Tashaun Gipson being evaluated for concussion
November 11, 2014Josh Cribbs hints at return to NFL
November 12, 2014It’s Wednesday, and your boy is back. I spent last week in Orlando for a work conference. Let me just say there is nothing worse than landing at home after a week on the road on a Friday night at 9:45.
I watched Thursday night’s Cleveland Browns from the road at a random bar and was surrounded by people cheering for the Browns. Everywhere you go, our fans are there in some way shape or form. You gotta love that and you gotta love that we have a First place Football team on November 12. Amazing. and with that, away we go…..
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A Tribe Target?
Late Sunday night, back to back tweets from FOXÂ Sports’s Ken Rosenthal caught my fancy.
Sources: #Dodgers aggressively trying to move Kemp, Crawford or Ethier. Puig not in play.
â Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 10, 2014
#Dodgers‘ Kemp obviously drawing attention, but some teams prefer a left-handed hitter such as Ethier or Crawford. â Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 10, 2014
Matt Kemp. Right-handed, power-hitting outfielder. Age 30. Coming off of a second half where he exploded (.309/.365/.606/17 HR/54 RBI) and was a big part of the Dodgers run to the NL West crown. I already know what you are thinking, so don’t even bother. This is a complete pipe dream for our Cleveland Indians. Especially when you consider that Kemp is on the books for five more years and $107 million. But a man can dream, can’t he?
The Dodgers are sitting on four big-money outfielders – Kemp, Andre Ethier, Carl Crawford, and Yasiel Puig. Puig isn’t going anywhere. Their top prospect, Joc Pederson, is also an outfielder and is ready. While Ethier ($56 million) and Crawford ($62.25 million) are locked in for three more seasons, do the Indians really need another left-handed hitter? Not to mention when Kemp is right like he was the last three months of 2014, he is one of the better players in the game. New Team President Andrew Friedman has lots on his plate right off the bat. Unclogging that outfield is near the top of his list.
Rosenthal also reported that the Dodgers are willing to listen to any sort of package which includes eating a lot of the contract or none of it. So what does this mean? Well obviously, if the Indians were going to be able to pull something like this off, it would require the Dodgers to eat a substantial amount of the Kemp deal. It is pretty simple: The better the players or prospects you are willing to send, the more money the other team would be willing to take on.
Friedman is not taking Nick Swisher or Michael Bourn to move Kemp, despite both having only two years left on their contracts (rather than the five for Kemp). They are loaded in the outfield already and Swisher can’t DH in the National League. Kemp in Cleveland is a long shot, but he is the kind of guy who would be perfect for this team and lineup. Anyone worried about him coming to Cleveland after years of loving it in Los Angeles should rest easy; this is why you pay Terry Francona.
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The Big Ten: Trophies for everybody!
Like many of you, I grew up on Big Ten Football. I never took to one team despite living in Buckeye territory. Great games were all I cared about and rooted for. After Four plus years of Big Eight/Big 12 action when I was at Kansas, I moved to Chicago, right back in the heart of Big Ten country. So in other words, the conference is in my blood.
I remember “The Battle for Paul Bunyon’s Axe” between Minnesota and Wisconsin and Indiana taking on in-state rival Purdue for ‘The Old Oaken Bucket.” These were staples of Big Ten Football and had major significance to the schools who played in these games. What I didn’t remember and now am made aware by the great Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports:Â The Big(ger) Ten now has 14 trophy games. Fourteen
Nebraska and Wisconsin are playing a big game in the Big Ten West this Saturday. Did you know they are vying for “The Freedom Trophy?” Here’s Wetzel:
In fact, the mere name suggests the Big Ten marketing department that brought you Leaders and Legends don’t even believe in this.
The Freedom Trophy? What is that? Was there ever any doubt in the freedom of Wisconsin or Nebraska? Has anyone tried to invade either place and establish totalitarian rule â we’re looking at you Iowa.
Big Ten marketing person No. 1: This is ham-fisted and meaningless. Fans are going to make fun of us.
Big Ten marketing person No. 2: Call it the Freedom Trophy and say it honors veterans. The trophy will consist of two massive football stadiums merged together with an enormous American flag coming out of it. They can’t make fun of that.
The Big Ten continues to make themselves an easy target when it doesn’t have to be. The good news is that basketball season is upon us.
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Thad The Bad….Scheduler
The Ohio State Men’s basketball team is starting a new era this season. Aaron Craft, the heart and soul of the program for the past four years has finally moved on. Also gone is up and down scoring small forward LaQuinton Ross, who made the ill-advised decision to turn pro after his Sophomore season. However, there is a solid veteran core remaining.
Senior Shannon Scott, who played next to Craft for the past few seasons, will take over as the primary ball-handler. Fellow Senior Forward Sam Thompson, the high-rising energy/glue guy, will be back in the starting lineup. Sophomore Swingman Marc Loving showed flashes of brilliance last year when called upon. He will play a bigger role and is expected to start. Senior Center Amir Williams is back as the man in the middle, once again backed up by Senior Trey McDonald.
However, it is the reinforcements that Head Coach Thad Matta is most excited about. Freshman D’Angelo Russell is the real deal. The Guard from Louisville is a scoring machine and may only be in Columbus for one year, so enjoy him while you can. Jae’Sean Tate an undersized forward from Pickerington, Ohio came off the bench to score 10 points and grab eight boards in an exhibition win over Walsh Monday night. Fifth-year transfer Anthony Lee averaged over 13 points and eight rebounds last season for Temple and will become an immediate impact player for the Buckeyes.
Seems like a nice group for Matta in a swing year. He is now in his 11th year as Captain of the S.S. Buckeye. He has built the program into a consistent top of the Big Ten contender. However, if there is anything to criticize about Thad, it is his scheduling leading up to the conference season.
Last year, I gave Matta a ton of flack for having loaded up on cupcakes before the turn of the year. This year is no different, and he’s been taken to task by ESPN College Hoops Insider Jeff Goodman:
10 terrible schedules Iâm not fine with:
2. Ohio State Buckeyes — 11 of 13 games in Columbus, and seven of them come against top-300 teams.
Matta is probably going to make the argument that he wants his team to jell with so many players taking on bigger rolls while adding in three new pieces, therefore he isn’t scheduling a handful of tough games. I get that. Thad also is not a fan of pre-conference tournaments that most of the big boys play in each year. Â So no Maui Invitational, no Preseason NIT, etc. We will see what this team is made of just twice: At Louisville in the ACC/Big 10 challenge on December 12 and in Chicago against North Carolina December 20.
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One Last Note…
Let me start by saying that I do not know Joe Vardon of Northeast Ohio Media Group. I am sure he is a decent guy. He’s new to the Cleveland Sports realm, so I am trying to be as nice as I can about the following issue.
On Monday on Cleveland.com, Vardon, the LeBron James NEOMG beat reporter, posted an article surrounding the post-Dion Waiters National Anthem flap. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know the story. Waiters was quoted as saying he missed the National Anthem before Friday’s game in Denver for religious reasons. A day later, Waiters said it was a misunderstanding and his Muslim faith had nothing to do with it, he was just late out of the locker room. Waiters also started that game on the bench instead of his usual starting role. Since then, Dion has taken to his new role as the team’s sixth man.
Had Vardon left it at that, everything would have been just fine and I wouldn’t be writing this commentary. Then came these two paragraphs in succession:
Waiters’ initial response could’ve been problematic for several reasons. In 1996, the NBA suspended Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf one game for refusing to stand for the national anthem, citing his Muslim faith.
The Cavaliers’ coach David Blatt is Jewish and his family lives in Israel. Blatt had removed Waiters from the staring lineup and placed him in a reserve role Wednesday, the same night Waiters missed the national anthem.
I read it. And re-read it. And read it again. I ask Vardon, what importance is Blatt’s religion to this story? One sentence says that Blatt is Jewish. The next is that Waiters has been removed from the starting lineup. That was in the paragraph after Vardon mentions Waiters as a Muslim. Do I believe that Vardon is being malicious here? No. But what he printed is irresponsible and dangerous in its nature.
Not everyone is as smart and as worldly as we want them to be. I can guarantee you there were people who read that and thought negatively towards either Waiters or Blatt solely on the religious aspects that Vardon added to the mix. I put it out on Twitter Monday and had people respond to me in very different ways. Some thought this made Blatt look like he was benching Waiters because he is anti-Muslim. Others read into Waiters slight of Blatt as anti-semitic. The problem: None of this is true or relevant.
If Blatt was Catholic, would that have been mentioned in the article? Of course not. Even with Blatt’s open support of Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians, insinuating a Muslim/Judaism conflict between a coach and his player is….i’ll say it again: Going down that path is irresponsible and dangerous. I hope it’s something we can all learn from going forward.
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Your Old School Hip Hop Classic of the Week
One of my favorites when I was a young Hip Hop Head was “The Ruler” himself, Slick Rick. My dude was born in England and came to Brooklyn as a 12-year old. His lyrics were like his name, Slick. His style was all his own. Rick wore an eye patch after losing sight in his right-eye after a childhood accident. It became his signature, along with his British accent, which differentiated him from all others of his time in the game.
His first Album, “The Great Adventures of Slick Rick” was an all-time classic. The best of his best tracks is the one I will hit you with today. So here it is: Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story.”
49 Comments
I’d like to see Kemp patrolling the OF in Cleveland, but I also ask myself this… Do I want to give up a package that would center around a guy like Jose Ramirez?… Lindor?… Salazar?… If not, it’s probably a pipe dream.
For a guy like like kemp? Why not give one of those if you can get LA to eat a lot of salary?
“two massive football stadiums merged together with an enormous American flag coming out of it. They canât make fun of that.”
So two oval structures with a giant flagpole in the middle? Yeah, I’m sure nobody would ever find a way to make fun of that.
Thank you for calling that Vardon piece out. Despicably inflammatory.
Kemp’s injury history is too big of a gamble for the Tribe to make that trade.
Am I the only one a little unnerved with the thought of a star athlete with the last name Kemp coming to Cleveland? (Obvious joke is obvious. I would LOVE to have Matt Kemp on the Indians)
NEOMG. What a joke. This is what gets treated as journalism today? Quotes are taken wildly out of context and are assumed (by the reporter) to mean something entirely different. Turrible, turrible reporting. Just plain awful. You’d like to think they were trying to make a big splash by stretching Dion’s quote, but I think it was more likely fueled by utter incompetence. Did they (or their editors? those still exist?) even consider what they were writing? I doubt it. Idiots.
I had also pointed out Vardon’s idiocy in a previous comment here. Looking at his stock photo, knowing the PD is watching its finances, reading the bad writing quality of recent hires, I blame the PD.
Vardon is obviously a young man with compounded ignorance: he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. (Really, someone who identifies with one religion with practitioners who risk employment and public scorn due to beliefs would tend to not respect a follower of another such religion? Conflation of Jew and Israeli, Muslim and Arab, etc.). But fine, if you hire a kid of limited understanding, where are his editors, to make him stay in his lane, to red mark the copy? The only conclusion is that the people up the ladder themselves don’t get it or they encouraged it.
The PD is suddenly mixing reports with opinion, such as new Cavs writer doing a report on Tristan and gushing over and over, “unlimited potential!” “The sky’s the limit!” I wonder if sites like WFNY, heavy on analysis and lighter on reporting, are making the PD panic. I wonder if they’ve already lost their competent people, or if they’re in a scary transition and just losing their way.
I think it’s pretty safe. He’s already passed the age when his daddy’s weight ballooned.
“There would also be the potential for a backlash from some fans, fair or
not, given the United States’ decades of military battles in the Middle
East and the attacks against Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 11,
2012 (at the American embassy in Libya).”
HUH!?!?! No wonder I never venture over to the PD anymore.
I disagree. What Vardon wrote was completely intentional. He wanted to convey the recklessly irresponsible religious angle. Anyone who professes to write for a living knows exactly what they’re doing when they juxtapose sentences and paragraphs like that.
I don’t call for people’s jobs, but the guy should be taken to task for what he wrote.
I just can’t believe this article as I keep reading: “After the Northeast Ohio Media Group broke the story Friday prior to the Cavaliers’ game in Denver…”
Broke the story? You mean accidentally published slander without even thinking about it. They are the story. Their sheer incompetence is the spectacle here.
Yes. “For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
This applies to writing, as well. This stuff doesn’t happen on accident, and it’s not simply careless or reckless. He knew precisely what he was doing when he mashed those keys. We all do.
Off topic, but brilliant…
http://tosh.cc.com/video-clips/hfuztk/sport-science-0
I just don’t want to believe that’s true. But maybe it is. They still have editors on the payroll, so that supports your belief. There was a comment backlash on cleveland.com, and “Vardon” responded with a formally-prosed comment in his defense that kinda blamed naivete about fishing in these waters. The response sure read like it was composed higher up the ladder.
see, he wrote “fair or not” which exculpates him. He’s just mentioning the yahoo attitudes we all know are out there. He’s not opening a can of worms, he’s not the yahoo, he’s not fishing for yahoos or setting up straw man clicks.
I hope that’s the case. If it came from the editors, shame on them. They deserve an even higher level of scorn.
Seriously. And the hospitals may not be able to handle the volume. After that first free agency signing, there was a 274% increase in the number of Kemp children born in the Cleveland-area.
just look in the comments section of the PD and you understand why their “reporters” write like they do.
I suppose. But Haynes invented the story in the first place, creating controversy where there was absolutely none. Did he intentionally misquote Waiters to drive up hits? Maybe, but its not a good way for a beat reporter to build trust with players on his new team, insinuating that they hate America. Either way, the mashing is reckless and ill conceived.
LOLZ.
Agreed. It’s “fine” enough I guess to do what Craig often does on this site with deliberately pot-stirring questions:
“Should the Browns Dump Johnny Manziel For Acting Like a Partying Maniac?”
“Is Kevin Love Unhappy and Preparing the Opt out of His Contract?”
Those are bits of garbage that you can carelessly throw out for conversation and page clicks, and no one is really harmed at the end of the day (just wasted time on said garbage). But when you throw out hypotheticals that have serious implications on people’s lives and reputations on serious topics (religion, politics, and patriotism), you’ve just crossed the line.
Absolute sleeze.
I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because,
uh, some, uh, people out there in our nation don’t have maps and, uh, I
believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the
Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our
education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should
help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so
we will be able to build up our future [for our children].
Such as.
It’s a shame what is done to Indians fans I mean window shopping drooling all over the possibility of a Kemp or a Cruz only to realize your checkbook is low on funds. On a side note I saw a Tweet saying Ubaldo Jimenez is a possibility to return.
No wonder I never venture over to the PD anymore.
You aren’t alone in this sentiment!
Anybody have a screen shot of the article? I don’t want to give them the click.
I actually thought that Shawn was the Kemp in question for a moment. Seemed like a desperate move by the Cavs, and one that showed a fundamental misunderstanding of the term “big man” in the basketball sense. I’m relieved to find out otherwise.
Oh, and way too much injury history for a roll of the dice on the Kemp in question.
Upvoted as soon as I saw “U.S. Americans”.
Honestly? I give up 2 of the 3 of them for Kemp in a heartbeat (provided its Salazar/Lindor or Salazar/Ramirez), especially if they are eating some salary.
Clevelanders tend to overvalue their prospects. I know I’m at fault in the past. Kemp is a great talent, hits right handed, plays RF (which moves Good Guy David Murphy to a 4th outfielder), and is an average fielder. He’s exactly what this lineup needs. It’s also a bold move that may put butts in the seats.
I tend to agree with you if we’re talking about 2011 Matt Kemp, but we have 3 seasons of data telling us that maybe based on injury, and maybe based on age, Kemp isn’t that kind of player anymore.
Your point about Cleveland (and probably most baseball fans) overvaluing their prospects rings true, but we’ve seen at least some performance from 2 of those guys on a ML level now, so it’s also not exactly trading Pomeranz and White who had, what, 3 starts between them? You don’t want to give away cheap talent who you control for many more years for a guy who might emulate Grady Sizemore’s career arc.
I refuse to criticize Thad Matta. He has given me Ohio State Basketball as a “thing” in my life since he arrived….and as long as he continues to produce a team that not only makes the tournament every year, but also has a chance to make a run deep into it, then I am more than happy. Keep doing your thing, Thad. Some of us remember what you rescued us from.
All this talk of Dodger outfielders and no mention of the guy we should really be trying to get from them: Scott Van Slyke. RH, cost controlled, years of control, perfect platoon type.
She was clearly differentiating between the US nation-state and those in Central and South America who could be mistaken as “Americans”. Surprised you didn’t catch that đ
Mash those keys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZYKVNT-VWA
Agreed. You also forgot that he’s owed $21M+ per year until 2019. He’s not worth his contract to begin with, let alone the contract and one piece of talent (Lindor, Salazar, or Ramirez).
Basically, if the Indians wanted spend $110M on a player, they could go out and get a better player(s) without having to give up anybody.
Due to my Wife’s previous employment, I know more about Joe Vardon than I should. When my wife left her job, Joe Vardon showed up on my doorstep and was harassing my neighbors asking questions about us. Yes, it is personal, but I will never read or click on anything he ever puts forth, ever.
Joe Vardon is a clickbaiting troll who is only concerned with Joe Vardon. The political beat at the Dispatch was perfect for him–scum begets scum. I was highly disappointed to hear of his hiring by the PD. Your story confirms my suspicions.
All of those reasons are why LA would want to keep him.
Well, they’re not going to just give him to us. We’d have to trade them something of value.
My school of thinking if I’m the Dodgers: we’ve got big bucks so who cares what contracts cost. Would I rather trade Kemp who isn’t going to bring much of a return because of his contract? OR do I trade Van Slyke who isn’t as good of a player maybe but for all those other reasons net us something of real value?
This is also the part where I say: between the cost of players, cost of other free agents, variable values teams put on prospects, draft pick compensation, protected picks, and all the other rubbish…. I have ZERO clue to the real trade value of any MLB player. It’s just all so nebulous. Any time I think I have a basic understanding, the Giants resign Lincecum or the Tigers give away Fister.
And Victor stays with Detroit to the tune of four years at $17M a pop.
Bullet dodged. Detroit takes the hit. Win, win.
This. Is. AWESOME!
What about trading Swisher to the Orioles for Ubaldo Jimenez, this is assuming Cruz does not re-sign with Baltimore. I think Swisher will have a bounce back season and that means his .352 lifetime OBP will help the Orioles power hitters drive in a few more runs and extend the opposing pitcher. Contracts of the two players are similar enough that the idea behind the move is the Indians get better production out of Jimenez and Baltimore gets better production from Swisher than they would get from Jimenez. First base is taken in Cleveland, and even though there are Murphy detractors, he did lead the team in slugging percentage with runners in scoring position so I am not sure I want to replace Murphy with Swisher.
Kemp raised some discord this past season because he wanted to play centerfield. I just don’t see why ballplayers care where they play as long as they can play the position decently.
To my point…
Source: FanGraphs — Grady Sizemore, Matt Kemp
To my point…
To my point:
Wow, that didn’t work a few times…
we’ll see. 35yo with career-years are either outliers or supplementing.