Off-Season Wahoo Notes: Grady Edition

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Turkey Day has come and gone and it is close to the time where the Hot Stove really begins to heat up. We looked last week at a list of free agents that might be worth the Indians looking at, and shortly there after one of those men did indeed sign on with the Tribe. Welcome… Home, Grady Sizemore. The Indians did not pick up his $9 Million option for 2012 as has been well documented all over. Most assumed, myself included, that Sizemore would suit up elsewhere next season, however, the Tribe veteran decided to stay home in Cleveland and show loyalty to the Indians that most of us fans have shown to him the last 7 years.

Off-Season Wahoo Notes: Free Agents Worth a Look

Who might the Indians go after in Free Agency

The off-season is off to a pretty slow start around the league, but as we all know the baseball off-season is more of a marathon than a sprint and free agent signings and trades tend to slowly develop as opposed to football where it all seems done in a day. The Indians did make an early splash in the Hot Stove by trading a minor league pitcher for veteran Right Handed starter Derek Lowe. Coming off of a bad season and playing for a team with a ton of young arms the Indians were able to get Lowe for a great price and the Braves were kind enough to pay for a large chunk of his salary. Lowe shores up the Tribe rotation and he will likely slot in 3rd behind Ubaldo Jimenez, Justin Masterson, and before Josh Tomlin and Fausto Carmona. The only downside there is that the Indians do not have a lefty starter. The Indians also made the decision to pick up Fausto’s option, understandably, going with who they think will bounce back in 2012 rather then risking an equal or greater amount of money on a free agent pitcher from a very weak market. The Indians also opted not to pick up the option for Grady Sizemore, making the one time face of the franchise a free agent. This must have been a tough move for the Tribe brass, but it was necassary.

Assessing LaPorta.. Again

Remember when LaPorta was a can't miss prospect...?

Yeah, so i’m trying this again. I love getting on here and writing about my favorite teams, it just seems like I always run out of time and don’t get in the groove. It isn’t going to stop me from trying again, I love it too much. It is like that early baseball season time where you get that itch to play again after you have been playing for years and years. Every time the season is about to start, I get that tingling feeling in my arm and hand wanting to grip a ball and fire a fastball to the catchers mitt. I get that same feeling when I’m on my computer, I just want to read and write all I can about the Cleveland teams. Upon returning, i am going to beat a very familiar drum. In the past i have been very critical of LaPorta’s run thus far with the Indians and I wrote an article prior to this year about how it was a make or break season for him with the Tribe. The once highly touted right handed power prospect has turned into one of the most futile regularly playing members of the Indians and of the whole league. he was recently sent down to AAA to make room for extra bullpen arms. That is how high the Indians organization is on LaPorta at the end of his 2nd full season up in the bigs. He is no longer a spring chicken, he is going to be 27 at the start of 2012, and he has received enough opportunity in the last few years to prove his worth, yet he has come up short each time. This make or break season has done a lot more breaking then making. 

Hunter Pence?

Will the Tribe emerge as players for the Astros' Hunter Pence?

It was recently reported that the Houston Astros are willing to trade their star outfielder Hunter Pence. As I heard this news I got all sorts of excited. Why you may ask? Well, simple. Right handed, great hitting, great fielding do it all outfielder. Indians needs? Right handed hitting outfielder. Perfect. If the Indians are going to be a serious contender now, and hopefully into the future, Pence is the guy they wanna get and lock up long terms.

Now may be the time for the Indians to pounce and pick up another star level player like Pence with Grady Sizemore looking like such a liability and the possibility that Shin Soo Choo wants too big of a deal or wants to walk, or the slim possibility his last two seasons may not be a sign of things to come.

Bring it On

Bring on the 2nd half. This was the longest All Star Break in recent memory for me, since, for once the Indians look like contenders in the division. With a 2nd half like the first half the Tribe could easily find themselves in position to win the division and play post season baseball. That concept has got me so excited that I cant wait for the game to start and signal the beginning of the 2nd half of the season.

Wahoo Notes 7/13

Asdrubal's defensive wizardry has been matched this year by offensive production

So once again I have found myself neglecting my duties to my blog, life can be crazy you know… But I’m not gonna complain about that stuff now, back to business. The Indians are in first place, almost at the All Star break now which gets more incredible every day. The surprising Indians keep on rolling, despite injuries and adversity. This post will more or less be a mid-year hitlist. Biggest surprise, biggest dissapointment, team mvp and lvp, and all those sorts of things. Lets get to it.

So Long JJ Hickson… Too Soon?

Really?... Really?

So the 2011 NBA Draft has come and gone, the Cavaliers made their picks at #1 and #4, picking Point Guard Kyrie Irving and Forward Tristan Thompson. With the pick of Tristan Thompson  was kind of a surprise, but with the way the picks before the Cavs selected again went, he is actually who I predicted the team to take, although I did figure he would factor into a later trade. After the Cavs didn’t trade him I did a little digging and found out a little more about him. He might not be the future face of the franchise, but I can see him developing into a very nice NBA player. He has great length and athleticism, and can really play some defense. Where his game lacks is inside scoring and limited shooting range. The Cavs supplemented his downfalls with the addition of Omri Casspi, the shooting Small Forward from Sacramento who can shoot the lights out now and then. Unfortunately, in picking up Casspi the Cavs dealt away future All Star Power Forward JJ Hickson. In my mind, I saw Thompson being a very good counter part to the aggressive interior stylings of Hickson moving forward, but it would appear that the team did not see things the same way I did, and it has taken me some time to come to terms with Hickson’s trade. Hickson is still very young, and probably rawer than he should be at this point in his career, but I feel like the team may have dropped the ball with this one, and I would hate to see it come back to bite them later after he blossoms somewhere else.

Cavs Win Lottery, get #1 and #4

Cavs Win! The Lottery!

It looks like our Cleveland Cavaliers came out as the big winners in Tuesday night’s NBA Draft Lottery. The Cavs, who had the 2nd best odds to get the #1 pick did just that on Tuesday. The little ball that said Cavaliers was picked for the #1 choice, as it was again picked for the #4 pick. The reward for trading Mo Williams for Baron Davis was that #1 pick, which gives the Cavs an unprecedented 2 picks in the top 5. While I first want to get the emotion out of the way, please allow me a quick moment. HECK YES!!! #1 AND #4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TAKE THAT LEBRON! Well that felt good. That leaves me a little confused though, I know I’m probably not the only one who wants to tell LeBron to suck it because we won the lottery, but part of me is a little bitter sweet about it. We all definitely have to remain objective in steadfast as we prepare with the team for the future, which might be coming a little faster with two early picks in the draft. What will the Cavs do with those picks? That is the ultimate question, we just have to wait and see but that won’t stop us from talking about it at all will it?

Indians Win!

BOOM! GAME OVER

Wow. The Indians are hot hot hot right now. The Indians struggled through most of the night, Jeanmar Gomez came out really flat and labored through the outing. Gomez really looked not himself, he was barely hitting the high 80’s on his fastball most of the game and he was not locating. The Indians had to actually play catch up this time because of a Miguel Cabrera bomb in the 1st inning. The Tribe was trailing through the top of the 6th 3-0 and they were playing sloppy defensively, not only did Gomez labor but Chad Durbin came in and his night was quick and not good. Gomez managed 5 and 2/3 innings with 4 k’s and was able to minimize the damage despite 10 hits. Durbin came in and gave up 2 quick runs before geting out of the inning. 

Wahoo Notes 4/28

Masterson has been Masterful thus far in the season, leading the Indians early success.

The first Wahoo notes of the 2011 season, finally. What a start to the year it has been! The shock of the year so far is the hot start of your Cleveland Indians. The Tribe sits atop the AL Central and are fresh off of sweeping the Royals out of town. The Tribe made easy work of the 2nd place Royals thanks to some more powerful offense and what is becoming typically good pitching performances. 

Browns Draft Update

It’s being reported, by Jay Glazer, that the Cleveland Browns are currently in talks with the Atlanta Falcons about possibly trading the 5th overall selection in the 2011 NFL Draft. The Falcons have been calling around trying to get a top 7 pick to try and take an impact cornerback, and the Browns are the team that is talking to them the most about a potential trade. The Browns are thought to be interested in Julio Jones, Wide Receiver from Alabama, but if they are really interested in taking Jones would they possibly be able to take a good wideout in the late 20’s if they make the trade? Not as good as Julio Jones certainly. But the Browns might be able to pull down 2 or 3 picks for their #5 pick, which with this draft class might be the direction they’re thinking of heading.

We’re Baaack….

Yet again we are staging a comeback. After another long absence which we certainly do apologize for, but as you all know life catches up to us sometimes. I blame it on a new job that sees me working all sorts of long and crappy hours plus a long commute on top of that. But none the less, Dustin and I are returning, with a new venue to boot. We will still be posting here, all of our Ohio related content will be reposted on this site, so it will really be the most of what he and I are posting. So we should have daily posts, if not almost daily. Our new upstart blog is called, Out Looking: A Kelly Trifecta Sports blog. The link is here, http://kellytrifectasports.wordpress.com/if you want to check out what we have thus far, it is coming along nicely. And yes, you read that right, it says trifecta. There is a 3rd member to our crew of opinionated dim whits. Our older brother is joining the fray, Matt, who actually lives in Ohio will be blogging with us. While he actually lives up in our northern home land he is not much of a fan of the Cleveland teams, so his posts will be primarily on that sight, but when he ventures into our world we will feature it here. He will be our Ohio State specialist, since he follows them more closely than the other two of us. so any way, long story short. We are back. Enjoy.

PEYTON ‘THUNDER’ HILLIS! Your Madden 2012 Cover Athlete!!!

Hillis is bringing the Thunder to Madden

Congratulations are in order. The Cleveland Browns running back, Peyton Hillis was voted on to the cover of the 2012 edition of Madden NFL Football. What a huge moment for Hillis and the Browns. I can only imagine what the 25 year old bruiser is thinking right now, and if I were him I would be excited but my thoughts would also be… “Oh Shit”…

A New Website You Might Be Interested In

http://www.speakingthetruthdaily.wordpress.com/

This is me and Zach’s older brother Matts website. He’s gonna be posting about sports in general. It will just be his take on the goings on in the world of sports. Mostly the Buckeyes, Cowboys, and Orioles. Enjoy!

Potential Browns Offseason Moves

With no CBA and no guarantee of football coming back in 2011, what better to do than to look at some of the potential moves the Browns could make to help make the jump from last, to at least better than the Bengals.

 

Some things the Browns will almost certainly be looking for, are wide receivers, lineman (offensive and defensive), help in the secondary potentially and maybe even linebackers, and then also some help in the backfield to spell Hillis. Basically every position not occupied by Colt McCoy, Peyton Hillis and Lawrence Vickers is potentially up for grabs, and even those positions could get some backups in.

The biggest potential offseason pickups are the players who have been recently released by their teams, Superbowl winner AJ Hawk, former Redskins running back Clinton Portis, tight end Donald Lee, ex-Jets defensive end Vernon Gholston and there are sure to be a few more available players at some point this offseason/until whenever there is football again. The guys that could fit best into the Browns plans would be the two former Ohio State defensive players, Hawk and Gholston. With the Browns transition to the 4-3 a solid pass rusher would be a good addition from the defensive end postition, while Gholston showed some promise at Ohio State he has been sackless since being drafted sixth overall by the Jets in 2008. And Hawk, a solid linebacker with the Packers, helping them to a Super Bowl championship this past season alongside Clay Matthews.

The most intriguing potential pick up to me is the possibility of adding a veteran running back to play behind Peyton Hillis. And to me, Clinton Portis could possibly be a great fit for the rebuilding Browns, a veteran back, who is (supposedly) a good locker room fit, could be a leader amongst the Browns offense, and while not needing to carry an offense like he has done for year in Washington he could be a spark with 5-10 carries a game or so. Darren Sproles, Ahmad Bradshaw and Ricky Williams are all unlikely to get resigned by their respective teams since San Diego has Tolbert and Matthews, Bradshaw, whose fumble problems will likely see him leave the Giants and Ricky Williams age might finally be too big of a factor for the Dolphins to overlook. While their own teams might not resign them they could all make good additions to the Browns backfield to help out Hillis a little bit.

Obviously since there is no CBA as of yet this is all highly speculative and even writing this might be a waste of time because who knows when we might have NFL football again. But hey, theres no harm in thinking about the next time we get to see our Browns, and who might be wearing a Browns jersey for the first time.