While We’re Waiting… Talking Colt, Masterson and Lauvao/Pashos

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.

“McCoy speaks about learning from Favre, and even Aaron Rodgers, that the West Coast offense is just a base scheme and that he must make it his own. In his own way, it is like McCoy found the most diplomatic way to talk himself and everyone else into believing that he won’t need a cannon-like arm similar to Favre and Rodgers to be successful. He found a way to answer his critics without really answering them.

And that is the thing about Colt McCoy: He has all the off-field stuff right. He has all the personality traits to be the success that the front office and fans want in their team-leading quarterback. He seems like he is already a member of the quarterback fraternity. Even in claiming he has so much to learn and so much room for improvement he gives off the sense that he’s been there before.” [Craig/Still WFNY]

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“Feeding opposing hitters an almost exclusive diet of sinking fastballs, Masterson has benefited immensely from the increased use of the pitch, challenging hitters more than ever. He’s hurling his fastball 84 percent of the time — more than any other starter in baseball and ever before in his career — and even managed a start last month of nearly eight shutout innings where all but one of his 104 pitches were sinking fastballs.

The combination of Masterson’s low, unorthodox arm slot and large 6’6″, 250-pound frame varies the velocity of his fastball, with some pitches clocked at less than 90 MPH while others come close to 98, but that’s never concerned the Kingston, Jamaica native.” [Macdonald/The Good Point]

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“10,000 days ago, baseball entered the Omar Vizquel Era, when the Seattle Mariners signed the teenage Venezuelan amateur free agent to a minor league contract. That move worked out pretty well. In fact, no one else playing at any level in professional baseball still plies his trade in organized baseball except Vizquel.

There are only 20-25 men who played in the majors in four decades, and Vizquel is one. Heck, that’s nothing. Only two ever played 100 games in a season in four decades: Vizquel and Ted Williams. Only four stole a base in four decades: Rickey Henderson, Tim Raines, Vizquel, and Teddy Ballgame.” [Jaffe/Hardball Times]

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 “Which brings me back to my original point and the title of this article. Are Tony Pashos and Shaun Luavao the key to the Browns offense in 2011? The answer, is a resounding yes. The left side of the offensive line all the way to the center is solid with pro bowl caliber starters in left tackle Joe Thomas, left guard Eric Steinbach, and center Alex Mack, but the right side has been the cause of many headaches and injured quarterbacks in the past. As I sat back and watched the first preseason game, something stood out to me more than anything else, and that was the amount of time Colt had in the pocket. For the first time in what feels like forever, the Browns offense looked a real live NFL offense, and that was due in part to the play of right guard Shaun Luavoa and right tackle Tony Pashos, as well as the offensive game plan of new head coach Pat Shurmur.” [C-Town Sports Talk]

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Notes on Tribe draft signees- “While Lindor steals a lot of the focus because he is a first round pick, Howard is every bit the player and was considered a first round talent who slipped to the second round for signability reasons. The $1.85 million bonus he signed is reflective of how much talent the Indians believe he has as they gave mid-first round money to a player in the top half of the second round. “Howard is just an advanced feel to pitch high school pitcher,” Grant said. “He has a 90-94 MPH fastball with late sinking action to it, produces a lot of ground ball outs, and at the same time he can also get swing and miss with his fastball. He has a slurvish breaking ball that has late bite to it and has swing and miss action to it, and he has a very good feel for a changeup as well. The thing that separates him is his ability to pitch with his fastball. He can locate it to both sides, move it in and out and up and down, and he can really get groundballs pitching to contact and get outs.” [Tony/Indians Prospect Insider]