Even by the abnormal standards of the Cleveland sports world, it was an interesting day today.
First off, the Indians pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona was arrested in the Dominican Republic for using a false identity.
Turns out Carmona’s real name is allegedly Roberto Hernandez Heredia and he is allegedly 31, not 28 as originally believed.
We had an interesting conversation during Sunday’s playoff games on Twitter with Ben Cox and Mark Skog about what the Browns should focus on in April’s NFL draft.
Ben threw out the idea that the Browns should use free agency to make the offense at least average, and then focus on defense in the draft to help build a killer defense. The thinking being, it doesn’t matter if your offense is just OK if the other team can’t score.
We have to say we are intrigued. The idea of picking LSU’s Morris Claiborne with the No. 4 selection, building a secondary of Claiborne, Joe Haden and T.J. Ward, and then adding a linebacker or defensive end at No. 22, is a plan that we can get behind.
With the NFL turning into more a passing game every year, and the AFC North featuring quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco and Andy Dalton, working on building the best defense in the division could be a road to success that the Browns should consider taking.
Good news, as Steven Gerrard has signed a new deal that should keep him at Liverpool until he retires and that includes an ambassadorial when with the team once he finishes playing.
“This is the club I love and is the club I have supported since I was a young boy,” Gerrard told The Daily Mail. “I am living the dream as the captain of one of the biggest clubs in the world. I love coming to work every day and the experiences I have had since I was eight years of age and first signed for the club, I wouldn’t change them for the world. To extend that and to hopefully have some more good times in a red shirt is what I want.”
Manager Kenny Dalglish highlighted Gerrard’s loyalty to his hometown club.
“In this day and age there’s not many people who go through their football career and represent just one club, especially people with quality like Steven,” Dalglish told The Daily Mail. “If you’re happy where you’re playing, you’re enjoying what you’re doing and you enjoy the football club I don’t see any reason to move, and it’s fantastic for us that he hasn’t.”
Dalglish’s comments remind us of what we wrote when Gerrard signed his last deal with Liverpool.
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Morris Claiborne, LSU’s All-American cornerback, announced on Thursday that he is entering the NFL draft.
Claiborne, the third-rated player on ESPN Scouts Inc.’s draft board, led the Tigers with six interceptions this season and returned one for a touchdown. The winner of the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back also was LSU’s top kickoff returner, averaging 25 yards per return, with one touchdown that went 99 yards.
Wonder what Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco and Andy Dalton would think about lining up twice a year against a pair of SEC cornerbacks in Orange and Brown?
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The Indians are reportedly interested in free agent first baseman Carlos Pena, with general manager Chris Antonetti waiting to see if the Dolans will open their wallets.
While Pena is a name that fans will recognize, that doesn’t mean he will solve all the Tribe’s problems at first base.
According to Paul Cousineau at The Dia Tribe:
So, if we’re talking about offensive prowess, Pena’s 2011 numbers look the best…but that doesn’t mean that Pena does not come with legitimate concerns offensively, with the main concern being voiced by a scout in John Perrotto’s piece at B-Pro called “Best Players Still on the Board”: Scout’s view: “He can still help someone, but you better have a good right-handed hitter to platoon with him. He’s completely helpless against left-handers now, so you can’t play him 155-160 games anymore. At this stage of his career, he’s a complementary player rather than a major cog in a lineup, and I’d pay him accordingly.”
“Completely helpless against left-handers now”…oof, we already have a couple of those. Unfortunately, what the scout sees bears out in the numbers as Pena posted a .594 OPS vs. LHP in the NL last year, which comes on the heels of a .675 OPS vs. LHP campaign in 2010 for the Rays. In the last 3 years, Pena has a .704 OPS vs. LHP, a number that has trended down since the 2009 campaign. As a quick aside, Hafner’s OPS vs. LHP over that same timeframe (the last 3 years) is .680, so Hafner has actually been less effective than Pena vs. LHP since the beginning of the 2009 season…and since there would only be one Carlos Santana to go around, you’d still be looking for a RH platoon partner for Pena (or Hafner) if a guy like Pena is signed, warts and all.
Read the rest of Paul’s analysis of the situation here. Hopefully someone can forward the link to the Dolans to help them with their decision.
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Finally, it was one year ago today that the Browns hired Pat Shurmur as head coach.
Here’s what we had to say about the hiring.
Looking back on what we wrote when Shurmur was hired, we pretty much nailed it.
(Photo by Getty Images)
Kevin Kolb? Really?
The Kevin Kolb who was 2-6 as a starter for the Arizona Cardinals this season? This is who the Cleveland Browns should be looking at for quarterback in 2012?
(Pounding head on the table).
OK, let’s back up a minute.
Some questions we are pondering following this weekend’s NFL Wild Card playoff games (and how they relate to the Cleveland Browns).
Including the biggest question of the day:
How is it that the Browns seemed to be playing an entirely different game this year than the eight teams we watched this weekend?
For more, head over to The Cleveland Fan.
(Photo by The Associated Press)
Cleveland Browns team president Mike Holmgren and general manager held their season-ending press conference on Thursday and delivered a message that Browns fans should be embracing.
“We know what we have to fix. But we’re not going to blow it up and start over,” Holmgren said.
Hit up The Cleveland Fan for the rest of the story.
C’mon, you know you want to.
(Photo by The Plain Dealer)
The Cleveland Cavaliers will be short a player for tonight’s game in Toronto after Samardo Samuels was unable to make the trip because he lost his passport.
With Samuels unavailable, Ryan Hollins will fill the backup role at center. If he gets in the game, it will be the first action Hollins has seen since opening night.
Did anyone with the Cavs think to check Hollins’ locker for the missing passport?
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Cold Hard Football Facts threw a little cold water on Seneca Wallace’s quest to replace Colt McCoy as the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback in 2012.
With a chance to play in the final three games of the season, Seneca Wallace wanted to prove himself worthy of a starting quarterback position. However, he didn’t get the job done as the Browns lost those three games by a combined 13 points. Perhaps if Wallace played one level better than Colt McCoy, the Browns win a few games and Wallace gets a chance to further prove himself in 2012.
Wallace posted a weak 50.27 Real Quarterback Rating. This includes completing only two of 14 passes attempted to Greg Little or Mohamed Maasquoi.
Overall, Wallace finished with a 65.87 QBR, while Colt McCoy finished with a 75.16 QBR. Clearly, neither quarterback worked in this limited offense, and McCoy should be the leading candidate to return as the starter in 2012.
Not sure we like either option, but Wallace definitely didn’t do himself any favors over the last three games of the season.
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Everton’s Tim Howard became the fourth goalie – and second American – in Premier League history to score a goal in Tuesday’s game against Bolton.
But just like when Brad Friedel scored, Everton ended up losing.
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Finally, Jonah Keri at Grantland is not a believer in the Window in baseball – the short period of time in which small-revenue clubs supposedly have to compete.
Keri writes that: There is a nugget of truth behind this Window obsession. Smaller-revenue teams have a tougher time signing premium free agents, or retaining their own top players past their initial six years of team control. That puts extra pressure on these poorer teams to bring up a bunch of great prospects all at once, then hope they get good at the same time before they get expensive.
But far more often it’s a … excuse. It’s a vague, faraway goal that always seems several years out of reach. It’s a cover for cheap, greedy ownership, lousy scouting, drafting, and player development, and myopic trades. It’s a weak attempt to placate a fan base screwed over by years of management incompetence and indifference.
We think the Dolans would like to have a word with Keri.
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Finally, today is the 31th anniversary of the Browns playoff loss to Oakland in the Red Right 88 game.
That was the day we learned what it meant to be a Browns (and Cleveland) fan. We were obviously much younger then and that was the first Browns team we fell in love with.
If only Brian Sipe had thrown the ball to Dave Logan this site would exist under a different name and would possibly have a different tone to it. But that’s not the way it worked out.
If you’re in the mood, video of the final drive is here. If you want to relive that magical season, Jonathan Knight’s book, Kardiac Kids: The Story of the 1980 Cleveland Browns, is an excellent read.
In 1994, the NFL celebrated its 75th anniversary and, as part of the festivities, released a documentary on the history of the league.
One of the people interviewed was Sammy Baugh, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 1963. Baugh played for the Redskins from 1937 to 1952, and help bring the forward pass to prominence in what was then a run-oriented league.
We still remember the look on Baugh’s face when he talked about the modern game and how much he would have loved playing in the modern era. “It’s a passing man’s game,” he said with obvious joy in his voice.
Fast forward 17 years and we can only imagine what Baugh would say about the passing game of today’s NFL.
They certainly didn’t go out with a bang, but the Cleveland Browns didn’t go out with a whimper, either, in their season-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
A year after giving up 41 points (31 in the first half) and 418 yards of offense in the season finale, the Browns fought hard before falling, 13-9, to a Pittsburgh team that was fighting for playoff positioning.
“At this point, guys really don’t like to hear progress,” wide receiver Josh Cribbs said after the game. “It is almost like, enough of the moral victories, just get the win. We play hard; the fight in us is so strong. We say this week in and week out, we beat this team up today, but they came out with a victory.”
The Browns were undone, again, by their inability to get in the end zone. Seneca Wallace continued to make a strong case to not be the starting quarterback as he completed just 16-0f-41 passes and had his usual bad interception.
While we would never root for the Cleveland Browns to lose, we also have to realistic about the situation facing the team today against Pittsburgh.
Win and the Browns could drop as low as eighth in the 2012 NFL Draft. While the Browns can certainly find a very good player at that spot, the higher the pick the better the chance of getting the type of impact player the team so desperately needs.
So, if the Browns do happen to lose today, this is what else Browns fans need to see happen to maximize the team’s draft position:
If both the Jaguars and Vikings win, the Browns would select No. 3 behind Indianapolis and St. Louis.
If Minnesota loses and Jacksonville wins, the Vikings are in at No. 3 and the Browns pick No. 4.
If the Vikings win and the Jaguars lose, the Browns are still at No. 4 behind Jacksonville, but ahead of Minnesota.
Got all that?There is one other team to keep an eye on today: Oakland.
Oakland will win the AFC West if it beats San Diego at home and if Denver loses. The Raiders can also qualify for a wild-card if:
This is important for the Browns because, if the Raiders make the playoffs and win a game, their No. 1 draft pick in the 2012 draft goes to the Bengals as part of the Carson Palmer trade.The last thing the Browns need is to have a division rival pick up an extra draft pick.
For a comprehensive look at the draft scenarios, friend of the program Jim Kanicki put together this most excellent chart.
Red Right 88 