The Raven Report 12.22.14 #Cavs #Browns #TheHobbit

By @nevaRWilliams

- What a difference a benching could make? After being benched in the 2nd half Friday against Brooklyn, Dion Waiters came out firing on all cylinders, dropping in 21 points as the Cavaliers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, 105-91. Waiters scored 13 or his 21 in the 4th quarter. LeBron James led all scorers with 25 points and adding 11 assists. Kyrie Irving had a season high 12 assists to go with his 17 points. Anderson Verajao had one of his best game of the year with 18 points. Marc Gasol led the Grizzlies with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Zach Randolph did not play due to a sore, swollen right knee that was suffered Friday against Chicago. The Cavs are back at it Tuesday night, at home, against the Minnesota Timberwolves before going down to Miami on Christmas, which will be LeBron's first trip back to Miami since returning to Cleveland.

- For all the good that happened with the Cavaliers, it was nearly the complete opposite was the case for the Cleveland Browns as they lost to the Carolina Panthers 17-13 on Sunday afternoon. While it appeared that Johnny Manziel might have had a better handle on being the starting QB, it was all for nothing as Manziel was removed from the game following a hamstring injury. Brian Hoyer replaced the rookie, going 7 or 13 for 134 yards, 1 INT and 1 long touchdown to Jordan Cameron for 81 yards. The run game for the Browns continued to struggle, with Isaiah Crowell gaining 55 yards on 16 rushes. As far as the Browns run defense and overall defense, well they were about spent from the get go. The long season filled with injuries allowed for Cam Newton to go 18/31 for 201 yards passing with 1 TD along with 63 rushing yards and 1 TD. Jonathan Stewart had 24 carries for 122 yards, himself. Thankfully, this long wretched heartbreak of a season ends next week as the Browns attempt to hurt the Baltimore Ravens' playoff chances in Baltimore.

- A former Florida Supreme Court judge ruled that evidence against Florida State QB Jameis Winston was insufficient to satisfy the burden of proof, clearing Winston of an alleged sexual assault from two years ago.

- The San Diego Padres acquired outfielder Justin Upton from the Atlanta Braves for four minor leaguers. The Padres also recently acquired outfielders Matt Kemp from the L.A. Dodgers and Wil Myers from the Tampa Bay Rays. Last season, Padres outfielders hit 29 home runs and 141 RBI, while the combination of Kemp, Myers and Upton had a combined 60 home runs and 226 RBI.

- The Yankees traded second baseman Martin Prado to the Miami Marlins for starter Nathan Eovaldi. New York also sent pitcher David Phelps in the deal for Eovaldi which included first baseman Garrett Jones and another minor league prospect. Eovaldi should fit in very nicely in the Yankees rotation with Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda, Chris Capuano and Ivan Nova. Last season, Eovaldi threw near 200 innings with a 4.37 ERA for the Marlins.

- Jake Peavy signed a two-year, $24 million deal with the San Francisco Giants. Peavy was 6-4 for the Giants in 2014 after his trade from the Boston Red Sox.

- Major League Baseball and its umpires agreed to a new five year labor contract. The previous deal was set to expire on December 31.

- At the box office this past weekend, "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" led the way with $56.2 million in its opening weekend. While it's the lowest amount of the three Hobbit movies, its still quite solid. Number 2 was "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb" with $17.3 million. Rounding out the top five was "Annie" ($16.3 million), "Exodus: Gods and Kings" ($8 million) and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" ($7.7 million). Christmas Day will be interesting as Disney's "Into the Woods", Angelina Jolie's directorial debut film "Unbroken" open Nationwide, while "Big Eyes", "American Sniper" and "Selma" open in limited release before their Nationwide releases.



- Lastly, myself and everyone who works on triplethreatCLE.com would like to wish you a VERY Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday. We are so thankful to have you with us and continue to show you support for us as we try to become a new fan oriented voice of Cleveland sports and wrestling. 2015 should bring big things for us, including our own radio show. So please, stick with us and you'll see that big things are ahead.

Leadoff with Lee 12.9.14

By @cleeverizon

- All reports indicate that Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel will be the starter against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Even though Brian Hoyer is 2-0 against Cincinnati, his play has been struggling for the past five weeks. Maybe we will find out more today if Manziel will named, officially. But for sure by Wednesday. I have heard several reasons why Manziel didn't play last week from going to the Cavs game, which turned out to be unfounded speculation, Mike Pettine overruling offensive coordinator Mike Shannahan or consulting with veterans on the team. My team source did indicate that The Johnny Era is about to begin, but also stated we thought the same thing last week too.

- The Browns will face the Cincinatti Benagls this Sunday at home. In a interview with WLW-AM in the "Nati". Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis was quated saying "You gotta defend the offense, you don't defend the player. Particularly a midget" Lewis was referring to Johnny Manziel. If this isn't enough to get Manziel going, I don't know what is. He has been working with a chip on his shoulder the entire year. And if He wants to make a statement,Johnny Manziel will rise to the occasion.

- Late last night, the Chicago White Sox pulled off two major moves. The biggest of which was acquiring starter Jeff Samardzija from the Oakland Athletics. Last season with the Cubs and A's, Samardzija was 7-13 with a 2.99 ERA. He is to make $9 - $10 million in 2015, which is the final year of his arbitration eligibility.

The second move was signing for New York Yankees reliever David Robertson, via free agency. Robertson, 29, was 4-5 with 39 saves and a 3.08 ERA.

- Yesterday the Cleveland Indians traded minor league prospect Joey Wendle for 1B/OF Brandon Moss of the Oakland Athletics. Moss had a .234 batting average, 81 RBIs, 25 HRs and 117 hits in 500 at bats last season. Now all the Tribe needs to do, is figure out if they want to move Nick Swisher and/or Carlos Santana. Both of which I heard have been rumored to be in separate deals.

- Over the weekend the Tampa Bay Rays signed former Indians bullpen coach Kevin Cash to lead their team as the new skipper. The former catcher played 8 seasons in the MLB and retired in 2011. In 2012 he was named the Indians bullpen coach. Cash also was a finalist to become the Texas Rangers manager in 2014.

- Trade Dion Waiters or nah? The Cavs control him until 2016 and he will become a restricted free agent. Meaning the Cavs can match any offer made to Waiters by any other team. A rumor yesterday afternoon was to trade Waiters to the Memphis Grizzlies for 7 foot center and former Ohio State product Kosta Koufos. Waiters has averaged 14.6 point per game prior to this season. He's down to 8 points per game, but you must consider the addition of Lebron James and Kevin Love have a lot to do with his declined scoring. But last night, the Cavs won 110-88 against the Brooklyn Nets with Dion Waiters being the standout with 26 points. LBJ added 18 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds, Kevin Love pitched in 19 points, 14 rebounds and my 6th man on the year, Tristan Thompson, had 14 points and 12 rebounds. So you want to trade Dion for who? Come again my friend!

For a closer look at Waiter's contract, click here.

The Raven Report 7.23.14: Carlos Santana & Cavs Making Moves

-The Cavs created some financial flexibility Tuesday by trading Carrick Felix, a second round pick and $1 million in cash to the Utah Jazz for John Lucas III, Malcolm Thomas and Erik Murphy. Those three players gives Cleveland about $3.3 million in non-guaranteed money that can be used to help match the salary in the a trade for Minnesota forward Kevin Love.

Minnesota is looking for a team or teams to unload the contracts of point guard JJ Barea and shooting guard Kevin Martin. Barea has 1 year, $4.5 million left on his contract while Martin has 3 years and $21 million remaining. It is rumored that Cleveland and Minnesota are going to work on the framework of a trade involving Kevin Love and Andrew Wiggins in the 30 day holding period after Wiggins signs his rookie contract.

If not Cleveland, the Chicago Bulls could swoop in for Love with a package including Taj Gibson, Jimmy Butler and others. Golden State and Denver are also interested in Kevin Love.

-Cavs guard Dion Waiters has been added to the U.S. Select Team that will train with Team USA next week in Las Vegas, to prepare for the FIBA World Cup. Along with Waiters, the Select Team features Harrison Barnes, Trey Burke, Jimmy Butler, Victor Oladipo, Draymond Green, Tim Hardaway Jr., Tobias Harris, Doug McDermott, Marcus Smart, Cody Zeller, Mason Plumlee and Miles Plumlee.

-New Dallas Maverick Rashard Lewis will undergo knee surgery. Lewis, 34, signed a 1 year, veteran's minimum deal last week.

-Welcome to the Carlos Santana show! 'Los went deep for his 15th home run, hit a single and two doubles at the Indians beat the Twins, 8-2. Danny Salazar, fresh off his call up from the minors, got the start. Salazar went 5 innings, giving up 6 hits, 1 earned run and 3 walks while recording 6 strikeouts. Santana finished going 4 for 5, raising his average to .214. Nick Swisher went 3 for 4, also raising his season average to .215. Could last night's game be the one to turn things around for some Tribe hitters? Things are looking up. The series finale with the Twins is at 1 PM today.

-"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" continued its box office reign this past weekend, raking in $36 million. "The Purge: Anarchy" came in second with $28.3 million. "Planes: Fire & Rescue" was third with $18 million. "Sex Tape" was fourth with just $15 million and "Transformers: Age of Extinction" rounds out the top 5 with $10 million, adding to its HUGE $886 million worldwide number.

This weekend will be interesting to see if "Apes" can get on top for a 3rd straight week with Scarlett Johansson's action movie "Lucy" releasing on Friday.

Leadoff with Lee 4.17.14

-The Cleveland Cavaliers finished the season with a 114-85 win over the Brooklyn Nets. Tyler Zeller led the team in scoring with 22 points in addition to his 10 rebounds. Dion Waiters had 19 points and Kyrie Irving added 15 of his own. The Cavs starters sat most, if not all of the 4th quarter. Cleveland had 7 players score in double figures mostly in garbage time. The Cavs finish the season 33-49 as they head into the offseason preparing for the draft and free agency.

-The Tribe won the 1st of 19 meetings with the Detroit Tigers last night with a 3-2 victory. Indians pitcher Zack Mcallister improves his record to 2-0(2.04 era) with 6 innings pitched, giving up only 4 hits and 1 earned run. Catcher Yan Gomes had the hot bat going 2-4 with 2 RBIs. Closer John Axford recorded his 5th save of the season. This has to be a confidence booster for Axford. He blew his last save attempt on April 13 against the Chicago White Sox. The Indians will play the final game of this series today at 1:00 pm.

-The Johnny Manziel watch is on. He is expected to hold a private workout for the Browns this weekend. Alabama quarterback A.J McCarron worked out for the Browns yesterday and will visit the team sometime next week. Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray will also visit the Browns next week and will workout with them the week after.

-The Columbus Blue Jackets lose game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs,to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3. Game 2 will be on Saturday, the puck drops at 7pm