Monthly Archives: July 2021

Kevin Stefanski to grow the role of Austin Hooper

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Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski stated that the team is looking to grow the role of the tight end this season.

The first season in Cleveland did not go for tight end Austin Hooper. After signing a very large contract the expectations were high and they were obviously not met. Hooper finished the 2020 campaign with 46 catches on 70 targets for 435 yards and four touchdowns, a large drop-off from his numbers the previous season which saw 75 receptions for 787 yards and six touchdowns in Atlanta.

A combination of the disappointing season from Austin Hooper combined with nonsensical infatuation with the third tight end on the roster has led to discussions about the role of both on the team. While there is a contingent that wants more David Njoku, it does not seem like that is going to happen. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski stated that the team is going to grow the role of Austin Hooper.

Considering the already established receivers of Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, an expanded role for Austin Hooper leaves little for any other option in the receiving game. This is before taking into account the dynamic running back combo of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. At some point there is no longer enough to go around and certain players no longer become incorporated into the offense on a regular basis. The skill positions that the team is leaning on being integral parts are the names listed in the previous few sentences. Sure, there will be times for Njoku, Harrison Bryant, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Rashard Higgins, KhaDarel Hodge, and Anthony Schwartz to make plays, but they are not the key players in the offense. The offense will continue to revolve around those who are locked into starting positions on the offense and not everyone’s favorite type of player, the backup.

MLB Trade Deadline winners and losers

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The 2021 MLB trade deadline was one to remember as many franchise cornerstone players were on the move. As with any deadline, there are clear winners and losers of the day, let’s take a look.

Winners

Los Angeles Dodgers 

This one is obvious. Los Angeles swung a deal with the Washington Nationals landing both Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. Adding Scherzer to their rotation when they are currently without Clayton Kershaw due to injury and the unknown status of Trevor Bauer, who may never throw another pitch as a Dodger, is a huge win. Inserting Turner into the mix lengthens their lineup and with another year of control after this season gives them a consistent presence beyond this season.

New York Yankees

There are two criticisms when evaluating the lineup of the New York Yankees, too right handed and too all or nothing. They addressed the two areas by acquiring Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers and Anthony Rizzo from the Chicago Cubs, both are left-handed bats. While Gallo is another all-or-nothing guy, Rizzo has the ability to be more of a consistent source of at least decent batting average. Sure they have some work to do in regards to the playoff hunt, but they can’t be counted out just yet. Additionally, the short porch in right field should be quite nice for both new faces in The Bronx.

New York Mets

The Bronx Bombers were not the only team making moves in New York. The Mets made a big splash of their own, acquiring Javier Baez from the Cubs. At the moment the Mets are without Francisco Lindor, so Baez can slide into the shortstop position for the time being. When Lindor does return Baez can shift to a different position, something he said he would only do for Lindor. Are there concerns with the bat of Baez? Sure, but the Mets do not need him to be The Guy in their lineup, but just another contributor for their offense. While adding another starting pitcher could have helped, they did add Rich Hill and saw the debut of Carlos Carrasco Friday night, two options they could rely on in some capacity down the stretch. At the end of the day it was an overall great deadline for the Mets.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox have essentially already won the division, so they were looking to solidify a few positions. Adding Cesar Hernandez was a solid option for a team that would later move the injured Nick Madrigal in a deal that saw Craig Kimbrel moving from the north to the south side of Chicago. Additionally, the team also acquired Ryan Tepera from the Cubs in a deal from the previous day. The White Sox are loading up on their bullpen and now have a three headed monster featuring Liam Hendriks in addition to their new acquisitions of Kimbrel and Tepera. Come playoff time the back end of the White Sox bullpen could be scary.

Chicago Cubs

Let’s face it, the Cubs had to blow it up. They had a roster full of extremely talented players on expiring contracts that extension talks had broken down with. Moving Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Craig Kimbrel, and Ryan Tepera had to be done. While they could open up contact talks after the season when most of the aforementioned names become free agents. In the end the Cubs had to turn the page on the World Series winning core and begin a new era in Chicago.

Losers

Colorado Rockies

There was speculation that the Rockies could move Trevor Story and Jon Gray. Flash forward to after the deadline and both players remain in Colorado. If the Rockies were going to actually have a successful deadline they needed to move Story and Gray. The fact both are still on the roster is team building malpractice and they deserve all the criticism they get.

Boston Red Sox

This was an underwhelming deadline for the Boston Red Sox. They had the opportunity to bring two former players back in Anthony Rizzo and Craig Kimbrel, yet the only move they made was for Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber is currently injured, but when he comes back there will be a logjam of where to play him. As everyone knows, Schwarber is defensively challenged. There is another defensively challenged outfielder on the roster in JD Martinez, who is currently their designated hitter. Because of this, putting Schwarber at DH, an option that would make sense for most American League clubs, is not available to the Red Sox.

San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres were on the cusp of acquiring Max Scherzer until the Dodgers swooped in and got the deal done for themselves. Missing out on a player like Scherzer is bad enough, but losing him to a division rival and one that is looking to create separation is not a great outcome.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals added two pitchers on expiring deals in Jon Lester and J.A .Happ. St. Louis is 9.5 games back in the division and trails by 6.5 games in the Wild Card race. The moves overall are confusing and don’t make a lot of sense. Neither pitcher has been necessarily good this season and are not the answer to fix a rotation they once were. This really seems like they made moves for the sake of making moves.

Cleveland gives up two runs late in 6-4 loss

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Issues in the 8th led to the Cleveland Baseball Club letting a tie game slip away from them leading to a 6-4 loss.

The post-trade deadline Cleveland Baseball Club is experiencing the same issues the pre-deadline version did. With the game tied at 4 in the 8th, it was James Karinchak who came into the mound. Karinchak failed to record an out as the White Sox tallied two runs on three hits and one walk. 

There was a moment where tempers flared as Karinchak unintentionally hit Jose Abreu in the helmet with a wild pitch. This allowed the final run to score as Chicago would go on to win the game 6-4 as a result. Karinchak was received by Nick Wittgren who proceeded to strike out the next three batters. 

Prior to the issues in the 8th, Cleveland was able to get out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a two RBI double from Franmil Reyes. Chicago would go on to score three unanswered runs from the 2nd to 4th innings off of JC Mejia. Mejia would last just 4.1 innings as he allowed four runs on four hits and four walks.

Jose Ramirez would tie things up in the 5th with a RBI single. The White Sox would again take the lead, this time by Blake Parker walking in a run, the final run charged to Mejia.

A solo home run from Franmil Reyes in the 8th would find things all tied up yet again. But this preceded the ineffective outing from Karinchak which ultimately led to the loss for Cleveland.

This was the first game since Terry Francona stepped away for remainder of the season. Cleveland is in the mode of finding things out about the younger fringe type guys on the roster , so a high volume of loses the rest of the way would hardly be surprising. Game 2 in Chicago is set to take place at 7:10 P.M.

Cleveland trades Luplow and DJ Johnson to Rays

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The Cleveland Baseball Club agreed to a deal that send outfielder Jordan Luplow and relief pitcher DJ Johnson to Tampa.

Some more movement for the Cleveland Baseball Club as they agreed to a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. Cleveland will be sending Jordan Luplow and DJ Johnson to Tampa Bay for Double-A pitcher Peyton Battenfield.

Luplow has only appeared in 36 games this season and struggled, slashing 173/.331/.439/.769. 12 of his 17 hits did go for extra-bases, but the overall lack of consistent and adequate production was an issue.

Johnson appeared in just one game for Cleveland, allowing one run on two hits in just 1.2 innings. The 31-year old reliever has only pitched 33 career innings across three season in the majors.

Battenfield has struck out 32.4% of the batters he has faced during seven games in Double-A this season. The 23-year old pitcher has steadily worked his way through the Rays minor league system this season. Battenfield has a mid-90’s fastball in addition to what has been described as a plus cutter in an article by Eric Longenhagen from Fangraphs.

Myles Straw to Cleveland, Phil Maton to Houston

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The Cleveland Baseball Club agreed to a near deadline deal with the Houston Astros

It is another trade for the Cleveland Baseball Club and this time it involves moving a reliever. Cleveland is sending Phil Maton to the Houston Astros in exchange for outfielder Myles Straw.

Catching prospect Yainer Diaz was also included in the package to Houston per reports.

Maton has a 4.57 ERA, 1.355 WHIP, and 13.3 K/9 in 38 games this season.

Myles Straw is a 26-year old outfielder with not a lot of pop in the bat. Straw has only 27 extra-base hits in 594 plate appearances, with 107 of his career hits being singles. Straw is a contact hitter who has a career slash line of .256/.334/.323/.659 with a WRC+ of 93 this season. With the incredibly lackluster state of the Cleveland outfield, this could be a productive deal for Cleveland. Adding in someone who is good in the contact department provides a different type of bat to the lineup. At the end of the day they need solutions in the outfield and what they have currently is not really producing all that much. Hopefully in time Straw can be an answer of some sort.

Eddie Rosario traded to Braves

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The Cleveland Baseball Club sent the veteran outfielder to the Atlanta Braves ahead of the deadline.

Just one day after sending one expiring deal out of town, the Cleveland Baseball Club managed to shed another expiring contract. Cleveland is sending Eddie Rosario and cash to the Atlanta Braves for Pablo Sandoval.

This is clearly a salary dump for Cleveland as they have no use for Pablo Sandoval being on their roster. If Sandoval actually plays at all in Cleveland it would be a huge surprise.

Eddie Rosario did not live up to the expectations after Cleveland signed him this past offseason. Rosario only had seven home runs and 15 doubles in 306 plate appearances while slashing .254/.296/.389/.685 with a WRC+ of 84. By trading Rosario, they are clearing room to play some of their younger options. The white flag has officially been waved and it is time to evaluate the roster.

Cavs select Evan Mobley third overall

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The Cleveland Cavaliers stayed put and selected the USC big man with the third overall pick.

Leading up to the draft there was some speculation that the Cleveland Cavaliers may not stay put at three, but that was not the case as they selected Evan Mobley third overall.

Evan Mobley is a highly regarded player who most project as the top pick in other drafts. Cavs GM Koby Altman heaped praise upon their 2021 NBA Draft pick following the selection.

The Cavs have some decisions to make in regards to other players on the roster (Collin Sexton, Jarrett Allen), but for now they can count on Evan Mobley being a big part of their immediate future.

Cavs acquire Ricky Rubio from Minnesota

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The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired the veteran point guard from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have clearly identified some areas of need prior to the NBA Draft and that led to a trade beforehand with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Cleveland acquired veteran guard Ricky Rubio in exchange for Taurean Prince, and cash.

The Cavs apparently plan to keep Ricky Rubio for the upcoming season.

A veteran presence in the backcourt has been a glaring need for the Cavs and landing Rubio can help solve that problem. While the plan is to keep Rubio next season, considering the competitive level that the team is currently at, flipping him during the season seems to be inevitable. For the time being having Rubio mentor some of the younger guards on the roster is a plus, but his stay in The Land seems to have a definite end date.

Terry Francona steps away for remainder of season

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The Cleveland Baseball Club manager will be stepping away for the remainder of the 2021 MLB season. 

When the Cleveland Baseball Club returns to action Friday they will be doing so without Terry Francona. Francona will be stepping away for the remainder of the season to take care of some health issues including a hip replacement taking place Monday.

This is not a permanent step down for Terry Francona, just for the rest of the season. While things could change between now and next season, the expectation is that Tito will be back in the dugout for the 2022 campaign.