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.
This is not what I want to hear- “Schwartz Off, and Winn Thrives: Toward the end of practice, the offensive linemen and the defensive linemen got together to run some one-on-one drills with each other. Most of the offensive linemen were holding their own, but Mitchell Schwartz really seemed to be struggling, getting bullied at least three times. The alternating continued today, with Oniel Cousins taking the first-team reps at right tackle. Meanwhile, one defensive lineman really stood out in the drills — rookie sixth-round pick Billy Winn. He was fierce as he, along with John Hughes, played on the second-team defense.” [Pokorny/Dawgs by Nature]
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“That’s not to say that the Indians couldn’t use an upgrade in the lineup, as they certainly could, but for as much talk as there has been about the inability of the offense to produce consistently, the glaring hole in the back of the rotation – for today AND tomorrow – burns brighter than any for me. And if the Indians are looking to make a move for a player that is not a rental player, adding a pitcher that could fit into the rotation to stabilize that rotation because this team simply won’t be able to even think about sniffing contention into August with Lowe and Tomlin going the way that they are right now. Because “right now”, that duo has the 2nd and 4th worst ERA among starters in the AL in the past 30 days (and Ubaldo has the 6th worst) and for the Indians to go on the run that they’re going to have to, any effort to sustain a winning streak is going to be stopped by one of those two (or three) or both (or all three).
Reading that last bit about how dreadful the rotation has been and seeing these last couple of games in Minnesota, you might think that the case is slowly being laid out here to “sell” to attempt to re-load for another day. But the two most desirable pieces to move would be Shin-Soo Choo and Chris Perez and while I think a case could be made to trade one (depending upon return), unless they Indians are netting a player that immediately steps into their lineup or rotation when they arrive, I can’t see how that could be taken as anything but a step-back for this team that still looks set up to compete in the coming years because (particularly in the case of Choo) as Castrovince noted, “the Indians would be extremely hard-pressed to replace the production provided by Choo, especially given their organizational outfield abyss. I’d imagine it would take a huge haul to prompt them to move him.” [Couineau/The DiaTribe]
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Some old school ‘most likely’ yearbook type stuff- “Most likely to not make news: Joe Thomas. Yawn. Go get yourself another Pro Bowl season, you monster.
Least likely to read this article: Trent Richardson. The dude is 22, has the weight of a passionate fan base on his shoulders, looks like he works out for 21 hours per day, and has to chase around his two daughters. He does not have time to give half a fart about what I’m typing. I kind of like that about him. Also, I bet his daughters are adorable and could beat me up.” [Nye/Dawg Pound Daily]
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Here’s an option for the Cavs- “Derrick Brown! Although viewed as a tweener, he spent much of his time at the three last year, where he out-produced his small forward opponents with a PER of 15.4 compared to their 12.3 (numbers from 82games.com). Limited minutes from his prior two seasons tell a similar story. For a Cavs team routinely poisoned by a lack of size and athleticism on the wings, Brown is the antidote. At 6’ – 8” with great speed and a penchant for electric dunks, he would look great on a Cavs team looking to run. He offers nothing for floor spacing, but I am not too concerned about that. For their careers, Gibson shoots 42% from deep, Kyrie sits at 40%, Casspi – 36%, and Gee – 35%. Waiters flashed NBA range at Syracuse and Cleveland added floor stretching bigs in Zeller and Leuer. Each of the metrics used in the Meeks / Batum comparison consider Brown a completely fine NBA player. A big, athletic and reasonably productive small forward for cheap?!? What am I missing here?!? Sign him up for 2 years and $5 million!!” [Hetrick/Cavs the Blog]
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“All due respect, David Stern has run out of good ideas…. But the NBA’s once-wildly-popular dictator is done. Finished. He’s run out of ideas on how to grow the game at home, so he’s floating outlandish concepts aimed primarily at growing the game abroad. Exhibit A: The suggestion to turn Olympic basketball into a 23-and-under tournament for NBA players and create an NBA-and-FIBA-controlled World Cup of hoops.” [Whitlock/Fox Sports]
