Two more Browns defensive lineman, traded... to Denver. In case you're counting, that makes four who became Broncos in the last three weeks (Gerard Warren, Courtney Brown, Ebenezer Ekuban and Michael Myers). Watch out, Mount McKinley.

Now the Browns have Reuben Droughns. Hey, a 1,200-yard rusher! Psssht. If any franchise has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that nearly all running backs are completely interchangeable, it's Denver. Reuben Droughns may be named after a mighty fine sandwich, but he's certainly not worth the price of even an average player like Ekuban.

Here's the good part. Since running backs are mostly interchangeable, I don't much care whom the Browns run out there. What I really don't want is for the team to lay down a significant investment to acquire one--say, a certain #3 overall draft pick. After this trade, that possibilty seems a lot less likely. In the big picture, Ekuban is a small price to pay.

Well, for now. Fortunately for the Indians, Gonzalez is all but certain to get injured in the very near future opening room for Sizemore. But before we jump to any conclusions based on memory or hype or the small sample sizes of Spring Training games on who deserves the starting spot, let's look at two PECOTA projected batting lines:

Player A: .294/.342/.496
Player B: .285/.358/.447

A is Gonzalez achieveing at his 90h percentile (pretty much a best-case scenario according to PECOTA) and B is Sizemore at his weighted mean (what we can reasonably expect from GSize). So, it seems that Gonzalez at his best this year is about the equal of a normal Sizemore this year. Now the decision seems a little kooky especially considering the rumors of Gonzalez being cut soon and his injury risk and Sizemore's superior fielding. Does Shapiro know something else we don't?

P.S., and never listen to Paul Hoynes on roster construction:

...if General Manager Mark Shapiro had an additional $25 million over the winter to put it together, the Indians would definitely be better.

He could have signed a healthy starter instead of taking a chance with Kevin Millwood. He might have been able to sign Moises Alou or Jeromy Burnitz instead of praying every day Juan Gonzalez doesn't break down.

Yeah, Burnitz is definitely the guy I wish we had.

Every year around January 1st I start to go crazy about baseball. There's something in me that simply can't go long stretches without the physical experience of being at a baseball game. I would pay upwards of 50 dollars for a Jacobs Field kosher hot dog with stadium mustard right now.

Thank heaven, the wait is almost over. And the Indians play their very first games not four miles from my apartment building, right here in the Pizza Wasteland. Truly I am blessed.

A few baseball-related points of discussion. First, in his column today (subscribers only), Will Carroll says "[Juan] Gonzalez is going to be cut by the Indians". If this is true, Will must have heard it from one of his secret sources, because no news outlets are reporting anything like that. If it does come to pass, I won't shed a tear. Grady Sizemore may still be growing into his potential but he's already twice the player Gonzalez is at this moment in time. Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA projections reflect this, pegging Sizemore as the team's best all-around outfielder by a wide margin.

Speaking of Will Carroll, I recommend that everybody visit Knuckleball Sandwich, Dave Haller's blog, for the recent Indians Q&A with Carroll. It's a good read.

I have grown wearly of playing fantasy baseball over the last few years. I just don't have any interest in doing it this year. But I still have ideas for fantasy team names that I really want to use. It's a weird inner turmoil, let me tell you. My solution is to offer my team names to other people, in the hopes that I might get to cheer vicariously for some team without actually having to do the work. So if anyone out there can't think of a good fantasy team name, email me (ckrubin at gmail dot com) and I'll consult for free.

Finally, one of the major signs that baseball season is nearly upon us is the release of the new player bio photographs. Alex and I have charted these photos with great interest over the past few years, especially with regard to the gradual proliferation of The C.C. Hat.

I suspect that Alex will want to post a more in-depth analysis of this year's Indians bio photographs, so I'll just make one quick observation: Coco Crisp has completely abandoned the C.C. Hat, leaving C.C. and Brandon Phillips as the only remaining wearers. After last year's encouraging coup, this is a major setback.

While doing research for the recent edition of Jersey Numbers, I came across a table showing how many players from various franchises have gone to the Football Hall of Fame. The point was to demonstrate that the Browns have the fifth-most of any franchise. But I began thinking, "Those other teams are 30 years older than the Browns; of course they have more Hall of Famers!" This got me to wondering how the franchises stack up in terms of Hall of Famers per Year of Existence. So I looked up some stuff:

         HOFers   years  HOFers/year
Bears      26       85      .306
Browns     15       52      .289
Raiders    12       45      .267
Packers    20       84      .238
Steelers   17       72      .236
Dolphins    9       39      .231
Giants     17       80      .213
Redskins   15       73      .205
49ers      11       55      .200
Colts      10       52      .192
Rams       13       68      .191
Lions      12       75      .160
Vikings     7       44      .159
Chiefs      7       45      .156
Cowboys     7       45      .156
Chargers    6       45      .133
Cardinals  10       85      .118
Eagles      8       72      .111
Bills       5       45      .111
Titans      5       45      .111
Jets        4       45      .089
Patriots    3       45      .067
Buccaneers  1       29      .034
Seahawks    1       29      .034
Bengals     1       37      .027
Saints      1       38      .026
Broncos     1       45      .022

Oh, so close! Well, we still leapfrogged the Steelers.

We've crossed into the second half of the numerical spectrum. The final five installments of "Jersey Numbers" promise to be a bit different from the first five. We'll be seeing a lot fewer Indians, and we certainly won't be seeing many more Cavaliers, if we see any at all. As a result, the competition at a few numbers may be stretched a bit thin. But that's okay; if there's one thing we love here at the Mistake by the Lake Sporting Times, it's Obscure Browns! First, for anyone who needs catching-up:

1. The Jersey Numbers: 0 to 9
2. The Jersey Numbers: 10 to 19
3. The Jersey Numbers: 20 to 29
4. The Jersey Numbers: 30 to 39
5. The Jersey Numbers: 40 to 49

And now, on to the honorees...

#50 - Vince Costello

Browns, '57-'66

Costello is easily one of the top linebackers in Browns history. In his ten years with the team, he played in all but two games as a middle linebacker. His success came as something of a surprise, though, as he was not drafted out of college, played minor league baseball for the Cincinnati Reds, and spent a year away from the NFL even after his first tryout with the Browns. Eventually, he became a team leader and one of Paul Brown's favorite players (he later joined Brown in Cincinnati as a coach). I'd say his #50 is safe for a long while, unless Jeff Faine makes a few Pro Bowls, or Jason Davis follows the Eric Gagne career path. Then we'll talk.

Runners-up: John Garlington (Browns, '68-'77): was among the top linebackers of the 70's. John Yonakor (Browns, '46-'49): was one of the best defensive players in AAFC history.

#51 - Eddie Johnson

Browns, '81-'90

Although the stars of the defense of the 80's were Dixon, Minnifield, Matthews and Banks, it was the Browns' deep linebacking corps that allowed the 3-4 defense to be so successful. Another unheralded draft prospect (he went in the 7th round) who became a fixture at inside linebacker, Eddie Johnson, "the Assassin", remained in the starting lineup for just about the entire decade. He was one of the team's leading tacklers. There is also some debate as to whether he may have been the true originator of the "dawg" nickname (and subsequent "dawg pound" progeniture). Johnson died tragically two years ago at the age of 43, to cancer, with a number of former Browns teammates at his bedside.

Runners-up: Dale Lindsey (Browns, '65-'73): was another solid linebacker of the 60's and 70's.

#52 - Frank Gatski

Browns, '46-'56

You wouldn't know it from recent history, but the Browns have one of the NFL's richest traditions of offensive line dominance. It's hard to say who the top lineman in team history might be, since it's so hard to evaluate them individually, but Frank "Gunner" Gatski figures prominently in the discussion. He's without a doubt the best center in Browns history, and, dare I suggest, one of the top centers in NFL history. He's one of 15 Browns in the Hall of Fame, to which only 6 pure centers have been inducted. Although he curiously only made it to one Pro Bowl, he was the leader of the units that protected Otto Graham, and plowed the way for Marion Motley. Lacking any stats or amusing anecdotes, I think the best thing I can say about Gatski is that he never missed a single game or practice throughout his entire career, including college and high school. Now that's impressive.

Runners-up: Dick Ambrose (Browns, '75-'83): is one of the franchise's great linebackers, now a Cuyahoga County judge. C.C. Sabathia (Indians, '01-'04): has fast become the team's best starting pitcher and a trendsetter in the world of fashion! Jim Brewer (Cavaliers, '74-'79): was a pretty solid contributor, for an undersized center.

#53 - Paul Shuey

Indians, '94-'02

Here we come to another jersey number that, due to slim pickings, falls to a late-90's relief pitcher who can best be described, to borrow an expression, as "adequate to very adequate". Like Eric Plunk and Paul Assenmacher (see jersey numbers 38 and 45), Shuey was fairly reliable, usually keeping a low ERA, but never quite the best reliever on the team. In the seven seasons when he got significant innings, Shuey only had one stinker (1997). The rest of the time, his ERA remained between 2.50 and 3.50. It's nice to hear that the Indians have brought him back for some light minor league duty, but it appears that Shuey's reached the end of the line. And to think, we got Francisco Cruceta and Ryan Ludwick (via Ricardo Rodriguez) for him! Just in the nick of time, too.

Runners-up: Len Ford (Browns, '50-'57): only wore #53 for his first two years; we'll get to him later.

#54 - Tom DeLeone

Browns, '74-'84

Frank Gatski may be the best center in Browns history, but Tom DeLeone is pretty clearly the second-best. He anchored the unit that provided protection for Brian Sipe and cleared space for the two Pruitts to run for more than ten seasons. DeLeone made two Pro Bowls while a Brown (1979 and 1980, the Kardiac Kids season), which is one more than Gatski can say. He's also a part of the proud tradition of great Browns offensive linemen who went to Ohio State, along with Dick Schafrath, Lou Groza, Lin Houston, Bill Willis and (to a lesser extent) Bob Gaudio. That's an incredible group, with two Hall of Famers and 20 Pro Bowl appearances between them.

Runners-up: Fred Hoaglin (Browns, '66-'72): is another great Browns center with roots in Ohio. Andra Davis (Browns, '02-'04): has the potential to become one of the league's best linebackers, in my opinion. David Riske (Indians, '99, '01-'04): has been one of the team's best relievers since joining the majors.

#55 - Orel Hershiser

Indians, '95-'97

This jersey number produces a pretty weak crop, probably because, for some reason, it's been unpopular among Browns linebackers and centers. No disrespect to Orel Hershiser, of course, who made the list of the 100 Greatest Indians that came out back in 2001 when they were celebrating the 100th anniversary. This got me to wondering who the worst of the 100 might be. Hershiser was a great player, but he only spent three seasons with the Tribe, and they were the last three of his career, when he was hardly the dominant pitcher he was in the 80's. But a quick glance over the list reminded me that, regardless of Hershiser's contribution, the worst player on the Top 100 is far and away Joe Charboneau. How in the hell did that guy make the list? Anyway, I don't mean to be too negative about Orel; his contributions to the '95 and '96 playoff runs were huge. Just don't get me started on '97...

Runners-up: Danys Baez (Indians, '01-'03): provided good--and more importantly, cheap--relief for a couple of seasons.

#56 - Dante Lavelli

Browns, '46-'56

Dante Lavelli is perhaps best known for wearing #86, and indeed, he will be in the running when we come to that number (which is a big one, in Browns history). But he actually wore #56 for six seasons, compared to the five when he wore #86. As we've discussed before, nearly the entire Browns team changed their jersey numbers between the '51 and '52 seasons, and since the Browns didn't join the NFL until the 1950 season, most of the players are remembered for their later numbers, not their earlier ones. The four AAFC seasons, though, are an important part of the team's history; no team in any professional league, I'd wager to say, has ever dominated their competition so completely as the Browns did from 1946-1949. Anyway, Lavelli is regarded by some as the best receiver in Browns history. He is yet another of the 15 Browns in the Hall of Fame. So, despite some pretty good competition, I'm pretty comfortable giving him this honor.

Runners-up: Chip Banks (Browns, '82-'86): was another of the many standouts on the 1980's defense. John Morrow (Browns, '60-'66): was one of the many Pro Bowl centers the Browns groomed between 1950 and 1980. Art Hunter (Browns, '56-59): was another of the many Pro Bowl centers the Browns groomed between 1950 and 1980.

#57 - Clay Matthews

Browns, '78-'93

When I was very young, I didn't know that Clay Matthews was anything other than a car dealership, but he is generally considered to be the best linebacker in Browns history. He is, in fact, the only linebacker to join the Legends Club so far. He made it to four Pro Bowls ('85, '87, '88, '89) and, were it not for Lawrence Taylor, would probably be remembered as the best linebacker of his era. I wonder, though, how much of his reputation stems simply from his incredible longevity. He has played in the most games (232) in Browns history and, counting his three seasons with Atlanta, the third-most games (278) in NFL history. This alone may have something to do with the fact that he is the franchise leader in sacks, with 76.5, and probably tackles, although I can't find that datum anywhere. Regardless, he is still one of the most beloved ex-players in all of Cleveland.

Runners-up: Dwayne Rudd (Browns, '01-'02): please don't send me hate mail; I swear he's the next-best guy out there.

#58 - Mac Speedie

Browns, '46-'52

I don't think a lot of people know who Mac Speedie is, perhaps because his career ended only three years after the Browns joined the NFL. But make no mistake; he is one of the top receivers in franchise history (Ace Davis ranks him #2 behind Dante Lavelli). Speedie, which is his real name, by the way--ironic considering he was known primarily for his blazing speed, both in football and in track--combined with Lavelli to form the top receiving duo of the 40's and 50's. The biggest of his many accomplishments, without a doubt, is the fact that he overcame what was thought to be a permanent handicap of the legs to become a star athlete in several sports. Of course, his formidable receiving stats in all seven of his pro seasons represent a pretty huge accomplishment in and of themselves.

Runners-up: Wali Rainer (Browns, '99-'01): was a decent player stuck on one of the worst teams in NFL history, I always thought.

#59 - Horace Gillom

Browns, '47-'56

This one was nearly a toss-up. It was between Horace Gillom, who is clearly the better player in the context of Browns history, but who only wore #59 for 5 of his 10 seasons, and Charlie Hall, a great player in his own right, who wore the number for all 10 of his seasons. The problem with Hall was quite simply that I couldn't find any information about him. No articles, no amusing anecdotes. I've been relying pretty heavily on the Browns' official site, Bernie's Insiders, Ace Davis' Weblog, and Tony Grossi's recent book, but none of them has anything about Hall, supposedly one of the better linebackers in Browns history. And as a linebacker, there are really no meaningful stats available for me to fall back on and make my own conclusions with. So Gillom it is. Not that I don't fell good about this choice, because I do. Gillom is the best punter in Browns history, no matter what Alex says. He is said to have been the best in the league in terms of both distance and control. His franchise mark in yards per punt still stands today. Plus, aside from the fact that he was among the first black players in NFL history, he is still the fourth-most recent black punter to don an NFL uniform, despite having retired nearly 50 years ago.

Runners-up: Charlie Hall (Browns, '71-'80): was one of the leaders of the defense in the 70's.

Paul Silas, previously the second-longest tenured coach in the Eastern Conference, was fired today. People can point to the Cavaliers' recent slide or poor road record, or even the benching of a healthy Jeff McInnis against Toronto yesterday. But all of those explanations are pretty small deals in my opinion. Teams go through dry spells all the time, and I'm pretty disappointed to see the NBA morph into an NFL-like coaching paradigm, where if a team loses more than one game in a row, their coach is in danger of being canned.

Recently, Dan Gilbert purchased the Cavaliers from Gordon Gund. Perhaps Gilbert (stupidly) wanted "his guy" at coach. He seems to enjoy being a visible owner in an un-Gund way. (Ironically, I now believe Larry Dolan to be the best owner in Cleveland sports right now. You can complain all you want about low payroll, but has it really hurt the Indians? Imagine how crippling $18-million per year to an aging Jim Thome would be right now. The most important decision Dolan made was to allow Mark Shapiro to ascend to GM and call the shots. And, as we all know, Shapiro is the best General Manager in sports.)

So what do I suspect is really going on? Maybe Paul Silas was on the payroll of the Detroit Pistons. The Cavaliers are so talented that in all rights they really should be in 1st place by about 7 games right now. I think Joe Dumars secretly hired Silas to throw games and allow the Pistons to cheat their way to another unearned championship.

Seeing as that the Cavaliers were in 1st at the All-Star Break, Silas deviously orchestrated a trade by demanding to Jim Paxson that he trade for hired goon/saboteur Jiri Welsch. With the added sucktitude of Welsch and Silas' reconcerted efforts to bring down the Cavaliers, evern the mystical powers of LeBron James couldn't stave off the eventual losing streak.

LeBron finally caught wise against the Raptors, because he could see that Silas had brainwashed the rest of the team, making them forget how to play defense, so LeBron told his buddy Usher the chilling story. Usher then wrote and recorded a spiffy new R&B jam called "Paul Silas is brainwashing our team" and sent a copy of the record to Dan Gilbert, who listened to it, and immediately fired Silas. QED.

So who becomes coach now? I heard the news of Silas's canning from the Official Dad of the Mistake by the Lake Sporting Times before I could reach a computer. I immediately guessed Flip Saunders would be the subject of many floating rumors about the job due to his unemployment, being native to Cleveland, being seen as a "good coach" (which is all relative in the NBA, because talent = wins and wins = good coach, so a coach with talented players will always be seen as good). Sure enough, Flip has already been mentioned.

What would really be hilarious would be if the Cavs talk Phil Jackson out of retirement in the offseason. I wouldn't be against such a move, per se, but it would definitely make Phil Jackson the luckiest man in sports history. Six rings thanks to Michael Jordan. Three more courtesy of Shaq and Kobe. Then about 12 more courtesy LeBron. That would be kuh-razy!

Personally, I'm sad to see Silas go. I thought the Cavaliers were above this petty wheeling-and-dealing of coaches so prevalant in the NBA. A team willing to stick with a coach through losing streaks says something about the front office. Brendan Malone will most likely do fine in the meantime, and will also shoulder way too much of the praise/blame depending on how the Cavaliers do for the rest of the season.

That's right! It's time for the annual Cavaliers appearance on--you guessed it--Telemundo! I don't get to watch as many Cavs games as the average Cleveland fan, living in The Pizza Wasteland as I do, so this is a special occasion for me. I will be writing this as the game unfolds, perhaps slipping in and out of my rusty high school Spanish as I go, but you won't be reading it until afterward. Hey, if I could watch basketball in Spanish and talk to you on the phone at the same time, I would.

With a few minutes to go before gametime, it appears they're airing some sort of Spanish "Sportscenter". Except that one of the correspondents is a woman in a bikini. My tenuous understanding of Spanish television is that bikini-clad women are required to appear on screen at least once every ten minutes.

OK, now we go to "los Cavaliers de Cleveland frente a los Raptors de Toronto". I looked it up, and the Spanish word terópodo means "velociraptor", so, um, there's some pointless trivia. They don't translate the team names, although I kind of like "caballeros". Maybe I'll start using it.

One member of the broadcasting team is a woman, which is pretty rare. If I recall, the Blue Jays used to (or maybe still do) employ a female commentator, but I've certainly never heard one live in a major pro sporting event. Incidentally, the female Telemundo broadcaster does not wear a bikini. What's strange is that the Telemundo people seem to have to call the game via satellite, from a TV studio somewhere. They definitely aren't inside the arena, at any rate.

They are billing this game as a monster showdown between LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Excuse me?

"Lake Effect" Snow is in the starting lineup. I can see that McInnis is in uniform, although I was vaguely able to understand a brief discussion of the fact that he is either injured, or will not play. This is the first I've heard of such a development. Maybe Silas is just pissed off.

The commentators are extremely reluctant to talk about any Cavs player other than LeBron. It's clear to me that they're not too sure how to pronounce a couple names, as they've botched "Ilgauskas" three different ways already. They've simply avoided saying "Pavlovic" and "Varejao" altogether. I don't think they take the game as seriously as we're used to. They're very casual about filling us in on who's done what, especially with regard to rebounds, fouls, etc.

They certainly like Manu Ginobili a lot. His name has come up about as often as any Cavs or Raptors players besides LeBron.

Okay, the first half is just about over and LeBron has 29 points. The Cavs trailed by about 7 or 8 through most of the half, but have pulled to within 2 points for a halftime score of 55-53. ¡¡LeBron James tiene 29 puntos en el primer partido!!

Time for the second half. I've noticed that whenever they come back from a commercial, they focus the camera on women in the stands who they consider to be the most attracticve. Except now it's just the same three or four women after every timeout. That's a little creepy. At least when English-language broadcasts come back from commercial, they show the guy doing the crazy dance, or the bored kid with his face painted.

The play-by-play guy occasionally likes to call the game by only saying people's names. Like, if, say, LeBron puts up a three, the shot doesn't go, Drew Gooden rebounds it, and puts it back in, he might say: "LeBron Jaaaaames... Drew Gooden... Drew Gooden!" That is unless the play involves someone with a hard-to-pronounce name.

Skipping ahead a bit now. It's the fourth quarter. LeBron just threw down a monster dunk, prompting the play-by-play guy to fall out of his chair, I think. This is turning out to be one of LeBron's best games so far. Too bad the Cavs aren't playing much defense.

That's all I got. The game's over, and, aside from Jiri Welsch's 1 point on a free throw, only 4 Cavaliers scored any points. I know we're going to hear a lot about how the Cavs' biggest problem is that the bench contributes next-to-nothing, and while this is indeed a problem, it was not the issue in this game. If the Cavs put up 98 points, as they did today, then who cares which players score them? No, the biggest problem today was allowing Toronto to score at will. I can't explain it, but the Cavs' defense has definitely disintegrated over the last few weeks.

Final line for LeBron: 56 puntos, 10 rebotes, 5 asistencias, 2 robos. It's obviously a career-high in points, but it's also a franchise-high. I think I'll chew some LeBron's Lighting Lemonade to celebrate.

• Unfortunately, the Barnes & Noble at the Great Lake Mall in Mentor didn't set up any chairs for BP fans. Instead, Will and John Erhardt (Baseball Prospectus editor and writer of "The Week in Quotes") sat behind a small table while everyone else stood around them for 2 hours. After a while, my back began to hurt.
• Will guilted me into buying Saving the Pitcher.
• Some of Will's answers to my inane questions:
  1. Adam Miller should be able to return from his UCL injury at full strength or close to it eventually--although the medical staff will always have to be careful with him, due to scarring. His injury is strange because Miller reportedly had very good mechanics.
  2. C.C.'s mechanics are so bad that every year we should expect him to break down and need Tommy John surgery. The Indians know this, but sometimes tinkering with a pitcher's motion will screw up the results. Therefore, the Indians can't really do anything until C.C. does break down (if it happens, for he seems super-human in this respect).
  3. The Indians have one of baseball's best medical staffs. Carl Willis is a good pitching coach due to his usage patterns, but he never changes a pitcher's delivery.
  4. The White Sox are really, really stupid when it comes to treating pitchers.
  5. Chris Antonetti (Indians' Assistant General Manager) is one of the smartest people in baseball.
• Some other baseball writer-type guy showed up in the middle, and Will recognized him but I have no clue who he was. He kind of looked like Jim Caple, but it wasn't him.
• There will likely be a BP Cleveland Pizza Feed this season

Tonight at 7PM, join me and the Official Dad of the Mistake by the Lake Sporting Times at the Mentor Barnes and Noble for an official Baseball Prospectus 2005 booksigning with Will Carroll. Need directions?

It turns out that Ben Broussard is more talented then any of us could ever have expected. He will soon be featured on a compilation album of Major Leaguers, and will also have his own record. He plays guitar, sings, and can beatbox--on the compilation album, Ben beatboxes over a Coco Crisp original hip hop jam. Because, in the words of Paul Hoynes, Ben Broussard "is old school".

During 2004, there were 5 position-players named Ben in the major leagues: Ben Broussard, Ben Davis, Ben Grieve, Ben Molina, and Benito Santiago. It's safe to assume that Broussard is the only one old-school enough to beatbox. Let's do a statistical comparison of these Bens in 2004:

          Beatboxes  Doesn't
AVG          .275     .257
OBP          .370     .314
SLG          .488     .403
VORP (tot.)  33.0     26.2
VORP (avg.)  33.0      6.6

The statistical advantage of kickin' it old school is undeniable!

Hopefully, Indians fans will pick up on Ben's secret talent and beatbox some phat beats as Ben strolls to the plate or makes a nice play in the field in 2005. We're all looking forwards to hearing Coco rap and Ben lay down the beat.

This entry picks up where my last one left off, so if you didn't read yesterday's Gooden vs. Boozer discussion, I recommend doing so first. Anyway, I'm not comfortable leaving the issue without using some better statistics to compare the two players. And since Alex is the NBA stats expert in the family, I needed to wait until I could have a chance to talk with him about it.

Understand that Alex dug up all of the statistics I'm about to cite, and, in the case of some of them, explained them to me (I'm still new at this). He offers some descriptions of the stats he chose: "PER is John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating, which, according to Hollinger, 'sums up all a player's positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player's performance'. RbR is an estimation of the percentage of missed shots rebounded by the player. eFG% is a field goal percentage which accounts for the extra value of a three pointer. PSA is points per shot attempt." Also, 'Def.' is 82games.com's defensive plus/minus, which uses defensive points per 100 possessions. In this stat, a lower number is better, so negative values are good.

Anyway, here's another chart, again with both '03-'04 and '04-'05 numbers:

            Boozer            Gooden
       '03-'04  '04-'05  '03-'04  '04-'05
PER      20.8     19.6     15.6     20.3
RbR      18.3     16.0     13.7     18.3
eFG%     .524     .521     .451     .506
PSA      1.13     1.12     0.97     1.12
Def.     -0.6     +2.1     +6.6     +0.2

Now, this chart confirms two things. One, Drew Gooden's improvement from last year to this year is quite remarkable. I do believe he deserves a lot of the praise he is getting. But secondly, Carlos Boozer is not suffering a massive decline, like some would have you believe. This is not exactly a Robbie Alomar situation, where we got rid of him just in time. He has suffered a decline, but only slightly.

Of course, even these statistics are somewhat team-dependent, although much less so than the traditional statistics I used before. A lot of credit for Gooden's apparent improvement should go the rest of the Cavs, particularly LeBron and Z. Once again, I think a fairer way to approach this is to compare Boozer's '03-'04 to Gooden's '04-'05. This comparison shows the two players to be basically equal, with two exceptions: Boozer's shooting (or, dare I suggest, shot selection) is better than Gooden's, and Boozer's defense is slightly better.

Before the season started, given only the '03-'04 statistics, Boozer was so obviously superior in every measurable way that, I think, the fact that the picture is now a little cloudier has led people to make some sensationalistic claims about Gooden being the better player. But despite Drew's remarkable improvement, given the choice, I'd still take Boozer, if I were completely objective; that is, if I didn't freaking hate him so much. Rat bastard.

Disregard Alex's friendly reminder. It's now official. Boozer will not make the trip to Cleveland. I hope that the poor fans in attendance tomorrow continue to chant "Boozer sucks!" throughout the game anyway. But this is a serious blow, emotionally and developmentally, to the psyche of Cleveland. We've been waiting for this game for a long time.

That said, I think this is an apporpriate time for a statistical comparison between Boozer and Drew Gooden. The popular refrain lately has been "Well, Boozer's having a much worse year than Gooden; looks like we were lucky after all". Now, Drew Gooden has produced much better numbers this year than I ever expected, and Carlos Boozer's stats have been, at times, puzzling, so there may be something to this argument.

Here are some traditional stats from last year and this year. Let it be known that I think this paints a superficial picture at best, as with all "traditional" stats.

                   Boozer            Gooden
              '03-'04  '04-'05  '03-'04  '04-'05
Points/game     15.5     17.8     11.6     14.2
FG%             .523     .521     .445     .505
Rebounds/game   11.5      9.0      6.5      9.5
Blocks/game      0.7      0.5      0.9      1.0
FT%             .768     .698     .637     .798

From this, we might conclude that Boozer is not having quite so bad a season after all, that the little bit he's lost in rebounding, he's gained in scoring. We might also conclude that Gooden has indeed improved to near-Boozer-like levels this season. The problem I have with this picture, however, is that these stats are too team-dependent. The slight drop in Boozer's rebounding might entirely be accounted for in his switch to a different team, for all we know, especially since, with Kirilenko injured so much of the season, the Jazz have been pretty bad. Similarly, Gooden's sudden statistical spike might entirely be accounted for in his switch from the league's worst team (the '03-'04 Magic) to a playoff-caliber team. After all, it's easy to score more points (and shoot for a higher percentage) when LeBron James is feeding you assists, and it's easier to grab more rebounds when Zydrunas Ilgauskas is drawing the taller defenders, for example.

It almost seems fairer to compare Boozer's '03-'04 to Gooden's '04-'05, in order to see how they each fared in what is more or less the same starting lineup. Granted, this doesn't acocunt for the degree to which LeBron James (and quite possibly a few others) has impoved from last year to this year. But such a comparison favors Boozer slightly.

I concede that it would be better to use more advanced, objective statistics to carry out this discussion. I'm gong to leave it to Alex to do that, though, since he's much more savvy when it comes to sabermetric NBA stats than I am. For now, I will say that Gooden has been a welcome surprise, that he's succeeded in filling a large portion of Boozer's vacancy, but that he's not nearly the better player, as some will have you believe, based on a half season's worth of superficial stats.

The evil double-crosser returns to the House That LeBron Built tomorrow night. Whether or not he is "injured", Judas will be inside the arena. Do whatever it takes: go to the game and make our opinions heard!

Thank you.

Some of you astute readers may have noticed that our poll asking which Cleveland sporting venue past or present had the worst parking situation suddenly disappeared this past week. It seems that our account at Pollhost was mysteriously deleted--poll results included. I apologize to everyone awaiting the results, but I do have these very unscientific results (from most votes to least): Municipal Stadium, Richfield, New Browns Stadium, (big gap) Gund Arena, (big gap) Jacobs Field.

We're in the thick of Spring Training, and every writer is preparing their preview of the season. I know that I have been writing a lot more about the Cavaliers lately than the off-season moves of the Browns and Indians, but rest assured we're still paying attention. Allow me to perform a quick recap of a few of the less talked-about moves of the winter.

November 16, 2004 - Named Scott Radinsky pitching coach at A Lake County.

Radinsky was pretty good before elbow problems all but ended his pitching career. Interestingly, Scott also fronts the band Pulley. The official press-kit from Pulley's label, Epitaph, claims Scott has "unique lyrical outlook and capable, powerful pipes..." So, uh, that's cool.

November 24, 2004 - Re-signed pitcher Bob Wickman to a one-year contract.

His status as Proven Closer™ notwithstanding, this move will likely be inconsequential. I trust Wedge enough to keep Wickman off the mound in high leverage situations and it'll keep the fans happy. Unfortunately though, the Indians decision that Wickman, Scott Sauerbeck, Jason Davis, David Riske, Bob Howry and Arthur Rhodes will comprise 6/7 of the bullpen at the opening of the season, therefore leaving either Rafael Betancourt or Matt Miller in the cold, is ridiculous.

First of all, Betancourt and Miller were two of the Indians' best relievers last year. Secondly, the Indians have promised roster spots to only two relievers who actually were effective last year: Riske and Howry. How can Matt Miller be edged out by Scott Sauerbeck (who hasn't pitched in the majors since 2003)?

December 2, 2004 - Traded infielder John McDonald to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named (Tom Mastny).

Despite John McDonald's efforts to become the best writer in the English language, he was a career .231/.269/.308 hitter. Ouch. For comparison's sake, Michael Jordan hit .202/.285/.266 in his one year as a minor league baseball player for the Birmingham Barons.

December 12, 2004 - Acquired pitcher Arthur Rhodes from the Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Matt Lawton

I already gave my take on this trade. This trade essentially is one overpaid overrated commodity for another. Except that over the course of a season an overrated OF is able to contribute much more to a team than an overrated reliever solely because of the playing time. I'm about as worried about Rhodes collapsing in a ball of flames this season as I would be about Lawton if I were a Pirates fan. [Corey adds: I'm more worried about Rhodes' earrings ruining my view of the game.]

December 23, 2004 - Signed general manager Mark Shapiro to a two-year contract extension through 2007.

This was the best news of the off-season. I think Mark Shapiro might be the best general manager in baseball. He's definitely one of the Top 5. That a buffoon like Roger Brown regularly pans Shapiro's work only further impresses me.

January 4, 2005 - Sold the contract of infielder Erick Almonte to the Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan's Pacific League.

Ham Fighters?

Gordon Gund officially sold the Cleveland Cavaliers to Dan Gilbert and others (including Usher) this past week. The press conference announcing such with Gund, Gilbert, David Katzman, and Usher Raymond is available on the Cavs' website. I'm hopeful that Gilbert will be a good owner and all of that, but let's get down to the important issues involved:

Will they change Gund Arena's blue seats? Among the other difficult issues Usher tackled during the press conference, like how many games he'll attend and why he didn't wear a tie, Usher claims that he wants to change the color of the seats. However, he says, "hopefully we can color all of those seats full as opposed to any other color." This may be a colloquial expression with which I am not familiar, but I don't think full is a color.

Do the new owners like winning? Strangely enough, it appears so. David Katzman said, "Our goal is to win a championship every single year we come out to play." He then goes on to say, "We like to win. We don’t like to lose."

Will they change the name to Gilbert Arena and then sign Gilbert Arenas for the greatest player-arena combination in history? Gilbert makes no specific reference to Gilbert Arenas the player, but he does mention that after this season the arena name will change. Apparently, he is "very, very concerned that the name is a good name and not some kind of, you know, crazy name that people will not even call it or even talk about it or refer to it as the old one." Because, you know, that would piss off whoever buys the naming rights. I hope that the name will be Gilbert Arena or anything that is non-corporate. I am very glad that Cleveland has avoided names like OfficeMax Plaza at Cleveland Stadium for so long.

Is Dan Gilbert funny? No. First he bombs on this exchange:

Media: ...Another owner like Mark Cuban who is out-of-the-box, which I think is fantastic. What kind of image do you think you'll portray and yourself Usher?

Gilbert: Uh, Mark who? Who is that?

[Awkward silence]

Gilbert: Cuban. Oh, the Dallas guy. You know, these jokes work much better with the employees than the press.

Then, he follows it up with this doozy:

Mike Snyder: What differences, though, do you see in the sports business compared to your other business. Are there any as you approach it?

Gilbert: We found one similarity this morning and that was in the mortgage business and the basketball business, whoever gets the most points wins. Okay?

[Awkward silence]

Will the Cavaliers resign LeBron? In the most important answer of the press conference, Gilbert pretty much assures that LeBron will be signed to a max-contract when his current one is up. While max-contracts are pretty much always very difficult to deal with, especially as a player ages, there is no other player more deserving of one than LeBron right now.

So Cavaliers fans, be prepared for years of bad jokes and lots of "Yeah!" being played at the Gilbert or perhaps the HomeOfficeFurniture.com Arena!

I'm not sure how long ago ESPN.com released their 2005 Franchise Rankings, but today I finally happened upon them. And, once again, it's a mixed bag of accurate rankings and completely idiotic ones. We're all interested in Cleveland teams, so if you're too lazy to check for yourself, the Cavaliers are 34th out of 90 ranked teams (62nd percentile); the Indians are 42nd (53rd percentile); and the Browns are the worst franchise in baseball, football, or basketball.

The method's of ESPN's rankings are to poll fans online about their hometown teams on the matters of satisfaction, affordability, stadiums, etc. I'm not really sure why the Cleveland teams place so lowly (okay, I know why the Browns are). But the Indians really ought to be considered one of the top teams in the country! I couldn't be happier with the Front Office, the team seems ready to contend for the division titles for many years, and none of the players are jerks. In fact, it's the most "affordable" ticket of the three according to the poll. Sadly, some Cleveland fans think Dolan is cheap and that the Cavaliers are run better just because they were lucky enough to win the LeBron Lottery.

Contrasting this insult to the Cleveland Indians, the poll is laser-accurate when rating the Browns, except I think that fans don't give Randy Lerner enough credit. The Browns rank dead-last in their players' "Effort on the field; likability off it" and the coaches' "Strong on-field leadership". Fortunately, I think we should agree that these two rankings ought to rise considerably given the Browns clearing house and hiring competent coaches and staff.

I did a rudimentary compiling of average rankings for all cities with a MLB, NBA and NFL team. Here are the results :

Dallas          27.67
Miami           32.67
Miwaukee        34.67
Atlanta         36.67
Boston          37.67
Philadelphia    41.33
Minnesapolis    41.33
Detroit         42.00
Los Angeles     42.75
Phoenix         45.00
Denver          53.00
Cleveland       55.33
San Francisco   61.00
New York        61.33
Washington DC   63.33
Oakland         67.33
Chicago         67.50

Miwaukee includes Green Bay; New York includes New Jersey; and Los Angeles includes Anaheim. I don't have any extra special conclusion, but we beat New York and Chicago, which is always nice. Plus not having the Browns suck so much would definitely help.