Spring Preview/Review

It is that special time of year that sees each major sport (sorry, I'm excluding hockey, and if you want to talk NASCAR...shoot yourself) in a critical part of the year. The NFL draft is going on. The MLB season is about 15 games deep and teams are starting to make impressions. The NBA playoffs are underway, or as the Pacers call it "the offseason". And college football teams are having spring games and basketball teams are figuring out who they are losing to the NBA, or in Iowa's case, to MVC schools. With all that action going on, it is time for me to give my thoughts on only my teams. I plan on doing a full MLB early impressions column soon, and I'm going to hold off a couple weeks on the Iowa football and basketball previews because I want to see what Fran McCaffery does with recruiting this spring.


Vikings -

The Vikings draft has been real confusing to me. I understand the trade of the first round pick to Detroit, it has financial benefits to the Vikes, but I was under the impression we were going to try and take someone like Jimmy Claussen or Taylor Mays. Both were available. Claussen may be a douche, but at least he has potential to be a franchise quarterback. I don't like Claussen, but you have to see he has more promise than Tarvaris Jackson. I'm sorry, but I'm not a Tarvaris fan. I know lots of people, including Brad Childress is, but I'm not feeling him.

Anyway, we picked Chris Cook from Virginia, then traded up to get Toby Gerhart from Stanford. I like the Gerhart pick better than the Cook pick. Cook is a safety that the Vikings are planning to convert to cornerback. I could actually see Gerhart being Jim Kleinsasser 2.0.

In other Vikings news: does anybody actually think Bret Favre is not returning? I mean the guy has a great receiving core with Rice, Harvin and Berrian, along with Shiancoe at tight end. He has possibly the best running back in the NFL in Adrian Peterson, when he holds on to the ball that is. Good offensive line, good defense, creepy coach that would gladly give him sexual favors if he wanted. Favre has it made. Also, if there was any doubt in the organization, don't you think they would have taken Claussen?

The main questions the Vikes still need to address involve cornerbacks, quarterbacks and runningbacks. The cornerback position is solid if healthy. If Cedric Griffin is unhealthy, this Chris Cook pick could have to prove itself real quick. The quarterback question is solved real quick also with a simple "I'm coming back" from the Silver Fox. The running back position is more dicey. AP is a man. That is no secret. It is also no secret that Chester Taylor was a great insurance policy. AP has his fumbling problems and (God forbid) a history of injury in college. He runs hard. Guys that run that hard have a tendency to get hurt. Let's all pray that doesn't happen, but if it does, we need a backup, and I don't mean Toby Gerhart. That Tomlinson rumor had us all excited but didn't happen. Let's get Brian Westbrook and see how he fares being the backup. I think his playmaking and pass catching out the backfield would be ideal.

Finally, what the fuck is going on with the Vikings opening up in New Orleans? You're telling me we have to go down there, get fisted by the officials in that overtime when Greenway stopped that fourth down, then go back down for our very next meaningful game and see the fucking Saints receive their Super Bowl Championship ring that has eluded our franchise forever?!? Fuck you NFL.

Indians -

Ah my beloved Indians. These guys have had a roller coaster 15 games so far. The book on the Tribe this year is terrible starting pitching but good lineup. That could not be less true. The starters have been great. Carmona looks dirty again, both his pitches and him in general. Westbrook looks healthier every start. Justin Masterson needs to cut down his walks, but has looked like he has good stuff. David Huff has looked like 2007 Jeremy Sowers reincarnate, but with better stuff and a better ERA. Mitch Talbot has been the real bright spot. He looked a little overmactched in his first start at Detroit, but came back strong at home against Chicago and then looked great at Target Field in Minnesota.

The lineup looks shitty. I do like the Cabrera lead-off strategy with Grady hitting second. The problem with this is, with the exception of Big League Choo's monster week, he hasn't been great, Hafner is still living off his No County For Old Men fame, Russell Branyan has only played three games, Jhonny Peralta is my mortal enemy, and Valbuena is not a great hitter. We hit into a ton of double plays. We don't hit well with runners in scoring position, and the power has not been there all year from top to bottom. Gotta get them bats going to give this staff some run support.
Back to my "Peralta sucks" theory, how could you watch the Indians yesterday in Minnesota and not feel a little more excited seeing Andy Marte come to the plate instead of Jhonny? Marte has been a big bust compared to the hype that surrounded him, but I still like him better than Peralta.

The Austin Kearns and Russell Branyan pickups have been alright so far. Kearns has provided some steadiness to the lineup and even though we haven't seen much of him yet, having Branyan in the lineup makes it a little more scary.

Chris Perez has been alright as the closer except for the epic collapse in Detroit in the first week of the season. My only wish for Perez is this: If Perez is an effective enough closer that the front office decides to trade Kerry Wood, please get something for him other than a bag of shit. The Lee and Sabathia trades have not looked too good so far have they? Matt LaPorta still is young and could be great, but he has been slow in developing. Michael Brantly was sent back down to AAA and needs a lot of work. Zach Jackson sucked. As far as the Lee trade, the only thing we see for him so far is Lou Marson who is a disaster behind the plate. I actually feel better with Mike Redmond catching. Mike fucking Redmond!? Really guys? Why don't we just call up Carlos Santana? Don't give me the "rushing him" argument. The Orioles did it with Matt Wieters and he looks just fine. And while we are on the subject, how the hell did we get Carlos Santana and Mitch Talbot for Casey Blake and Kelly Shoppach respectively, but got the Bad News Bears rejects for Cliff Lee? Come on guys.

Finally, how great does Franklin Gutierrez look in Seattle? Wow. Way to go Indians. But, of course, I stay positive and hope we can finish .500 this year. I get mad at the Tribe, but I do it out of love and just want us to be beating the drum in October again.

Pacers -

The Indians are a pretty messed up franchise. They just saw their lowest attendance in the history of JACOBS Field. They were the first team ever to trade reigning Cy Young winners in consecutive years, and the fan base is very down on them. They have some excuses though. The team was losing and had to cut payroll. Fans in Cleveland have Cavs fever right now, and who can blame them with the possibility of LeBron leaving town in a matter of months. The economy in Cleveland is not great. Still sounds like a pretty F'd up franchise doesn't it? They don't hold a candle to my Indiana Pacers.

The Pacers are becoming the Pirates of the NBA. Seriously, I just said that. I know we have about 15 more losing seasons to go to match the bar set so low by Pittsburgh, but with the hard-headiness of the front office and the inability of the team to improve until the last two weeks of the season, they show little signs of moving in the right direction. Two years ago I was very happy with their draft picks: Brandon Rush and Roy Hibbert. Rush has the drive of Rasheed Wallace and Hibbert is too prone to foul trouble. I still like Rush, but I would not be surprised if he played his last game as a Pacer. Last year's draft was a disaster in some ways and a success in some others. I don't want to say "I told you so", but I did when I told everybody I knew that the second round pick, A.J. Price, would turn out to be better than the first rounder, Tyler Hansbrough. Price quickly earned the love of the fans this year, but dumbass Jim O'Brien wanted to stick with Earl Watson and T.J. Ford for reasons that don't make sense.

The Pacers were in prime position to get a top 5 pick this year. They haven't had one since Rik Smits. So what do they do? Go 11-5 down the stretch, winning meaningless games in front of a crowd of about 27 people.

This brings me to my first improvement that needs to be made: Fire Jim O'Brien. For the love of God, why does this man have a job? I'm not one of those fans who hates the coach no matter who is in charge. I liked Larry Brown and I loved Rick Carlisle. Maybe if Larry Bird didn't make bonehead picks like Shawne Williams, Carlisle might have won some more games, like he is doing in Dallas. O'Brien missed a prime opportunity to tank without tanking by playing all the young guys (See: Price, A.J. and McRoberts, Josh.) to end the season instead of people like T.J. Ford and Troy Murphy all the time.

So O'Brien fucked up. Doesn't matter to Bird. O'Brien is back. So my next suggestion is this: pick someone with some potential, who preferably is not white, and not a shoe-in for jail time. It is looking like a pick between 9-12 for the Pacers, so take someone like Greg Monroe or Xavier Henry instead of a Cole Aldridch or Gordon Hayward. Both could be good players, of course, but I want some athleticism to play alongside Danny Granger. I understand Bird's insistence on drafting someone with high character so we don't have another team with Captain Jack, Tinsley and Artest, but studies have shown, and any idiot knows, the best way to bring fans in is to WIN BASKETBALL GAMES!

The next issue then becomes: when is this rebuilding really going to begin? Is it after the 2010-2011 season when the Pacers will be clearing some contracts? Hopefully. Want to know the best way to rebuild? Either do something this offseason to get a point guard such as Darren Collison, or play all the young guys and Danny Granger next season and if you lose, you lose. Get a high draft pick for once. If these young guys like Rush, Hibbert, Price, McRoberts and Jones grow along with Danny, then great. Win some games, clear the contracts and get another piece of the puzzle. Just please do something. Either become a playoff team to get some excitement inside Conseco Fieldhouse or lose, lose, lose and get a good young player.