Browns’ Fans: Change Bad

Yesterday, new Browns owner to be, Jimmy Haslam met with Cleveland City Council to discuss several matters.

If he could fix their problems, he might just be a solution to be President of the United States. Getting them to act requires more than a cattle prod.

However, the thing that has all Browns fans in an uproar now is Haslam’s comment around possibly putting a roof on Cleveland Browns Stadium.

All he said was that he was going to bring in some architectural firms to study the feasibility of covering the sacred field that the Browns play on.

What’s the big deal?

First of all, it would make the stadium more of a multi-purpose facility, one that can be used for more than 10 or 12 football games per year, and perhaps a concert or two.

That would be good for Cleveland (with apologies to Sam Rutigliano).

Imagine the possibility of having an NCAA Regional Basketball Tournament or even a Final Four in Cleveland. How about a Super Bowl?

Right now, those events are impossible for Cleveland to host.

There are other things that have to occur before our city can accommodate mega-events such as these, such as lack of hotel rooms. But the lacking of housing is moot without the building in place.

The other argument that holds merit is how would the roof be paid for. Obviously, since we live in one of the higher taxed areas in the country, it would be difficult for folks to take on another burden. That’s a debate for another time.

The issue here is the football fans squawking about playing in a domed stadium, and thereby taking the elements out of the game.

WHO CARES!

If it’s a retractable roof, then the Browns games can continue to be played outdoors, if that is somehow important.

Of course, you would have to replace the grass with field turf as well. The argument here is that the current field is a disgrace anyway. For having just a handful of games on it, it looks terrible.

Watching the Browns-Eagles game, the home opener, the grass already looked chewed up, and it’s only September.

Think about what it will look like after a few games played with moisture and other weather elements.

So, going to artificial turf, regardless of where the stadium has a roof or not would be an upgrade. There doesn’t seem to be enough of a soil base to grow grass effectively.

The point is this: In a vacuum, putting a roof on Cleveland Browns Stadium is a good idea, and Haslam and the city government should do their due diligence to see if it is feasible.

There’s nothing wrong with that, and nothing to get all upset about.

In fact, Browns fans should get used to the idea that change is coming. The new owner has promised that. Whether it is new design for the uniforms, a different design for the field, or a new website, change is coming.

Based on the recent past, why not?

Is Cleveland Media Too Soft?

There is no question that the relationship between professional sports teams and the media has changed.

Older writers talk about how former Browns’ coach Blanton Collier would sit down with them and explain the Xs and Os to the scribes who covered the team.

Can’t imagine Pat Shurmur doing that this week.

With the proliferation of cable television and 24 hours per day radio sports talk, management of sports teams have become very sensitive toward the folks who cover the game.

This is particularly true in football because there is a week between games to second, third, and fourth guess the coaching staff.

However, those coaches are also making a lot of money to put up with this “aggravation”.

Some cities are known for tough reporters who ask difficult questions. Most of those towns are located on the east coast.

Cleveland media people seem to have a good relationship with the Indians, Browns, and Cavaliers. The question is, should they?

If reporters are indeed finding out information for readers/viewers, in other words, the fans, are they doing their job?

Several circumstances recently beg for a tough question to be asked, especially when the front offices are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the people who buy tickets.

With the Indians, it doesn’t seem that anyone ever asks why the team has had nine losing seasons in 11 years.

For example in yesterday’s Plain Dealer, Paul Hoynes answered a reader’s question on why the Indians did not call up OF Tim Fedroff by saying the Tribe wanted to give some at bats to Thomas Neal, who was also just called up from the minors.

Neal has 10 at bats right now, fewer than several veterans who will not be with the Indians after this season ends.

So, either the front office is full of crap, or someone else isn’t following through on the plan.

Many times the Indians management justify their moves with ridiculous arguments, but no one seems to question them, or at least it isn’t reported.

It is understandable that the beat writer doesn’t ask those questions, but that doesn’t get them off the hook. Are the guys coaching and managing in Cleveland so far above reproach that they can’t be quizzed?

The Browns and Indians each have a distinct style in dealing with the media.

The football team acts like it’s a chore to have to explain themselves, and Shurmur acts like a guy about to get an enema at a press conference.

Why? If you are secure in your convictions, then why not take the time to educate everyone on what is going on with the Browns.

The Indians are very open and friendly, but take the politician approach, answering questions with corporate phrasing and canning responses, never really answering what was asked.

The point is this: Reporters are allowed to ask tough questions, that’s their job. Players and management should answer tough questions, it’s their responsibility.

What has happened in recent years is that the participants have decided they don’t want to be bothered to answer to the public and so they growl at the media for asking.

It’s one thing if the question is personal or inflammatory. Those questions have no place in press conferences. However, inquiries about the game or strategy need to be answered.

Now, Cleveland just needs someone to ask them. When they aren’t answered, the respondent just looks foolish for avoiding the issue.

Browns Look Better in Most Areas, But Still Lose.

For those Browns’ fans who were panicked that GM Tom Heckert horribly screwed up last April’s draft, you can rest easier today. If you are coach Pat Shurmur, and your team is 0-2, you have to be concerned especially since you have a new boss.

And if you are Joe Haden, you have to feel like you let your team down because a porous secondary and a bad special teams play were the biggest deciding factors in a 34-27 loss to Cincinnati Sunday afternoon.

Usually, the formula that leads to a Cleveland defeat is that they can’t run the ball and can’t stop the run. That wasn’t the case today.

Rookie Trent Richardson showed why Heckert traded up to get him with his first 100 yard rushing game, getting 109 yards on 19 attempts and catching four passes for 36 more yards, scoring two touchdowns.

His fellow rook, QB Brandon Weeden put aside all the jokes about a 5.1 passer rating with a club rookie record 322 passing yards and two TD tosses, one to Richardson and the other to WR Greg Little. He had no turnovers after throwing four picks in his debut.

Meanwhile, the Bengals ran for just 80 yards on 25 carries, a 3.2 average per carry.

However, they didn’t need to run because they had so much success through the air.

The Cleveland secondary, minus their best player in Haden, allowed touchdown plays of 44 and 50 yards through the air, allowing Andy Dalton 318 yards passing.

The Browns leading tacklers for the game were CB Buster Skrine, CB Dimitri Patterson, and S T. J. Ward. What does that tell you? That Dick Jauron’s defense was making a lot of stop after Cincinnati receivers caught passes.

The defense did have six sacks and an interception (three of the former and the pick by MLB D’Qwell Jackson, who was excellent), but allowing the opponent’s QB to complete 24 of 31 throws equals a bad day in the aerial defense department.

Although Cleveland put pressure on Dalton most of the day, hence six sacks, they played very passively in coverage, allowing Bengal receivers an eight to ten yard cushion at the line of scrimmage. That allowed Dalton to hit short passes at will.

The key play of the game was probably the first one in which a Bengal player touched the ball. After one first down on the Browns first possession, Adam (Pacman) Jones took Reggie Hodges’ punt 81 yards for a touchdown. During the run, at least five Cleveland players’ had shots at Jones, but all missed.

It put the Browns in a hole they couldn’t get out off the rest of the day.

A couple of curious things should be questioned and both have to do with who was active for the game. Defensively, Sheldon Brown was active, but didn’t play. With the secondary struggling, couldn’t he and his experience helped a bit? And if not, should he remain on the roster.

Offensively, Brandon Jackson was not active in favor of Chris Ogbonnaya, who caught six passes for 73 yards in a third down back role, but fumbled ending a promising drive in the first half.

It was an odd game in that no statistic really stands out as to why Cleveland lost, but they did.

They outgained Cincinnati. The ran the ball better and stopped the run as well. The Bengals converted only 4 of 12 third downs, while the Browns did better, picking up 7 in 15 opportunities. The turnovers were even.

It really comes down to poor tackling defensively and on special teams.

The Browns showed improvement in a lot of areas in-game two, but now they need to convert that improvement into a victory. A home game next Sunday is a perfect chance for that.

Tribe Needs to Change, Not Overhaul

The rumors about the Cleveland Indians’ off-season are starting to fly fast and furious.

MLB Network contributor Jon Heyman reported that the Dolan family is growing disenchanted with manager Manny Acta, leading to speculation that he will be dismissed.

Another report has the Tribe willing to trade players such as Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, Justin Masterson, and Chris Perez.

Sound like a total rebuilding effort, doesn’t it? Wonder how that will play with a fan base already angry by this season’s turn of events.

Then again, it has also been reported that because people don’t show up at Progressive Field, the front office doesn’t feel the need to make major changes in the off-season.

Nice, huh?

The Indians don’t need to destroy everything this winter, but they do need to make major changes, particularly in the pitching staff.

In regards to trading Cabrera and Choo, GM Chris Antonetti (or whoever will hold that title) would basically be dealing their best two offensive players.

And if you do that, you must replace both of them with equally talented players if you plan on contending next season. Therefore, it makes no sense to trade either player, although the organization is scared silly about Choo’s impending free agency.

With Lonnie Chisenhall looking like he’s ready to assume the hot corner, the Indians need to get a solid right-handed bat to play 1B or LF, and they will have improved the offense greatly.

Part of the problem this season was the five decent hitters the team has hit in the top five spots in the batting order. A couple would get on base, and the dreadful sticks in the 6-7-8-9 slots would come up and make outs.

That why a good team needs at least seven good hitters in the lineup. The Tribe does need to add some power, because you need to score every once in a while by getting one hit, a home run.

As for the pitching staff, the bullpen should be fine, even if you trade Chris Perez, but not because he blasted management, but because you have Vinnie Pestano, who can close.

The one area the Cleveland farm system has some prospects in relief pitching with guys like Scott Barnes, C.C. Lee, Cody Allen, Tyler Sturdevant, etc. ready to help the big league club.

As for the starting rotation, keep Zack McAllister and feel free to get rid of everyone else.

Justin Masterson has a good arm, but doesn’t have the demeanor to be a top of the rotation starter. Ubaldo Jimenez has a $6 million option for next year, but you can get someone more reliable than him for that money.

Roberto Hernandez? Goodbye.

Jeanmar Gomez and Cory Kluber can compete for spots in the ’13 rotation at spring training. But you have to go out and get at least one proven arm and more prospects.

And hope than Carlos Carrasco can come back from Tommy John surgery.

That’s where the GM should concentrate his efforts. The Indians rank last in the AL in ERA, a major reason for why they are where they are.

The other thing that must change is the total passiveness of the organization. Some players deserve patience, such as Chisenhall.

If he hitting .230 in the middle of May, the manager has to keep writing his name in the lineup.

If a borderline veteran isn’t doing the job, he has to be replaced instead of carrying them around all season long.

It may seem crazy to say this after the incredible losing skein the Indians have been on, but they do not need a total rebuild.

The pitching staff is in need of dire repair, but other than that, it’s the philosophy of the organization that needs the biggest facelift.

They have to stop being afraid. They need to get over their fear of young players, big contacts, and aggressiveness.

Until that happens and they upgrade the talent, firing Manny Acta will have little or no effect.

Browns Start 2012 With Another Close Loss

When you come down to it, the Cleveland Browns lost their first game of the season to the Philadelphia Eagles in a most predictable way. They couldn’t run the ball when it counted, and they couldn’t stop the run either.

You could make the argument that if Eagles’ coach Andy Reid had not been so stubborn about throwing the football, the visitors would have won rather easily.

Philadelphia averaged five yards per carry running the football, yet had QB Michael Vick throw the ball 56 times. His four interceptions kept the Browns in the game, and his last resulted in a touchdown return by LB D’Qwell Jackson which gave Cleveland a 16-10 lead.

The Browns ran for 99 yards and a 4.5 per carry average, but here is where statistics are meaningless. 35 yards came on a double reverse by rookie WR Travis Benjamin and 25 more came on QB Brandon Weeden’s 25 yard scamper as the first half ended. On the other 2o attempts to run to ball, Cleveland gained just 49 yards.

After the pick which gave the Browns the lead, the Eagles ran for 44 of the 52 yards they gained to set up a field goal try of 45 yards, which Alex Henery missed giving the home team the ball back with a six point lead on their own 35 yard line and 9:01 remaining in the game.

It was time to run some time off the clock and shorten the game, but in the end Cleveland could only run about two and a half minutes off the timer, and gave Philadelphia and all their weapons the ball back with over six minutes left.

Cleveland ran two running plays and a short pass to pick up one first down, but on the next play, rookie RB Trent Richardson was stuffed for a one run loss, and then Weeden threw two incomplete passes, which of course stopped the clock.

The Eagles then converted the next drive for a touchdown with 1:18 remaining and it took only one play for Weeden to throw his fourth interception of the game and seal the deal for Philly.

The rookie passer has a dreadful day, hitting just 12 of 35 throws for 118 yards, and could not get Cleveland into the end zone.

Of the four pick offs, two were bad. The one that virtually ended the game, and a deep sideline route for his third turnover.

The first was a beautiful throw that WR Greg Little couldn’t hold in the red zone, and the second was a deep throw on third and ten which amounted to nothing more than a punt.

The rookie did fumble twice, which is beginning to be worrisome. He simply has to hold on to the football.

And he was overthrowing a lot. He missed several wide open targets because passes were fired ten yards over their heads.

Richardson had his moments, like when he ran over Philadelphia S Kurt Coleman, resulting in the Eagle’s helmet flying off, but it was curious that offensive coordinator Brad Childress never had the rookie running wide all day. Pretty much all of his carries were between the tackles.

Several people have hammered on Pat Shurmur about not going for two after Jackson’s TD and make it a 17-10 game. However, you can’t assume they will get the two points. If it fails, the score is 15-10, and a touchdown alone beats you. Plus, the Eagles then would have definitely gone for two, which would have meant a field goal would send the game to overtime.

Defensive coordinator Dick Jauron deserves credit for a great game plan, and S T.J. Ward and CB Joe Haden had fine games. Ward caused a fumble and Haden had an interception, both of which resulted in Phil Dawson field goals.

And rookie free agent LBs, L. J. Fort and Craig Robertson both had interceptions as well. Guess the coaching staff was right in not being worried about playing either guy.

The Browns almost won, and losing another close game is tough to swallow. However, remember this team has 15 rookies and nine second year players. They will no doubt get better, and Weeden will play better next week.

As much as it is difficult, you have to keep the big picture in mind.

On Modell’s Passing

Growing up in the 60’s, the Cleveland Browns were the arguably the hallmark franchise of the National Football League.

My father would point out with pride that the Browns were the winningest team in NFL history in the late 1960’s. Cleveland played in the championship games in 1964, 1965, 1968, and 1969. Wins in the last two games would have put the Browns in the Super Bowl.

At that point, the city of Cleveland loved Art Modell. He owned the Browns! The Indians weren’t too far removed from their winning days of the 50’s, but they weren’t contenders either.

The Cavaliers did not exist.

The Art Modell that owned the Browns during from 1970 until he ripped the hearts out of the city was a little different.

This is how we remembered Art Modell as he died early Thursday morning.

His obsession with winning a Super Bowl caused him to meddle with personnel moves, and he fell in love with anyone who gave him a glimpse of hope, and turned on them quickly when that hope started to vanquish.

Sam Rutigliano was an unknown at the time, and in his third year as coach, 1980, led the Browns to the playoffs, the ill-fated “Red Right 88” game. He immediately received a new contract.

In 1984, without Brian Sipe, who left for the USFL, the Browns got off to a 1-7 start and Rutigliano was fired.

Modell brought in Ernie Accorsi as GM, and he was very aggressive. Raiding the crumbling USFL for talent such as Kevin Mack and Frank Minniefield, working some magic to get the rights to Bernie Kosar, and building the foundation for a team that went to three AFC title games in four years.

However, Modell liked his coach, Marty Schottenheimer, and when the coach wanted more power, including the draft, the owner gave it to him and forced Accorsi out.

Schottenheimer was gone after the second title game loss, but not before he got rid of LB Chip Banks, and drafted the “mad dog in a meat market” in Mike Junkin.

Sometimes Modell tried to fancy himself as a “football man” and make personnel decisions that he wasn’t qualified for. He needed a QB to replace Bill Nelsen in the late 60’s and fell in love with Mike Phipps, trading Hall of Famer Paul Warfield to get him.

He did the same thing for Bill Belichick in the 90’s when he wanted a wide receiver and spent big money, cash he didn’t have, to get Andre Rison, who turned into a bust.

Owning an NFL franchise is basically a license to print money, but it wasn’t that way for Modell, who had major financial problems.

That’s what led him to move the team to Baltimore. He was broke, but couldn’t see himself clear of selling the franchise, which was always supported by the fans, to someone who would keep it in Cleveland.

The other NFL owners came out in support of Modell’s place in the Hall of Fame because his work on the television committee and his move to Baltimore (and the many new stadium deals it spawned) put a lot of money in their pockets.

That doesn’t mean he should be enshrined in Canton. As owner of the Browns, he came up short. The team had many more droughts from 1970-1994 than it had successes.

His heart was in the right place in those days, but he couldn’t let the right people run the team. Heck, he even fired Belichick after they got to Baltimore.

No one can blame the people of this city for their opinion of Art Modell. He hurt Cleveland badly, and he could have done it differently and had an entirely different legacy.

Time to Evaluate the Tribe (Part 1)

The Indians are spending the month of September playing the role of spoiler and evaluating some of the players they have added to the roster for the last month of the season.

However, everyone has seen enough of the players who have been here for a while, so we can start rating those players right now.

First, the infielders…

People who read this blog on a regular basis know we felt the signing of Casey Kotchman was a bad idea. Yes, he’s a great glove man at first base, but he’s not a good hitter. Last year’s .300 batting average with Tampa was an aberration.

Kotchman will not be back next season.

2B Jason Kipnis is a keeper, but he’s not having as good of a season as people may think.

The average OPS in the American League is 732, and four Indians with over 300 at bats have figures higher than average. Kipnis isn’t one of them.

As the season went on, Kipnis stopped driving the baseball, so he’s become a singles hitter. That’s fine, but he should be doing better than that. Since this is his first full season in the big leagues, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but he needs to improve in 2013.

At shortstop, Asdrubal Cabrera made the All-Star team for the second consecutive year. However, he’s faded in each of the last two seasons, and apparently needs to stay in better shape. His defense has slipped as well.

Several people have talked about dealing Cabrera, but the Tribe has no one in the wings to replace him. Cabrera would seem to benefit from a manager who is more demanding of him. He should be at short on Opening Day 2013.

As for Jack Hannahan, apparently the Indians front office thought his career year in 2011 would be the norm going forward, which was not the case.

This is another spot where the Tribe needs an upgrade, and Lonnie Chisenhall should be the ’13 Cleveland starting 3B barring a spring training in which he hits .050 or he gets hurt.

As for the reserves, the season began with Jason Donald being the utility infielder. It is hard to judge him offensively because of inconsistent at bats, which comes with the job. He seems to hit left-handers, but looks to have a big swing.

Defensively, he’s not the answer. He has developed the “yips” with his throwing and the front office started looking at him as a super sub, being able to play both infield and outfield.

His best position looks like 2B, a problem because of Kipnis at the big league level and Cord Phelps at AAA.

Brent Lillibridge has done okay since coming over from Boston, and his ability to play all four infield spots could give him the job going into next season.

As for Phelps, he should get a good look in September to determine if he can play everyday somewhere on the field or be used as trade bait over the off-season.

Phelps had his second straight OPS over 800 at Columbus, so he can hit, and he’s only had 80 big league at bats.

At first base, it would have been nice to see Russ Canzler and/or Matt LaPorta get regular at bats throughout August and September to see if they can be part of the solution at first base.

We will look at the outfield and catching spots as well as the pitching staff later this month.

As for the infield, trying to replace half of your starters is never a good thing. However, the front office didn’t realize the options put in place weren’t going to work going into 2012.

Defense Will Be Key for Browns

The highest profile additions to the 2012 Cleveland Browns were on the offensive side of the football. And after watching the team’s play last season, that definitely is where the management should have focused on.

Most of the talk in the off-season has been about rookies RB Trent Richardson, QB Brandon Weeden, T Mitchell Schwartz, and WRs Travis Benjamin and Josh Gordon. That’ s a lot a new faces in the skill positions for Pat Shurmur’s crew.

However, fans have forgotten about the other side of the football, and if the Browns have any success this season will depend on how a very, very young defense performs this season.

A look at the defensive line shows that two rookies (DT John Hughes and Billy Winn) will get a lot of playing time, and one of them will start next to veteran Ahtyba Rubin. Another 2nd year player, Jabaal Sheard, starts at DE, and after a good rookie year, he will have to deal with how offensive coordinators around the league game plan for him.

He wouldn’t be the first defensive end to have a good rookie season, and fizzle the following year because he doesn’t have a secondary move to get to the quarterback.

Behind the defensive line is a very young corps of linebackers around vet D”Qwell Jackson. Rookie James Michael Johnson is injured and will likely miss the first one or two regular season contests, so that means a lot of playing time for Kaluka Maiava, who’s suited more for special teams, and undrafted free agents L. J. Fort and Craig Robertson, and rookie Tank Carder, who was just picked up yesterday.

That’s an awful lot of young players to be depending on.

It doesn’t mean the Browns defense is doomed to failure. The young players who made the roster have shown a lot of athleticism and speed, something last year’s defense lacked, particularly at linebacker. So, it’s very possible the defense will show improvement. They definitely will get better as the season goes on.

Remember, one of the biggest problems for the Browns since 1999 has been the failure to stop the run. So, if the defensive line doesn’t play well early in the season, the potential “stars” added by GM Tom Heckert will have a difficult time getting on the field.

That’s why the key players early in the season will be Hughes and Winn. If they can team with Rubin to stop opponents from going through the Cleveland line like a hot knife through butter, the Browns can compete early in the campaign.

Really, it’s another reason that Richardson is the key rookie from an offensive standpoint, besides the fact that he was the third overall pick in the draft.

If he’s as good as advertised (we haven’t seen him play yet), then he takes a lot of pressure of fellow rookie Weeden, and a strong running game controls the tempo and clock, and doesn’t leave a young defense on the field too long.

What we are most anxious about as the regular season starts a week from today is whether or not the Browns have corrected the two areas that have plagued them for many years, the ability to run and the ability to stop the run.

In both cases, Shurmur and Heckert are depending on very young players. If they are right, the foundation could be set for extended success for this franchise.

A Day of Decision for Browns

The fourth preseason game in the NFL is the least meaningful of all the meaningless games that predate the regular season.

Unless, of course you are one of the players who is trying to make the final 53 man roster on a particular NFL team, then it is anything but meaningless.

There will be more talk today as to who will make the final roster for the Cleveland Browns than last night’s 28-20 loss to the Chicago Bears. The Browns finish exhibition play at 2-2, narrowly missing out on the preseason playoffs.

The most high level roster battle is the position of back up quarterback between Colt McCoy and Seneca Wallace, but other spots are probably far more important, because if Brandon Weeden stays healthy, neither McCoy or Wallace, or third stringer Thaddeus Lewis may never see the field.

If coach Pat Shurmur picks his reverse QB based on last night, Wallace is going to get the gig.

Last night, McCoy showed off all the weaknesses people point out when saying he’s not a starting quarterback in the NFL. His first pass hung out WR Greg Little to dry, allowing him to take a vicious hit, then on a 3rd and 7 play, he threw a check down pass to Travis Benjamin for four yards.

Perhaps that was the play call from upstairs, but it didn’t look good.

On his second series, he threw an interception which led to Chicago’s first touchdown. He wound up hitting just 2 of 5 throws for 16 yards.

By contrast, Wallace looked decisive in moving the Browns to their only first half touchdown, a toss to WR Rod Windsor.

To be fair, Wallace had the benefit of being on the field with RB Brandon Jackson, who showed why he should be the starter in week one if Trent Richardson is not ready to play. The former Packer gained 48 yards in seven carries, and hit the hole hard once he got the ball.

Which is why he should get the nod over Montario Hardesty, who could have a problem making the final roster. Hardesty was tentative early, but finally attacking on a couple of decent runs, the longest being 14 yards. He wound up with 24 yards on six attempts.

Josh Cribbs did a nice job of hooking up with Wallace on the touchdown drive, grabbing two passes for 34 yards. The talk of Cribbs possibly getting cut is flat-out ridiculous. He’s still dangerous with the ball in his hands, and even though he doesn’t run great routes as a wide receiver, if the passer gets him the ball, something good will usually happen.

The other negatives, in addition to McCoy’s poor game, was an injury to LB James Michael Johnson, who is counted on to be a contributor right away this season. Hopefully, a reported injury to his oblique isn’t serious and he can play on September 9th against the Eagles.

There was concern about the special teams having two punts blocked in the last two games, but the guess here is the players out on the field for those blocks will not be here when the games start to count.

The big news will come tonight at 9 PM when the rosters have to get down to 53 players. Will there be surprise cuts? It wouldn’t be shocking to see players like Hardesty, Mohammed Massaquoi, and even Ben Watson being let go.

It’s no secret the Cleveland Browns are getting young, and if the plan is to get this team in a position to make some noise in 2013 and beyond, you may just see some veterans looking for a new team come tomorrow.

What the Dolans Should Do

The end of this baseball season can’t come soon enough, and it seems insane to keep going over the inadequacies of the current roster any more.

It’s starting to feel like piling on to mention that Casey Kotchman, Jack Hannahan, and Shelley Duncan stink. Oops, we did it again!

And since the people who run the franchise don’t feel any urgency to address the future of the franchise, we decided to fill a suggestion box and tell the ownership what they should be doing.

First, changes must be made in the upper reaches of the organization. At least two of the big three (Mark Shapiro, Chris Antonetti, and Manny Acta) have to be replaced.

And we don’t care how coveted Antonetti was several years ago. He completely messed up the off-season, particularly not giving Josh Willingham a third year, and giving Grady Sizemore $5 million to take a year off.

Bring in a new GM who has experience with a successful mid market team. Perhaps he can shed a fresh perspective on the way teams like the Indians have to operate.

Of course, that GM will want to hire a new manager. Let him. Although Acta is a small part of the blame this season, he’s not a difference maker. Right now, this young team needs someone who will be a disciplinarian, an old school type of guy.

That type of skipper doesn’t last long, and isn’t the type of guy hired by the Indians in a long time, but for the next couple of years, it would be the correct choice.

The next thing they have to do is raise the payroll. Again, no knowledgeable fan thinks the Tribe can have a payroll of $150 million. However, $85 million should be well within the Indians’ means.

That would mean a whole lot of money for the new GM to spend after the Travis Hafner settlement is reached.

It would also mean a competitive offer can be made to arguably the Tribe’s best player, Shin-Soo Choo. A nice 3-year deal at $10-11 million per year should work.

It would also allow the Indians to get a quality starting pitcher and a right-handed bat that it desperately needs.

The higher payroll commitment would stop the trolling for low risk, high reward free agents like Kotchman. The players the team signs are available after Christmas for a reason, no one wants them, at least good teams don’t want them.

It will also eliminate the need to keep these marginal players on the Opening Day roster at the expense of younger players. For example, the Indians should have handed Lonnie Chisenhall the 3B job from the beginning of camp, and told him it was his job to lose.

The player development department should also be overhauled. Mid market teams need to have a steady flow of talent acquired from the draft. That hasn’t been the case in Cleveland.

In addition, the Indians need to promote players quicker. Yes, Akron may win the Eastern League, but they are doing it with a lot of players who are repeating AA ball for a second year. There isn’t any reason why OF Thomas Neal and C/1B Chun Chen should still be in Akron with the numbers they’ve put up.

And if a guy hasn’t performed in several opportunities, cut him loose. David Huff comes to mind here. If he isn’t an option to help the big league team, then release him.

This is just the beginning of what should be done with the Cleveland Indians going forward.

It may be painful for the Dolan family to do some of these things, but what they are doing now isn’t working.

Changes should start on October 4th. The day after this nightmare season ends.