GAMBLOG Picks Of The Week
February 22, 200802/23 Morning Minute: Who Needs The New Guys?
February 23, 2008As another week comes to a close it’s time for the Best of the Web! You know you deserve it. Go ahead. Click some links. (Thanks to I Can Has Cheezburger.com for this week’s pic.)
So…around here the big stories have been, hmmmm. Let me think back for a minute…oh yeah, the Cavs pulled off a little trade. Rock and Scott both offered their opinions/analysis. Scott got us thinking about the Browns and what moves they might make in free agency. One of those moves will have to be a decision on QB Derek Anderson, which Rock wrote about. The Browns did lock up Jamal Lewis this week, and that same link has an interesting article about Cavs’ coach Mike Brown.
Who knows what fate awaits Kelvin Sampson, but Rock wants him to stay away from Ohio State’s recruits.
Around the Cleveland sports scene-
Here are your Cavalier trade reactions- Brian Windhorst thinks Joe Smith is the ‘sleeper’ in the deal. He also mentions Daniel Gibson’s injury and that the Cavs now have the league’s third highest payroll.
Patrick McManamon thinks Ben Wallace is the key to the trade. He also adds this gem, “The full effects of this trade might not be known until the playoffs.” Seriously, this is why he gets the big bucks?
Terry Pluto thinks it makes the Cavs a better team.
John Hollinger from ESPN is a fan of the move. For the creator of the Player Efficiency Rating, Wally Szczerbiak is the key piece of the trade. (See where I’m going here?)
Chad Ford ranks the Cavs 5th on his list of winners from the trade shake-ups. However, I don’t know why he would have said this-
Negative Spin: LeBron is happy . . . for the moment. It’s not clear that Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith and Delonte West bring enough to the table to put the Cavs on par with the Celtics and Pistons. And the team’s cap flexibility is now practically gone. It’s doubtful Danny Ferry can make another big move before LeBron hits free agency in 2010.
What in the world is he talking about? Did he notice the number of large expiring contracts the Cavs will have to play with at next year’s deadline? And Ford is at least the second person I’ve seen that mentions at least in passing that LeBron James is happy with the move, but has anyone heard from LeBron? Have you heard that from his mouth?
How about some baseball-
The Indians welcomed the full squad to Winter Haven on Thursday, and in the least publicized move of the day acquired former Twin Jason Tyner. He will open the year at Buffalo.
My favorite Tribe writer, Paul Cousineau over at DiaTribe has two great offerings this week. The first is a read on trading Jason Michaels. The second is the annual player theme song post. Good offerings this year, my favorite was A Want A New Drug for Paul Byrd.
And one more Browns article, this one from Dawg Pound Daily about Cleveland’s upcoming draft possibilities.
Finally, The Big Lead cracked me up with this one, the possibility of trading the Royals to the NL for the Brewers.
At this point, why not just move the Mets and Phillies to the AL, swap out the dreadful Rays (nee Devil) and Rangers, and essentially turn the NL into a JV league?
Happy reading…
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3 Comments
I loved that TBL post about the Royals. Good stuff.
I honestly think the Royals have some potential this year – they may must end up above the Twins if their pitching works out alright.
Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Joey Gathwright… all young players with a TON of upside. But they also once had Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye…
must = just