SB Nation User Blog: Buckeye Brad

Injuries. If Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner (and many others) weren't hurt and/or ineffective...

Buckeye Brad — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:54:33 -0000

Injuries. If Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner (and many others) weren't hurt and/or ineffective this year, there's a chance they would have been in the race this summer. If they were, would they really have traded Sabathia and, in turn, received Matt LaPorta? Would they have realized that Kelly Shoppach could be an everyday catcher if given the chance, thus allowing Victor Martinez to move to first base or DH, thus displacing black holes like Hafner and Garko? No, the stars didn't align for the Indians in 2008, but things look pretty darn bright for 2009.

ShysterBall on what the Indians have to be thankful for this year

Eric Wright, who entered the year as the embattled Eric Wright, is now the reliable Eric Wright....

Buckeye Brad — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:13:13 -0000

Eric Wright, who entered the year as the embattled Eric Wright, is now the reliable Eric Wright. Cleveland's lucky to have him, and the Browns now know that left corner is one position they won't have to fill at the start of 2009.

Peter King from his MMQB

What we've learned so far

Buckeye Brad — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:46:24 -0000

What we've learned so far

Swerb's Blurbs, a fantastic site for Cleveland and OSU sports, has an article about what we've learned so far this Cavs season. With all the talk lately about what LeBron's going to do in 2010, the author wanted to look at what other Cavs players have done so far this year. It's a good recap of what has went well this season (and the one player who hasn't been playing well).

Anderson sprains MCL

Buckeye Brad — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:10:22 -0000

More good news for the Browns: Derek Anderson is done for the year after spraining the MCL in his left knee. That means we get to see Ken Dorsey quarterback this team for its last four games. Any chance of DA increasing his trade value the last month of the season has gone down the drain, much like this season. (Although, one could argue that Anderson not playing might actually increase his trade value.) Why couldn't this have happened in the second game so we could have seen Brady Quinn earlier? This season just keeps getting worse.

Indians pass on infielders?

Buckeye Brad — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:41:19 -0000

Indians pass on infielders?

In Paul Hoynes' latest Indians Insider article, he mentions that the two free agent infielders the Indians have been targeting are Orlando Hudson and Rafael Furcal (as we expected). According to him, though, the team determined last week that physical questions about Hudson (left wrist) and Furcal (back) weren't worth the risk of multiyear commitments. So he says the team is turning their attention to signing a closer.

I'm not sure about the validity of this story, considering the source, but if it's true then maybe the Indians think they can get an infielder through a trade (Roberts, Cano?). I know there has been a lot of talk on here about signing Hudson but it seems that may not be happening.

Hoynes also gives stats of some players in winter ball and notes that Peralta has been playing some third base.

Brady Quinn tells me his problem is not just a broken bone near the top of the index finger on his...

Buckeye Brad — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:35:29 -0000

Brady Quinn tells me his problem is not just a broken bone near the top of the index finger on his throwing hand. It's a damaged tendon, which makes it doubly difficult to spin the ball with the kind of rotation he usually has coming out of his right hand. You saw that against Houston Sunday, in his eight-of-18 performance before getting yanked for Derek Anderson.

Peter King in his weekly MMQB

Yankees have an opening in their rotation

Buckeye Brad — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:14:03 -0000

Yankees have an opening in their rotation

Ken Rosenthal is reporting today that Mike Mussina will retire this offseason. I wonder what the Yankees willl do to fill his spot in the rotation? Maybe there are some free agents available for them to sign -- if they have the money, of course.

SI's Peter King gives Josh Cribbs some love

Buckeye Brad — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:11:49 -0000

Peter King wrote extensively in his MMQB column this week about Josh Cribbs, calling him the best special teams player in the NFL. He notes that it is unusual for a great return man to also be a suburb "gunner" on the punt team. He goes so far to say that he's never seen a player in the kicking game like Cribbs (and this guy has seen a lot of football games), calling him the most complete special-teams package of pursuit, blocking and returning playing today. That's high praise for Cribbs. I think most Browns fans don't realize how lucky we are to have a weapon like him on our team.

King writes this about Cribbs' performance in the Denver game.

In the first quarter against Denver, he hand-swiped punt-returner Eddie Royal around the ankles, undercutting him for a two-yard gain and forcing Denver to travel 86 yards for a touchdown. Cribbs returned the ensuing kickoff 37 yards, which meant the Browns had to travel only 59 yards for Brady Quinn's first NFL touchdown drive. These are yards that show up in the box score but are rarely acknowledged. Cribbs' plays made Denver have to make a long drive for its TD, and shortened the field for Cleveland's TD drive. That's what great special-team players do. For the game, he had four of Cleveland's six special-teams tackles and added 140 return yards.

I'm glad to see us finally starting to use him a little bit in the offense. I know that he's so valuable on special teams that we can't use him too much, but his wide array of talents can help us move the ball and also give opposing coaches something to worry about. I'd like to see him throw the ball once in a while in a trick play; he was a QB for many years so he should be able to throw a decent pass.

Brady Quinn's first start

Buckeye Brad — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:58:42 -0000

Despite the loss, I was impressed with Quinn's performance Thursday night. He was accurate, mobile, poised, and looked like he was in charge of the team. I know it's only one start but I'm hopeful that the Browns have finally found the quarterback we've been looking for since 1999.

Peter King has his thoughts about Quinn in this article from SI.com. He was impressed with his execution of the "safe" game plan that the Browns had for him. For a more detailed analysis, Football Outsiders breaks down every pass that Quinn threw in the game. The writer analyzes his reads and throws and came away impressed, while admitting it was against a poor defense. Overall he gave Quinn a grade of B+.

What are your thoughts of Quinn's first start and what do you expect for the rest of the year? I think we had better not see DA again unless there's an injury. Brady showed us that he can be the leader of this team and he deserves the chance to play.

ESPN's Offseason Analysis

Buckeye Brad — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:13:37 -0000

ESPN's Offseason Analysis

Jonah Keri of BP writes ESPN.com's article analyzing the Indians and what moves they might make this winter. There's not really much there that most of us don't know and have already discussed, but it's always interesting to get an outsider's perspective. He mentions the need of a #2 starter -- he says Carmona too inconsistant to be a reliable #2 starter on a championship team -- and help in the bullpen. For trade bait, he lists either catcher and one of our surplus of outfielders. He thinks LaPorta may not spend as much time in the AAA next year as most people assume but says the higher level of our minor leagues are thin (although after our trades I don't know if I agree with that). Overall, he concludes that the Indians could be an 80-something-win contender in a division without a dominant team next year.