The condensed version of the story is this: when he was a kid (late 80′s, early 90′s), Andy wrote to a ton of major league sports franchises asking for autographs, stickers, or anything they were willing to send. He got answers back from 16 teams. He saved whatever they sent in the original envelope and stored them away.

And now he was selling them on eBay.

“You are bidding on a piece of mail sent to me almost 20 years ago in response to fan mail. … At nine or ten years of age, I wrote letters to every professional major league basketball and hockey team, mentioning my favorite player on that team and asking for anything that they might be willing to send back. …

Sixteen teams responded to my letter. Some envelopes contained photocopies of team apparel catalogs. … Some contained autographs from Hall-of-Famers. …

These envelopes are like a time capsule. … Whatever was sent to me 20 years ago is still inside today.”

I checked out his auctions, and sure enough there was an envelope from the Cavs.

Well, why not. The minimum bid was $25. Buy it now for $50. I placed a bid for $25, and won. Why pay $25 for a mystery envelope? What are the chances that the contents are worth at least $25? All fair questions. The answer of course is the thrill of the chase.

I haven’t purchased a pack of baseball cards in ages, but this had a similar feel to it.

What was I hoping for? Honestly, a team photo would have been awesome. Whatever it was, I thought we’d have some fun together.

The envelope contained a typed letter from the Cavs, two 1990-1991 pocket schedules, one Cavs bumper sticker (sponsored by WOIO Nineteen, 850 am WRMR and Sports Channel), one Cavs keychain (sponsored by Firestone Cleveland/Akron tire and service centers) and an 8×10 Mark Price over-sized NBA Hoops card.

If you are curious, the letter simply says-

“Dear CAVS Fan: Thank you for your letter expressing an interest in the CAVS. To show our appreciation, enclosed is some fan material to help you cheer on the CAVS.

Again, thank you for your continued support and interest in the CAVS.

Sincerely,

THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS”

I love the old orange logo. I also find it funny that they spelled out CAVS in all caps every time. The items themselves appear to be left over from different promotions and giveaways.

What will we do with these now? I don’t know. Maybe they get passed around the writing staff. Or they could become contest fodder. Or they get put back in the envelope for another 20 years.

It’s now mid-May and baseball season is full in force. As I write this, I’m traveling high speed up I-95 in Florida, toward the end of two weeks of Southern traveling after college graduation. During this journey, even over the last 24 hours, I’ve passed through many of the cities hosting High-A Florida State League baseball teams – Daytona Beach, Viera, Port St. Lucie, Jupiter, etc. While I didn’t attend any games, it reminded me of a special characteristic of the Cleveland Indians organization.

The Indians have one of the best compositions of minor league baseball teams because of the incredible proximity of four of the team’s five affiliates. Columbus is a little over two hours south, Akron is just about 30 minutes south, Lake County is 20 minutes to the east and Mahoning Valley is about an hour away, too. The only exception for the usually discussed levels of play – excluding Arizona, Dominican and Venezuelan teams – is the High-A Carolina Mudcats in the Carolina League, who play in Zebulon, just outside Raleigh.

For all Tribe fans, this is an incredible blessing. No matter where you might be in or around Ohio, especially in the central or northeast portions, you can find almost all of Cleveland’s top players and prospects. It’s a neat fact and possibly even means that we all follow our minor leaguers more than most other baseball fans. As the summer months near, I encourage you to make your way to as many of these places as possible and appreciate how good we have it here. Most organizations have teams in as far places as the Pacific Coast, Texas and Southern leagues, but we’ve got it pretty good.

Now, as usual, I’ll dive into the hot topics surrounding these minor league teams and their players.

Standings

AAA Columbus Clippers: 18-20 (.474), 3/4 place, 4.0 GB in International League West

AA Akron Aeros: 23-13 (.639), 1/6 place, 2.5 game lead in Eastern League West

High-A Carolina Mudcats: 20-17 (.541), 3/4 place, 2.5 GB in Carolina League South

A Lake County Captains: 19-19 (.500), 5/8 place, 8.0 GB in Midwest League East

Short-Season Mahoning Valley: (no record, season begins June 18)

Top 10 Prospects

1. SS Francisco Lindor – Another solid week for the past prospect in the system. He had three more two-hit games, including a five RBI performance Monday, and is now at .319/.368/.486 in 33 games this season. This kid is the real deal.

2. RHP Dillon Howard – Still no action yet in the pros for Howard, who should be active in a month or so, I’d expect.

3. LHP Nick Hagadone – Although he gave up a run Monday, he still has been one of the best relievers in Cleveland during his time there this season. He has a 1.74 ERA in 10 games, with 10 strikeouts in 10.1 innings pitched against just four hits and three walks.

4. RHP Chen Lee – Lee remains on the AAA Columbus disabled list, where he has been since April 17 with right forearm tightness. This might be a while.

5. OF Luigi Rodriguez – The speedster snapped his bad start to May with a three-hit performance last Wednesday, and he is now at .282/.349/.412 for the season in 32 games. He has collected 10 steals, but has struck out 32 times against 14 walks.

6. RHP Zach McAllister – McAllister might not ever become a top-end starter in the big leagues, but he has been an efficient innings eater in his two 2012 starts for Cleveland. I can always live with at least 6 IP each time, along with an outstanding 13/1 K/BB ratio, and the 4.15 ERA is not that bad.

7. SS Tony Wolters – Again, it seems that Wolters’ week off toward the end of April has helped him become a more consistent player. He is batting .267 in 12 May games, and is now at .184/.262/.237 for the season. Not good numbers, of course, but at least not getting worse.

8. RHP Austin Adams – Adams continues to recover from a right shoulder injury in Arizona, and, like Lee, this might be a while.

9. LHP Scott Barnes – After a rough outing in his first outing as a reliever, Barnes has settled down a bit recently. Overall, he has a 4.76 ERA in four games with eight strikeouts against three walks in 5.2 IP since the move and the return off the DL. Could this be his only way to the big leagues?

Wild Card: LHP T.J. McFarland – There are a couple of people worthy of this honor this week, but after back-to-back seven-inning shutout performances, McFarland deserves the nod. He is now 7-1 with a 1.86 ERA in eight starts for AA Akron, leading the best pitching staff in the Eastern League. The 30 strikeouts in 48.1 IP aren’t great, but he has only walked 11 batters. Most importantly, however, the lefty turns just 23 years old in early June. Keep an eye on this guy, as this has been a sensational start.

Notable Transactions

May 7: OF Ezequiel Carrera transferred to temporary inactive list for AAA Columbus

May 11: OF Ezequiel Carrera activated from temporary inactive list for AAA Columbus

May 12: RHP Zach McAllister promoted to Cleveland from AAA Columbus

May 12: RHP Paolo Espino promoted to AAA Columbus from AA Akron

May 12: RHP Brett Brach promoted to AA Akron from High-A Carolina

May 12: RHP Xavier De Los Santos placed on 7-day disabled list for A Lake County

May 12: IF Jose Lopez promoted to Cleveland from AAA Columbus

May 13: OF Nick Weglarz designated for assignment from AA Akron

May 14: RHP Jeremy Accardo promoted to Cleveland from AAA Columbus

May 14: LHP Eric Berger promoted to AAA Columbus from AA Akron

May 15: IF Jason Donald activated by AAA Columbus

The Boots

Boot Up: K King – AAA Columbus RHP Corey Kluber hasn’t gotten any love yet in the Wednesday Wahoos, and, thus, this is my apology. The 26-year-old hard-throwing Texan, acquired from St. Louis for Jake Westbrook back in 2010, has never been a can’t-miss prospect. He gives up far too many hits and never has had a great ERA season. But, this year, just like the many beforehand, the starting pitcher is striking out a ton.

Through 42.2 IP in eight starts this season, Kluber has 55 strikeouts. Those are the most in minor league baseball, trailing only CC Sabathia, Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander for the professional baseball lead. However, his 11.7 K/9 ratio is the best for any starting pitcher in the pros. Overall, he is currently 3-3 with a 3.38 ERA, but has given up a .275 batting average against.

Last September, Kluber made three relief appearances for the Tribe and that likely will be his future stop in the pros. I still remember when the Indians acquired him back in 2010 and that was one of the key early ideas about his role. He now has 398 strikeouts in 398.1 IP in AA or AAA dating back to 2009, and that would be a huge help in Cleveland’s bullpen by the end of this season.

Boot Down: Nearby Outfield Help – One of the key topics recently in Cleveland has been the lackluster production from the outfield – notably, Shelley Duncan, Aaron Cunningham and the recent acquisition, Johnny Damon. While Michael Brantley has been on a hot streak and Shin-Soo Choo is playing better, there still needs to be more production from the outfield with the team unlikely to rely upon Grady Sizemore, whenever he returns.

Looking down the line in AAA Columbus, unfortunately, it appears not too much help will be on the way soon. In May, the five outfield folks with at least 30 at-bats for AAA Columbus are Russ Canzler, Ezequiel Carrera, Ben Copeland, Chad Huffman and Matt LaPorta. Of all of those guys, none are hitting better than .244 (Carrera) this month, with no better than a .725 OPS (Huffman). Together, their totals in 201 May at-bats are .219/.286/.368 with seven home runs and 24 RBI.

Sure, as I’ll talk about shortly, two guys are playing fairly decently in Akron, but they aren’t really considered prospects anymore. Don’t be surprised if the Indians then target the outfield in the upcoming draft, via a trade or just in the offseason this year.

Boot Up: Go-Go Goedert – Prefaced nicely, OF Jared Goedert is having a revival season for AA Akron. Through 34 games, he’s batting .383/.468/.592 with 10 doubles, five homers and 17 RBI. He has 20 walks against 20 strikeouts, and has been as good in May as in April. Overall, he’s been the best hitter in the Indians system this season, recently surpassing the struggling LaPorta.

For most folks, Goedert is a familiar name because of a similar stellar season he had for the Aeros back in 2010. But there’s a reason why I italicized revival. Let’s be a bit realistic here – Goedert’s done this before. And, this time, he’s a soon-to-be-27-year-old who hasn’t been a prospect in four years, and is primarily playing the outfield after previously being at third base. He’s never quite dominated the AAA International League, so let’s see what happens when he gets there again soon this year.

Boot Down: Back-and-Forth – Last week, I devoted an entire Boot Up to the recent hot streaks for the four Indians affiliates. In the effort to be fair, this was a peculiar week for the top four teams in the system. Entering the week, the back-to-back AAA national champions Clippers were fairly hot, the Aeros were one of the best teams in baseball and the lower two teams were struggling quite a bit. But, things got flipped upside down since then, though.

Columbus went 1-6, Akron was 2-5, Carolina had a 4-3 record and Lake County tore up the competition with a 6-1 streak. Of course, this happens at any level with any team, and anyone would be wise not to read too much into minor league standings, but there are some trends. It looks like injuries are starting to affect the higher levels, while hopefully some of the hot-shot lower-level prospects are dominating as expected. I probably won’t devote too many Boots to the standings in the future, but keep an eye above for the changes, ebbs and flows.

Closing Word

It might be tough to believe, but Mike Sarbaugh is still coaching the AAA Columbus Clippers here in 2012. It’s his third season coaching the International League, after winning the 2009 Akron Aeros to an AA Eastern League championship. Thus, for those keeping track, that means three consecutive titles for Sarbaugh, who has to be one of the hottest coaching prospects in the country.

DP and I have said this several times, but, at some point soon, a decision will need to be made about Sarbaugh’s future. I’m a big Manny Acta fan and by no means am I inferring that Sarbaugh should be a replacement there. But in order to keep Sarby in tow, Mark Shapiro and company will need to do something creative, otherwise he’ll likely leave the organization, possibly at the end of the season.

The 45-year-old is a great combination of industry know-how and player-friendly-ness, and he was a joy to chat with back when I worked for Akron. Who knows what better prospects might be out there for him soon, and I’m hoping we can keep him somewhere with the Tribe.

The general managers include Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers, Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin O’Connor of the Utah Jazz and Bryan Colangelo of the Toronto Raptors. The coaches will be represented by Rick Carlisle of the Dallas Mavericks, Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics and Lionel Hollins of the Memphis Grizzlies. The players representative is to be determined.

“The Board decided that the inclusion of owners and head coaches on the competition committee would add valuable perspectives to discussions about our game and how it might be improved,” said Joel Litvin, NBA president of league operations, via a written statement. “At the same time, we will continue to receive input on competition and rules matters from all 30 teams through the General Managers Committee.”

Though the team has been remodled, the process of changing a rule remains the same: A recommendation from the committee would be brough before the league’s Board of Governors for a vote. This group will meet for the first time during the NBA Finals.

[Related: With his casino nearing open, Dan Gilbert hoping luck continues to fall his way with the Cavaliers]

But anyone with even a cursory grasp of pitching peripherals could see that Lowe’s 2011 season had all the traditional markings of an outlier. His batting average on balls in play was unusually high at .327. He stranded fewer than 66% of his base runners.  His walks were up a bit from his career rate, sure, but he actually increased his strikeout rate too.  Have a look:

More than anything, 2011 looked like one of those unfortunate seasons where everything seemed to go wrong: batted balls became hits and base runners became runs more often than normal. That stuff is mostly random—pitchers tend to hover around .300 on batted balls and a 70% strand-rate no matter who they are—and the Indians were right to jump on the bargain when they did.

So for $5 million (the Barves, by the by, are paying Derek Lowe $10 million this season not to pitch for them) and a non-prospect, it seemed more than worth the risk. The Indians had every reason to believe that Derek Lowe would revert to the pitcher he’d been throughout his career.  For reference, here are Lowe’s career numbers as a starter:

Those are good numbers. Not great numbers, mind, but combine them with veteran leadership, durability, and any other intangibles you want to tack on for good measure and they’re plenty worth a $5 million gamble.

So as I said: I was onboard with this move.  Seemed to make good sense—never too much middle-of-the-road pitching, and whatnot.

But what we’ve seen so far in 2012 has been anything but middle-of-the-road.  After yesterday’s complete game shutout of the Minnesota Twins, Lowe is sitting pretty with a 6-1 record and a 2.05 ERA.  Among qualified AL starters he now ranks first in ERA, first in groundball percentage, first in pitcher wins and twelfth in innings pitched.  He has done all this while sustaining a completely normal BABiP, by the way, of 0.300.

So what gives?  How did a mid-rotation, soon-to-be 39 year old groundballer just become Roy Halladay?  I’ll be honest: I have no idea.

All the normal places I look suggest that this just shouldn’t be happening.  For instance, if Lowe has a completely normal BABiP rate of .300, how is he stranding almost 85% of his base runners (he’s fourth in the league)?  You’d think that if his batted balls drop in for hits at a normal rate, he’s bound to have more of those runners score, no?

Furthermore, his peripherals so far this season are actually much worse than they were last year.  As mentioned above, Lowe struck out 16.5% of the batters he faced in 2011 and has struck out 15.4% for his career.  So far in 2012?  It’s only 5.8% (!), which makes him, BY FAR, the least strikeout-prone pitcher in the AL this season.

I should mention here that I have a piece in the works that would argue that low K-rates are no big deal, as long as your walk-rate goes down accordingly.  You want to maintain between 2 and 3 strikeouts for every walk you issue, no matter if you strikeout 25% of batters or 6%.  After all, Josh Tomlin struck out only 4.84 batters per nine innings pitched last season but still had a brilliant K/BB of 4.24—good for fourth best in the AL—due to his excellent command.

So back to Lowe: who cares if he’s not striking anyone out, as long as he’s not walking anyone either, right?  But he is walking people—a lot of them, in fact.  At least in relation to his strikeouts.  Right now, Lowe’s K/BB ratio is 0.76, meaning that for every strikeout he records, he allows about 1.3 walks.  Remember, you want that K/BB ratio to be above 2.00. Last season the worst AL K/BB rate belonged to Brad Penny at 1.19.  No one else sustained a rate below 1.63.  Right now the Indians have two starters below 1.00—with Ubaldo checking in at an execrable 0.80.  For the record, Derek Lowe’s current K/BB ratio of 0.76 is the worst among MLB starters this year.

So if his peripherals are bad and his luck is average, how is Lowe sustaining this run?  It seems to contradict what we know about the way baseball works.

Well, there are probably a few reasons.

First, his luck isn’t exactly “average” so far this year.  While his BABiP is plenty normal, he’s allowing home runs on only 5.7% of his flyballs, compared to about 12.3% for his career.  We probably shouldn’t expect that to continue: flyballs typically become home runs at a pretty steady rate, and 5.7% is really low.

On top of the home runs, Lowe has already induced 10 ground ball double plays in only 223 plate appearances, which leads the Major Leagues.  For his career, he’s recorded a GIDP once every 36 plate appearances, but this season it’s once every 22.  That’s a huge jump—and probably unsustainable, what with old dogs and new tricks being what they are—that likely contributes significantly to his oddly high strand-rate this season.

Maybe the Luck Fairy is just paying Lowe back for all the trouble heaped on him in his final few months in Atlanta?  After all, for someone who just couldn’t catch a break near the end of last season, it would seem just if there were some cosmic redistribution—recompense for all those seeing-eye singles that drove him out of Atlanta in such infamy.

But that’s not how luck works—at least not in this instance.  Because when we say luck, what we really mean is “random variation”.  And anyone who’s ever sat at a roulette wheel knows that the next spin has nothing to do with the previous five.  Just because the ball landed black five times in a row doesn’t mean it’s any more likely to land red on the next spin.  That’s not how probability works, and when we measure the random statistics like HR/FB and LOB%, the story is the same.  Blips and streaks happen, but that doesn’t mean the roulette ball is weighted, and it doesn’t mean the Derek Lowe is Sandy Koufax.

I know these sorts of pieces are not typically well-received: it comes off as cynical pessimism of the worst sort, when all I’m really trying to do is answer the questions that pop into my mind.  I’m not trying to beat up on Derek Lowe, honest.  As I said above, I loved the trade that brought him here, and I think he’s going to be a valuable piece of our team, both because of his on-field performance and his clubhouse leadership.  I think the trade looked even smarter in retrospect, when Fausto got held up at a Dominican airport, and smarter still on May 16, with Lowe leading the AL in everything that matters.

This was a good trade, and I’m happy we made it.  We’re a better team for rostering Derek Lowe, and even though I’d be pretty surprised if Derek Lowe wins the ERA title this season, the numbers he’s putting up now—perhaps against all odds—still count.

We’re a first place team with a pitcher who’s leading the league in ERA.  While it might not last, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it.

The Indians were looking to add to the back end of the rotation after the season ended. They made their first move rather quickly. On October 31st, just a week after the World Series, GM Chris Antonetti acquired a 38-year old veteran who was coming off the worst year of the career where he lost 17 games and collapsed in September. The guy was due $15 million in 2012, the last year of his deal. Nobody talked about the move, despite the fact that the Atlanta Braves picked up $10 million of the salary due.

Well how has Derek Lowe looked out thus far, Tribe fans?

During yesterday afternoon’s tilt with the last place Minnesota Twins, Lowe pitched another absolute gem. The veteran sinker-baller delivered a six-hit complete game shutout for his sixth win on the season. Using his sinker almost exclusively, Lowe delivered a whopping 22 groundball outs, including four double-play balls that killed any chances of a Twins rally.

“He was a ground-ball machine the whole day,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “I don’t keep track of every game I’ve ever watched or anything like that, but I don’t think I’ve seen too many complete-game shutouts without a strikeout. That’s rare to see. He was great. Every time he needed a pitch, he got it.”

The whole Lowe phenomenon is amazing, but shouldn’t be that unexpected. While none of us thought he would be this good, his track record has been very good for 14 seasons. He had won double digit games in each of the nine seasons before his 2011 aberation and has a career ERA under four. The guy knows how to pitch. Pure and simple. And in 2012, he looks like the guy who won 21 games in 2002.

“It’s been a really gratifying start,” said Lowe. “Coming into the season, there were so many questions about ‘Are you done? Are you going to retire? Blah, blah.’ So I worked my tail off, not just to prove people wrong, but to get myself back to where I knew I should be.”

The offense in the meantime had a nice and easy day against Twins righty Jason Marquis. The 12-year veteran reminds me of a guy who would have been in the Tribe rotation in the 1980′s. His stuff is average at best and he just keeps hanging around as a fifth starter and innings eater. The Wahoo attack jumped all over him and showed little mercy.

In the second inning, Casey Kotchman came through with a two-out RBI single which scored Carlos Santana, who opened the frame with a double but hadn’t advanced. It was Kotchman’s third big hit in the last two games. An inning later, Asdrubal Cabrera drove in Shin-Soo Choo, who like Santana an inning earlier, led off with a double. In the fourth, they wasted a golden opportunity when Michael Brantley, moved into the five spot with Travis Hafner getting the day off, tripled to lead off the inning. Yet he never moved and was stranded by Jose Lopez, Johnny Damon, and Lou Marson.

It was only a matter of time before they would get to Marquis and knock him out for good.

The fifth inning is where the Tribe flexed their muscles. Newly minted leadoff man Shin-Soo Choo started things with an opposite field home run. It was the fourth consecutive inning the Indians led off with an extra-base hit. It hasn’t happened since 2005. After Jason Kipnis struck out, Cabrera got Marquis for a solo homer of his own, his fourth on the year. Before the Twins knew what had hit them, Santana was crushing another Marquis pitch out into the right field seats.

At 5-0, Lowe cruised the rest of the way to his first complete game shutout in seven years. Even more incredibly, he did so without striking out a single batter. That’s the first time that has happened in the majors since 2002.

It certainly helps facing a Minnesota Twins lineup that hardly resembles their division winning teams of the last decade. Their five through nine yesterday were Brian Dozier, Chris Parmalee, Erik Komatsu, Alexi Casilla, and Jamey Carroll. What has happened to this team so quickly? The good news is that the Indians swept the two game series from the Twins and get to play them 17 more times this season.

Yesterday’s win was the Tribe’s 10th in their last 11 games against the Twins. It was huge for them to get some momentum back after enduring their first three game losing streak over the weekend in Boston.

With the Twins out of the way, the first place Indians will come how for another mini-two-game series with Eric Wedge and his Seattle Mariners. Unfortunately, the Wahoos have to face former Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez (3-2, 2.29 ERA) tomorrow night. They will counter with the enigma that is Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3, 5.18 ERA).

–

Image via Associated Press

”That is something definitely that we are interested in,” Gilbert said on Tuesday afternoon following the crowning of point guard Kyrie Irving as NBA Rookie of the Year. “‘I hope in the next few years we’d be able to get it. ‘I’m going to do our best and I’ll talk to the commissioner (David Stern). We’ll be talking to the league very shortly.’”

The earliest Cleveland could be in the mix for the All-Star festivities would be 2015. Given the continuing evolution of the Casino (Phase II is set to open within the next few years) as well as the building of Clevleand’s Medical Mart, there would be no hurry in landing an All-Star hosting bid; this is fortunate given the other NBA teams looking to do the same. The NBA typically prefers to have the event in warmer cities to take advantage of the weather, also requiring that the host city has ample hotel accommodations for players, fans and media. It appears that the “weather” trend could be bucked as both New York and New Jersey have also expressed interest.

In 1997, the league commemorated its 50th anniversary by holding the All-Star game in Cleveland — within the then-recently erected Gund Arena — and invited the top 50 all-time players, who were honored during a halftime ceremony.

[Related: With his casino nearing open, Dan Gilbert hoping luck continues to fall his way with the Cavaliers]

Good stuff on what helps make a rookie QB successful- “It’s obvious that the days of rookie quarterbacks “sitting and learning” have expired. With the intense pressure exerted on both coaching staffs and front offices, rookie quarterbacks now enter the league armed with instant expectations. And while there is no sure individual formula for rookie success, at least there are some team criteria which help to lessen the burden.

1. Run the Ball. Speedy wide receivers and flashy offensive designs are great, but a rookie quarterback’s best friend is a capable running game. Both Ryan and Flacco broke the taboo of a rookie quarterback being able to achieve success thanks to their team’s respective rushing attacks. (Or, if you wanted to go back to 2004, Ben Roethlisberger proved to be the ultimate example.)” [Kolonich/The OBR]

—-

How valuable is Kyrie Irving- “So of the top ten players in the league, I would be okay with the Cavaliers trading Kyrie Irving for six of them, though I would only feel really good about it if it was Kevin Durant. Every other NBA superstar comes with baggage, and while Irving will certainly start accumulating some as early as next season, right now he has shown so much potential and so much poise that it would be hard to let him go for any other player.” [Curry/Cavs HQ]

—-

“NBA fans don’t like the idea that someone who is trusted with a vote — no matter how silly a privilege voting for silly NBA awards is — is taking their job less seriously than NBA fans typically take their NBA. And the idea that Josh Selby, who made fewer shots (25) than his Memphis Grizzlies won games (41) this year, could grab a third-place vote? That Twitter darling and rightful two-time Rookie of the Month-winning Isaiah Thomas would finish behind Klay Thompson or Shumpert (or even Rubio, who was fantastic in his rookie season, but missed as many games as Josh Selby made shots)? It frustrates them.

Fans want to know who isn’t working hard. Who isn’t paying attention, and who isn’t taking things seriously. Media members want to know the same. And those who take pot shots at the types that want these things to be transparent? They’re spot on as well. This stuff is incredibly silly. Voting for NBA awards is somehow just as silly as giving a Most Improved Player award vote to Andrew Bogut, who played 12 games this season.” [Dwyer/Ball Don't Lie]

—-

Making football worth the risk, according to Jason Whitlock- “Andrew Sweat’s decision to eschew the Browns for law school speaks to how swiftly football’s image is changing. America’s national pastime has had a Thanksgiving driveway-like car accident. Junior Seau is Elin Nordegren and the NFL is Tiger Woods. Tiger is still a force of nature when it comes to drawing viewers to golf. He’s still famous, infamous, attractive, charismatic, exciting and impossible to ignore. He’s also damaged and a shell of his former self on the golf course.

In the aftermath of Seau’s suicide and growing concern over football head injuries, football could soon be a shell of its former self, a sport played almost exclusively by America’s option-less underclass.” [Whitlock/Fox Sports]

—-

“Not wanting to burn Kotchman (who had already hit a home run earlier in the game) quite as soon as he got on base, Acta waited to see how the inning played out before bringing on a pinch runner in case the game went to extra innings. That looked like a smart move when the next batter, Aaron Cunningham flew out to the second baseman. However, when Kotchman was able to move up on a wild pitch from Capps, he pulled him in favour of Marson. That’s when Choo struck and the pinch runner scored from second base, making it look like an even smarter move. Genius. Glasses. Acta.” [Parkes/The Score]

]]> http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2012/05/while-were-waiting-helping-weeden-valuing-kyrie-and-assessing-the-risk-involved-in-playing-football/feed/ 7 http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2012/05/ozzie-newsome-richardson-may-not-even-get-to-ray-lewis/ http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2012/05/ozzie-newsome-richardson-may-not-even-get-to-ray-lewis/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 12:47:53 +0000 Scott http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/?p=63347

What I will tell you is we’ve got a freshman at Alabama that’ll probably make us forget about Trent Richardson already. They’re that good down in Tuscaloosa right now. Trent’s a physical player. So is Ray [Lewis]. They asked [Ravens top draft choice] Courtney Upshaw about playing against Trent, and he said, ‘I think I can get him on the ground.’ That’s what’s fun … When we come to town, (Richardson) may not get to Ray because he’s got to get to [Haloti] Ngata and [Terence] Cody first. We’ll see.

– Browns Hall of Fame tight end and current Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, speaking on Tuesday night, on the first matchup between Browns running back Trent Richardson and eventual Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis

[Related: A Farewell to Armond Smith]

(Source: Tony Grossi)

For Irving’s hard work and determination, which started as early as his fifth-grade year of school wherein a 10-year-old kid from West Orange, New Jersey would spend hours running Mikan drills with his father, he was presented with the Eddie Gotlieb trophy which represented his 2012 Rookie of the Year honors, receiving 117 of 120 possible first-place votes. The front row of chairs on this day were comprised of the same bodies which sat proudly during Irving’s introduction: Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert, vice chairmen Jeff Cohen, managing partner Nate Forbes, Irving’s father Drederick and his agent Jeff Wechsler. The messages conveyed, however, could not be more different.

Last July, a sheepish Irving sat on a stool alongside fellow-first-rounder Tristan Thompson as the two soon-to-be-rookies fielded questions about their pasts as well as expectations of what was yet to come. Despite possessing an innate belief in his abilities, even Irving admits that he wasn’t aware of what his immediate future would be, having no statistical goals or crystal balls. Playing in only 11 games at Duke, the detractors to the Cavaliers’ selection were pounding their fists on the e-tables as loudly as possible — he’s inexperienced, his body fat is too high, Derrick Williams had a good tournament, he’s not Derrick Rose! On a beautiful Cleveland afternoon, outfitted in a navy suit and light grey tie which was continually tugged upon in the way a child does at a wedding or recital, Irving showed that it was not only his game that grew, but his personality was no longer that of the 19-year-old who landed in Cleveland a year earlier, quietly keeping to himself during training camp pre-season practices.

“I came in as a 19-year-old and I got to be myself,” Irving said in front of his friends, family and a few stretch limousines full of third-grade boys from Cleveland’s Kenneth Clement Leadership Academy. Embraced by Scott and assistant coach Nate Tibbets, Irving quickly sprouted into the kid who stood proudly

This relaxed attitude was no more prevalent than in the moments where Irving casually lobbed jabs at Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott, or “the bald-headed man.” Whether it would be a vivid description of the way Scott’s bald head wrinkles up in times of ire or the way it would shine when camera back lights would be present, Irving spoke of Scott as his on-court father figure, helping pave the way for the pomp and circumstance which would be celebrated on this very day. For Irving, the transition from his father Dred to Scott would be an easy one — you know, because, for starters, “they’re both bald.”

Irving’s thank-yous, written on a notecard which was graciously pulled from the pocket of his suit, included his father, his sister Asia, and his late mother Elizabeth; his close-knit group of friends who keep him grounded and humble and human; his teammates, from Luke Haragody to “Lesantiy” and the veterans who helped guide him through the season; his sponsors Nike and Armani and Tods and Pepsi MAX; the Cavaliers front office, ownership team and coaching staff, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, whom Irving called his “mentor,” and his agent Jeff Wechsler who not only helped his client every step of the way, but introduced him to Robin Pound, whom Irving considers to be the “best trainer out there.”

Perhaps standing as the most glaring contrast to the time the Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland sat inside of Cleveland Clinic Courts to celebrate the accolades of a first-overall draft selection, was the way Irving went about his first season in the NBA, continually striving to get better, being his toughest critic, but also in the way that he was treated by the front office and coaching staff. Presumably surprised when the horde of photographers wanted to take a picture of him, alone, with his shiny new trophy, Irving spent the vast majority of his time with the Clement students as well as the team’s employees. He was was was nervous heading into camp and was not told he would be the starting point guard until the day of his first game. He was surprised by the call Coach Scott barked into the huddle during the waining seconds of the team’s third game of the year, the overtime loss to Indiana – a high pick-and-roll that would allow the 19-year-old to take the final shot of the game.

“I’m glad I didn’t get treated like a [first-overall pick],” Irving said of his first year in Cleveland.

Wherein the awards presented to LeBron James were received in Akron, Ohio, serving to provide that well-documented line of delineation, Irving made sure that the city of Cleveland was along side him every step of the way. While hoisting the Rookie Game MVP award during the most-recent All-Star break, Irving instructed the photographers to ensure that the “Cleveland” on the front of his jersey made all of the shots. When doling out his thank-yous this afternoon, Irving stated that, despite the trials and tribulations of the season, the Rookie of the Year award was not just for him, but for the lakeside city in which he lives out his dreams on a daily basis. It also helps that he cherishes fourth-quarter moments, preferring the basketball in his hands as the clock draws closer to zeros.

Though the front row for the Irving-centric press conference was largely the same, Irving will enter Year 2 of his NBA career no longer surrounded by the cloud of the great unknown. He may not have John Wall’s speed, but he toasted all five members of the Denver Nuggests, full court, with the opposition getting a head start. He may not have Derrick Rose’s shoulders and strength, but he already has a resume of game-winners and the innate desire to be even better than he was during his Freshman campaign. He may not have Chris Paul’s defensive prowess, but he has a Drill Sergeant in Byron Scott that will keep on him every day of their collective coexistence.

The same play which was called for Irving in the stepping stone overtime loss in Indiana, was not much different from the one he pulled on Arizona’s Derrick Williams in the Sweet 16 a few months prior to the NBA Draft, complete with his trademark cross-over dribble and the basketball dropping gracefully through the net. That “I can do this” moment propelled Irving to the NBA and into the friendly confines of the practice courts where he happily received his new piece of hardware.

“We’re going to build something special here,” said Irving. “We’re in it for the long haul.” 

Irving plans on entering the 2012-13 season in even better shape than the one in which he presently exists, ready to work and understanding the careful balance between basketball and business. Proud of what he has done to this point yet possessing the desire to accomplish so much more, hearkening back to the days of his dad laying out exactly what it is he needs to do be it in the gymnasium or driveway, and transitioning to today where he racks up single-digit dunks and countless hearts across Cleveland. The now 20-year-old Irving will be forced to take on an even larger leadership role for the Cavaliers of the future, but if the Nike t-shirts that branded his name and a “ROY” on the sleeves have anything to say about the next several years, this will not be a daunting task.

Kyrie Never Stops. Cavaliers basketball never stops.

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(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

First of all, I need to talk about a comedy rule of three that I have been obsessed with lately. I heard Aziz Ansari talk about it and I think he was paraphrasing Joe Rogan. Or maybe he was paraphrasing Louis C.K.’s appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast? Anyway, I am continuing the game of telephone and paraphrasing the paraphraser. The idea in writing jokes is that you have to go three levels for truly good and original comedy. When a topic comes up, the first thought you have is the joke that everyone comes up with. The second joke is better than the first, but it is still probably a bit facile. The third joke will be truly original. It isn’t a hard, fast rule, but that’s the idea. References aren’t jokes and are rarely good punchlines. Using Armond Smith’s run on 4th and 1 is quite simply the first crack available and as I think I proved it is nothing more than just second-guessing the coach because it happened not to work.

So let’s get back to that play one final time as we bid farewell to a 4th string running back that won’t even be a footnote in Cleveland Browns history.

I’ll spare you all the pictures because you can go back and look at them on the original post, but let’s remember that the Browns ran Hillis up the middle on 3rd and 1. They used the identical set with Hillis and Armond Smith lined up parallel in the backfield for two straight plays. On 3rd and 1 with at least eight Titans playing up to stop the run, Hillis and his offensive line got blown up and didn’t convert.

This is what gets me so crazy when people say, “How do you run Armond Smith on 4th and 1 when you have Hillis on the team??!?!??” The implication is that Pat Shurmur for all his head coaching rookie-ness was clearly too stupid to use his big back in short yardage situations. It is silly. He did use his big bruising back and basically lined up his guys and gave them the opportunity to just beat the Titans at the line of scrimmage. It didn’t work. They didn’t get it done.

Then, Shurmur decides to go for it on 4th and 1. He lines up Hillis and Smith the same way and the Titans are lined up almost the exact same way they were on the previous play. McCoy fakes to Hillis and pitches out to Armond Smith. Smith had Joe Thomas and Alex Smith blocking as a safety was closing in the open field. Armond Smith just had to beat one safety. The 5’9″ 25-year-old with almost mesmerizing amounts of speed and elusiveness had to beat one player – safety Michael Griffin –  in the open field and Griffin trips him up around the ankles.

There’s nothing funny about that for anyone. Armond Smith had three regular-season attempts for the Cleveland Browns. That was his lone attempt in that game. He never got another chance after that. Given the opportunity, it’s hard to question Shurmur burying him after that. Armond Smith was apparently just not good enough. Given a chance in the open field with one man to beat and at least 20 yards available thereafter, Smith let a safety stop him with a soft tackle on 4th and 1 as the Browns trailed the Titans 14-6. The Browns would go into halftime down 21-6 on the way to a 31-13 defeat that wasn’t even as close as the scoreboard.

And so we end an era exactly as it started… with far too many words. That’s just the way it goes for Browns fans who wait for a team to win enough that the cutting of a fourth string running back becomes a real topic of conversation.

Here’s hoping we never really have to talk about Adonis Thomas unless he actually does something great in the NFL. A little bit of winning will all but guarantee that comes to pass.

(Photo from SomeEcards.com)

For the first seven innings, the Cleveland Indians looked well on their way to an easy win against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Starting Pitcher Jeanmar Gomez, coming off his first bad outing of the season, dominated the Twins to the tune of one unearned run on three hits. His sinker was working all night and Minnesota was never able to get anything going.

“Gomez did a very good job,” Acta said. “He went out there and threw strikes with good life on his fastball. He got a lot of ground balls — actually 11 groundouts. He did a good job, especially against the left-handed hitters that he saw tonight,” said Tribe manager Manny Acta.

Offensively, the Indians didn’t exactly break things open against former Indian Carl Pavano, but they did enough damage to be in control of the game. Trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Jason Kipnis led off with a single and was moved to third on Asdrubal Cabrera’s ground-rule double. The Tribe seemed like they would be in business. Travis Hafner, still looking for a big hit with runners in scoring position, delivered an RBI groundout to second base to tie the game. Carlos Santana brought in the lead run with s sacrifice fly left.

An inning later, they got some offense from the most unexpected of sources.

New utility man Jose Lopez, playing third base for Jack Hannahan who needed a day off with a sore back, doubled to open the frame. Up next was Casey Kotchman, a man who a day ago I said I was “ready to move on from.” Naturally, Kotchman hit a no doubt bomb to deep center for a two-run homer, his third on the season. All of his homers have come on the road. It was the first of two important hits for Kotchman in this one.

At 4-1 with the way Gomez was pitching, this one seemed all but over. However, baseball is played in nine innings, not seven.

I’ve always respected the fact that Acta has managed with more of his gut than by the book. After living through the Mike Hargrove and Eric Wedge “lefty/righty binder” days, its been refreshing to have a manager who does it by feel. For the last two seasons, Vinnie Pestano has been his eighth inning guy regardless of who was coming to the plate. However last night with Pestano having put himself in a bind, Acta turned to rookie left-hander Nick Hagadone.

Pestano had walked lefty Denard Span an out later had a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play, but Santana’s throw was in the dirt and Kipnis didn’t scoop it and apply the tag. A good throw, and Span is out with ease and we aren’t even having this conversation.  Josh Willingham drove Span home to bring the Twins to within 4-2.

“Vinnie has been struggling a little bit against left-handed hitters and the splits are very big,” Acta said. “We’re trying to get him through it and we gave him two chances there. He’s just scuffling a little bit against the lefties.”

So on came Hagadone. The kid has been near perfect in his two stints with the big club this year. Hitters entered the game just 3-34 against him and he has averaged a strikeout per inning. The man due-up, switch-hitting Ryan Doumit, has four homers this year, all from the left side.

“Nick has thrown the ball really well,” said Acta. “We wanted to turn Doumit around, and he just got Nick.”

That he certainly did.

Doumit crushed Hagadone’s 2-0 room service fastball deep into the left field seats to tie the game.

I actually don’t have a problem with Acta calling on Hagadone. My bigger issue was yanking Gomez for Pestano. Was there something wrong with a guy who had thrown 97 pitches and had retired the last eight men he faced?

Now here we were, in a tie game that had no business being tied. It wouldn’t last long.

The Twins went to their closer, Matt Capps, in a non-save situation. You knew where this one was going. With one out Kotchman singled up the middle. Capps then fell behind defensive replacement Aaron Cunningham 3-0 before getting him to pop-out second (a great over the shoulder grab from old friend Jamey Carroll). With two out, Kotchman advanced to second on a wild pitch setting the stage for the biggest hit of the night.

Shin-Soo Choo, who Acta moved to the leadoff spot to not only get him going, but to get something out of the top slot, came through with a huge two-out RBI single scoring pinch runner Lou Marson. (Now there’s something I never thought I would write – “scoring pinch runner Lou Marson.”)

“I didn’t make up the lineup thinking Choo was going to come up with two out and a runner on second base in the ninth inning,” said Acta.

Chris Perez, who hadn’t pitched in six days, blew threw the Twins 1-2-3 to pick up his league-leading 12th save.

Never a dull moment in Wahooland, right?

“We lost three games against Boston, so we knew we needed a win,” Choo said. “The first thing is to stop the losing streak so everybody feels good.”

This afternoon at 1 PM EST, the Indians and Twins wrap up their two-game mini-series. The Tribe’s current stopper, Derek Lowe (5-1, 2.47 ERA) will be on the mound. The Twins will counter with Jason Marquis (2-2, 6.26 ERA), a veteran innings eater. Acta’s lineup should be posted at some point this morning. It should be interesting to see how he puts things together today. He already said after last night’s game that Choo will be back in the leadoff spot.

(AP Photo/Jim Mone)

“Kyrie Irving is a special type of player—talented enough, young enough—who intermittently illuminates how inconsequential opinions about the NBA are in relation to fluorescent streaks of skill. We can talk about a lot of stuff, but talking about the moment when Irving dives into the lane off a pick, shows the ball to the best player in the league, then switches hands, double-clutches, and lays it in is futile. Seriously: try to be articulate about that thing. What’s great is that we get to talk about his highlights in incomprehensible shrieks and about Kyrie Irving as an electrifying talent like we did with Blake Griffin last year. There’s no need to figure out his place in the natural order of point guards because we’re just so damned happy he’s here. Thanks for blessing us, dude.” [McGowan/Cavs the Blog]

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This piece is getting a lot of attention around the baseball web community- “These new categories fall under the title of Sabermetrics, the figment of several self-anointed geniuses, mostly originated via the vivid imagination of the illustrious Bill James. They were noisily compacted into a best-selling book entitled “Moneyball.” The book was scripted into a popular motion picture a year ago, starring Hollywood jock Brad Pitts and celebrating the baseball wizardry of Billy Beane.

Yet now, amid all that claptrap, we are being treated to a Major League Baseball season for the ages. It is the sort of season that grabs any longtime baseball lover with sensational joy of the game, without the mashed numbers.” [Green/Detroit News]

—-

“While the drafts of 2011 and 2010 filled important needs on the defense in the first two rounds, it doesn’t have the same sizzle as selecting a running back and quarterback with the first two picks. And if the Browns only had one but not the other, it wouldn’t have the same impact.

“I was pleased with the way that they performed,” Shurmur said of Weeden and Richardson. “I was glad to see that they were very professional in the way that they work at things and I think it showed up on the field. Now, the next step as we have just talked about is to put them in with the other guys and see them compete with guys that have already played in the league.”

None of this means the Browns can now automatically compete on the field with Pittsburgh and Baltimore, but it’s a big step in the right direction. The Browns won the month of May. The next step is to starting winning when it really counts.” [Red Right 88]

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“The Cavs need a scorer. Harrison Barnes might be the best pure scorer in the entire draft. Seems like a match made in heaven, right? After Barnes’ freshman year, he was probably a top-5 pick in last year’s draft, a possibility for the Cavaliers at #4 even. But, Barnes decided to return the Chapel Hill for another go round.

Barnes showed in his two seasons that he could put the ball in the hole. At 6-8, he is as smooth as can be on the floor and makes scoring look effortless at times. He has a great midrange game and can definitely extend that range beyond the arc. Defensively, he has the tools to be a great defender at the next level. He is long and has the ability to stay with other wing players. But, for some reason this past season, many people wanted to look at Barnes’ shortcomings.

He has the knock of only being a good athlete. Scouts say he isn’t the greatest ball handler and is slightly one-dimensional. When UNC got to the NCAA Tournament, many people, including myself, had them winning it. Then injury struck and they lost starting point guard Kendall Marshall to a broken wrist. This only intensified the talk of Barnes being one-dimensional. The loss of an elite point guard showed that Barnes had trouble creating his own shot and needed someone to get him the ball.” [Mancini/Stepien Rules]

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Finally, if you missed it yesterday, check out our attempt to help the Cleveland Foodbank [WFNY]