A little bit of this..

Sometimes you are motivated to write and other times you are not.
That might not be the major reason that I've never made a dime on this, but I know it's not the only reason.

I had ideas for columns and even started a few (Blogger has a few posts that have been started), but I never felt up to finishing.
Keep that in mind, in a week or no when there is a flurry of posts!

The Cleveland Indians outfield situation doesn't look strong entering Arizona, but the Indians added another competitor in the race for starting positions with the signing of free agent Matt Joyce.
The 34-year-old Joyce hit .208 with seven homers in 83 games for Oakland last season, which doesn't exactly fill one with confidence that this is the answer for the Indians offense, but the hope that Joyce hits more along the lines of his 2017 season where he hit a career-high 25 homers for the Athletics.
It's low risk, a little over a million if he makes the team and incentives, but I'm not overly hopeful.

I do have some hopes for another signing, this one for the bullpen as the Indians signed Alex Wilson, formerly of the Tigers.
Wilson notched a 3.36 ERA for the Tigers last season in 59 games and has been solid in his six-year career with Boston and Detroit so this could be a signing that helps a bit.

Remember the post when Nik Stauskas was acquired by the Cavaliers and I wrote how he was worth a flyer, only to be traded the next day to Houston?
Stauskas was traded the following day after that to Indiana and was waived by the Pacers.
After all that, where did Staukas wind up? Cleveland.
Salary caps can make strange things happen.

And then there's Marquese Chriss, who has scored double figures in three of his four games as a Cavaliers and sent a crunching dunk over the head of noted Brooklyn shot blocker Jarrett Allen that sent the league into a gossip frenzy.
It's only a few games, but Mr.Chriss seems motivated to please and just might be a Cleveland steal

In boxing, Marcos Maidana has decided to return to the ring in what looks to be a bad decision.
Maidana looks like he's gained 75 pounds at least in photos and before he starts training, he's closer to heavyweight than his desired welterweight for his return.
Maidana has not fought since his loss to Floyd Mayweather in September 2014, so almost five years off isn't going to help Maidana very much, but his mauling style may age better than others.
I still would rank an all-Argentine brawl between Maidana and Lucas Matthysse as one of the top few fights that I would have loved to have seen that never happened.

The Chicago Cubs are starting their own network "Marquee Sports" in conjunction with Sinclair Broadcasting, who are so right wing that they make Fox News look moderate.
The Cubs expect to have games exclusively on Marquee for the 2020 season.

Cavaliers trade Rodney Hood

The Cleveland Cavaliers last season brought Rodney Hood into town to help for the present and attempt to help win another championship.
This season, the Cavaliers are shipping Rodney Hood out of town to help build for the future as part of a rebuild to eventually hope to win another championship.

Cleveland traded the 6'8 swingman to the Portland Trail Blazers for two players that might just need playing time and two second-round picks as part of the getting something rather than nothing program.

Hood was averaging twelve points a game for the Cavaliers and to a contending team, such as Cleveland thought last season, could be a potential help in the postseason.
Hood wasn't going to be part of the future, at least in what turned out to be the 2018-19 season results and it only made sense to move Hood along.

Hood turned out to be a disappointment in the 17-18 playoffs for Cleveland as he averaged only five points a game and had a few celebrated attitude issues that included refusing to enter a game in the fourth quarter as only the contract status of Hood managed to keep the player and the team together for another season.
Despite decent numbers on a bad Cavalier team this season, Hood wasn't seen as a franchise building block and was likely to walk away at the end of the season.

The return was mainly about the pair of second rounders (Portland's 21 and 23) that are obtained for future assets far more than the two players obtained.
Second rounders rarely provide helpful players, but they often are helpful in trades as filler in larger trades.
As for the players, both were one-time first-round draft picks and both never lived up to that level.
Nik Stauskas was once a lottery pick for the Sacramento Kings (8th overall) in 2014 out of Michigan, where he was the Big 10 player of the year as a sophomore, but the 6'6 shooting guard has never managed to average double figures in seasons with four teams (Sacramento, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Portland) and has never shown potential to be any more than a three-point shooter off the bench.
Stauskas does shoot the three well (34 percent) and he might be the type of bargain that could turn out to at least receive minutes on a bad team.
Stauskas will be a free agent at the end of the year, so if the Cavaliers don't care for his game, they could let him walk, but at the same time, he has a chance to impress enough to earn a new contract.

Wade Baldwin is another player that are high reward and low risk and the Cavaliers aren't hurting themselves when they add players like Stauskas and Baldwin.
Baldwin was a first rounder (17th overall) by Memphis in 2016 from Vanderbilt after his sophomore season, but after two and a half years in the league and two teams, Baldwin has only played in 56 games over that period of time.
The 6'2 point guard was playing only six minutes a game when he did play for Portland, but the intriguing things about Baldwin are these-He is still only 22 and when he was sent to the G League, Baldwin has played very well in the minors.
That gives me some hope that Baldwin could turn out to be another player that might thrive playing as a backup to Collin Sexton on a crummy team and could earn himself a contract for 2019-20 with a strong finish,
Baldwin is, like Stauskas, a free agent at the end of the season and if he doesn't play to the Cavaliers liking, could easily be allowed to walk away.

I like this deal.
Second rounders are a more valuable commodity to trade than use and the Cavaliers added two more to a stockpile acquired this season (The Cavaliers have added six second rounders from other teams) with two players that might need time to develop after both spent only two years in college with little investment in either player should they decide to keep or cut bait.
The Cavaliers likely aren't finished before tomorrow's trade deadline, so I'll be back when more deals warrant.