A little of this and a little of that

This is a baseball blog, I know.  But this is the winter and baseball news is slow to develop so let's branch out.

1. Indians/free agents/trades - The Indians need a RH hitting OFer, preferably a right fielder.   As I said before the guy who makes the most sense is Giancarlo Stanton.  Of course, Stanton won't even go to a baseball Meccha like St. Louis and so he ain't coming here.  We can afford to go bargain basement right now and a guy like Matt Adams makes some sense.  Ditto for the bullpen.  As far as trade bait, besides the minor leaguers I might consider this:

     a. Our most tradeable asset is Bradley Zimmer.  If the price is right I trade him in a heart beat.   But the price has to be right.

     b. I don't trade Erik Gonzalez under any circumstances.  Why?  Because his value to the Indians is much greater than his value in trade, which is very little.  

     c. By this time next year Gio Urshela might have been released.   But, right now, he is organizational depth without much trade value.   He stays.

    d. If Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis hadn't gotten hurt they would have been great trade bait.   I think if they have bouince back seasons they are more value to the Indians than as a throw-in to a trade.  I will be coming up with some potential trades before we get to the baseball meetings on Dec. 10th.  Right now, though, I don't see a lot we have to trade as we are solid all the way through the roster and need all those guys.   Now, I guy or two or three from the minors gets to the majors and shows their ability to replace current roster players and I will take back what I said.

2. Ohio State and the football playoffs.   Alabama didn't deserve it.  Wisconsin didn't deserve it after they lost to the Buckeyes.  But Ohio State didn't deserve it, either.  So no whining in football.  If they had gotten in it would have been a lot like last year.

3. The Cleveland Cavaliers - Is the whole freakin' league rebuilding?  It was an embarrassment to lose against teams early.  But now that the league is sorting itself out we get a look at how weak the rest of the Eastern Division is.  In fact, the bottom half of the Western Division is probably weaker than the bottom half of the Eastern Division.  There are no words!

4. The Cleveland Browns -  To quote Jodie Foster in the movie Contact, "no words.  There are no words".  She was talking about something mind blowing.   I am not. 

5. The Indians not making the semifinals of the Ohtani sweepstakes.  How many good Japanese restaurants per capita are there in Cleveland.