First off, I'd like to begin advertising the Mistake by the Lake Sporting Times 2005 NFL Draft coverage. As it is planned right now, Corey and I will write-up our assessment of each of the Browns' picks shortly after their selection and post them to the site. It will be our first attempt at pseudo-liveblogging. And we'll be doing this for both days of the draft, because we all know you can find great value even in the last rounds (Ryan Pontbriand anyone?).

My recent discussion of the Cavaliers' upcoming off-season, and the following debate about free agency has sparked an intrigue in me. Loyal reader Marc claims, "Clevelanders always complain that our teams never sign the big, marquee free agent." This definitely seems true on first glance. This has inspired me to do a little rudimentary research on free agency, and it's place in Cleveland sports.

Cleveland Indians Free Agents

I was planning on giving an educational summary of how free agency came about in Major League Baseball--but then I came upon Doug Pappas's amazing work. Just read it. Sadly for our Tribe, the only notable signings by the team for the longest time was granting free agency to overrated over-the-hill players and then resigning them, like Rick Manning and Andre Thornton. Now let's take a look at the nominees for the best free agent signing in Tribe history, in chronological order:

Doug Jones, RP, 3/3/85: Finally, after nearly 10 years of terrible free agents being dragged into Municipal Stadium, Jones shows up, but it wasn't easy. As he tells it, he signed to play AA and the next season was finally called up for a cup of coffee. The next year he was in the major league bullpen to stay. Jones was solid to great in 6 seasons in the Tribe's bullpen.

Tom Candiotti, SP, 12/12/85: Candiotti pitched well on some mediocre to miserably bad Indian teams in the late '80s. Of course no one will forget his riveting comeback attempt with the Indinas in 1999, when he managed to allow 18 earned runs in 14.2 innings.

Bartolo Colon, SP, 6/26/93: Fortunately the Indians knew to sell high, but Colon really was the best starter the Tribe had during his six seasons at the Jake.

Victor Martinez, C, 7/15/96: VMart, like Bartobolo, signed as a non-drafted free agent--as Venezuelans are want to do. It's way too early to name Victor as an all-time great at anything, but a Silver Slugger in his "rookie" year is impressive.

Roberto Alomar, 2B, 12/1/98: He won't go in the Hall of Fame as an Indian but, without a doubt, Robbie had his best seasons in Cleveland. And they're among the best seasons all-time for a second baseman.

Honorable mentions: Jorge Orta, Eric Plunk, Alvaro Espinoza, Dennis Martinez, Eddie Murray, Ellis Burks

Robbie Alomar peaked during his years in Cleveland and was among the best of all time at his position. It might be a while until Cleveland sees another Vizquel to Alomar. Of the nominees, unless VMart starts tearin' it up, Robbie's the only Hall of Famer. He wins as best Indian free agent signing in a landslide.

Cleveland Cavaliers Free Agents

Oh geez, and you thought the Indians were bad. In all serious, I could only find three players during the entire Cavaliers history signed as free agents who played significant playing time and didn't contribute negative value. The honorable mentions list ought to be good for a few laughs, or cringes. I do readily admit that there is a strong chance I missed a good player somewhere. That is because there is no online resource to look up historical NBA transactions.

Craig Ehlo, SG, 1/5/87: Ehlo, now famous for being the Santa Claus from Lubbock, Texas and being served by M***** J***** that one time, was signed in the middle of the 86-87 season. Ehlo was an underrated role player and a very good outside shooter for seven years in Richfield.

Gerald Wilkins, SG, 10/8/92: Yes, I'm serious. In the interest of padding this list I had to add Wilkins. Gerald, of course is best known for being the brother of the Human Highlight Reel, Dominique Wilkins. Gerald was pretty decent as a Cavalier, shooting a .483 eFG%.

Earl Boykins, PG, 3/10/99: Twice the Cavs signed little Earl to 10-day contracts only to lock him up for the rest of the season soon after and stupidly cut him loose during the summer. Earl finally got his shot in Denver and is now continuously proving the Cavaliers stupid. Some of the depth problems with the current team could be alleviated with a fantastic backup PG like my man, Earl Boykins.

Honorable mentions: Bryant Stith, a corpse, Ira "Worst PER in the NBA" Newble, Kevin Ollie, Tractor "Robert" Traylor

I'd say the best signing was Craig Ehlo. While I love Earl Boykins and believe him to be a superior player, Ehlo was a "key" (and I use that lightly) contributor for late '80s and early '90s Cavs. CEh wins on tenure alone.

Cleveland Browns Free Agents

Full free agency got its latest start in the NFL. After the use of replacement players, the NFL instituted "Plan B Free Agency." I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it appears that it means you could only sign with another team if you sucked. Starting in 1993, free agency as we know it now more or less came into existence. The Browns have definitely built the most through free agency of the Cleveland teams. This is probably necessary when all of your draft picks turn to crap.

Matt Stover, K, 1991: If Stover weren't to have stayed with the organization and become a Baltimoron, I would give him more props. That said though, Stover performed at his normal level when in Cleveland, making him quite a good kicker. Coincidentally, Stover backed up former Brown Matt Bahr as a Giant before signing with the Browns.

Vinny Testaverde, QB, 1993: Vinny was hated for replacing Bernie Kosar, but played pretty well despite the bad memories. His 7.8 yards/attempt in his first year is still a career high. Vinny only stayed in Cleveland for three season because a certain unmentionable person committed a certain unmentionable act.

Chris Gardocki, P, 1999: No matter Corey's delusions, Gardocki still stands as the greatest punter in the history of the Browns, nay, the world! For all the flak Dwight Clark gets these days for being such an idiot, he did bring in Phil Dawson and Chris Gardocki. What more could you ask?

Jamir Miller, OLB, 1999: This speaks more about the Browns than Miller, but Jamir remains as the only new Brown to play in the Pro Bowl, as a starter no less. Miller's career was cut short during a preseason game in Minnesota in 2002, so consider this a case of lost potential.

Orpheus Roye, DT, 2000: No matter the team turmoil surrounding him, and it seems pretty constant these days, Roye is consistently solid. Unfortunately, Roye may be the only non-special teams Browns I could say that about.

Honorable mentions: Keenan McCardell, Corey Fuller, Kelly Holcomb, Ross Verba, Robert Griffith, Kenard Lang, Leigh Bodden

I think Chris Gardocki gave the greatest contribution to the Browns during his time of all the players mentioned here. Orpheus has been solid and all, but was he ever an All-Pro or the best player on the team (as Gardocki was)? Overall, I'd say the Browns have a knack for signing declining veterans only to realize they're overrated, see Percy Ellsworth, Dwayne Rudd, Earl Holmes, Robert Griffith, and so on.

It seems that Marc was right to say "our teams never sign the big, marquee free agent." The only real slam dunk within this entire article, in my opinion, is Robbie Alomar. Gardocki was great to have, but in the end, was still just a punter and could be involved on a maximum of 15 snaps during a game. Fortunately, things are looking up for Clevelanders. The Cavaliers will hopefully be wise with their salary cap space, especially since there is finally an incentive to playing for the Cavs; Phil Savage seems competent enough to rebuild the Browns; and Mark Shapiro is the best GM in baseballl, so you can't go wrong there. We should realize that it is very important to develop your own talent to succeed whether that be by the draft or by signing young, unknown players.