Indians get their "player to be named" in CC trade

The Indians have picked their "player to be named" in the CC  Sabathia trade.  Michael Brantley is a lead off hitter with speed.  He played at AA Huntsville for the Brewers.  He hit .319 with 80 runs, 50 walks, and 28 steals in 36 attempts.  He had almost twice as many walks as strikeouts and ranked second in minor league baseball by averaging a strikeout every 17.7 plate appearances.  For the Indians he can play center and left field, and also first base.  Brantley will start in AAA Buffalo.

Rob Trautman

PrimeTime Sports/BlogTalk Radio

Browns hire George Kokinis as GM

Baltimore pro personnel director George Kokinis has been hired as Cleveland’s general manager, reuniting him with new Browns coach and close friend Eric Mangini. Kokinis, who began his NFL career as an intern in the Browns’ operations department in 1991, was hand-picked by Mangini, who recommended him during his first interview with Browns owner Randy Lerner on Dec. 30. Determined to match a coach and GM who can work well together after the Romeo Crennel-Phil Savage relationship failed, Lerner is teaming up a pair of friends who shared an apartment when they first broke into the league and have remained tight. With Baltimore, Kokinis was one of Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome’s top aides. He was responsible for analyzing rosters, evaluating the free-agent market and assisting in the negotiations of draft picks. The Browns should benefit by Kokinis’ intimate knowledge of the AFC North. He worked as an advance scout with the Ravens and played a key role in their week-to-week assessment of their upcoming opponent.One of the first decisions facing the Mangini-Kokinis team will be what do with quarterback Derek Anderson, who was benched midway through the season for Brady Quinn. Anderson is owed a $5 million roster bonus in March. If he is deemed expendable, the Browns could trade him for draft picks. Savage dealt several 2009 picks, leaving the Browns with only four selections in this April’s draft.

Kokinis will be in town tomorrow to be introduced as the next GM of the Cleveland Browns.

Rob Trautman
Primetime Sports/BlogTalk Radio
Courtesy of the AP

Mangini hires Coordinators

As expected, the Browns have announced that former Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan will serve in that same role on head coach Eric Mangini’s staff.

Former Jets quarterbacks coach Brian Daboll becomes Mangini’s offensive coordinator.

Serving as assistant head coach/special teams coordinator will be former Patriots special teams coach Brad Seeley, who spent ten years in New England.

Mangini, Ryan, Daboll, and Seely worked together with the Patriots from 2000 through 2003, winning two Super Bowls.

Rob Trautman

PrimeTime Sports/BlogTalk Radio

National Headlines

Scott Pioli to join the Chiefs

See the article from ESPN here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3830515


Braves, and Lowe reach agreement

The Atlanta Braves and pitcher Derek Lowe have reached preliminary agreement on a four-year, $60 million contract, baseball sources have said. Lowe has a career record of 126-107 in 12 seasons.

Tony Dungy Retires

After a great career in Indy, Dungy trades football for family and social work.

Dungy became the first black coach to win a Super Bowl, the first to make 10 straight playoff appearances, the first to win 12 games in six straight seasons. His regular-season winning percentage of .668 is fifth all-time among coaches with at least 100 wins and his 10.7 regular-season wins per year is the best among that group, too.

His top priorities were always faith and family, and he never wavered.

In a profession where spare hours are scarce, Dungy made time for the prison ministry, All-Pro Dads and Family First although he always wanted to do more. He urged players and coaches to get involved in community work, too.

Now, Dungy can devote more time to his family and the social causes he embraces.

He has adopted children, written a best-selling book and has a second in the works. He served on President Bush’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, lobbied for the Colts’ new stadium and worked with Super Bowl organizers on Indianapolis’ two bids.

Dungy will be one of the great coaches in the NFL when it is all said and done.

Dungy's successor will be assistant Jim Caldwell.

Rob Trautman and courtesy of the AP

PrimeTime Sports/BlogTalk Radio

Josh Mcdaniels NEW Broncos Coach

Former John Carroll University Grad gets Head Coaching gig in Denver.

Another Bill Belichick assistant with the Patriots gets a head coaching opportunity. Canton native Josh McDaniels was named the Denver Broncos Head Coach, after Mike Shanahan was fired after 14- seasons with Denver. McDaniels only 32 years old, looks to bring in new energy and continue the tradition in Denver.

McDaniels helped the defensive staff in New England for three seasons before taking over as Patriots quarterbacks coach in 2004. Belichick then promoted him to offensive coordinator in 2006, and his career took flight.

Bowlen thought enough of McDaniels to bypass defensive gurus Steve Spagnuolo of the Giants, Raheem Morris of the Buccaneers and Leslie Frazier of the Vikings despite Denver’s leaky defense.

McDaniels is the fourth member of Belichick’s coaching staff to leave either for a head coaching job in the NFL or a prestigious college job. None of them has been all that successful venturing out on their own.

Romeo Crennel left for Cleveland in 2005 and Eric Mangini joined the Jets a year later. Both were fired last month, with Mangini replacing Crennel in Cleveland. And Charlie Weis is on the hot seat at Notre Dame.

Still, McDaniels does have three Super Bowl rings to show for his work in New England. That definitely played a role in his hiring.

Rob Trautman

PrimeTime Sports/BlogTalk Radio

Cleveland Sports News

Kelly Shoppach signs for 1-year.

The Cleveland Indians agreed to a $1.95 million, one-year contract Monday with catcher Kelly Shoppach extending their streak of avoiding salary arbitration to 18 years.

The club has not gone to an arbitration hearing with a player since doing so with infielder Jerry Browne and pitcher Greg Swindell in 1991. Shoppach was the only player on Cleveland’s 40-man roster who was eligible for arbitration.

Shoppach batted .261 with 21 homers, 27 doubles and 55 RBIs in 112 games last season. He took advantage of more playing time after catcher Victor Martinez sustained an elbow injury, leading AL catchers in homers.

Shoppach, who made $400,000 last season, could have a greater role behind the plate this year, with Martinez expected to get more time at first base. He had arthroscopic surgery in September, but has been working out at the Indians’ new training facility in Goodyear, Ariz., and is expected to be full go when camp opens next month.

Courtesy of the AP

Cavaliers sign local St. Ed's star to a 10-day contract

Jawad Williams was a star at St. Ed's and wasn't to shabby at the University of North Carolina. After being released a few days earlier, Danny Ferry announced the signing today.

Williams (6-9, 220 pounds) has played in three games this season with the Cavaliers. In four total minutes, Williams scored two points and recorded one steal. He was waived by the Cavaliers on January 7th.

The Cavaliers roster now stands at 15.

Rob Trautman
PrimeTime Sports/ BlogTalk Radio

Eric Mangini Hired as next Browns Head Coach

Eric Mangini will be the next Browns head coach. A person with knowledge of the negotiations said that Mangini will be introduced Thursday at a news conference at the team’s headquarters in Berea.

The 37-year-old Mangini agreed to a four-year deal with the club Wednesday, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because contract details had yet to be finalized.

Mangini began his NFL career as a ball boy with the Browns in 1994 under then-coach Bill Belichick. Now he’s taking over the job of one of his best friends in football, fired Browns coach Romeo Crennel.

Mangini went 23-25 and made the playoffs once in three seasons with the Jets, who stumbled down the stretch to lose four of their last five games and miss the playoffs after an 8-3 start. For the position of defensive coordinator, sources said that Mangini will bring aboard Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, whose contract with Oakland also is up. Sources also said that Mangini and Crennel discussed the possibility of Crennel returning to work with Mangini but decided it best to both go in a different direction. Mangini will also hire Jets quarterbacks coach Brian Daboll, whose contract is expiring, as his offensive coordinator, league sources said.

The next step is hiring a GM to run operations. It is said that Mangini recommended Baltimore player personnel director George Kokinis as his preference as GM. Kokinis is expected to interview with Lerner on Sunday. Lerner has also interviewed Scott Pioli, New England’s director of player personnel and T.J. McCreight, the Browns’ director of player personnel, and plans to also interview Eagles general manager Tom Heckert for their GM opening to replace Phil Savage .

Rob Trautman

PrimeTime Sports/BlogTalk Radio

Indians get RHP Pavano

The Indians didn't waste anytime signing RHP and former Yankee pitcher Carl Pavano to a 1-year deal worth $1.5 million contract on Tuesday. Pavano was best known for his 18-8 year with the Florida Marlins, before signing a $39.95 million before the 2005 season. His 4 years there was disappointing, because of injuries. The Indians are happy with the deal because, Pavano has incentives, if he wants more money. He can earn up to $5.3 million dollars based on starts from 18-35 and innings from 130-235. The Indians have been eyeing a few starting pitchers, but this made the most sense. GM Mark Shapiro hopes this small risk will make a big impact on this years team.

Shapiro said the Indians put Pavano through a thorough medical exam, similar to the one they gave free-agent closer Kerry Wood before signing him. The Indians were impressed with Pavano’s strength and were encouraged by his final seven starts for the Yankees last season, when he went 4-2.

Pavano is 66-66 with a 4.23 ERA in 175 career starts for Montreal, Florida and New York. He had his best season in 2004, when he went 18-8 for the Marlins.

In other Indians news:

Indians DH/1B Travis Hanfer was cleared by Dr. James Andrews to start pre-hitting activities this week. Hafner is expected to begin hitting in mid-January.

Andrews performed arthroscopic surgery to clean out Hafner’s right shoulder joint on Oct. 14 in Alabama.

Rob Trautman

PrimeTime Sports/BlogTalk Radio

Browns Coaching and GM situation

The Browns Owner Randy Learner has been busy with plenty of interviews this last week. It still looks as if Former NY Jets Coach Eric Mangini is the front runner for that spot. Since Bill Cowher turned down the Browns it appears Mangini is the next big name. The Jets thought for sure they would land Bill Cowher, that's why people think they got rid of Mangini. The Jets were greedy and wanted that big name head coach that they still haven't found yet. Mangini had winning records in 2 of the last 3 years. Let them to the playoffs one of those years. The Browns are not going to sit around and wait for former Broncos coach Mike Shannahan. He is relaxing with his family and noone is real sure if he will even come back this year, although he has said he wants to coach.

For the GM position, the Browns are waiting to interview Ravens director of pro personnel George Kokinis which will be this Sunday. The only way Kokinis could leave the Ravens is if the Browns gave him full authority over personnel and the draft - the same responsibilities Phil Savage enjoyed in four years as Browns general manager. Per NFL rule, every team has to designate one person contractually as the No. 1 football authority of the club. Kokinis has never had anything close to final say in 18 years as a scout and personnel executive. VP of the New England Patriots Scott Pioli is looking to be lost in the running.

The Browns need many new parts, although there is alot of talent on this team already. With some money to work with, watch out, this will be an interesting off season.

Which head coach best fits this Browns team? Would you be happy with Eric Mangini? What pieces do the Browns need to get this offseason?


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Rob Trautman
PrimeTime Sports/BlogTalk Radio

Cleveland Indians

The Indians made a trade with the Chicago Cubs to acquire infielder/outfielder Mark DeRosa. On paper the last three years have been successful for him. Last year he hit.285 with 21 HR and 87 RBI. He looks to be the Indians 3rd baseman for the upcoming season. Not to mention Eric Wedge believes he will be the #2 hitter in the lineup. The Indians gave up 3 pitching prospects in this deal, they are: They dealt pitchers Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer, and John Gaub. Jeff Stevens was a guy that had the most success at 25 years old he went 5-1 with AA Akron, and 0-3 with a 3.94 ERA with five saves in 19 games at Triple-A Buffalo. Chris Archer was 4-8 in 27 starts at Class A Lake County and Gaub was 1-1 in 34 games with the Captains.

Overall looks like the Indians got a good bat and defensive player that will help this team. What do you think? Whatelse do the Indians need to get to be better this upcoming season?