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.
“With nothing in the high-Minors that figures to arrive any time soon (outside of Lonnie’s return next year) and realizing how the FA market for Starting Pitchers is usually…um, out of the Indians’ price range, finding an arm that can sit in the middle-of-the-rotation should remain a priority. Maybe the Indians can find that “Fister-ian” addition (and remember, Ubaldo was the BIG get last year in the division, at least perception-wise, with Fister making the impact), although I’m not sure that the impact of a Maholm or a Vargas would be enough to make up enough ground in the AL Central or even the 2nd Wild Card. Remember, Fister was acquired by the Tigers last year not only because he upgraded the 2011 team, but also because he was still under club control through the end of the 2015 season, so the Tigers made that move for now and later.
Because sometimes being a “buyer” means buying something that you need for more than just a couple of months…” [Cousineau/The DiaTribe]
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Really Byron? “After Eric played 63 minutes for the Cavs Summer League team, Byron Scott said to the Akron Beacon Journal: “He has to look at himself as Ibaka, a guy that came in who was raw, but defensively was a great help defender and a great one-on-one defender, then your offensive game kind of comes. That’s how Ibaka has developed and I think he [Eric] has the same type of potential. It’s a hell of a comparison, and it’s a good comparison because I think with his athleticism and the way he jumps and blocks shots, he can be on that level. I don’t know if he can get to where Ibaka is because Ibaka is pretty damn good, but he can be somewhere near that level.”
A quick glance of some handy, dandy references tells me that Ibaka is a 22-year-old member of the NBA all-defense first-team. Our diamond-in-the-rough is a 24 year old, that through four years at Temple never warranted a write-up from draftexpress or ESPN.” [Hetrick/Cavs the Blog]
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Brendan sums up his summer league thoughts- “Tyler Zeller was a good pick: There was some serious depth in last month’s Draft I think. The Rockets took three guys from 12 to 18, and that seemed weird until you watched Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terrance Jones out running the floor together. Jones went 18th to Houston, and guys like Evan Fournier and John Jenkins went 20th and 23rd after that. I talked to each of them for a SLAM article I wrote because they all impressed me for different reasons. No matter how good those guys, or anybody else drafted 18 or later ends up playing next season though, I’m going to say right now I’ll stand with that Zeller pick at 17th overall. ” [Bowers/Stepien Rules]
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Could this be the year for IU football??- “From death comes life. At least that’s what one teaching tells us to believe, I think. For Indiana, Purdue and Illinois, the self-inflicted destruction of one football program, as well as a one-year postseason ban for another, has created temporary life for fans of these schools, who rarely experience a successful1 season. With the Leaders Divisions’ two most historic and successful football programs at bay for this season, the chance to pull off the unexpected and head to Indianapolis for the 2012 Big Ten Championship has just gotten substantially more bizzare and definitely easier.” [Sokol/Eleven Warriors] (Naahh)
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Finally, a little time left to enter the GV Art and Design T-Shirt contest. [WFNY]
