Indians Pick Up Manny Acta’s 2013 Option
September 29, 2011Coaching Staff Changes Aplenty For The Tribe in 2012
September 30, 2011While 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.
“Ohio State knows it’s in a strange spot. The Buckeyes are still the hunted, but the team needs that hunter’s mentality. Its offense is very much a work in progress, though last week’s quarterback restart certainly counts as progress. The defense is low on big-game experience but has talent and now gets a chance to show it’s not as bad as it was in Miami two weeks ago. Braxton Miller is going to face a much more formidable opponent here than he did vs. Colorado, and Dantonio is going to challenge Miller to beat varying fronts and defenses designed to make him throw it. Luke Fickell hinted that Miller ran a little too much last week, but Fickell also knows that Miller’s athleticism and improvisation skills are part of what make him special. If he protects the ball and protects himself, Fickell is fine with Miller doing what he needs to do. The Spartans’ goal, clearly, is to rough him up and make it a tough day.” [Jackson/FSO]
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Tony sits down with the Indians’ VP of Player Development Ross Atkins- “Q: You guys suffered a tough loss losing right-handed pitcher Carlos Carrasco late in the year to an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. By the same token, you have several pitchers coming back from Tommy John surgery last year, one of them being right-handed pitcher Hector Rondon. How is he doing?
RA: “He pitched in Mahoning Valley at the end of the year and is pitching in Instructs, and he is going to pitch winter ball too. He has been great and is back to 100%. He has had a relatively seamless process in his return, so we are excited to see how he does this offseason. [As far as restrictions go next year], that’s a good question and is something we are still working through. A lot of it will depend on his success and progress this offseason.”” [Tony/Indians Prospect Insider]
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Interesting stuff on Colt McCoy- “ProFootballFocus tracks a stat which they call “pocket presence.” It represents the percentage of sacks, hits or hurries for which the quarterback is personally responsible. For example, if a quarterback stands in the pocket for six seconds, pump fakes twice and then takes a sack, that’s on him. Even the best offensive line will struggle to keep the defense at bay for that length of time.
This was an area in which Colt McCoy, as should be expected of a rookie, struggled in 2010. McCoy caused 11.7 percent of his own sacks/hits/hurries as a rookie, a higher percentage than anyone aside from Joe Flacco (13.3 percent). This year, despite a shaky offensive line due to numerous injury, McCoy has remarkably improved by leaps and bounds.” [The Brownie Blog]
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Interesting piece on why what happened in MLB on Wednesday could never happen in the NBA- “But in general, low seeds do not win in the NBA playoffs. There are no hot pitchers squeezing three starts into a seven-game series, no scorching goalies, no five-game series. Sometimes a wacky matchup can help an underdog (see Memphis’ big men abusing San Antonio’s smaller lineups), but the NBA, for better or worse, is designed to make sure the best teams advance the furthest. The drama late in the NBA’s regular season centers mostly on teams that have no chance to do any serious damage in the postseason and the race for home-court advantage, which involves a series of tiebreakers most fans find inscrutable.” [Lowe/The Point Forward]
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Cavs’ D-League team still without name or coach- “If there was an underlying ‘I’m not sure what’s taking so long’ in the official’s statement to Sam, I’d tend to agree with him on that. While the NBA will be locked out for a while, the D-League won’t be. Their season will go off as planned, and they will most certainly need a name in order to accurately order all the foam fingers they’re going to need, as well as the uniforms too. I can see the coaching search taking a little bit of time, they did just bring in GM Wes Wilcox in July, but it’s also good to hear there’s a sense of urgency on that too right now. There are tryouts scheduled afterall, in both Cleveland and Canton on October 8th and 15th respectively, so those can only go a bit more smoothly with a coaching staff on hand for that too.” [Brendan/Stepien Rules]
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Finally, our own Scott takes part in The Basketball Jones’ all-time fantasy draft. [TBJ]