Tribe Time - Three Action Items for the Front Office by Jim Brazytis

Now that the Indians season is over it’s time we reflect on – hold on, I’m taking a deep breath, trying not to get too choked up. 

Oh forget it! I’m not going to look back on six months of average baseball featuring a team that couldn’t hit or catch a ball…..I’m looking forward to the future, to 2015, when the green grass and red clay of a shining Progressive Field plays host to the 114th year of professional baseball in Cleveland.

Excuse me as I step off my soapbox. Unfortunately, to envision the future we must explore the past. Based on what we - Indians fans - witnessed this summer, what do the Indians need to do to once again reach the postseason and hopefully win the World Series? Here are three bold actions the front office must take in order to position the Tribe for a postseason run in 2015:

Shed Some Fat

The salaries of Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher comprise nearly 40% of the Indians payroll! That means 40% of the payroll not living up to the contracts they signed in 2013. Bourn and Swisher have two years left on these “anchors” and now is the time to cut them loose. Unfortunately you couldn’t move Swisher with a bulldozer, diminishing power numbers and the knees of 80-year old have “do not touch” written on Brohio’s back. 

So, that leaves Bourn as the “most likely underachiever” to be jettisoned to a new team. According to www.IntheMitt.com, some possible homes for Bourn are Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Detroit and Toronto. By moving Bourn, the Indians will free up some cash to sign a much needed free agent bat, plus get a player in return, perhaps a pitcher like Toronto’s A.J. Happ (also rumored to be on the block according to www.IntheMitt.com), that can help strengthen the starting rotation, especially when the Indians take this next action. 

Use the High Heater in the Trade Market

The Indians don’t have many assets to offer up in the trade market due to a lackluster farm system and an average Major League roster, but we all know what teams crave – pitching, especially young, power pitching. Thus, I present the trade of Danny Salazar. Salazar has been up & down in his two years with the big club, and even though his fastball hits 100 mph, it’s straight as an arrow. So where do you trade him and for what? How about sending him to Arizona straight up for Mike Trumbo or packaging him with Bourn and Lonnie Chisenhall to the Marlins for Giancarlo Stanton? Come on, let me dream a little. Salazar is a valuable commodity and should be used while he’s still considered a prospect.
Spend Some Money. Wisely.

The Indians are in desperate need of offense! The Wahoos need hitters that get on base, move runners and, most importantly, get them across the plate. I understand the Dolans have been burned by the less than dynamic duo of Swisher and Bourn, but I believe they still must trust their baseball people and shop on the free agent market. Strong bats like Michael Morse, Michael Cuddyer and Chase Headley can help, as well as the continued development of their own players like Tyler Holt and Zach Walters. 

I’m not saying these are the actual moves that will be made, but it should be the general direction. The Indians need to clear salary to obtain pieces that will help them win games, not just take up spots on the roster (calling Bourn, Swisher and Kipnis). Secondly, the team should deal from a position of strength and trade Salazar for another bat, or even a dependable fielder, which they can certainly use. And once they’ve cleared some salary, spend wisely on the free agent market for more offense.

I’m looking forward: forward to a winter of Hot Stove action and a summer of Indians baseball where the players live up to their contracts, the offense isn’t offensive and the Tribe’s back to October baseball. Indian Fever…..be a believer!!!

Jim Brazytis is a 43-year old amateur athlete still waiting for the scouts to find him at his "old man" baseball league games. A life-long Clevelander, he has suffered through decades of losing sports teams and heartache while waiting for some Cleveland professional sports team team, besides the Cleveland Crunch, to win a championship.

Baver's Buckeye Bag - 10/1/14

Baver’s Buckeye Bag, 10/1/14

Some quick thoughts on the Cincy game and where the Bucks stand heading into Big Ten play:

--The 3 long TD’s by Cincy WR Chris Moore are hard to swallow, but to some extent, that’s the downside of playing tight coverage with young DB’s.  On the other hand, giving up an 83-yard TD with 26 seconds to go in the 2nd quarter, where the Bucks had no safety help and should have been in prevent mode, is inexcusable.  Still, I wouldn’t dwell on this.  At this point, I still have faith DC Chris Ash will eventually right the ship.

--The Buckeye O-line played their best game of the year this past Saturday, and there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel.  OSU tailback Ezekiel Elliott also answered some questions with a huge game.  Look for Zeke to be “the man” at TB for the Bucks, health permitting, for the foreseeable future.  Too many OSU fans seem to be enamored with Rod Smith, but I saw way more out of Elliott Saturday than I’ve ever seen out of Smith.

--I think most fans’ expectations were too high headed into this season.  Imagine that?  This Buckeye team is about where I thought they would be after four games, and maybe a tad better.  (This…despite their 3-1 record, while being a double-digit favorite in all four games.)  There were just too many talented players that had to be replaced with inexperienced players, especially after Braxton went down.  I think too many fans were shocked by OSU’s performance against Va Tech, and they shouldn’t have been.

--JT Barrett is coming along nicely and is going to eventually be a stud.  Yes, the competition since Va Tech has been pretty poor, but Barrett can throw the football.  We already knew he had good mobility and great leadership skills, but boy does Barrett throw a pretty ball as well. 

--Is everything hunky-dory?  No.  This O-line is still going to have major problems against the better D-lines they face.  On the other side of the ball, this defense would give up a ton of points if they had to face a top tier offense like Oregon’s or Baylor’s.  And the D-backfield would be no match against elite WR’s like the group Alabama has. 

--A quick look at the futures that sporstbook.ag has for OSU games:  OSU is: a 7-pt favorite over PSU, a 3-pt dog to Sparty, and an 18.5-pt favorite over Michigan.  Guessing some OSU fans are writing off Penn State after they laid an egg against Northwestern, but I wouldn’t.  And I wouldn’t automatically chalk up a win versus UM, as Michigan will likely play their best game of the year against Ohio State, with or without Brady Hoke.

Now let’s look at the Big Ten opener at Maryland Saturday:

Some books have this game off the board with Maryland QB CJ Brown being questionable.  The books that have lines currently have OSU laying 7 ½.  If Brown can’t go, the Terps will go with Caleb Rowe.  Rowe can’t run the option like Brown, but has a much better arm.  Maryland head coach Randy Edsall has said they will not decide on a QB until the day of the game.  If Brown is able to go but is less than 100%, it may benefit Maryland to play both QB’s.  That strategy would seem to make some sense against a young Buckeye defense that has been overwhelmed at times this year.

Regardless of who starts at QB, the biggest test for the Buckeye defense will be containing WR Stephon Diggs, who has 29 catches for 398 yards and 2 TD’s for Maryland on the year.  Diggs, who appeared close to committing to Ohio State in 2012, is also an electric KO return man, and will eventually be playing on Sundays in the NFL.  Look for Diggs to exploit some of the Buckeyes problems in their secondary and/or special teams on Saturday.

On the other side of the ball, Maryland simply cannot stop the run; so, look for a heavy dose of Ezekiel Elliott again this week, with JT Barrett getting in the mix with designed runs.  Maryland did a great job defending Indiana’s passing attack, as they got pressure on the quarterback for much of the game last week.

With this being the first true road atmosphere for the Bucks this season, I expect the Buckeye youngsters to get out of rhythm at times in College Park Saturday.  In the end, however, I think Bucks make enough big plays, like they did against Navy, to bring home the win.  The call: Ohio State 38 Maryland 27.

Baver Answers Colin's College Football Questions 9/25/14

How can Michigan be favored over anybody right now? How bad is Minnesota?

Yeah, Michigan is God awful and the fact that they are a double-digit favorite over Minny tells you how bad the Gophers are.  Minnesota is averaging less than 100 yards per game through the air, which puts them dead last among teams that make up the five power conferences.  But would I be willing to take Michigan and lay double digits?  Not on your life.  Two bad football teams here, and not sure how Michigan will respond to the damages from the iceberg their ship just hit.  If I were a betting man, I would stay away from this one.  

With Brady Hoke's ever expanding girth, perhaps Michigan AD Dave Brandon should have given away free tickets with every Diet Coke purchase instead of regular. Would this have made it easier for the season ticket and PSL owners to swallow?

What an embarrassment.  Where is the pride?  You seriously gave away pairs of Michigan football tickets for $3 Coke purchases?  I thought it was a joke when I first heard the news, until I figured out that you can’t make this sh*t up.  What kind of athletic director wouldn’t realize that this was PR suicide?  This was the final straw for Dave Brandon. 

What does Brady have to do now to save his job? Any non-Harbaugh candidate you think would be a good fit?

Short of Michigan beating Ohio State AND Michigan State AND winning AT LEAST 9 of their 12 regular season games, Hoke is out, and Brandon is out regardless.  If by some miracle, Brandon somehow survives, the top head coach candidate pool is going to shrink, as some of the top available coaches are not going to want to serve under him.  Non-Harbaugh coaching candidates, if/when Hoke is axed?  Gotta put Les Miles near the top of the list.  You could see Michigan go after Kevin Sumlin, but that may be a longer shot.  Other names being thrown out there aren’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, i.e. Buffalo Bills RB coach (and former Michigan running back) Tyrone Wheatley, Miami of Ohio head coach Chuck Martin, and LSU current offensive coordinator (and former Indiana head coach) Cam Cameron.

Gunner Keil was considered a top QB recruit from his class, are any other notable QBs from his year doing well?

Well, there is Jameis Winston, who continues to make quite the name for himself on and off the field.  Winston has made Maurice Clarett look like a sound decision maker.  Then there is Trevor Knight, who has a good shot of leading the Sooners to the CFB playoff.  Other big names include Missou QB Maty Mauk, Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong, and former Oklahoma State starter (and current Illinois QB) Wes Lunt.  The undersized Mauk should become quite the QB before he leaves Missouri.

Another semi-quiet week nationally. What games and lines will you be watching?

UCLA at Arizona State, Missouri at South Carolina, and Oregon State at USC are three nice matchups.  Unfortunately, the UCLA-ASU game is probably the only one of the three that I will catch much of.  In terms of lines, I like USF getting 34 against Wisconsin – that’s the best bet on the board that I see.  USF is solid against the run and that spread looks like it’s 6 points too high.  I also like Oklahoma State (a 14 pt favorite) to roll Texas Tech Thursday night.  Tech just fired their DC and are in trouble against Mike Gundy’s overachieving OSU lite team.  Finally, I like Northwestern getting double digits (10 pts) on the road against State Penn.  I think the Wildcats keep that one close

Brent Baver knows more about college football than you. Click here for previous story OSU vs Cincy Preview.

What the Shuck, Tito? - Tribe Talk by Jim Brazytis

What the Shuck, Tito?

Bottom of the ninth down by two, your playoff life is on the line, in a must win game against your division rival, the team directly in front of you in the division and Wild Card race, and you pinch hit J.B. Shuck? J.B. Shuck?!!! To say the least, I was less than impressed by Indians’ Manager Terry Francona’s lineup and moves Monday night in the second game of the doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals, which the Indians lost 2-0 (first game was the conclusion of the suspended game from August 31).

To realistically have a chance at making the playoffs the Indians needed to win every game this final week of the season. Well, fellow baseball fans, when you send a lineup to the plate featuring heavy hitters like Chris Jimenez and Tyler Holt, that’s not too likely to happen – and it didn’t. I’m not asking for the 1927 Yankees here - hell, I’ll take the 1986 Indians! I know Jason Kipnis has been struggling, but come on, he needs to be in the lineup - and how about the “Great Giambino?” Tito, say it ain’t so, there’s no way you can have more faith in Jimenez making an impact then Jason Giambi, a guy who has nearly 500 career home runs and saved your season last year by hitting one of the most memorable home runs in Progressive Field history. 

I realize Indians’ General Manager Chris Antonetti has done Francona no favors during the year when it comes to bolstering the lineup. Plus, I also know it’s hard to put a strong lineup on the field when you have underachievers like Kipnis taking up valuable roster spots (I didn’t forget Swisher – he’s on the disabled list), but you still have to make better game decisions. 

So let’s turn our attention back to the ninth inning, due up for the Indians were Chisenhall, Jimenez and Holt. I’ll agree Chisenhall gives us a chance but instead of taking a few pitches he swings at the first thing he sees and grounds out.  Not Francona’s fault but still horrible baseball. (Similar to Carlos Santana’s ill-timed swing with the bases loaded and no outs in the first.) 

Now here’s where Tito really strikes out! Not that it wasn’t bad enough he had Jimenez in the lineup to start, he compounded this decision by sending Shuck to the plate in his place. What about Perez, Aguilar, someone who has a chance to drive the ball, get on base, do something? As an Indians fan I was ashamed at how overmatched Shuck was by the Royals’ closer, Greg Holland. With every lame swing he took, I saw my dreams of October baseball plummeting like Swisher’s power numbers over the past two years. David Murphy pinch hitting for Holt next didn’t look much better but at least he has given us some big hits during the year.

So yes Tito, what the Shuck? There had to be someone else, some magic you could have created with the lineup other than subjecting us to a pinch hitter who swung like a rusty gate. Please give me hope! And to the front office, beyond hope, give Francona some offensive players so we don’t waste playoff chances like this in the years to come. Let’s be honest, with this team’s history we’ll only have this strong pitching until it’s time for them to get paid.

Baver's Buckeye Bag 9/23/14, OSU vs Cincinnati

Click here for previous Baver article.

We are a quarter of the way through the regular season and the Bucks still have some pretty big concerns to address.  Let’s look at a few of the bigger ones…

Baver's Buckeye Bag 9/23/14

Concern #1 – The O-line.  Here is an Urban Meyer quote from Monday, regarding the O-line: “I think we're going to play six games and get some rotation going.”  The comment has to make you shake your head because Meyer is rarely this indecisive.  And unfortunately, the options appear to be choosing from “bad, worse, or worst” to find the best combination of five guys, and where to play each them right now.  Well, they’d better start figuring things out quickly.  Right now, there is one O-lineman, Taylor Decker, playing at the level this team needs.      

Concern #2 – Finding a big time playmaker on offense.  There are a handful of guys that have shown glimpses of being “that guy”, but the Bucks still need one or two guys to take it to another level.  I don’t think Dontre Wilson deserves the grief I am hearing OSU fans give him, but Wilson still has not become the superstar most thought he would be.  With Ezekiel Elliott, I think some of the questions about his speed and vision are valid.  I still like Zeke’s upside but think he is at least a year away.  I think Jalin Marshall is going to be a very solid 4-year player at Ohio State, but he is far from the “Percy Harvin” that everyone lusts for.  Curtis Samuel has some real talent, and probably has the highest ceiling of any skill position player. 

Concern #3 – The development of JT Barrett.  I don’t have a lot of specifics to talk about here; the Bucks simply need Barrett to develop quickly.  Hopefully he learned a lot from weeks #1 & #2, as I am not sure how much you can learn from facing an outmanned Kent State team.  If Barrett plays like a “freshman” the rest of the year, Ohio State is looking at a four-loss regular season.  If he gets beyond that, the Big Ten title is in play.

Concern #4 – The defensive backfield.  The stats may look good so far, but they are skewed; the Navy and Kent State games tell us little.  Let’s see how this unit does against Gunner Kiel and Cincinnati.  I really like the potential of Eli Apple and Vonn Bell, but still worry that these guys are not quite ready to face quality QB’s like Kiel, Christian Hackenberg, and Connor Cook.

Onto the matchup against UC….

With what seems like 500 schools changing conferences over the past few years, the rescheduling of games has made a mess of bye weeks.  So much so, that Cincinnati opened the season with back-to-back bye weeks, which is beyond ridiculous.  But even with the two-week head start, Toledo was a 9 ½-point dog against the Bearcats in week #3, and UC hammered them 58-34.  Last week, however, Cincinnati was a 30-point favorite over a very bad Miami (OH) team, and only beat the Redskins by 7.  (Political correctness be damned – Miami will always be the Redskins to me.)

So which Cincinnati team will show up Saturday against the Bucks?  I tend to think Cincinnati looked past their traditional rival Miami, gearing up for Ohio State.  With that being said, this Cincinnati defense does not have the defense Va Tech had, and will be facing a Buckeye team that has had two weeks to prepare for them. 

The big task for Ohio State will be defending QB Gunner Kiel.  Kiel, a Notre dame transfer and nephew of the late Notre Dame QB Blair Kiel, was all-everything coming out of high school in 2012.  Some had him rated as the #1 QB prospect in the nation.  Kiel can sling it, and will be one of the more talented QB’s Ohio State will face this year.  But, as talented as he is, Kiel is still inexperienced and I tend to think he will make enough mistakes to offset the 300+ yards that I think he will throw for Saturday night.

Last week, I said UC was “fairly solid” on both sides of the ball.   Upon closer examination, I just don’t see the Cincinnati D stopping OSU’s offense.  Even with the concerns I have with the Buckeye offense (see 1st half of this blog above), the Cincy defense just doesn’t match up.  The call: Ohio State makes some progress running between the tackles and force Kiel to make and a handful of critical mistakes.  Bucks win (and cover) 38-21.

Brent Baver knows more about OSU football than you. You can read him most every Tuesday and Friday on Pencilstorm.com 

Somebody Better Get Brady Hoke a Clapper Because the 'M'ighty Have Fallen and They Can't Get Up by Colin Gawel.

Mondays are typically a little slow at Colin's Coffee. Today is no different. As Bob Dylan quietly plays in the background, I stare out into the bright fall sunshine and ponder many questions.  I fill up my coffee mug for the 327th time today and there is one question I cannot get off my mind: 

Q: How bad is Michigan sucking? 

A: Michigan really, really sucks.

Before I break it down, spare me the whole, "But we need a strong Big Ten so Ohio State can get more respect."  Folks, that train left the station in Week Two. There will be, under no circumstances, any respect delved out to the Big Ten in 2014 and none should be. The conference is an absolute disaster. So instead of some phony, "let's all root for each other" BS, let's find joy in mocking the tire-fire that is the University of Michigan football program. 

Michigan started the 2013 football season 5-0. With Eminem in the booth looking on, the Wolves  defeated their hated rivals from South Bend 41-30 and Kirk Herbstreit declared UM QB Devin Gardner a Heisman Trophy contender. Brady Hoke had the Maize & Blue rolling....

(cue to footage of a car driving, when suddenly the engine starts smoking and the wheels fall off.......)

Since that 5-0 start in 2013, Michigan has four wins and eight losses while playing in the laughable Big Ten. Wait, it gets worse. Their four wins are:

1) A victory over Indiana in which the Hoosiers still scored 47 points. 

2) A triple OT victory over a Northwestern team that only won one conference game last season. You may recall it took a miracle "hail mary" kick by UM to even get the game into OT.

3) A revenge win over tiny Appalachian State.

4) A 17 point win over a Miami Redhawks team that didn't win a single game in 2013.

That's it friends. In the last 360 days, Michigan has won four lousy football games over four lousy teams. I'm not sure who won their spring game, Maize or Blue, but I guess we could give them half of a win for that one. Still, if it gets much worse A.D. Dave Brandon might have to resort to pathetic tactics like free tickets with every Coca-Cola purchase  just to get any self-respecting Michigan fan to show up to the Big House. Nah, that's just crazy talk.

So what gives? I mean, this doesn't make sense. What in the hell is going up with that team from up North? It's hard to target recruiting. UM hasn't been cleaning up on the trail but this year's senior class was ranked 14th over all in 2010, and the last two Blue classes were 6th and 7th respectively. Nothing Nick Saban would be proud of but still it should be enough to avoid losing two games in 2014 by a combined score of 57-10.

Same goes for the NFL draft. Ten Wolverines have been drafted in the past four years so they do have a handful of players moving to the next level. There is a trickle of talent escaping Ann Arbor.

Is there a point to all this? No, not really. I just suppose that as a lifelong Buckeye fan who lived through the brutal decade of the 90's, suffering gut-wrenching loss after dry-heaving defeat to the Wolverines, I can't help but notice how the 'M'ighty have fallen. No doubt you will get on your feet sooner than later but in the meantime, have fun sucking Michigan. I will be watching. Just to show there are no hard feelings, below I attached a video of the world's biggest firework display. I hear you guys like that sort of thing to cheer you up after a tough loss. Got to go, a customer just walked in.

Colin Gawel has had too much coffee and shouldn't be writing at this moment. Learn more about him and our other Pencilstorm contributors by clicking here.