Cleveland Browns Draft Review

The Cleveland Browns entered the 2010 draft with many needs and lots of picks to attempt to fill them with.
The Browns tried to fill some of them with picks, but two trades with the Philadelphia Eagles weeded some of those picks away with a return of veteran corner Sheldon Brown, linebacker Chris Gocong and using some to move up into the second round to select Tennessee running back Montario Hardesty.

First-round pick Joe Haden was thought to be a Brown's possibility over the winter, but a bad combine workout caused Haden to slip from the minds of many observers.
Haden redeemed himself somewhat with a better performance at the Florida pro day and the Browns bought into Haden.
Haden is a physical man-to-man corner and was the best cornerback in this draft.
I might have taken Texas safety Earl Thomas over Haden, but certainly have no complaints on this pick as between Haden, Eric Wright, and bringing Sheldon Brown over from the Eagles, Corner looks to have moved from a weakness to a strength for Cleveland.

T.J. Ward of Oregon was the Browns second-round pick and to me, this was somewhat of a reach for a need position.
Ward looks to be better against the run than the downfield type and I saw Ward and Oregon play both at the beginning of the season (Boise State) and the Rose Bowl against the Buckeyes and I don't remember hearing much from him.
I had reservations about USC safety Taylor Mays as well, but I think Mays would have been a better selection than someone else as Ward could have been available in Round three.
In any event, Ward is likely to start this season, so we should see his worth quickly...
Cleveland then traded into the second round to nab Tennessee's physical runner Montario Hardesty.
Hardesty was beset with injury issues as a Volunteer, but stayed healthy all of last season and had the production to show for it.
Hardesty breaks tackles and falls forward as a runner, which is something that I always like in back, but the injury issues are concerning

In Round Three, the Browns used their picks on their possible quarterback of the future in Texas passer Colt McCoy and Arizona State offensive lineman Shawn Lauvao.
McCoy seems to be the perfect fit for the Mike Holmgren offense according to most and I tend to agree, but keep in mind that this won't be a Holmgren offense, it will be an Eric Mangini/Brian Daboll offense and McCoy doesn't seem to fit there as well.
McCoy is a leader and I like him, but his arm isn't the strongest around, and battling the Cleveland wind will go a long way in his possible success.
McCoy was well worth the risk at this stage in the draft.

Lauvao can play guard or tackle but seems to be a better fit at guard, I like this pick in adding bulk to the offensive line.
At the minimum, Lauvao will add depth, but the Browns hope he will start at right guard.

Cleveland didn't pick again until the fifth round with another safety in Larry Asante of Nebraska.
Looking at the safety rankings, Asante wasn't ranked very far below T.J. Ward.
Another hard-hitting "in the box" type safety, Asante looks to be better against the run than in coverage but still should be a special team help at worst.
The final two picks for the Browns were in round six with South Florida wide receiver Carlton Mitchell and South Carolina defensive end Clifton Geathers.
Mitchell has the type of physical talent that could make him a real steal for the Browns.
At almost 6' 3 and sprinter speed, Mitchell could eventually be an impact player.
Geathers has an NFL pedigree (father and uncle former NFLers) and at 6'7 and 300 pounds could be a powerhouse off the end.
The rap on Geathers is that he doesn't play to his size and takes plays off.

This draft looks solid, but some gambles were taken.
I like most of the players, but the draft can be just as much about when you take players as much about who you take.
Hopefully, this will work out in favor for the Browns,.....

On the signing front-III

On the signing front concludes the month of April with the Salem Red Sox in Frederick and the Hagerstown Suns hosting the Delmarva Shorebirds and Augusta Greenjackets.

Boston Red Sox teams are often difficult.
No getting around that as the vaunted "Red Sox Nation" supports their farm teams well,so you have an influx of collectors that aren't only regulars,but fans that have little idea of "autographing etiquette"..
But on this occasion,those fans weren't there and most of the Salem squad was accommodating.
The only two that I didn't get were Alex Wilson (starting pitcher,so understandable) and catcher Ryan Lavarnway,who apparently didn't sign at all during the series from what other collectors told me.
Members of the Sox top 30 prospects that signed for me included Anthony Rizzo (who I seemed to just miss three times last season),Will Middlebrooks,Ryan Dent (Very nice signer) and Tim Federowicz.
A very good evening for a Red Sox squad...

I didn't need very many for the Delmarva Shorebirds,but I was able to snag some good stuff.
Oriole top pick Matt Hobgood signed all the cards that I had and was super nice .
Other nice additions included catcher Mike Ohlman and pitchers Bobby Bundy and Ryan Berry all of whom talked a bit as well.
Former Oriole outfielder Al Bumbry was in town to see his son Steven play for Delmarva and was nice enough to sign for us as well and talked about being in the State College downpour last season.
However,the best of all was former Dodger and Oriole outfielder Mike Devereaux,who signed anything and everything and handled everything with total class.
What a terrific gentleman and ambassador for the game!

The Augusta Greenjackets featured the Giants top two draft picks in pitcher Zack Wheeler and catcher Tommy Joseph and both were very good signers and polite as well.
Both of them signed everything that I had for and were very nice to everyone as was another prospect in third baseman Chris Dominguez.
The Greenjacket coaching staff might be the friendliest in the league with hilarious manager Dave Machemer and pitching coach Steve Kline.
The series also added a few cards that had been around for a while in pitching prospect Hector Correa formerly of the Marlins and Washington roving coordinator Rick Schu formerly of the Phillies and Orioles.

The mail brought in former Phillie outfielder Wes Chamberlain,former Oriole outfielder Larry Harlow and former Yankee and Indian pitcher Fritz Peterson.
Fritz dropped a note with the cards informing me that he has written a book "Mickey Mantle is going to heaven" and it is available on Amazon.

Will try to be back with more later as we continue to try to catch up.

Cleaning out the Inbox

Time for some cleaning of the inbox as we prepare for an attempt to get further caught up over the next two days.

The biggest news was the retirement of perennial All-Pro tackle Walter Jones from the Seahawks.
Jones had basically been retired for the last two seasons with injuries but had made several attempts to return to the field.
Jones now knows that he made every effort to conclude his career the way that he wanted to and the body was simply unable to hold up under the strain.
Jones was the best offensive tackle of his era and was powerful enough to block for the run and yet nimble enough with his feet to remove the leagues best pass rushers from the game.
A first-ballot Hall of Famer, in our opinion, Walter Jones was the type of player that not only isn't easy to replace, but it could also take decades to replace with a player of his skill.
Thanks for the memories, Big Walt.



The Browns made two minor moves in claiming corner DeAngelo Smith off waivers from the Lions and signing free-agent tight end Alex Smith.
DeAngelo Smith spent some time last season with the Browns before being waived and signed by the Lions.
Smith was probably helped by his familiarity with the Browns defense from his stint last season.
Alex Smith was a third-round pick by Tampa and started there for four seasons before spending time as a backup with New England and Philadelphia last season.
Smith is more of a pass-catching type than a blocker and will battle Robert Royal as the backup at tight end behind Ben Watson...

Hagerstown Suns fan lost one of the better guys as former first-round pick Colton Willems has announced his retirement.
We were in the stands with Bill Cover for Colton's final appearance and despite this articles argument to the contrary, it didn't appear that all was well with Willems delivery.
To us, it looked like one of two things, either
A: he was pitching in pain or B.he had changed his mechanics to either protect another injury or the organization had encouraged him to change them.
Willems's arm almost looked like it was going to fly off into the stands and brought back memories of the downfall of former Blue Jays ace Juan Guzman, as the deliveries were very similar.
In any event, good luck to Colton in his post-baseball endeavors, he deserves lots of success...

Hall of Fame announcer Ernie Harwell has passed at the age of 92.
Harwell spent the bulk of his career calling the games of the Detroit Tigers and his work has made an institution in Motown.
In a field that is filled with nasty comments, no one had a bad thing to say about Harwell.
He and his work will be missed.

Finally, I am a day late in mentioning the 40th anniversary of the incident at Kent State.
I had completely forgotten until glancing at a trash can in Frederick last night and seeing a USA Today with a featured article on the top of the can.
KSU has created a walking tour on the campus for those that want to see and learn more.
Cherie and I have often talked about wanting to see the site, which was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places and the tour will make it much easier for visitors to find their way around.
Kent State is an incident that should never be repeated in our country and should never be forgotten, and such as I did yesterday is inexcusable.


Back later with more as I hope to get plenty of things up today and early tomorrow!

Seattle Seahawks Draft Review

Going into the draft, I figured that I had a pretty strong beat on what the Seattle Seahawks were going to do under Pete Carroll's guidance-Lots of Pac ten and USC guys and little else.
Instead, the Seahawks did a solid job and added two veteran backs through dealing with draft choices.
Surprised?
Yes and pleasantly so.
One could make an argument that the Seahawks might have had the best draft in the league when you consider the additions of Leon Washington and Lendale White as part of the draft.

Seattle's first-rounders were certainly hard to argue with when you see the top offensive tackle and the second-best safety soon to be wearing Seahawk blue.
Oklahoma State's Russell Okung was the best tackle in the draft, despite being the second one off the board as Washington did what they always do and take projection over proven talent in Trent Williams.
Okung will slide right into the huge shoes of Walter Jones and hopefully entrench himself at left tackle for the next ten years or so.
Texas safety Earl Thomas arrived with the first-round pick obtained last season from Denver and even though I like Joe Haden as the Browns top pick, I think Thomas would have been an even better pick.
Between a possible future Pro Bowl tackle and an impact safety, Seattle used their first two picks to attack their top two needs for the team.

Seattle moved down in round two and out of round three in the Charlie Whitehurst trade with the Chargers, so they had to make their pick count and they took Golden Tate, the wideout from Notre Dame.
Tate is more of a playmaker than a true wideout and should be effective in such a role as well as being active in the return game.
I do have concerns about Tate though as he has been a player totally involved with the offense and now needs to adjust to a supporting role.

Seattle made some trades on day three and added Leon Washington from the Jets and Lendale White from the Titans.
Washington should bring some help for the short passing game and White steps into the short-yardage role.
I would be surprised if this doesn't mean the end of Julius Jones in Seattle.

Cornerback Walter Townsend of Oregon and defensive end E.J.Wilson of North Carolina was selected as the Seattle fourth rounders.
Townsend is a solid cover corner type that fell in the draft after a severe knee injury in his senior season, while Wilson is more of a power rusher type off the end that plays the run better than most.
Virginia Tech safety Kam Chancellor was the fifth-round pick.
Chancellor was a productive college player and is a hard-hitting type that could be a tweener as not big enough to play linebacker and not fast enough to stay at safety full time.

Pete Carroll took just one of his USC players and it was the talented, but underachieving tight end, Anthony McCoy.
McCoy has all the physical tools to be a standout but never seemed to stay healthy and wasn't exactly Kellen Winslow when he was in the lineup.
Undersized hybrid DE/LB Dexter Davis of Arizona State was the seventh-round pick.
Davis was a college end that must move to linebacker in the NFL.

The final pick was the draftnik's sleeper in Jameson Konz of Kent State.
Konz wowed scouts with his workouts before the draft and could be a developmental type as a smaller pass-catching tight end and should at least help on special teams as he started his college career as a linebacker.

All and all-I like this draft and it has huge potential, especially if one of the tight ends develops from the late rounds.
Consider me both surprised and pleased for the Seahawks...

Photo Credit-Ted Warren-USA Today

On the signing front-II

The April signing front continues with the Lynchburg Hillcats in Frederick and our first trip to Harrisburg for the Senators and the Reading Phillies.

The Lynchburg Hillcats were a Pittsburgh Pirate affiliate for years until the swap of High A franchises with the Cincinnati Reds.
This was disappointing as a Pirate fan,but if it had to be done,it was with a team that was not already in the area.
The night of the game was met with a rain delay and the game was delayed for roughly an hour,but this was a good thing.
At Frederick,often the players are milling around outside the clubhouse and are happy to sign under a tented area to keep the rain off themselves.
Collectors are happy to oblige because it keeps their things out of the rain as well.

The Hillcats weren't loaded with prospects,but did have two former first round picks on the roster.
Catcher Devin Mesoraco was the Reds top pick in 2007 and Brad Boxberger was a supplemental first rounder in the 09 draft.
Boxberger was the scheduled starter and as such signed just one card per person.
That worked out for me as I only had his Tristar card anyway.
Promising third baseman Neftali Soto was another nice signer as he quietly signed three of three.
All in all,despite a lack of top notch prospects,it was a good night in Frederick as I was able to have every card that I brought signed and that is always a good night....

Corey,Ryan and I traveled to Harrisburg for the Reading Phillies and a shot at the elusive Stephen Strasburg on the Senators side.
Harrisburg has had their much lauded stadium renovation since our last visit there two years ago and it really does look like a different facility.
I was able to get a few Phillies before the game,but not Dominic Brown as he was there,but hadn't been playing due to an injury.
Harrisburg has a small cutout area that they call autograph alley on the visitors side.
It isn't really large,but it is nice to see that they thought of taking care of the collectors when the facility was redesigned.

Across the field,Strasburg was signing and Corey along with Ryan were trying to get close.
Both report that an overly officious usher was incredibly rude to others although not to them.
Strasburg signed some after the game and Corey was able to get a ball signed,but Ryan missed on the card that I gave him (more on that card later).
The only Senator that they were able to get before the game was former Suns catcher Sean Rooney.
The seats that the Senators had for us were very nice down the left field line and I enjoyed the view of the game as we were joined by Bill Cover for the contest.
The interesting part of the game action was the "color commentary" by a fan that said every sentence multiple times as in "5-1,5-1 5-1 now,6th inning,6th inning,6th inning.
This gentleman was harmless enough,but immediately brought forth memories of Dustin Hoffman as "Raymond Babbitt" in Rain Man.
SO that meant that Rain Man impersonations and movie quotes were in vogue for the evening.


We waited after the game and wondering who the person was signing by the clubhouses and one collector thought it was Drew Storen.
I wasn't sure who it was,but I knew it wasn't Storen as I knew him in Hagerstown.
It turned out to be Steven Strasburg and we began to wait our turn.
I had just one card,his tristar card,which is a artist depiction not an actual photo of the righthander.
Strasburg saw the card and commented "I can't sign that card,sorry".
I hurriedly grabbed a baseball and returned to the line where Strasburg signed it without a problem.
I have always wondered why players refuse to sign certain cards,even there is an issue with a company.
They aren't hurting the company any,only collectors.
I was able to get a few Phillies,but not Dominic Brown,who had a plate full of food and begged off to sign "tomorrow night".
Disappointing,but these things happen sometimes.
The most notable of the Reading players was former Seattle first rounder and Canadian World Baseball Classic pitcher Phillippe Aumont,who the Phils obtained in the Cliff Lee trade.
Very nice guy.

A quick tip of the cap to Jason Christenson,who was able to get me quite a few players from Akron and Erie.
Most notably former big leaguer and Erie skipper Phil Nevin,but Jason was able to land the two Indian prospects that were the most elusive for me last season in Lonnie Chisenhall and Cord Phelps,along with Scott Barnes,who Cleveland obtained from the Giants late season.

Other additions include two certifieds from the Topps Pro Debut set in the Pirates Chase D'Arnaud (ebay) and the Braves Travis Jones (pulled from a pack).

The next on the signing front will wrap up April with the Salem Red Sox in Frederick and the Hagerstown visits from Delmarva and Augusta..

Quick Pick

Floyd Mayweather vs Shane Mosley.
Mosley has the speed and the style to give Mayweather fits.
Mosley can do what the person to almost beat Mayweather did (Jose Luis Castillo) and has the ability to win this.
However,the 16 month layoff is going to hurt Mosley and that takes away an advantage that he once would have had over Mayweather.
Mayweather by a somewhat close decision...

On the signing front

On the signing front begins with this post and will continue over the next week in recapping the month of April.
I am hoping to use my first regularly scheduled time off this week to have the Browns and Seahawks draft reviews finished and the Devils season recaps as well.
Looks like a big plate and all might not be completed,but one can hope...

I already looked at meet the team,which was pretty successful at taking care of a large amount of the Suns before the season even started,so lets start with the first team to enter Hagerstown,the Hickory Crawdads.
The Crawdads are affiliated with the Texas Rangers and with Hickory being the only Ranger team on the East Coast,are a popular attraction for collectors.
Last season,the Crawdads featured one of the top prospects in baseball in pitcher Martin Perez,but no such luck this season.
Hickory's top prospects were all pitchers as Robbie Ross,Wilmer Font and Neil Ramirez led the list.
All signed,but Ross and Ramirez were both very good signers and stood out amongst the Crawdads.
I also had two signatures come in through the mail around this time as 70's journeyman righthander Jerry Johnson and former Pirate,Indian and Giant power hitting catcher Gary Alexander signed.

The Lakewood Blue Claws were next to visit Hagerstown.
The Blue Claws were a tough team,but it wasn't their fault as much as the ill-advised 35 minute before the game opening of the gates.
Thankfully,that was ended at the conclusion of the Lakewood series and I (among others) thank the Suns management for listening to the complaints of the fans.
When you are only getting four to six players an evening,that is going to take time to finish and Lakewood took every bit of those four evenings.
The Blue Claws featured former number one pick Anthony Hewitt and shortstop Jeremy Barnes,who has hit well at each level that he has played at.
Hewitt flashed the type of athletic ability that brought one back to Dominic Brown's Lakewood stint in 2008,but may take a little longer to develop as a player.
Former major league catcher Mark Parent is the Blue Claw skipper and he was very engaging on the evening that he signed for me and I was lucky enough to recognize roving instructor Steve Henderson,who was kind enough to chat about his being involved in the trade that sent Tom Seaver to the Reds.
Henderson's signing of his card with the Buffalo Bison provided the most unintentionally funny autograph in the collection.
Mail signatures from this time included former Indian lefty Rick Waits,Giant reliever Gary Lavelle,Dodger bullpenner Lance Rautzahn,well traveled outfielder Mark Whiten and Brave/Ranger reliever Adrian Devine.

Next time will cover our first trip for a Cincinatti Red team in Lynchburg and our evening in Harrisburg and a opportunity for someone that you may have heard of by the name of Strasburg.....