ management had to order him to leave the practice facility.

He also never had any issues off the court.

Scouts said his outside shooting was his weakness at Alabama, where he played for former NBA player Avery Johnson. But he shot 43% from three point range in his rookie year, averaging 16.7 points, three assists and three rebounds playing in all 82 games.

He was hailed as one of the most inefficient players in the game. The Cavs went 19-63 in the first year after LeBron James departed for Los Angeles. Since he was drafted with the choice obtained in the Kyrie Irving deal, which the front office clung to with all their might, Sexton became the symbol for all that was wrong with the wine and gold.

In his second year, Sexton was paired with the fifth overall pick the following year, another smaller guard in Darius Garland, who played all of four games at Vanderbilt. More losing followed and at the All Star break in his second season, the second year pro averaged 19.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, and his three point shooting dropped to 36.5%.

Something changed for Sexton when play resumed after the break. Not initially, though. In February, Sexton averaged 21.9 points, and his assists started to go up, from under three in every month, to 4.1 in February.

At the end of the month, Garland was injured, and Matthew Dellavedova started getting playing time, getting at least 18 minutes in the last eight games of the shortened season.

How does that figure into Sexton’s blossoming into a very good player? When Delly was on the floor, the ball started to move better, the Australian averaged seven assists per game in these contests.

We believe Sexton saw how the team was better when the ball moved and his assist total increased by a half of one per game.

We noticed a difference watching the game. The ball didn’t stick when he had it. His shot selection improved, he was growing as a player right in front of our eyes.

This season, Sexton has taken it to yet another level. He’s scoring 26.8 points per game on 52% shooting, 46.8% from three. His assists have improved by one, going from 3.0 to 4.2. His turnovers are down as well.

Suddenly, he is the best player on a team with a realistic shot at making the playoffs.

And after GM Koby Altman acquired Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince in the James Harden deal, a transaction which right now borders on robbery, the Cavaliers are young, long, and deep. As long as Andre Drummond is still wearing a Cleveland uniform, J.B. Bickerstaff has three rim protectors in Drummond, Allen, and Larry Nance Jr.

The players have also bought in to Bickerstaff’s defensive system, Cleveland ranks 4th in the league in defensive efficiency, a tremendous improvement from the past several years.

The roster is filled with hard workers, improving their games every off-season. Altman should be given credit for that, and Bickerstaff should get a ton of credit for giving these players direction, seemingly for the first time since James left.

It’s fun to watch the Cavs again, and it’s fun to watch Collin Sexton grow as a player. He’s a reminder that perhaps fans and experts shouldn’t put a label on players just one year out of high school.

However, Sexton should get all kinds of credit for changing his game, growing as a basketball player. He’s proof that sometimes hard work does pay off.

All Kidding Aside, Having Many Shortstops Is A Good Thing

We joke a lot about the number of shortstops the Cleveland Indians have on their top prospect list.

According to Baseball America’s ranking of the farm system, the Tribe has three shortstops and a second baseman among their top ten–Tyler Freeman is third, Gabriel Arias is sixth, Brayan Rocchio is 7th and the second baseman, Aaron Brocho is #10.

And don’t forget, the two major league players the team received for Francisco Lindor, Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario also play short, and so can Owen Miller, who came over from San Diego with Arias. That’s seven pretty good prospects playing the same position.

Look, it makes sense. Generally, shortstops are the best athletes on the field, and if you can handle the position at a competent level, you probably can play any spot on the diamond, outside of pitcher and catcher.

So, stockpiling good players who can play the most important defensive position on the diamond is smart. They can be moved to other positions of need and it’s always good to be able to be in a position to deal from strength if another organization needs someone to play in the middle of the diamond.

It’s the offensive equivalent to having pitching depth.

The question is how soon will the front office use the excess talent at the position to improve other areas of the roster? We think the Tribe has to be very careful about moving more pitching after the recent trades involving Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, and Carlos Carrasco.

We wrote last week that outside of Shane Bieber, the 2021 starting rotation will be manned by hurlers who haven’t thrown 200 innings at the big league level. Adam Plutko has pitched the most frames outside of the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner.

There is depth in case an Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac takes a step backward in their development. Terry Francona and Carl Willis can plug in a Scott Moss or Logan Allen to make some starts if that occurs. But there isn’t a lot of experience for the rotation.

That leaves the glut of middle infield prospects as the lure to get some outfielders who can hit. That doesn’t mean we don’t believe Daniel Johnson deserves an opportunity or that we’ve given up on Oscar Mercado, but the Indians do need a couple of proven bats to go with Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes.

Minnesota non-tendered OF Eddie Rosario, who tormented Cleveland for years, and he’s a possibility. He batted .257 with 13 HR (792 OPS) in the shortened 2020 season, and .276 with 32 HR and 109 RBI (800 OPS) in 2019. He’s a free swinger, but would be someone who could hit in the middle of Francona’s batting order.

For now, the talent evaluators within the Indians’ front office need to decide who is the future at shortstop and who has enough hitting ability to be able to move to another spot. We really like the hitting potential of Freeman and Miller, both of whom are said to project more as second basemen.

Could either become a piece in the outfield, the organizations’ biggest area of need?

What happens if Gimenez shows he’s the guy to hold down the position for the next five years (we don’t go beyond that because, you know)? That would put the Indians in an enviable position with other teams.

The one thing that will be intriguing over the next few years, is how the players like Rocchio and Bracho develop. That’s why we want minor league baseball and their box scores in 2021.

Even With Sunday’s Loss, It’s A New Normal For Browns

The Cleveland Browns said all the right things about Sunday’s divisional playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. That is to say, no one talked about what a great season they had.

To our knowledge, from coach Kevin Stefanski on down, everyone talked about being angry and/or disappointed in the loss. And that’s exactly what you want to hear from a team. They won’t be happy until they are hoisting the Lombardi Trophy above their collective heads.

We aren’t saying the organization shouldn’t feel good about the strides made in the 2020 season. They won 11 games in the regular season, the most since 1994. They made the playoffs for the first time since 2002, and won a post-season game for the first time since that ’94 season.

All of those things are great, and they should be a step in the right direction. However, this organization and the players should feel like this is just foot forward in a process that will result in the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth.

Still, the game came down to the Browns having their weaker unit on the field at the end of the game and the defense couldn’t come through. Kansas City had a 3rd and 14 in their own territory with their All Pro quarterback in the locker room, and they were still able to convert a first down to run out the clock.

That is not meant as a disparaging comment against defensive coordinator Joe Woods. The Cleveland defense has two great players in Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward, a solid player in Sheldon Richardson, and perhaps a potential difference maker in Ronnie Harrison.

Injuries happen to every NFL team, but you can’t forget half of the projected secondary for the brown and orange, CB Greedy Williams and S Grant Delpit, missed the entire season.

The defense forced turnovers, yes, but if they weren’t doing that, they didn’t really have an answer for the real good offenses in the league.

As for criticism of Stefanski for punting in the fourth quarter, he had to be thinking with Chad Henne in at QB for Kansas City instead of Patrick Mahomes, his defense could get a stop and the Browns would have a chance for a game winning drive.

He got a sack from Myles Garrett on second down, but the unit has to get off the field on the 3rd and 14. They couldn’t.

The good news for Cleveland football fans is this is young football team. On offense, the oldest starters are WR Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr., both 28 years old.

Even on defense, the oldest starters are Richardson (30), DE Olivier Vernon (30), and S Andrew Sendejo (33), and he only started because Delpit was out this season.

And even better news is GM Andrew Berry has nine draft picks and a lot of cap space available to make improvements. Expect a defensive heavy draft, but you could see a wide receiver picked in the early rounds as well.

Also, here’s what we won’t be talking about until the draft comes to Cleveland this spring. No search for a head coach, no looking for a quarterback, no need for a new left tackle.

That’s the new normal for this football team and their fans.

We realize every season is different and injuries always raise their ugly head in the NFL. But it seems like the Browns have the right leadership and a foundation of some very good players.

And as he probably likes it, we didn’t even mention perhaps the best running back in the league in Nick Chubb.

Is Tribe Selling Hope Or Success?

We have always said the two things professional sports franchises can sell their fans are a championship contending team or hope of future success. That’s why the Indians are having a tough time with their fan base, particularly those who have been around longer.

First, we understand the Tribe has a good farm system, but we also understand that’s a highly speculative thing. As the late, great Pete Franklin used to say, until proven otherwise, prospects should be called suspects.

As it stands right now, the Cleveland Indians probably aren’t in the mix for an American League Central Division title. They could be in it for a wild card if they can muster enough runs. They ranked 13th in the AL in scoring last season, and they no longer have three of the top five on last year’s squad in OPS (Francisco Lindor, Cesar Hernandez, and Carlos Santana).

Can someone emerge from the organization to replace that run scoring capability? Of course, anything is possible. We like Josh Naylor, who will play somewhere, and certainly Daniel Johnson deserves a real shot at everyday at bats.

However, that’s the real question. Assuming Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes are the best two hitters in the everyday lineup, who is the third best hitter? Is it Naylor? Or does a Jordan Luplow finally become a hitter who can be productive against right-handed hurlers, meaning he can play in most games?

There is no question the strength of the Indians is their starting pitching staff, led by Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, but without Carlos Carrasco as a veteran anchor, the rest of the starting rotation doesn’t have much of a track record.

For example, barring an injury issue, Bieber will start Opening Day in Detroit on April 1st. Who pitches the rest of the series? You could assume Zach Plesac goes in the next game, but he’s thrown less than 200 innings (171) in his big league career.

As for the rest of the rotation, Aaron Civale has pitched 132 innings. Triston McKenzie has logged 33 frames, Cal Quantrill has 135. Does Adam Plutko sneak back into the mix? If he does, he’s the old man of the group at 217.

None of these guys have pitched an entire major league 162 game season. So forgive us if we are a tad skeptical if they can pitch at a high level from April until the end of September.

The good news is more starters should be ready soon. Guys like Scott Moss, Logan Allen could get shots in 2021, and don’t count out Sam Hentges, Eli Morgan, and Joey Cantillo, who came over in the Mike Clevinger deal.

Where the lack of hope comes in is does anyone have any faith in anyone staying in Cleveland past the time they will be a free agent? Does anyone believe Jose Ramirez will be here beyond 2023, when his club options expire?

Lindor and Clevinger both alluded to how this organization does business now. If a player is about to make big money, they are traded. Maybe it’s just those two, but my guess is this is discussed in the clubhouse, and that will make it difficult for the front office to convince any player to take less money to sign long term.

That makes it difficult to get attached to players and/or a team. Why do people gravitate to the Tribe teams of the late 1990’s? Kenny Lofton played here nine years in a decade span, Omar Vizquel was here 11 seasons, Jim Thome 12 years before coming back for a swan song. Charlie Nagy was here for 12.

When players are part of an organization for that long, they become family.

We understand the sport has changed, but are simply saying having a revolving door in the locker room doesn’t help build an identity with the fan base. That’s why trading Carrasco hurt many. He was here for ten years.

Just remember this. The last Indians who played more than 10 years in Cleveland and never played anywhere else retired in 1956! That was Al Rosen.

Cavs Get Involved In Mega Deal, And Get Better

The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten off to a pretty good start this season, considering the injury problems that have beset J.B. Bickerstaff’s team.

They are sitting at 5-7, remarkable really, when you realize Kevin Love has played two games, Collin Sexton has missed four, Darius Garland six, and rookie first round draft pick Isaac Okoro five. And it doesn’t take into consideration that one of last season’s bright spots, Kevin Porter Jr., hasn’t even suited up.

However, GM Koby Altman saw a chance to improve the team when the Brooklyn Nets wanted to get disgruntled star James Harden, and got involved. And at first look, he cashed in big time.

He dealt a first round draft pick, don’t panic, not ours, it’s Milwaukee’s in 2022, which wouldn’t seem to be a lottery pick with Giannis Antetokounmpo staying there, a second round pick, and Dante Exum, currently injured to get Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince.

In watching Allen play against the Cavs in his three year career, we loved him as a player. Not yet 23-years-old, the 6’11” center averaged 11.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in the regular season, and then 14.8 rebounds per game in the Nets’ four post-season games.

He shot 65% from the floor last season, and is a career 70% shooter from the free throw line.

He’s a classic big man too. He took just six three pointers a year ago. He’s a rim protector, a rebounder, and a low post presence. And again, at his age, he will get nothing but better.

We believe as he gets more experience, he will more a major force inside for the Cavaliers.

Our first thought when the deal was announced was Andre Drummond’s time here isn’t long. Drummond is a free agent at the end of the year (Allen is restricted, so the Cavs will have to pay him next summer), and no doubt Altman will be looking for a contending team who wants to pony up for a big man who is currently averaging 18 points, 15 boards, and is playing very good defense this season.

The wine and gold also received small forward Taurean Prince in the deal. The 6’7″ Prince’s best season was probably his second year in the league with Atlanta, averaging 14.1 points and 4.7 rebounds a night. He will be 27 in March, fitting in with the Cavs’ youth movement.

Last year with Brooklyn, he scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds, while shooting a career low 37.6% from the floor. He also took the most three point shots of his career, so maybe he’s better off using the mid-range game.

Again, the cost was more than reasonable to pick up two players who should be in Bickerstaff’s rotation immediately, and both are good defenders.

We also love the addition of size. With Love out of the lineup, the Cavs have been forced to use two way player Lamar Stephens and Dean Wade in the rotation. For the time being, Bickerstaff now can use Drummond, JaVale McGee, Allen, and Larry Nance Jr. at the #4 and #5 spots.

And Prince gives the team another small forward to go with Cedi Osman and Okoro, who can also move to the backcourt. It gives them the option to play like a traditional basketball team in terms of skill set, when either Sexton or Garland are on the bench.

Again, you have to believe another move will be coming before the trade deadline with Drummond, who has played very well, and has been much more active defensively this season. It’s just that he’s a free agent, and he is likely to want to move on.

The injuries haven’t allowed Bickerstaff to use his depth, as they are constantly playing shorthanded. This deal gives them even more when everyone is back.

Kudos to the GM for seeing an opportunity to improve the team and doing it. The Cavaliers got better now and in the future.