Peyton Hillis Wins Madden ’12 Cover
April 27, 2011Indians 7, Royals 2: Tomlin, Right-Handed Sticks Lead The Way
April 28, 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.
Looking back at the draft steals of the ’80s- “1981 – Sure, everyone remembers that the Browns scored big with Hanford Dixon in the first round, the corner they needed out of Southern Mississippi. But the best pick of this draft came in the seventh round. The Browns took a tough, hard-hitting, undersized Linebacker out of Louisville. His name was Eddie Johnson. You all remember him as “The Assassin.”
Eddie was the middle linebacker and the heart and soul of the Browns defense in the mid-80’s. He was known to knock a ball carrier out with a stiff shoulder to the chest and played in Cleveland for nine years before retiring in 1991. He was one of my all-time favorite players.” [TD/Still WFNY]
–
“The Cleveland Browns have made it no secret they are willing to listen to trade offers for the No. 6 overall pick. The team has several holes to fill and would consider sliding down the first round for the right price.
But chances are one of the top two quarterbacks — Auburn’s Cam Newton or Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert — would have to fall out of the top five to make this happen. Quarterback is the one position that gets teams most antsy to trade up. The Baltimore Ravens’ deal last year with the Denver Broncos for Tim Tebow is the most recent example. So who are possible trade partners for Cleveland this year? Let’s take a look.” [Walker/AFC North Blog]
–
Not sure if this is sports or politics. Maybe a mixture. Either way- “The announcement last week that the Browns are stepping forward to help in the century-old quest to develop the lakefront came as curious and alarming news. Most alarming is the presence of the ubiquitous lawyer Fred Nance, whose every public appearance causes his own law partners to shudder and concerned citizens to fear that the public treasury is again at risk.” [Roberts/Cleveland Scene]
–
Perhaps the injury bug will have something to do with this- “Thing is, they don’t need to be perfect to win this division. With the four other teams displaying their own shortcomings in this first month, it’s quite possible that the AL Central winner walks away with a win total in the middle-80s, and if things break just right and everyone stays healthy, why can’t it be the Tribe? It’s not as if Cleveland is competing in the AL East here.
Still, there are going to be plenty of doubts. Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA system doesn’t project a promising remaining record for the Indians (only the Royals are slated to be worse) and we’re going to need more time to tell if a player like Masterson’s eventual correction sticks closer to his 2.18 ERA in 2011 than his 4.70 mark in 2010. (But talk about a nice start to a turnaround. Last season, Masterson didn’t notch his fifth win of the year until Aug. 26.)” [Big League Stew]
–
Not everyone is a fan of the Hillis cover- “Oh crap. Hillis picked up 66 percent of the vote in the final of the 32-player tournament to easily beat Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick. We tried to warn people – the Madden Curse is real. And now it’s going to roll through Cleveland like Godzilla through Tokyo. And now Hillis is infected with something worse than the cheese touch. The Browns better hope Montario Hardesty’s knee is OK and we have no doubt general manager Tom Heckert is hastily reordering his draft board now that the news is out.” [Red Right 88]
16 Comments
I’m hoping Julio Jones will be hoisting a Browns jersey tonight. I hate the fact that I have to wait till Friday to see the second round >:(
EMOTICONS EXPRESS MY ANXIETY
Sounds like a win-win. Either A) 2 QBs are taken in the top five-leaving us a choice between 2 or 3 absolute studs or
B) one (or both) QBs fall to #6 and we sit back and listen to offers. I really want to trade down but only if we get good value.
I say again and again, baseball projections are not to be trusted, therefore I am not buying any of that junk!
@2 – 🙂
apparently YES network that has the yankees is a major doubter of the tribe, i heard a broadcast on the radio of a yanks/white sox game just because thats what was on and the YES guys were saying “how can the Indians possibly be in first place?” Why doubt a winner that doesn’t need all that money to win? Even though Shapiro made some dumb decisions (trading CC, Cliff Lee, and Victor), he made a strong farm system that’s now making its way up to Cleveland and is winning games consistently. Heck, without trading Bartolo Colon in 2001, we would’ve never gotten what we could end up getting from the Cliff Lee trade. Young cores win games and stay winning
“Even though Shapiro made some dumb decisions (trading CC, Cliff Lee, and Victor), he made a strong farm system that’s now making its way up to Cleveland and is winning games consistently.”
Pat, you’ve got to be kidding me with this one. Who the heck do you think the Tribe got all this young talent and “a strong farm system”. By trading guys like CC, cliff, and Victor.
Without those trades the Indians don’t have Brantley, Laporta, Masterson, Carrasco, Marson, Donald. That’s 6 of the 25 man roster right there. And further, had he not made those trades we STILL wouldn’t have CC or Cliff (Maybe Vic but not a guarantee).
Wish people would stop with this line of thinking already and embrace the new reality of the MLB. Let the big boys buy out the second, less productive half of players careers.
At this point with the unbalanced schedule, if the Tribe can finish a couple games above .500 in their divisional games, I think they got it.
at the time all of those trades seemed dumb, and the team suffered for a few years until the guys like Brantley, LaPorta, Masterson, Carrasco, Marson, and Donald came up, also Carlos Santana was part of the CC trade, but he’s been streaky recently. I’m not opposed to the new guys playing with Grady, Choo, and the rest of the guys seeing the success, but i guess it’s a balancing act when you think about it and the long term result is showing
FOR THE TRIBE IT’S QUITE SIMPLE: JUST SCORE MORE RUNS THAN THE OTHER TEAM. THEN WIN MORE GAMES PER SERIES THAN THE OTHER TEAM. IF THEY FOLLOW THAT MOTTO THEY SHOULD BE FINE.
Pat, Carrasco was one of the keys of the Cliff trade.
I can already tell you that after 2012, if Choo is still letting Boras demand a rediculous amount of money and years for the “after 30” years of his career, I will be pissed if the FO doesn’t trade him.
Now that the FO has realized they can’t keep these guys and are drafting better as well, I think the talent infusion from the minors to the big club will be more fluid and there won’t be as many gaps in the years they are in contention.
@Pat – also Carlos Santana was part of the CC trade
no, we got Carlos Santana for Casey Blake because we traded Max Ramirez to Texas for Kenny Lofton who helped fuel our push into the 2007 playoffs 🙂
and anytime a Yankees fan or broadcaster complains about the Indians, just remember that they are still bitter about the bug game 🙂
good memories are a good way to start off the day
Sorry Pat, I read that wrong. You said Santana was part of the CC trade but he was not.
They got Santana and Meloan for Casey Blake.
that first line should have been in quotes, but I think you get the point
for whatever reason, i thought Santana was in the CC trade, but i’m guessing it was a different catcher that we got from the Brewers, all i remember is that we got a minor league catcher for CC. and Boras always asks for insane amounts of money for his clients (ex: A-Rod) so if Choo ends up staying after 2012, he’ll need a new agent to make that happen
the CC trade got us brantley, laporta, rob bryson and zack jackson. im not sure the status of jackson and bryson at this point.