Vinny and the Hornless Rhino

If you had any doubt that Roger Clemens is an extraordinary individual, check this out. Through some weird and errant magic, the seven-time Cy Young winner has transformed convicted drug dealers, Kirk Radomski and Brian McNamee, into credible guys. That's really something.

He's simply amazin'.

"A man's got to know his limitations."
~~~Dirty Harry Callahan, Magnum Force

Sometime two weeks ago, Mark Shapiro woke up; read the sports page; stumbled to his bathroom feeling like he was gonna vomit; looked in the mirror; thought about Larry Dolan's empty wallet and preternaturally short arms; and just knew.

He knew the Indians were in last place.
He knew it was a team without its third and fourth hitters and without two of its starting pitchers.
He knew it was a team without heart; without courage; and without character.
He knew it was stuck in the basement and the likelihood of challenging for the playoffs had become a bitter fantasy.
He knew, like he did in February this year, that there was no chance that CC would sign an extension and forgo free agency.
He knew that the two extra compensatory picks he'd get for CC becoming a free agent would be wasted due to inept talent evaluation and Dolan's legendary cheapness.

In short, he knew he had gambled and lost. He'd built this team. He'd promised that it would be built to remain competitive.

He was wrong. His day of reckoning had come.

So, he picked up the phone and let it be known throughout MLB that he'd start returning the calls from other GM's he'd been avoiding. Those guys knew they had him by the short hairs. Low-ball offers started rolling in. Shapiro tried to blow smoke and let rumors circulate that the Indians would make another effort to resign CC. Do you really think that happened?

Nah. Me neither.

In the end, Shapiro grabbed the best prospect he could get---Matt LaPorta---and some assorted junk that's just potential. LaPorta's not a bad haul. He's a big ugly mug who strikes out way too much, but boy, can that s.o.b. hit. The so-called experts thought Milwaukee overreached when they grabbed him with the 7th pick in the 2007 draft. They said he was a "signability" pick. Well, LaPorta started hitting home runs and made those same experts look like fools.. This year, he kept hitting home runs and made himself into a bona fide blue chip prospect. But, don't get like those goofy optimists who think the Tribe just snagged the ever-lovin Babe. The kid is good, but he's got holes in his game. After all, the Southern League managers didn't think he deserved to make the all-star team. So, calm down a little. Having said...er... written that, he is good. His massive strikeout totals are offset by his impressive walk rate. He projects as a guy who could hit .270-.290 with 35 + home runs and an on-base average over .380 during his peak years. Folks, that's a real live middle of the order hitter.

The other two pitchers are filler. Each has some potential.

Zach Jackson, LHP, was a Blue Jays first round pick, who's sucked. He's a lefty and those guys get lots of chances. I'm guessing that the Tribe feels like it misjudged and mishandled its own former first round pick, Jeremy Guthrie, and maybe the Brewers did the same with Jackson. I doubt it, but if that's what keeps Shapiro warm at night, Ok. I suspect he's really just filler for the Buffalo AAA rotation, and that's where he'll rot. Just for kicks, check out his biography. When's the last time a team tried to pawn off a guy with a 7.85 ERA as a building block for the future? That Shapiro really has some stones.

Rob Bryson, RHP, was a draft and follow guy. He was picked in the 31st round of the 2006 draft. He throws hard. He can get his fast ball up to 95, but the scouting reports say that it's incredibly straight and "flat." That means it's pretty hittable. He has a nice slider that can get big-time hitters out. He's a guy who just really needs to find himself and learn a little about pitching. Since he's only 20, he should have an opportunity to do both. This year, he's struck out 73 in 55 innings. That's pretty sweet, and it's those numbers that leave Paul Dolan and his old man giggling that they just nabbed their closer of the future. I'm not giggling, but it's at least an interesting proposition to have a guy who can really throw hard for a change.

The Tribe also gets a PTBL---player to be named later. Sometimes teams do that because their prohibited from trading a pick until one year after the draft. I don't think that' s the case here. I've heard, but can't confirm, that the Tribe will have its choice at the end of the season between third baseman, Taylor Green, or outfielder, Michael Brantley.

Green's a stocky third baseman, who resembles Ron Cey---The Penguin. He was Milwaukee's Organizational Player of the Year in 2007 after he hit .327. He has a nice compact left-handed stroke and walks almost as much as he strikes out. He's a nice player, but doesn't project to have a lot of power. If you can live with a 3B who hits for average, has a high on-base percentage, and hits 15-20 homers, he's your guy.

Brantley is one of the fastest guys in the minors. He's 6'2" and after last year was rated as the Brewers' minor league player with the best strike zone discipline. He's true to form in '08. In over 300 at-bats, he's only struck out 18 times. He has twice as many walks as strikeouts this year, and had more walks than strikeouts over two levels last year. He's a prototypical leadoff hitter. His problem is that he's a very mediocre outfielder and has a weak arm. He can only play left.

The best thing about the two of them is that they're both 21. They have a lot of time to fill out and refine their games. Unfortunately, the Tribe is not particularly good at helping players refine their skills. My impression has always been that it's a sink or swim organization, and that's recently been confirmed a player in the organization. But, that's for another day.

In the end, Shapiro recognized his limitations and made a deal. Everyone hates it, but if LaPorta hits, Shapiro will be a hero. I think he will.

Today's announcement that the Tribe has offloaded C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for four prospects officially marks the end of the 2008 baseball season. With a bunch of guys on the DL, and mired in last place in the Division, a woeful 14 games behind the front-running White Sox, the Indians made the unsurprising decision to throw in the towel on the 2008 campaign and make the best deal that they could for the unsignable Sabathia.

So let the recriminations begin!

How did this happen? How did a team that was just one game away from a World Series appearance last season not even manage to make it the All-Star break this year before the wheels came off? The short answer is that they can't hit, they have no bullpen, and their roster looks like a M*A*S*H unit.

But there's more to it than that. This is at least the second time this allegedly talented "core group" of Indians has seen a season of tremendous promise end in a downright embarrassing fashion, and then responded to that challenge by throwing in the towel at the start of the following season.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going, huh?

It's easy to point the finger at the bullpen, or the injuries, or even --if you're a cynic--the crackdown on performance enhancing drugs. But what bothers me more than the numbers is the attitude. This team is not only bad, but it also doesn't seem to play very hard. I think a lot of fans can't figure out whether the team's just lacking in leadership or if the players just don't care if they win or lose.

Personally, I'm tired of trying to figure out the answer. I just want to see them win the World Series, and I've lost faith that this core group of players is ever going to do it. Sure, you can complain about the alleged tight-fistedness of the Dolans, you can bemoan some of the decisions that Shapiro's made in recent seasons, and you can spend hours trying to figure out whatever it is that Eric Wedge actually does to "manage" the ball club. But none of those things explains how infuriatingly passive the players seem to be about this team's performance. Where's the frustration? Where's the anger? Where are the guys knocking over the buffet? Where are the fights? Where are the snarky comments to the media?

Maybe those kind of reactions are all too "old school" to expect from today's players -- although the Red Sox aren't afraid to mix it up with each other, are they? On the other hand, I think there's plenty of anger among the fan base. I had a funny feeling that this season might turn out like this, and I doubt that I was the only one. Unfortunately, my problem isn't that the Indians didn't live up to my expectations, it's that they did.

Over the past four seasons, the Indians have played well when the wind is at their back, but they haven't shown much heart in the face of adversity, and this is just the latest example of that. Yeah, they've had more than their share of problems this season, but their reaction to them has been to quietly wilt. I said they were gutless in April, and they've spent the better part of the last three months proving that I was right.

For those of you who are long-time readers of my drivel, you know I've never been a big fan of Brady Quinn. Heck, I started bashing the guy even before the Browns drafted him. But I've got to admit, after watching Quinn deal with his situation as a back-up QB for the past year, I think I was wrong about the guy.

To me, Quinn was a guy who, despite smashing almost every ND passing record, never beat USC and never led the Irish to victory in a single bowl game during his career. Quinn's individual achievements against sub-par competition just didn't impress me very much. He came across as a guy who was a creation of the Notre Dame spin machine and its willing accomplices in the national media. What's worse, he also appeared to have "drunk the Kool-aid," and struck me as an arrogant, pampered jock who believed in his own press clippings.

That's the Brady Quinn that I thought the Browns drafted, and it's taken me a long time to shake that image of the guy. Now, however, I think it's time for me to reassess my opinion of Quinn. What's prompted my change of heart? It's simple, really. I've watched and listened to what he's said and done over the course of the past year with the team, and I think he may be a lot more mature and a lot less self-centered than I gave him credit for being.

This was really brought home to me over the past week, as we watched LeCharles Bentley bolt the team when it became apparent to him that the Browns weren't ready to name him as a starter after his first practice in two seasons. At the same time, the media descended upon Quinn, in their endless attempt to stir the pot at the QB position. Quinn didn't take the bait. In fact, he did the exact opposite. You simply could not craft a more positive, team oriented response to questions about his role with the team than the one that Quinn delivered to the media last week.

I'm not intending to bash LeCharles Bentley. This is a guy who had a tremendous setback, heroically battled his way back into the game, and just wasn't willing to accept the idea that the wasn't "The Man" as far as the Browns were concerned. For a guy like Bentley to react like he did isn't a surprise. He's been The Man his whole life. Bentley was an All-American, All-Pro, All-Everything big money free agent when he came here in 2006. Hell, his photo even hangs in the lobby of the Wexner Football Complex at Ohio State (something I found out last week when I took my oldest son there for a long-snapping camp). So when I read that Bentley had asked for his release, I wasn't angry. In fact, I kind of sympathized with the guy. (If you read Sunday's column from Terry Pluto, you might have sympathized with him too).

But regardless of how you feel about LeCharles, his reaction to the adversity that he was facing is very different from Brady Quinn's reaction to his own situation. While Quinn hasn't faced the devastating physical injury that Bentley has dealt with, he's faced some psychological challenges that are perhaps almost as difficult. Maybe the worst of those was the one he faced on draft day in 2007, as he sat among the other elite college players and watched himself passed over by teams he thought certain would select him.

For a player who most had projected to be a top 10 or even a top five pick in the draft, the fall to #21 would have been difficult enough to deal with, but Quinn's humiliation was compounded by the fact that it was broadcast live by ESPN to the nation's football fans. Ultimately, Roger Goodell had the decency to come to Quinn's rescue and have him escorted off stage. Still, imagine if you're everybody's All-American and have to endure that in front of a national television audience? Wow. I mean, talk about a humbling experience.

At the risk of sounding like Bill Livingston, there's a Latin saying that goes "ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros." It means that fire is the test of gold; adversity is the test of strong men. Brady Quinn and LeCharles Bentley have faced their share of adversity over the last couple of years. I can't fault Bentley at all for his reaction to it, but I admire Quinn's reaction more. Brady Quinn has been the consummate team player ever since he signed his contract, and while he makes it clear that he wants a chance to compete, he continues to resist every attempt by the media to put his own interests ahead of the Cleveland Browns.

So, maybe I was wrong about Quinn all along, or maybe that miserable draft day in front of the cameras provided him with the kind of perspective about himself that most "Golden Boy" types never manage to get. Whatever the reason, Brady Quinn has earned my respect and the respect of all Browns fans. Don't get me wrong -- I know that like most 25 year-old millionaires, Quinn's not exactly a candidate for sainthood, but I also know that he's handled the challenges he's faced on the professional side of his life with a lot more dignity and class than many others in similar situations. And it's time for Quinn bashers like me to give him a little credit for it.

That's what everyone's favorite seven- time Cy Young award winner must have said when he read this one.

Well, it's the off season for football. So, that means some calamity has to strike the Browns. It has.
Ryan Tucker broke his hip and will miss two months, or so SI reports.

Two months is probably the estimate some deluded physician gave, but that's the
normal projected recovery from a break. I'll bet those two months don't include any time for the all-but-certain staph infection that Berea seems to guarantee each year.

It's good that Savage kept Kevin Shaffer around and picked up Rex Hadnot. It looks like the Brownies will need 'em.

It's a pretty cool movie. My kids, who are 8 and 5, loved it and wanted to stick around and see it again. We didn't.

Here are a few of my thoughts:

Christina Ricci looks great.

John Goodman looks a lot like Pops.

Lots of people were singing the theme song on the way out.

Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer
He's a demon on wheels
He's a demon and he's gonna be chasing after someone
He's gaining on you so you better look alive
He's busy revving up the powerful Mach Five
And when the odds are against him and there's daaangerous work to do
You bet your life Speed Racer's gonna see it through

Go Speed Racer
Go Speed Racer
Go Speed Racer go

He's off and flying as he guns the car around the track
He's jamming down the pedal like he's never coming back
Adventure's waiting just aheeeeeeeeaaaaad

Go Speed Racer
Go Speed Racer
Go Speed Racer Go!

I saw a little baseball history last night at the Prog last night. With runners on first and second and the Blue Jays trying a hit and run, Asdrubal Cabrera snagged a line drive, stepped on second, and then tagged a runner, who'd rounded second and had been heading to third. When the dust cleared, Dru was hanging on to the ball and the inning was over---an unassisted triple play!

That was only the 14th one in the history of Major League Baseball. I was there. It was very cool.


Here's a quick bit of trivia: The Cleveland Indians lead all teams with 3 unassisted triple plays.

A few loyal readers have written and pointed out that the Rhino and I haven't been posting as frequently as we had. Guilty.

We've both been busy. That's why I want to publish the inevitable news of the Cavs' playoff demise while I have a few moments. Let's just say that they'll play better than they did in last year's championship round---Celtics win in five. You can read now or sometime next week. It doesn't matter. The result will be the same.

This team just isn't built to win. It utterly lacks any consistent outside scoring threat, and as great of an individual player as King James is, he hasn't really shown the ability to elevate very average NBA players to a championship level. He's still too much of a one-man gang. Z's a decent complement to LBJ (and he's an above average center due to position talent scarcity), but he does nothing on the outside to spread the floor and create movement. Everyone else on the team is NBA average or worse.

While Mike Brown has done an admirable job teaching and preaching defense, he's done nothing to help create shots for the team when they're desperately needed. There's no real movement to the offense, and as a result, very few open shots are created. That's a big problem because all of the guys other than LeBron need open shots or created scoring opportunities.

Boston doesn't have those flaws. In fact, it has the most valuable player in the NBA, Kevin Garnett. I know Kobe Bryant took home the hardware, but Garnett's been a stud for Boston since he arrived. His supporting cast is strong and versatile. The CAVS just don't match up with Boston's weapons.

Oh, and there's more cheery news for the wine and gold. Here's another story about the clock ticking on LeBron's tenure in Cleveland.

It's not all bad news though. If you were on your toes yesterday, you could have had a Papa John's pizza for 23 cents.

With pick #231, the Browns finally drafted a pass rusher---Alex Hall of St. Augustine, a Division II
All American. Hall's 6'6" and 260 pounds defensive end. He had 7 sacks and 15 tackles for loss in 9 games this past season. His unofficial time in the forty is 4.77. He's a tall, thin guy. I suspect that the Browns will get him in the weight room and have him add some muscle.

The Browns had back-to-back picks in the 6th round.

They used the first, which they got from Seattle in the Charlie Frye trade, to take a nose tackle, Ahtyba Rubin, of Iowa State. He's 6'3" and weighs 315 pounds. At Iowa State, he clogged up the middle for the Cyclones. He has a chance to play in the Browns' line rotation this year.

The Browns sent their 2009 5th round pick to the Eagles for the next pick, and took a big, strong wide receiver, Paul Hubbard of Wisconsin. He's 6'3," weighs 220, and runs a 4.48 forty. He's big and tough. He knows how to block. Unfortunately, he has trouble at the thing receivers are supposed to do---catching the ball. He reminds me of another Browns' receiver, Quincy Morgan. Morgan was a big underachiever given his bad hands and lofty draft position. The difference is that, if Hubbard makes the team, he'll only be counted on to play some kick-off coverage and occasionally get into the game in a four receiver set. Hubbard's not a bad pick at this point. He would have probably gone higher, but he suffered a leg injury during the season. He's a project with some significant upside. However, I'm surprised that the Browns haven't gotten a cornerback. There were a lot out there.

Savage did what I thought he would---he jumped up to draft early in the 4th round. He traded his 4th (#122) and 5th (#155) to Dallas for pick #104. With it, he took Beau Bell, a linebacker from UNLV. Bell's a tough guy and a good tackler. There's some question as to whether he'll play inside or outside because he switched between both spots in college. He's 6'1", 244lbs. and runs a 4.75 forty. He can really stick ball carriers and will be a nice addition. I suspect he'll play on special teams and end up gravitating to a rotation where he plays some outside linebacker.

Then Savage worked a little more magic and traded next year's third round pick to Dallas to get pick #111. Then he did a curious thing. He took Martin Rucker, a tight end from Missouri. Rucker's 6'4", 251 lbs. and runs a 4.71 forty. Rucker is a pass catching specialist. He's got great hands and can grab the ball in heavy traffic. Playing at Missouri, he lined up as a wide out on occasion. He led all tight ends in receptions per game last year, and his brother, Mike, was a Pro Bowl defensive lineman for the Carolina Panthers. This would be the kind of pick that would usually be a great one, if the Browns didn't have Kellen Winslow, who just also happens to play tight end. I hope this isn't some signal that all the surgeries have worn K2 down or that he's truly unhappy about his contract.

For those who read my earlier post, the Patriots took OLB, Shawn Crable, with the 78th pick, and the Eagles took OL, Mike McGlynn, with the 109th pick.

All loyal readers know that NFL Draft Day is one of the favorites around V&THR corporate headquarters. Not so much this year. The Browns first scheduled pick is in round 4 (#122).

All the rags have written that Savage has already had his draft by nabbing Brady Quinn (1st), Corey Williams (2nd) and Shaun Rogers (3rd and Leigh Bodden). I see their point, but Savage has a nice reputation for finding players on day 2 and the Browns still aren't a complete team. This year, the Browns' biggest need for a team that wants to win now is a pass-rushing linebacker to play opposite Kamerion Wimbley. There are a couple floating around out there, and even though Savage has said a few times that he's probably not going to "do anything," I can see him trading into the late 3rd or early 4th to pick Michigan's Shawn Crable. The scouting report on him says that's he's big, fast and dumb. Well, yeah but he's from Michigan. So, up there, they probably call him "Professor."

If you check out NFL Draft Countdown's rankings of outside linebackers, you'll notice that there are a number of available guys who are ranked ahead of Crable, but I think he's the best pass rusher left in the draft. He's over 6'4," weighs 245 pounds, and runs 4.64 in the forty. He played in the Big 10, which has some big-time offensive linemen. This kid could be just what the doctor ordered. He'd require some attention, and opposing offenses would have to pick their poison between Wimbley and Crable. He's from Massillon and would probably love to play for the Browns. Plus, his learning curve on hatred of all things Pittsburgh would be incredibly short.

Beyond a pass rusher, the Browns need a cornerback and a versatile offensive lineman. A cornerback that intrigues me is Brian Witherspoon. He's not a an experienced player, but he's blazing fast with a 4.29 forty. He can cover fast wideouts. Listen, he 's a total crapshoot, but he's the kind of player that I'd take a chance on in the 7th.

An offensive lineman who could help the Browns is Mike McGlynn. He played tackle at Pitt for all four of his years there. He won't play tackle for the Browns, but could be a terrific guard. I've seen him play a number of times. He's really tough and nasty. Plus, he has the added benefit of being from Youngstown, Ohio. I knew his dad and played ball with him. So, I'm a little biased, but he is a hell of a player.

The Browns picks today are: 4th (122), 5th (155), 6th (190) and 7th (231). Stay tuned.

I know it's been a while. Did anybody miss me? Yeah, I didn't think so. Anyway, why didn't I write anything for almost two months? The answer is that I've been dealing with a severe case of Cleveland sports malaise. For better or worse, I truly haven't given a damn about teams that I usually obsess about. Start of the Tribe's season? Yawn. Cavs playoffs? I think my left foot is asleep. The new Arena team? Jeezes, Bernie, I love you man, but try as you might, there's no way you're going to talk me into Arena-ball.

Even the Browns and their free agent signings didn't stir my interest. Can you imagine?

I think I came down with this ailment when the Tribe collapsed against the Red Sox. Although the onset of symptoms was postponed until after the Browns missed the playoffs, I couldn't forgive the Cleveland Indians for that massive choke job. I was really obsessing about it for awhile, and just kept getting angrier and angrier about the Indians and their complete lack of heart. That led me to ponder the Cavs inability to take a single game from San Antonio in the NBA Finals, and how the Browns managed to overcome almost insurmountable odds to miss the playoffs despite winning 10 games.

At some point this winter, I just said "to hell with it," and decided that these teams simply weren't worth the effort I've put into them. Hey, I still read the sports section and catch the highlights on Sportscenter, and I even sit down and watch entire games from time to time, but neither the Tribe nor the Cavs have constituted must see TV for me over the past couple of months, and since this blog was fueled by that obsession, well, let's just say I haven't had much to write about.

Some people started to worry about me. My mother actually called to see if I was alright. I got a couple of e-mails from readers asking if I was okay. And by a "couple," I mean just that -- two measly e-mails in two months. Thanks a lot. Looks like I'll definitely be needing Life Alert if I make it to my dotage.

My buddies tried to snap me out of my funk. I went to Opening Day with Vinny, Joey Peeps and The Starfish, but while I enjoyed the game, the afternoon was marred by the fact that we got stuck in front of this complete nitwit whose muttonchop sideburns and strange haircut made him the spitting image of Wolverine from X-Men. And true to his Superhero nature, Wolverine was not going to be shy about sharing his baseball insights with all of Section 307. According to Wolverine, every move the Indians made all day was wrong, all six of the White Sox fans in attendance were a-holes who had to be called out at every opportunity, and the three year old sitting with his mom two rows in front of him was no reason not to drop at least five f-bombs in every sentence. The highlight of the afternoon was his five minute soliloquoy about why Casey Blake sucks, which ended just moments before Blake hit his game winning double. Hey, Wolverine, I believe the word I'm looking for is "pwned."

I guess the bottom line is that I still haven't rallied. Cavs v. Wizards? Sorry, I've seen that movie before. Wake me if they win a couple of games from the Celtics. I actually tried to get fired up for the NBA playoffs. I went out and bought Terry Pluto and Brian Windhorst's new book, "The Franchise," about how the Cavs got LeBron and built the team that got them to the NBA Finals last year. You know what? The book blows. The writing is subpar, the proofreading is worse, and the storyline after the Cavs get LeBron is simply not very captivating. In short, it's got all the signs of being a book dashed off to capitalize on last year's post-playoff euphoria. Terry Pluto must have a guilty conscience, because in the author's notes to the book, he starts out by assuring readers that this isn't that kind of book. Uh-huh.

Okay, well, how 'bout that Tribe? Sorry guys, but I've been mad all winter, and so I'm just going to come out and say what I gotta say about this team. There's just something about this Cleveland Indians team that I don't like. This isn't kind, but I'll be blunt -- I think the Indians are gutless. It's not that they missed the playoffs in '05 or that the Red Sox came back from a 3-1 deficit in last year's ALCS, it's the way that it happened in both instances that bothers me. Frankly, the team's performance in both situations can fairly be called cowardly, and I think we all know it.

Good Cleveland teams always falter in the end, but they seldom quit. That's part of the reason they've inspired such devotion on the part of their fans. I'm just not sure I can say that about this incarnation of the Indians. So, while I root for them, I'm not hanging on every pitch -- because I don't think they do, especially when the going gets tough. Maybe I'm wrong and I've misjudged this team, but based on the entire season of underachievement sandwiched by two epic collapses that we've witnessed over the past three seasons, it's going to take a World Series Championship to convince me of that.

I'm sure I'll snap out of this eventually, but since the Browns don't have a draft choice until the 4th round, it's not likely to happen any time before training camp opens. In the meantime, however, I will continue to periodically purge some of the bile that's been building up over the past generation or so onto the pages of this blog. Maybe that will help me shake this funk.