Francisco...That's Fun To Say

After limping into the All-Star break at 1-4, the Tribe seems like they're ready to lay down on the couch and do some good, old-fashioned soul searching. Coming into the second half down a game to the Tigers and after losing 1-0 to Kevin Towers and the Blue Jays (blowing a rare Paul Byrd gem), we can see why the Erie Warriors are looking for a few answers. We can think of no better place to start throwing knives than Fernando Cabrera. Who the hell knows what happened to that homeboy, but he's got zero game at this stage. Talk about a fall from grace--he went from Fat Wickman's surefire replacement to Fausto Carmona's personal valet in about 8 seconds flat. We say get rid of him. It's a bit like Jeremy Guthrie: he will probably be good again, but he's got no chance in C-town...too much baggage.

Also, what in the name of Sam Hell is going on with astrophysicist Jeremy Sowers? 5+ ERA in AAA? Uh, you stink. At least he has a fledgling career in NASA onto which he can fall back...

Finally, we ask if Ben Francisco can play third base? Clearly, Andy Marte isn't, uh, panning out, as far as that Hall of Fame hot-corner career is concerned. Given that he hasn't played in a big league game since who knows when, we're not sure what to expect. Anytime your future cornerstone is supplanted by Casey Blake, well, you're headed to troubletown. Francisco, however, looks like he's ready for Cooperstown. Let's teach him to play the bunt.

EuroTrip

Juan Carlos Navarro. To be honest, we've never heard of him, but that's why we're here and trusty #35 is behind a desk at The Gund studying a Spanish "Rosetta Stone" lesson. It sounds like he's got some game, what with the whole "one of the best players in Europe" comment, and the Cavs can certainly use some shooting. And if those Euros can do anything, it's shoot the rock, man. Are we right? Plus, $4mm per is pocket change in this NBA.

Anyway, we have no clue about this cat, but we're here to bring you the straight dope on Cleveland sports. Let's go get LeBron as much help as humanly possible.

Summer Madness

So the two are can't miss. That is a consensus. No one is going to argue any differently even if the two struggled a bit in their summer league openers against rookies and un-proven guys trying to make it. No one is going to argue even if they both had their first shots swatted by the one and only, yes Cleveland fans, our very own 8th pick in the 2001 Draft (the guy drafted 6 years ago and who is still playing in the summer leagues...yeah that one), DeSagana Diop. Now we here at the search know as well as anyone that one or two games in the summer means nothing in the grand scheme of things. All it shows is that it is absolutely an incredible jump going from college to the pros. These guys are both going to be good, but they struggled in their first couple games against borderline NBA talent. The fact that someone like LeBron James came into the league at 18 after being checked by 6'2" white guys from Tallmadge in High School and did what he did and has done is amazing. We watched Durant for a while last night as he struggled to a 4-19 shooting night with Renaldo Balkman pushing him around. Durant's lack of physical strength was excessively apparent in the fourth quarter when he was being guarded by the 6'4" Rodrick Wilmont out of Indiana, and Durant could not get any type of position on the block, despite his 6 inch advantage. Now the strength will come. It will come with an NBA workout regiment and frankly it will come when the kid hits puberty and grows into his body. But the game last night showed that no matter how "can't miss" you are, there are a lot of adjustments that must be made to be successful in the association. But I guess that is why they play in the summer.

What Do We Do With All These Damn Wigs?

If Andy Varejao leaves C-town for the Memphis Grizzlies there will be thousands of overweight 50+ers in Cleveland who are devastated that they can no longer sport their poofy wigs to work in support of their favorite Brazilian whirlwind. That, alone, may be reason to hang onto the offensively-challenged Varejao. It's been made fairly clear in the past that Varejao isn't thrilled with the weather situation in Cleveland, but we'd think he'd want to stick with LeBron as this team grows. Who knows, though? He is an unpredictable goofball...just witness the hair.

We can't really see a scenario in which it's worth $8mm+ to keep Varejao. He's obviously a good energy guy, but doesn't really play a lot of defense away from his flopping, and has limited offense. We just don't quite know how high his ceiling goes. If LeBron wants him, though, we'll chip in at least $48.52.

As far as the other free agents in the article: limited interest in Posey, even though he's a Cleveland guy, mainly b/c he can play D and would probably come fairly cheap; Mo Williams would be our top choice since he's a legit PG, quite frankly, but the Cavs won't be able to afford him; less than no interest in The Predator (Mikki Moore); and we can't decide on Mo Pete. He can shoot the rock still, but he didn't see the floor that much this year in Toronto, which is a concern, and he doesn't play D.

Back in Action

Sorry for the hiatus, loyal readers, but we're back now. After spending 5 days in our old Optimus Prime costume camped outside of the Regal Cinemas attacking every Mustang that passed by, we had to take a non-nerd day yesterday since our girlfriend had off from work. Such is life.

Rest easy, though, as we are pretty confident we didn't miss much in the world of Cleveland sports, so neither did you.

At Least Someone's Paying Attention

While the good people of Cleveland may not realize there's a group of adult men playing baseball for a living down on E. 9th St., it sounds like a lot of the rest of the baseball world appreciates the work that CC Sabathia, G-Size and Victor Martinez are putting in so far. Those 3 guys will sport Chief Wahoo in San Fran for the All-Star Game next week, and we're excited to see them play 2/3 of an inning each.

We'd expected CC to go, and probably start given he's the only 12-game winner in the bigs; we're not surprised to see Victor on the squad, since he's the best offensive catcher in baseball; but we're a little surprised that G-Size was voted on, we guess it's a testament to how widely respected his game is.

Barry Bonds is going to start, too, after pulling a miracle comeback to win the fan vote in the last 3 days the polls were open. There's no question the Giants engaged in some untoward activity to get him on the field (and keep the commish from dealing with the issue), but we thought Barry should be on the team, even though he is the anti-Christ.

Anyway, if you're reading this and you live in Cleveland...feel free to go down to Jacobs Field and check out an Indians game.

Hoping For A Miracle

For Browns fans, this pic is way too familiar...and reminds of a swift kick in the nards. Hometown hero LeCharles Bentley came back to anchor the revitalization of his beloved Brownies last year, only to suffer a 1-in-a-million knee injury, and, apparently, almost lose his life. Now, the news is out that LeCharles plans to report for camp and play this season. All we've got on this development is "wow".

Considering Browns' fans were being conditioned for the inevitable reality that Bentley would never play again, this is amazing. We hope LeCharles isn't rushing back and risking further injury, but we certainly wish him luck...and feel all tingly in the crotchal region when we think about an o-line of Joe T, Steinbach, Fraley, Bentley, Shaffer.