While We’re Waiting… Tribe, Tribe and More Tribe. And a Little Browns

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com

Kipnis, Pomeranz impress- “Stepping in against Julio Teheran, a pitcher who has already made two starts for the Atlanta Braves this season and is 9-1 with a 1.79 ERA in AAA Gwinnett, Kipnis quickly got behind 0-2. Then he really started to impress. He worked the count well, fouled off several quality offerings, showed a solid batter’s eye on a big curve for ball three, and finally homered to right, to put the U.S. team on the board. It was the kind of at-bat that would make any Indians fan smile.

But the bat has never really been in doubt for Kipnis, although it was good to see him seize this opportunity and turn in a big hit on a big stage. Defense has always been the question for the converted outfielder and Kipnis was never really challenged during the few innings he played in the field. It would have been interesting to see Kipnis attempt some of the nice plays Grant Green (another supposedly defense-challenged middle infielder, this time from the Oakland system) attempted during the sixth inning but it didn’t happen that way. Kipnis was an early favorite to win the Futures Game MVP but was surpassed by Green later in the game.” [Indians Prospect Insider]

–

Danny Ferry, living life lesson- “I had a client in 1989 who was the National Player of the Year named Danny Ferry. He got drafted No. 2 by the Los Angeles Clippers, and he had personal reasons why he didn’t want to play for the Clippers at that time. His first year, he played for a team in Rome called Messaggero. It was owned by a very wealthy guy named Raul Gardini who was one of the three wealthiest men in Italy. And he made $4 million dollars in 1989. Very few NBA players will make $4 million in 2011 if they go to Europe. And if you ask him since he’s been a general manager, the floors were hard, the medical situation wasn’t very great, the guys smoked and drank after the games, practices were four hours a day and he really hurt his knees. I’m not sure he ever became the player he could have been had he started in the NBA.” [Sports Radio Interviews] (hat tip- Ball Don’t Lie)

–

Not a resident of Believeland- “10. The Indians will miss the playoffs: It gives me no pleasure to make this prediction as the Cleveland Indians have been perhaps the best story in baseball all year. But they’ve relied on people like Josh Tomlin(notes) and Justin Masterson(notes) to pitch over their heads, and an out-of-his-mind Travis Hafner(notes) to turn back the clock, and they’ve basically been treading water since their brilliant April. In May, June and July, the Indians are a combined 29-34. The Detroit Tigers are by no means a perfect team, but Justin Verlander(notes) and Miguel Cabrera(notes) are better than anyone on the Indians, and underperforming regulars like Austin Jackson(notes), Max Scherzer(notes), and Rick Porcello(notes) offer the Tigers a bit of room to dream on. Thanks to the AL East, the wild card is effectively not in play, so the only way for a team in the AL West or AL Central to get to the playoffs is to win the division outright, and the Indians just aren’t as talented as the first-place Tigers.” [Big League Stew]

–

New agreement seems to be close, and the Browns could be poised to spend- “Current cash-to-personnel numbers are approximate at best, but based on the figures given to us by Football Outsiders cap analyst Brian McIntyre, several teams will have a lot to do when the league year hits. According to the numbers we have, 18 of the 32 NFL teams are currently under the projected minimum obligation of $108 million [which may be higher based on the final cash-to-cap percentage], and some teams are tens of millions off at this time.

The Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills, and Indianapolis Colts are the furthest off — though we can take the Colts off that list based purely on whatever they wind up doing with Peyton Manning. The bottom line with the new cap/cash structure is that you can expect to see many more front-loaded contracts to meet those numbers, and most likely a situation where contract figures and actual player costs are far more similar than they have been in a long time.” [Shutdown Corner]

–