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
“Shin-Soo Choo showed me his left thumb today, and it’s pretty gnarly. Not “gnarly” in a California slang/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sense, but… you know… gnarly. Gnarled. Not-so-easy-on-the-eyes. The area where his nail is supposed to be is mangled, and on the swollen thumb itself, you can clearly see the scars from the stitches, the remnants of the surgical procedure Choo had performed to repair the broken thumb in late June.
But “gnarly” is a drastic improvement over what Choo’s thumb looked like just a few weeks back. He showed me a picture from his iPhone of his thumb from the day the cast came off, and suffice to say it’s uglier than sin. Choo didn’t know if he had permission from the Indians’ training staff for me to post the photo here, so I won’t. But you’re probably better off that I don’t.” [Castrovince/MLB.com]
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Buckeyes opened camp- “We know quarterback is the position you are all anxious to hear about, but don’t get too excited yet. Reps were pretty much split between all four players and were given by seniority (Bauserman, Guiton, Graham, Miller) in terms of order the players went under center. None of the players looked too sharp in terms of consistency, all looking like they could be the next starter at times, while at other times looking like they didn’t belong on a high school field. Guiton and Graham each threw an interception today, which doesn’t necessarily mean much, but doesn’t help either. My money is still on Bauserman and Braxton to open the season in some sort of QB rotation.” [Alex/Eleven Warriors]
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Tribe’s window of opportunity is upon us?- “And we now have a pretty good idea of what their window of opportunity looks like. Jimenez is under contract for two more seasons. That’s two seasons in which he could potentially lead a staff with Justin Masterson, and possibly Fausto Carmona. Hafner, Choo, and Asdrubal Cabrera are all under contract for two more seasons as well, and Sizemore is signed for one more. If all of those players can stay healthy, they should combine with Santana, Kipnis, Brantley, and Chisenhall to form a formidable lineup for the next two years. Even if the Indians fall out of the Division race this year (there’s still a long way to go and I haven’t given up on them yet), they should be very good next year. And very good again in 2013. And after that, who knows what will happen? But the Indians have set themselves up for a good run from 2012-2013.” [Mayer/Rebuilding Since 1954]
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Cleveland and Cincinnati similar?- “In a departure from the heartland of American football crowning its newest members of the professional elite, both the Browns and Bengals appear to be searching for the first steps towards NFL legitimacy. Besides sharing a common heritage and regional distance from each other, these two franchises are strikingly similar in other respects.
Both teams are roughly 27 million dollars under the 2011 salary cap – despite efforts to sign a few free agents. Of the free agents signed by both squads, only a few – Cincinnati’s Nate Clements, Manny Lawson and Cleveland’s Usama Young – will likely start for their respective teams.” [Delco/The Orange and Brown Report]
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Brendan Bowers has the scoop on Omri Casspi’s offer to play overseas. [Stepien Rules]
