A Variety of Things

A few years ago at Subway (famous for it's "fresh-take hot line"), my Grandpa was asked by the "chef" what he would like on his sub. His answer: "Oh...a variety of things." This has nothing to do with anything, I just thought it was funny.

Per Bowl and Rob's clamoring for more posts (and my competition for being the best blog in my fantasy football league) I feel that I have to comment on, well...a variety of things.

1. It's too early for a football preview. I'd actually like to watch some preseason games to see who I think is good and to refresh my memory about why I like and don't like certain teams. My fantasy football league/team preview will come with this.

2. The Cavs signed Leon Powe to a two-year deal for what seems like no money in the Dan Gilbert era. It's funny how with each subsequent signing, your expectations drop so much.

Anthony Parker, while I'm happy with him, seemed like a disappointment because we could have (and should have) gotten Ariza (and I blame Ariza for this, if you were wondering). Jamario Moon was somewhat of a steal for the second signing (you could almost argue it was actually stealing).

And now, with the third signing (for the league minimum), I basically just approve of this deal. If anyone reading this didn't know already, Leon Powe is recovering from his THIRD ACL RECONSTRUCTION SURGERY ON HIS LEFT KNEE AS WELL AS MICRO FRACTURE SURGERY ON THE SAME KNEE AND WON'T BE ABLE TO PLAY UNTIL FEBRUARY AT THE EARLIEST.

That is how high my expectations were. It appears the Cavs are actually interested in one more random forward (my sources, in case anyone didn't know, are Brian Windhorst's Twitter Page and nothing else), it seems to not matter who (I'm sure Rob Kurz is a great guy, but if anyone is telling you they are "interested" in Rob Kurz, they are lying).

3. The Indians.

Excuse me for not being pessimistic, but I'm much more interested in them currently than I was for the first half of the season.

We traded a few guys, like Ryan Garko, Ben Francisco, Mark DeRosa and Carl Pavano that I'm just not going to miss...so whatever. If we get anything at all for those guys, great. It instinctually hurts when you trade basically the only two guys on your team who were having good seasons and probably the only two legitimately good major league players on your roster...but here's the dynamic that make these good trades (regardless of whether we got enough to Cliff Lee or not because we probably didn't but I don't know the Minor Leagues well enough to discuss this is the necessary detail).

To take a step back for a moment, this team we had to start the year...well, it SEEMED good enough to make the playoffs in this division. They started losing and then they continued to lose. They looked around and thought, "Why are we losing?" and, as always, there is no real answer to that question. Talent wins in the playoffs, but to make the playoffs, especially in a crappy division, you just have to figure out how to win faster than the other guys.

With baseball being such a long season where you play almost every day as well as being a sport that is not physically draining, it's just confusing when you're losing. Unlike in football or basketball or most other things, the answer is not more effort or even necessarily more preparation. I don't even know what the answer is. You just have to figure it out. I know that seems like absolutely no analysis, but what am I supposed to say? You have to get clutch hits and make clutch defensive plays and make clutch pitches...but how do people do those things? They just have to find a groove and all get on it. People who have never played baseball say that it's not really a team sport but I totally disagree. It's not as rhythmic as basketball or soccer and you're life isn't in the hands of your teammates as much as it is in football, but if you don't do your job in baseball, your teammates are screwed, and if you don't have any confidence in your teammates to do their jobs, you'll have trouble doing yours. It's subtle, but it's there.

So back to the new-look Tribe.

Frankly, we currently have a disgusting team to look at. I could mention some players I think could stick (Asdrubal Cabrera, Jamey Carroll...that might be it), but we have nobody who has mentionable power, speed or pitching velocity. The Indians have a disturbingly low amount of anything spectacular in any area of the game. Ouch.

So what we got in these deals, from what I hear from my sources, is a ton of pitchers, of which many throw in the mid to upper 90s and one of which has already been good in the Majors (Masterson). I guess I'm satisfied. But to answer any one's potential questions as to why the Indians appear to be playing much better with a much worse team, here is the answer:

First, the pressure is off. Easy.

Second, and more noteworthy, these young guys who are not very good are playing better, I believe, mainly because we traded our two best players. It's hard for young players who know they are failing the veterans to play well. I know Victor Martinez was a great guy, but that actually makes it worse. Young guys would want to please Victor so much that I'm thinking it became counterproductive. I'm telling you, baseball is that way. If you hate your teammates or love them too much, as this case seems to be, in football you can just do your job and go about your business. Baseball isn't as much a read and react game. You are forced to put all other aspects of life on the back burner or you actually might get killed. The leisurely aspect of baseball makes it more difficult to play with mental baggage because you can bring it along with you when you play and you probably won't get hurt or embarrassed, you just won't play very well. It seems like the tedium of baseball requires an almost eerily relaxed mind to perform on a consistent basis.

4. RoBry Fantasy Football League.

Go Blankets!!!!

(Note to Maggs: I will not root for your team until you give it a name.)