The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mayfield’s Longo will get his share of at-bats
Longo and other non-roster invitees wouldn’t be in camp if they didn’t have a chance to make the roster, Francona said.
Mitch Longo and every other non-roster invitee to Indians spring training wouldn’t be in the big league camp in Goodyear, Ariz., if they didn’t have a chance to make the 26man roster, says Tribe manager Terry Francona.
Longo, a Mayfield High School graduate, last season played with the Akron RubberDucks. It doesn’t matter that Longo was with the Indians’ Double-A affiliate in 2019. Francona is very familiar with the type of player the 25-yearold outfielder is.
“He’s a kid that’s come over and filled innings for us from the minor league camp,” Francona said on Jan. 31 during a news conference at the House of Blues in downtown Cleveland. “Now he’s in a progression of his minor league career where the player development guys felt he would be really deserving of coming to major league camp and it would be good for him. “You guys know me and us well enough to know the young guys are going to play. They may not start. But nobody’s going to sit there and watch and then get sent down. They’re all going to get their at-bats so we can get a feel for them and they can get a feel for us.”
Nine outfielders are on the Indians 40-man roster. But the only lock for a starting job on opening day is Oscar Mercado. The others are Greg Allen, Franmil Reyes, Tyler Naquin, Bradley Zimmer, Jordan Luplow, Jake Bauers, Delino DeShields Jr. and Daniel Johnson.
The Indians will have 62 players in Goodyear, Francona said. That means 22 are non-roster players.
“We don’t want to bring them in just to fill innings,” Francona said. “If they really don’t have a chance to make the club, then the next year, what are you going to say? And we have a group of pitchers that are kind of on the cusp where if they’re not going to make the team, the experience will be really good for them.”
The baseball season is six months long. Injuries mount during a 162-game season. Make a positive impression, begin the season in the minors and be called up to the Indians later in the year is a path many of the 22 non-roster players in camp could follow.
“You try to get a read on everybody not just the guys that are going with you,” Francona said. “Where could this guy fit? If this happens, where could he be an answer? You try to get a feel for everybody. Because we’re going to see probably 40some of those guys by the time the season is over. “
Longo hit .248, homered five times and drove in 29 runs in 90 games with the RubberDucks last season.
Schobert’s second chance
The happiest man on the Browns roster these days has to be linebacker Joe Schobert.
Former general manager John Dorsey did not sign Schobert to a contract extension before parting ways with the Browns on Dec. 31 and did not seem interested in doing so, to hear Schobert’s side of the story.
Things should change with Andrew Berry as general manager. Berry was the vice president of player personnel in 2016 when the Browns drafted Schobert in the fourth round with the 89th overall pick.
The Browns selected 14 players in the 2016 draft. Seven of them no longer play in the NFL. Schobert and wide receiver Rashard Higgins are the only ones from that draft still with the Browns.
Free agency begins March 18. Normally, players still unsigned less than seven weeks before free agency starts are eager to see if they can strike it rich with another team. On Dec. 23, though, Schobert said he wants to stay with the Browns. Freddie Kitchens was already on his way out at that point, but no one expected Dorsey to be out of work eight days later.
“This is the place that gave me my chance in the
NFL,” Schobert said in the Browns’ locker room a day after losing to the Ravens at FirstEnergy Stadium. “Just since I’ve been young, I’ve been a loyal guy. Just the way you grew up — you play in the Waukesha West Youth Football system, you go to Waukesha West High School.
“You commit to a college. This day and age people transfer all the time, but stay in college for four years and you get to the NFL and it’s the team that brought you into the league. There’s a certain amount of respect there, there’s a certain amount of pride in trying to turn it around and play for the team, play for the city and be a successful team. The NFL, at the end of the day, is a business, so it’s different than all the previous levels of football I just talked about, but that’s just the kind of guy I am.”
Schobert led the Browns with 133 tackles in 2019. He also had a team high four interceptions. He made 103 tackles in 2018 despite missing three games with a hamstring injury. He made the Pro Bowl in 2017.
Berry should try to resign Schobert before free agency starts — not just because he was involved in picking him in 2016 but because Schobert is a team leader and a good, though not great, linebacker. Berry will have to find someone to replace him if he does let Schobert walk.
• I ran a Twitter poll last week after dash cam police video recorded Kareem Hunt telling a Rocky River officer he probably would have failed a drug test after he was stopped for speeding on Jan. 21. The question asked was “Should the Browns resign Hunt or let him walk in free agency?”
More than 800 votes were cast with 63.2 percent saying the Browns should re-sign the former Willoughby South High running back.
Hunt has played three seasons. The Browns must tender a qualifying offer to Hunt by March 18 (the same date for all restricted free agents) in order to retain right of first refusal or be compensated if he does sign with another team.
Hunt was a Dorsey guy. Dorsey was general manager in Kansas City when the Chiefs drafted Hunt in the third round in 2017 and he was GM in Cleveland when the Browns signed Hunt last February knowing Hunt would be suspended for part of 2019 for shoving and kicking a woman in 2018.
The speeding incident, during which police found marijuana and an unsealed vodka container in Hunt’s backpack, further sullies Hunt’s reputation.
Nevertheless, the Browns would be foolish not to tender Hunt. A first-round tender would cost $4,677,000. A secondround tender would be $3,278,000 and the original round tender would be $2,144,000, according to overthecap.com.
I believe the Browns should use a second-round tender on Hunt. They can let a team make an offer and match it if they want to sign Hunt long-term. If that is not their plan and Hunt does sign an offer sheet they would essentially be getting a secondround pick for a player not in their long-term plans.
• I’m picking the 49ers to win the Super Bowl, 2723. The difference in the game will be 49ers tight end George Kittle. The Chiefs will not be able to cover him at crunch time in the fourth quarter.
I didn’t know that
… Until I read my Snapple bottle cap.
Only female mosquitoes bite. … King Ranch in south Texas covers 825,000 acres and is bigger than Rhode Island. … More energy from the sun hits Earth every hour than the planet uses in a year. … Ethiopia follows a calendar that is seven years behind the rest of the world. … “Never odd or even” spelled backward is still “never odd or even.”… Sailors once thought wearing gold earrings improved eyesight.