Cleveland needed to sign a running back with Montario Hardesty sure to miss the next two games,if not more with a partially torn calf injury suffered in the loss in San Francisco and with Peyton Hillis continuing to miss time with hamstring issues.
The answer was Thomas Clayton,who spent time in Cleveland on two separate occasions last season,although neither with the type of success that this team could use.
The cost was Brian Robiskie,who had disappointed two coaching staffs after being selected early in the second round out of Ohio State in 2009.Clayton will likely see some playing time this weekend,with Chris Ogbannaya getting the start and most of the playing time unless Hillis is able to give it a go.
Robiskie was expected to be the top beneficiary of the new offense and began the season as a starter.
However,that never happened as Robiskie failed to catch a pass in the first three game and finished with only three for the season for a paltry twenty five yards.
Robiskie leaves as one of the failures of the Eric Mangini run 2009 draft,where Robiskie was selected (as was Mohammed Massaquoi as well) over Mike Wallace,who is starring as Pittsburgh's deep threat at the spot that the Browns are in bad need of-deep speed at the wideout position.
It seemed to me that Robiskie was a player that didn't have the deep speed,yet was having issues separating from his defender on the possession routes that he was going to have to excel at to be successful at the NFL level.
It is too bad for both parties as Robiskie was a local guy (Cleveland high school and Ohio State) that was well liked in the community and the Browns could have used more successful players from Ohio State and other in state colleges as well.
Meanwhile,the baseball team in town did not take long into the off season to shake things up a bit as the Indians traded with Atlanta for pitcher Derek Lowe,picked up the 2012 option on Fausto Carmona and declined the option on Grady Sizemore.
Lowe had an awful season last year with a 9-17 record and an ERA over five and is thirty eight years old.
Lowe was due a 15 million dollar payout for this season,but the Indians will be paying just five million of the sum with the Braves picking up the remainder of the check.My issue with this trade is not the gamble or the cost (five million is a steal for a player of Lowe's resume,if he has anything left),it is the concern about the Indians infield.
The Wahoo infield has many defensive questions except for Asdrubal Cabrera at shortstop and that raises questions from a pitcher known as a sinkerballer in my eyes.
The Indians sent lefthanded pitcher Chris Jones to the Braves to complete the deal.
Jones spent the 2011 campaign at High A Kinston and is notable to me for being one of the nicer players that I met this season on a K-Tribe team that was not filled with pleasant signers.
Best wishes to Chris with the Braves organization.
The Indians picked up the seven million dollar option on Fausto Carmona while declining the nine million option on popular,but oft-injured outfielder Grady Sizemore.
Carmona might have had a worse season than Derek Lowe last season after 7-15 record and an plus five ERA,but the Indians wanted more veterans on the staff (See Derek Lowe) and not keeping Carmona around would have made the staff still in need of another veteran in the teams thoughts.
Carmona is durable and I doubt seven million would have brought them a huge improvement (See the Paul Maholm comments in the post below),so I can see why they did it,if the thought is that a veteran is a must-have.
Carmona still has team options for 2013 and 2014,so if things do not improve,they can always decline those.
Sizemore was once thought of as one of the best players in the game,but has missed large chunks of each of the last three seasons and was ineffective during his stints in the last two years that saw him play 104 games in the two years combined.
Sizemore might be looked at this generations Pete Reiser,who was a tremendously talented outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers that ruined his career by his manic play that included smashing into outfield walls and playing in a too aggressive style.
Sizemore's numbers are better than Reiser's due to the difference in baseball era's,but I believe you get my wave length.
At his best,Sizemore had all five tools at the major league level and he might have been most popular player in Cleveland since Rocky Colavito or minimum since Jim Thome left town for Philadelphia.
It can be ironic that what makes you what you are athletically can be what destroys you and that might have happened to Sizemore,who turns 30 in August of next season.
Cleveland is interested in re-signing Sizemore at a lower cost and Sizemore says he will listen to Cleveland's offer,but I think this one is over.
If Sizemore is going to take a large paycut,he will do it for a team that either will contend or is located closer to his Arizona home.
I may be back later with an inbox cleaning,but if not,I'll be back tomorrow with the Devils returning to the rock tonight against visiting Toronto...
Photo Credits
Robiskie-Joshua Gunter-Cleveland Plain Dealer
Lowe-AP Photo
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