Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

09 Mar 2014

From the editor’s notebook …

The Cleveland Indians are just 22 days away from the opening of the 2014 season and so far they are only having the good kind of spring training problems.

The Tribe hasn’t had to deal with any major injury issues; the outfield rotation is looking good, particularly left fielder Michael Brantley, who is now hitting .615 in Cactus League play after going four-for-four on Saturday; Carlos Santana is doing what he can in the field at third base; reliever Vinnie Pestano seems to be on the right track to fixing what ailed him last season; and, most importantly, the starting pitching is looking solid.

The top three of Justin Masterson, Corey Kluber and Zach McCallister have quietly gone about their business this spring, and with Danny Salazar expected to make his first start with the regulars on Monday, the rotation is shaping up nicely.

The best part of the rotation may be at the No. 5 spot, of all places, as is it looks like manager Terry Francona is going to have a hard decision to make when it comes time to make the final roster decisions.

08 Mar 2014

Tonight should be about Zydrunas and nothing else

Tonight at Quicken Loans Arena, the Cleveland Cavaliers will retire the No. 11 jersey of former center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who played for the team for 12 seasons.

Ilgauskas is the Cavs all-time leader in games played, offensive rebounds, total rebounds and blocked shots, and is second in points scored. He was also a two-time All Star and a member of the only team in franchise history to make the NBA Finals.

And he did it all after overcoming foot injuries that, at the time, seemed certain to stop his career before it even got started.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers and tagged Cleveland Cavaliers, Zydrunas Ilgauskas | Leave a comment

03 Mar 2014

2 Comments

Browns take small gamble by transitioning Alex Mack

Good news out of Berea on Monday as the Cleveland Browns placed the transition tag on All Pro center Alex Mack.

If the Browns don’t reach a multi-year deal with Mack, he will play the 2014 season under a salary of $10.039 million.

The only downside to tagging Mack rather than working out a new deal now is that other teams can still make him an offer once free agency begins on March 11. If that were to happen, the Browns would have five days to match any offer for Mack.

The risk of that happening seems small, however, as the Browns have the second-most cap space in the NFL, so it would be difficult for another team to create an offer that the Browns would be financially unable to match. And throw in the fact that by using the transition tag, rather than the franchise tag, the Browns would not receive a draft pick compensation if Mack were to leave, and it seems like the Browns have plenty of motivation to keep Mack in Cleveland at least through the upcoming season.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Liverpool and tagged Cleveland Browns, Liverpool

02 Mar 2014

1 Comment

From the editor’s notebook …

Now that the calendar has turned to March, the NFL is gearing up for the start of free agency on March 11. And with more than $57 million in cap space, the Cleveland Browns have the opportunity to be buyers.

With several holes to fill on the team, the question is where the Browns will plan to spend their money. Resigning Pro Bowl center Alex Mack should certainly be a priority; as well as Pro Bowl safety T.J. Ward.

Ward’s case is particularly interesting in light of the news on Sunday that the Buffalo Bills may not be able to reach a deal with safety Jairus Byrd and that Byrd may become an unrestricted free agent.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Liverpool and tagged Cleveland Browns, Liverpool

28 Feb 2014

Browns can keep Ahtyba Rubin. Question is, should they?

There was much talk on Friday in Browns Town that the Cleveland Browns might, possibly, could be thinking about releasing defensive lineman Ahtyba Rubin.

It all started with a report from Pro Football Talk, who cited a “league source” (i.e., former Browns general manager Mike Lombardi) as saying that Rubin may find himself in the sites of Ray Farmer as Rubin enters the final year of a four-year contract that is scheduled to pay him $6.6 million this season ($8.2 million against the cap). That figure puts Rubin just behind the likes of Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy and Geno Atkins.

None of this is set in stone, of course, and it comes off as a case of “if the Browns were to release someone, then Rubin could be the likely choice.”

We can see both sides of the issue on Rubin.

Posted in Cleveland Browns and tagged Cleveland Browns | Leave a comment

26 Feb 2014

Browns begin reshaping the defense, release D’Qwell Jackson

In a move that was surprising only in the sense that it happened today rather than say, next week, the Cleveland Browns released veteran inside linebacker D’Qwell Jackson on Wednesday.

Jackson was due a $4.1 million roster bonus on March 15 as part of the five-year contract extension he signed two years ago that included $19 million in guarantees. When you add the bonus in with his $3.93 million salary, that means the Browns would have had more than $8 million invested in Jackson for the upcoming season, followed by salaries of $7.73 million and $7 million in the following two years, entirely too much money to tie up in a player who is getting ready to hit the wrong side of 30.

The Browns reportedly tried to work out a restructured deal to keep Jackson in Cleveland, but ultimately he decided to try his luck elsewhere.

Jackson is a solid, if not spectacular player, and after missing most of 2009 and all of 2010 with injuries, it is a testament to him that he was able to get back on the field for the Browns the past three seasons.

Posted in Cleveland Browns and tagged Cleveland Browns | Leave a comment

25 Feb 2014

Kyrie will do what Kyrie wants to do

Will he stay or will he go?

That’s the mega question that the Cleveland Cavaliers and All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving will face … at some point.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst is the latest to tackle the question, laying out both the best-case scenario – Irving signs a multi-year extension when the Cavs offer one on July 1 – and the worst-case – Irving rejects an extension and the Cavs decide to trade him by the Oct. 31 deadline for third-year players to accept a new deal.

No one knows how this is going to play out and there is really only one certainty in the whole situation – Irving will do what every pro athlete has done since the dawn of free agency in professional sports, and that is make the decision that he thinks is best for him.

And that’s why we’re not going to worry about this.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers and tagged Cleveland Cavaliers | Leave a comment

24 Feb 2014

All you can do at this point is laugh

It doesn’t matter that the NFL off-season is in full swing, with the combine winding up in Indianapolis, free agency set to begin in a few weeks and more than two months of draft hype staring us in the face.

It’s still open season on the Cleveland Browns and the smoldering ruins of the former front office.

The latest report comes courtesy of Pat Kirwan at CBS Sports, who cites an unnamed league source as saying Browns CEO Joe Banner wanted offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil to report directly to him rather than to head coach Mike Pettine.

Oh, brother.

Posted in Cleveland Browns and tagged Cleveland Browns | Leave a comment

23 Feb 2014

1 Comment

Browns need to take serious look at Dri Archer on draft day

As the Cleveland Browns continue to try and rebuild an offense that has averaged just a little more than 16 points a game for the past six seasons, there is a dynamic playmaker sitting in their backyard that would look good in Orange and Brown.

We’re talking, of course, about Kent State running back Dri Archer.

Archer had a solid weekend at the NFL combine (for what that is worth), bench pressing 225 pounds 20 times and running official 4.26 in the 40-yard dash (holy crap!). And while that may not have been fast enough to break Chris Johnson’s record of 4.24, it’s still pretty darn fast.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Kent State, Liverpool and tagged Cleveland Browns, Kent State, Liverpool

17 Feb 2014

From the editor’s notebook …

Nothing is ever concrete until a player signs a new deal, but it is encouraging to hear reports that the Cleveland Browns are working to resign All Pros Alex Mack and T.J. Ward before they hit free agency next month.

The season-long fear was that the Browns would let Mack and Ward walk in free agency because they play positions that then-CEO Joe Banner did not deem worthy of a big-money contract. But now that general manager Ray Farmer is running the show, things may be different.

Say what you will about Ward and Mack – we know they have their detractors – but they are very good players (especially Mack, who has yet to miss a game in five seasons in Cleveland) and they both seem to get more credit from outside of Cleveland than they do closer to home. If the Browns are serious about getting better, they are the kind of players the team needs to keep.

The Browns also have numerous other holes to fill across the roster and it seems counter-productive to create more problems for yourself by not signing two of your best players and creating even more holes. You also don’t want to run the risk of letting them hit free agency, where all it would take is one desperate team to throw a bunch of money at them, and having them walk away.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Liverpool and tagged Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Liverpool | Leave a comment

Search

Search for:
Archives
Archives
Subscribe to RSS

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Post Navigation

Search

Archives