Indians trade with Mets- Add Kevin Plawecki

The Cleveland Indians have been criticized for their inaction as far as improving their roster in preparation for the 2019 season and that criticism doesn't likely go away after a minor deal with the New York Mets.

The Indians added catcher Kevin Plawecki from the Mets in return for minor league infielder Sam Haggerty and pitcher Walker Lockett as Cleveland looks to build up a catching corps weakened by the trade of Yan Gomes to Washington.

A one time upper-level prospect, Plawecki has struggled to hit in the big leagues, although he has shown flashes of decent power in his major league appearances with 14 homers in 700 at-bats over four seasons.
Plawecki has struggled to make decent contact in his Big Apple chances as he hit .210 last season and carries a career average of a mere .218.
Plawecki is a decent defensive catcher and threw out 16 of 70 attempted theft attempts last season.

Plawecki could be either the backup to Roberto Perez or should Eric Haase force the issue, the soon to be 28 years old, Plawecki could be the starter and standby mitt in AAA Columbus.
In either event, it doesn't figure impact the Tribe very much, but occasionally a player that was touted and somewhat disappointed does go for the proverbial fresh start and turn things around, so one can hope for that.

The Indians had recently acquired Walker Lockett from the Padres in November, so Lockett never even was a "Hi Corbett" Indian.
Lockett was ripped in four late-season starts in San Diego with a record of 0-3 with an ERA of over nine, so he was likely an arm that was acquired as a hired gun for AA Akron or AAA Columbus after a 5-8 season with a 4.79 ERA for the Padres AAA affiliate in the West Texas town of El Paso.
Sam Haggerty hit .243 with four homers in 87 games for AA Akron and stole 24 bases.
I wouldn't label Haggerty a prospect, but with the ability to play second, third and short, Haggerty is the type of player that can hang around AA and AAA for a long time.

Ten things I think

 

Ten things I think and ten that I opine on.

1) If I'm the Cleveland Browns and Mike Munchak hasn't received a head coaching job, if he's available (not sure on his contract situation in Pittsburgh), I'm on the phone to offer him a blank check to come to Cleveland.
Munchak is the best offensive line coach in the game and his addition to the staff would improve the team before any new players are added.

2) I know many on the right are snickering, laughing and even saying Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be disqualified from Congress for a dance video that appeared from her high school years.
Keep in mind, this isn't alcohol or drug-related behavior, it's a teenager dancing and being silly.
I bet almost all of us that were teenagers in the '80s with the first camcorders to the present day phones with video capability have something like this.
I even hear a certain author might have some 30-year-old tapes of wrestling on mattresses in their parents' backyard from their teenage days.

3) I like the West Virginia hiring of Neal Brown of Troy as their new head coach,
Considering the late date and the coaches available, the Mountaineers could have done far worse.
Brown was the second Sun Belt coach to be hired away this year with Appalachian State losing Scott Satterfield to Louisville.
The next one to go next year could be Blake Anderson of Arkansas State and maybe Georgia Southern's Chad Lunsford.

4) An uninspiring slate of NFL playoff games this weekend.
Only the Chargers in Baltimore against the Ravens has more than average interest.
The other three games are all pretty dull on the surface.

5) My friend "Lefty" Koch followed up with me from a Cleaning out the inbox and added that he too has disdain for turkey.
The Koch family has a seafood Christmas, which has some intrigue for a season down the road for me.
If I could still have a turkey breast too, that is.

6) I'm not sure what Ohio State lost as Alex Grinch left Columbus as co-defensive coordinator for Oklahoma for the same position.
I thought the Buckeye defense took a step back last season and it could have been too many cooks with Grinch and Greg Schiano.
Ironically, neither could be a part of the 19 Buckeyes.

7) Am I the only person more excited for the Alliance League of American Football than the Super Bowl?
Other than the Saints with Drew Brees and 20 former Buckeyes, I don't have a ton of interest.

8) I think it'll be really fun to watch the league develop and what happens.
So many leagues come and go, so I'll enjoy it while I have it,
Still trying to decide which team I'll be pulling for between Salt Lake City's Stallions and Arizona's Hotshots.

9) It may be time for my local tv station (WDVM) to die their death.
Since losing their NBC affiliation a few years back, it's been nothing but a mix of the worst of local news and a simulcast of something called the Heroes and Villains network
Sometimes it is best to just fade away.

10) Doesn't everyone have a few foods that they say they like, but if they eat more than once or twice a year, not so much?
One of mine is Spam, which once or maybe twice a year, I really love (fried, yellow mustard, cheese whiz, and onion), but more than that and I get tired of it.
My other Spam issue?
I have to have Spam, not the house brand or the lesser brand Treet or god forbid Dak!
Just Spam, which likely tells you how good Spam is for me!

PPM

The NFL playoffs begin and the college season ends on Monday.
Been a good year in the PPM- I'll try to keep it going!

Last Week: 11-8
Overall: 146-44-1

College
Alabama over Clemson 31-17

NFL
Texans over Colts 34-28
Chargers over Ravens 27-17
Seahawks over Cowboys 24-20
Eagles over Bears 27-24

Boxing Awards 2018-The Best

Our 2018 Boxing Awards are being awarded for the first time and consider this a cliff notes version of other award posts.
I'm not going into a ton of detail because I assume that A) If you care you know this information already or B) You don't care and have already left the building so to speak.

This will be the first of a three-part series with the second part being the worst of 2018 and part three awarding "The Zabbies" for fighters that we don't need to see any further in the ring.

Fighter of the Year: Oleksandr Usyk

This was an easy choice as Usyk won three big fights, all of them on the road, unified the four cruiserweight titles, won the first World Boxing Super Series and then added a former division champion as a victim in his first defense.
That's a hell of a year!
Usyk narrowly decisioned (I scored it a draw) Mairis Bredis in the semi-finals of the WBSS to win the WBC title in Latvia, delivered a dazzling performance over feared WBA and IBF champion Murat Gassiev in Russia to win the tournament and then knocked out former champion Tony Bellew with one left hand in London to end the year.
Amazing what being active against strong competition can do for a yearly resume'.

Silver: Vasyl Lomachenko, only a shoulder injury that kept him to two fights kept him from challenging Usyk after two wins against champions Jorge Linares and Jose Pedraza.
Bronze: Deontay Wilder, a win to start the year over Luis Ortiz and a draw with Tyson Fury ended it.
Honorable Mention: Canelo Alvarez, Mikey Garcia, Josh Warrington.

Fight of the Year
Kosei Tanaka Majority Decision over Sho Kimura

The best fight almost no one saw and I was fortunate enough to watch this live at work in the late night/early morning hours,
Action-packed with the tide turning back and forth, one can only hope to see these two in a 2019 rematch for Tanaka's WBO flyweight title.

Silver: Murat Gassiev KO 12 Yunier Dorticos- Two huge hitters pounding each other for twelve rounds and then a violent ending.
Bronze: Jarrett Hurd Split Decision over Erislandy Lara.
Imagine that- an entertaining Erislandy Lara fight! This one would have been scored a draw, if not for Hurd scoring a final round knockdown
Honorable Mention: Canelo Alvarez Split Decision Gennady Golovkin
                                  Srisaket Sor Rungvisai Majority Decision Juan Francisco Estrada
                                  Alex Saucedo TKO Lenny Zappavigna

Knockout of the Year
Naoya Inoue KO 1 Juan Carlos Payano

Inoue's demolition of Payano with one crushing right was one for the ages that dropped Payano to his back and only able to tip to his side like a collapsed brick.

Silver; Murat Gassiev KO 12 Yunier Dorticos
Bronze: Oleksander Gvozdyk KO 12 Adonis Stevenson
Honorable Mention: Oleksandr Usyk KO 8 Tony Bellew
                                  Dillian Whyte KO 11 Dereck Chisora
                                  Teofimo Lopez KO 1 Mason Menard

Upset of the Year
Elieder Alvarez KO 7 Sergei Kovalev
Watching this in a hotel room in Wytheville, Virginia, Kovalev won the first six rounds and seemed to be on cruise control against Alvarez, who Adonis Stevenson had shamelessly ducked for years.
That was until Alvarez turned Kovalev's legs into ramen noodles and three knockdowns later, owned the WBO title and might have ended Kovalev's viability for good.
Their rematch is held next month.

Silver; Josh Warrington Unanimous Decision Carl Frampton
Bronze: Rob Brant Unanimous Decision Ryota Murata
Honorable Mention; Maurice Hooker KO 7 Alex Saucedo
                                 Emmanuel Navarette Unanimous Decision Isaac Dogboe
                                 Tony Harrison Unanimous Decision Jermell Charlo

Round of the Year
Alex Saucedo- Lenny Zappavigna Round 4
A back and forth round that saw both fighters hurt and both fighters withstand booming shots and punishment.
If Saucedo-Zappavigna would have been for a world title or the brave Zappavigna been higher in the ratings, this bout might be higher in my fight of the year consideration.
The punishment Saucedo took in victory played a major part in his losing title challenge to Maurice Hooker in his next fight.

Silver: Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury Round 12
Bronze: Murat Gassiev- Yunier Dorticos Round 12
Honorable Mention: Canelo Alvarez- Gennady Golovkin Round 10
                                  Sriskaet Sor Rungvisai-Juan Francisco Estrada Round 12
                                  Kosei Tanaka-Sho Kimura Round 2

Prospect of the Year
Teofimo Lopez

Lopez has mowed through the lower level competition impressively and has reached the point of meeting fringe contenders and his one round dispatching of Mason Menard was as good of a win as you'll see from a young fighter.
Lopez will fight a top ten contender and former champion in Diego Magdaleno on the Alvarez-Kovalev undercard in February.
Should Lopez win impressively defeat Magdaleno and his other fights in 2019, I wouldn't be shocked to see Lopez challenge Vasyl Lomachenko in 2020, should Lomachenko stay at lightweight or Lopez could be the one to leap to 140 pounds.

Silver: Josh Kelly
Bronze: Devin Haney
Honorable Mention: Shakur Stevenson
                                  Jaron Ennis
                                  Vergil Ortiz

Commentator of the Year- Blow by Blow
Jim Lampley HBO

The voice of the now-defunct HBO boxing program and one of the classiest guys in the game.
Lampley struggled through his final year with HBO through no fault of his own due to less than intriguing fights, the loss of interest by his company, and being saddled with two color commentators that to be kind have become quite grating, but Lampley didn't allow it to affect his performance.
Lampley always understood that real emotion doesn't come with every boxing telecast and unlike so many in sports television today doesn't believe in manufactured emotion.
He'll be missed.

Silver: Brian Kenny DAZN
Bronze: Barry Tompkins Showtime

Commentator of the Year-Color

Al Bernstein Showtime

The veteran that has seen it all still breaks down a bout with the best of them and does it in a way that
doesn't oversimplify for the knowledgeable fan, but isn't too involved that the newer fan feels overwhelmed with nuances from the game.
What I like best about Bernstein is that he's not afraid to state an opinion, but also isn't afraid to veer away if there is a reason to change that opinion, whether during a fight or even over a boxer's career.
Bernstein ranks with the most versatile in television as he can do blow by blow or host if needed and doesn't feel the need to make the broadcast about himself.

Silver: Paulie Malignaggi Showtime
Bronze: Steve Farhood Showtime

Broadcaster of the Year
Showtime

Considering that Showtime has the top three color commentators on my list for Showtime Championship Boxing and their developmental series ShoBox, a good host in Brian Custer, and very readable graphics (Don't laugh that's not always the case in television), the Showtime broadcast isn't number one because HBO stepped aside, they are number one because they bullied them aside.
Showtime isn't perfect (as you'll see in part two) and sometimes they are at the mercy of their provider (Al Haymon's PBC) for too many showcase/squash matches that often times seem like there is a little too much buildup for a good fight, not great that should have been made earlier.
An example of this is in the welterweight division where PBC holds all the stars except for Terence Crawford, yet forces showcase fights to build for fights that are anticipated, but not breathtaking. such as any fight made between the trio of Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, and Shawn Porter.
Still, the network only has so much control and Showtime's presentation ranks above them all.

Silver: ESPN
Bronze: DAZN
Both of these networks are badly in need of help as the streaming aspect grows.
ESPN's team of Joe Tessitore, Mark Kriegel, and Tim Bradley along with DAZN's aforementioned Brian Kenny, Sugar Ray Leonard, and occasionally Sergio Mora needs upgrading to keep pace with Showtime.
Opinions on these and more in part two.

Boxing Challenge:Nietes nips Ioka, 2018 Challenge ends

The final Boxing Challenge took place in Japan and China with fighters retaining titles, one vacant title filled and another saw a new claimant in a mild surprise.

The second of the two cards, this from Macau China was fought in an environment that appeared to have all the excitement and atmosphere of the business section of a Holiday Inn Express,

That was too bad as the main event was not only a pretty good scrap, it decided a title and kept both the winner and loser in the picture of the currently strong junior bantamweight division at 115 pounds.
Donnie Nietes deserved the decision in his previous attempt at the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title against Aston Palicte and received a draw instead.
That was paid back in spades as Nietes received a split decision over Kazuto Ioka that I didn't think he deserved.
Granted, my score was reasonably close for Ioka 115-113 (7-5), which was closer than boxing twitter and the official judges that gave both Nietes and Ioka a 116-112 card and a ridiculous 118-110 for Nietes, but in hindsight, I think that my score was the proverbial "every close round" to Nietes and Ioka should have gotten the duke.
I would love to see a rematch between the pair.

On the Macau undercard, there were two challenge bouts that I haven't been able to watch as of this writing as Japan's Hiroko Kyoguchi won the WBA light flyweight title from South Africa's Hekkie Budler when Budler's corner stopped the fight in the corner after round ten and IBF flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane of South Africa retained his title when Japan's Masahiro Sakamoto was unable to answer the bell for the eleventh round.

ESPN + showed one of the two challenge bouts from Tokyo as Masahiro Ito kept his WBO junior lightweight championship with a seventh-round stoppage of Russia's Evgeny Chuprakov.
I thought Ito had won each of the first six rounds and the stoppage saved Chuprakov from an extended beating.
In the other untelevised challenge event that I have not seen Japan's Ken Shiro kept his WBC light flyweight title via unanimous decision over Saul Juarez of Mexico.

In the other televised fight, Takuma Inoue (brother of WBA bantamweight champ Naoya "The Monster") won a unanimous decision to win a minor title over undefeated former minimumweight champion CP Freshmart of Thailand.
Freshmart, a long time favorite of Vince Samano, used his "real name" which with Thai fighters can cause confusion or this fight would have been a challenge fight.

In the final challenge fights of the year, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points to finish the season in my favor 218-201.
If anyone is reading this and wants to take up the challenge with us, I might add one person if there is interest in doing it.

Houston hires Dana Holgorsen

Lots of things happening today with a few passings that will be saved for down the road, but the big news is Houston hiring a new football coach as the Cougars lured Dana Holgorsen away from West Virginia with a five-year contract worth twenty million over the course of the agreement.

Holgorsen was receiving 3.7 million last season in Morgantown with each of the next three seasons adding $100,000 to his yearly sum, which would end with four million for the 2021 season, which is the exact number that Holgorsen will earn in Houston.
This might be the first time that I can ever remember a coach voluntarily moving from a Power Five school to a Group of Five school, voluntarily being the key word, as coaches have been fired from one and were hired at a G-5 university, but this is a special case as Holgorsen was the offensive coordinator for the Cougars under Kevin Sumlin, still owns a home there and his three sons from a previous marriage still reside there, so Houston was a situation that no one else could offer.

Houston badly wants to join a power five league (Most likely the Big 12, but don't rule out the SEC, who could likely add a second Texas team on the inevitable day that league moves to sixteen teams) and has a powerful booster that is willing to fund the program's building its way to that level.
Tilman Fertitta not only owns the Landry's restaurant organization, but he also owns the Golden Nugget casino group and the Houston Rockets and sits on the university's board of regents, so this is no lightweight spender as Fertitta showed with a twenty million dollar donation to rebuild Hofheinz Pavilion, the basketball home for the Cougars since 1967 and now renamed Fertitta Center.

Houston famously crowed a few years back that they "Fire coaches for going 8-4" and Major Applewhite produced seasons of  7-5 and 8-5 and was shown the door.
I liked Applewhite as a play caller and a coordinator, but he may have not been ready for a pressure-filled job such as Houston for his first head coaching position.
Some of his decisions in-game just made you wonder if this was the same guy that had such a strong understanding of the offensive game and his blow-up over a sideline coat with Ed Oliver on national television looked terrible to recruits.

Where West Virginia dropped the ball was when Holgorsen's buyout changed.
Had Houston hired Holgorsen immediately after the Armed Forces Bowl disaster against Army, it would have cost them 2.5 million, but Holgorsen's buyout changed on January 1st to a more manageable one million and there was the rib.
Had West Virginia installed that provision to take effect say February or March 1st, they may have held onto Holgorsen (no school will go that long to wait for a coach) or would have at least forced Houston to pay the entire 2.5 million had they wanted Holgorsen bad enough.

The Mountaineers are in a tough spot, they are in the Big 12, thousands of miles from conference foes, play in a state with few top recruits and Morgantown isn't an overwhelmingly attractive place to live for potential coaches.
Honestly, if Houston was able to make the move up to a power five league, the Houston job located in one of the deepest states to recruit in would easily be the equal, if not the better job.
The problem is that there isn't a way out for WVU.
The Big 10 and ACC won't touch them because the school isn't academically at the level of their schools and the SEC likely would rather add a program that would add a strong market or name brand for their eventual expansion.
So, unless they are willing to take the lower dollars of the group of five, it looks like the Big 12 for the Mountaineers-problems and all.

West Virginia is rumored to have four candidates in mind to replace Holgorsen- Troy's Neal Brown, Cincinnati's Luke Fickell, Memphis head man Mike Norvell and former Tennessee coach Butch Jones.
Brown or Norvell would run close to the same offense style as Holgorsen, Fickell would likely be able to recruit better in neighboring Ohio and Jones would bring the bigger name.
Two coaches that I haven't seen named that might be on my list would be Arkansas State's Blake Anderson and Toledo's Jason Candle.
Either would be interesting young coaches and would infuse some energy in a program that might be in need of it next season.

Buckeye win Rose Bowl- Win in Urban Meyer Finale'

The Ohio State Buckeyes dominated the Washington Huskies for three quarters and then held off the Huskies final quarter rally for a 28-23 win in the Rose Bowl in the final game for Urban Meyer as head of the Buckeye program.
Dwayne Haskins threw three touchdown passes in what may or may not be his final game with the Buckeyes to lead Ohio State to the win.

Ohio State returns to action on August 31 in Columbus as the Buckeyes will host Lane Kiffin and the Florida Atlantic Owls.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Is it possible for a quarterback to throw three touchdowns passes without an interception and still seem like he was just a bit out of sync?
Dwayne Haskins seemed that way and it can be understood as well.
The only bowl game that he will possibly play in and it's Urban Meyer's last game?
It's easy to see how that can happen and while Haskins may not have been great, he was still pretty good.

2) Dwayne Haskins would be best served to return to play another year and the track record for quarterbacks that played just one year in college is spotty at best and awful at worst (quick name one or two that was successful in the NFL) for those with that experience in the NFL.
Still, I certainly understand it as he's the top passer in the draft and the 2020 class could be loaded with talent.
Best for his playing career? I doubt it.
Best for his life and financial future? Absolutely.

3) One more QB note with the possible arrival of Justin Fields via transfer from Georgia, Tate Martell has been lobbing some Twitter bombs towards Fields that are full of bravado, but come across as somewhat insecure as my buddy Ian McArdle spoke.
I like Tate, always have, but I think his skills are better suited for the pure read option that Urban Meyer ran than the pro-style hybrid that Ryan Day will likely install.
It's a bad break for Martell, who has been nothing but a loyal Buckeye, but these things happen when coaching changes occur.

4) Parris Campbell caught eleven passes in the victory and passed David Boston for the all-time reception record as a Buckeye.
Campbell will be a second or early third-day pick in the draft, but he'll be the type of player that will be best used as a versatile player in various ways in the pros.
Think of Campbell as more like Curtis Samuel than Michael Thomas.

5) Mike Weber rushed for over ninety yards in his final game before the draft.
Weber won't be a huge star in the pro's, but he'll be a solid back for someone.

6) The Buckeyes did gain some good news following the game when linebacker Malik Harrison announced his intention to return to the team next season.
Harrison finished the season strong and his return will be a huge help to the defense.

7) Brendan White was named one of the players of the game with Haskins and White's late-season play has also been a huge asset.
White and Jeffrey Okudah, who also played very well against Washington, will be the leaders of next season's secondary.

8) The Rose Bowl win was the eighth for the program and allowed them to tie Michigan for the all-time Big Ten lead for Rose Bowl wins.

9) Ohio State started two new players along the offensive line in Joshua Alabi (1st start) and Wyatt Davis (2nd start), both acquitted themselves well and will be counted on next season.

10) I've always liked Washington coach Chris Petersen, his teams don't roll over and they always play hard as you saw with their rally down 28-3.
Petersen is on the verge of making the Huskies the premier program in the Pac 12, but the Pac 12 is clearly the weakest of the power five conferences.
Washington still has a way to go to become a national power, but Petersen has the right idea.

11) The final game under Urban Meyer was a media spectacle of course, but it was an understandable one.
Arguably the second best coach of his age, Meyer's retirement was going to be a big deal.
Urban Meyer's record for Ohio State finishes with an astounding 82-9, wins in the Cotton, Sugar, Fiesta and now Rose to go with the 2014 National Championship- not bad work for seven years time.

12) The Buckeyes are reportedly adding Mike Yurcich from Oklahoma State as the new offensive coordinator to work with Kevin Wilson in the position that Ryan Day previously held. Yurcich and the Cowboys averaged over 500 yards a game this season.
Yurcich is a Euclid, Ohio native, but started his career as the offensive coordinator at nearby Shippensburg PA university.

13) So another season ends for the Buckeyes with another dominating win over the rival, a major bowl victory, perhaps being a better team than teams that made the playoff and still on the outside looking in.
At the current time, the only programs that can be said to be stronger at this time are Alabama, Clemson and arguably Oklahoma, but there are hurdles to be leaped- mainly avoiding an inexplicable loss on the road to a lesser opponent that keeps them out of the system.

14) And there isn't Urban Meyer anymore and as high as we are on Ryan Day from his offense and three game cameo that more than likely was the seed to the eventual retirement of Urban Meyer, we still have questions.
2019 starts answering those questions.

I have the weekend in boxing next and without Browns, Buckeyes or anything else other than boxing in two weeks, I'll have plenty of time to do some year in reviews for the two teams and the one that I had forgotten on the Hagerstown Suns with a surprise or two.
Back tomorrow or maybe sooner.