Leadoff with Lee 2.29.16

By Chris Lee, @TripleThreatLee

- Browns center Alex Mack is expected to opt-out of his contract, but return to Cleveland on a new contract is a real possibility. According to one source the Browns and Mack are close to a new 4 year contract. Mack is in the second year of his five-year, $42 million contract that included $26 million guaranteed. He would make annual base salaries of $8 million over the remainder of the agreement and the deal includes a no-trade clause. Mack has already visited with new Browns head coach Hue Jackson and director of football operations Sashi Brown. Alex Mack could easily become the NFL's highest paid center making at least $10M per year. The Browns have until March 4 to negotiate a new contract with Mack before he is eligible to opt-out.

- There’s a belief at the combine that offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz end up with a contract in the $8M per year. That would make Schwartz the second-richest right tackle in the league in terms of annual salary. With the Browns expected to draft a quarterback with their second pick Hue Jackson would like to protect his investment. Last season Schwartz earned $1.095M in base salary.

- The NFL's competition committee has had "lengthy discussions" about reducing the preseason schedule for NFL teams to just three games instead of the four they have now. Team would have a two-week break between their final preseason game and the start of the regular season.  It doesn't sound as though the change would affect the 2016 preseason, but it sounds like it could definitely be in play for 2017 and beyond. Hopefully this isn't a precursor to the league attempting to lengthen the regular season schedule. . .if the shortened preseason is being done primarily because of potential injury concerns it kind of defeats the purpose of shortening the preseason.

- The Denver Post reported that Peyton Manning is expected to announce his retirement. If this is the end of his career Manning he will have 200 Wins, 71,948 passing yards and 539 touchdowns a 96.5 passer rating and 2 Super Bowls under his belt. He’s got a deadline of March 9th. The end of next week is March 4th. His decision should be final within the next week according to multiple reports. He doesn’t want to force Denver’s hand and make his exit awkward. Denver public relations tweeted the following in response to Dan Petty.

Peyton has not made a decision on his future. Plan remains for him to continue talks with the team this week. https://t.co/2YcjDCCQSg

— Patrick Smyth (@psmyth12) February 28, 2016

People around Peyton Manning believe he will retire, but as of now, he has not told the Broncos of any decision.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 28, 2016

- Unless something drastically changes between now and Tuesday, it appears that the Denver Broncos will place the franchise tag on Von Miller. At this time it's unclear whether the Broncos will use the non-exclusive or exclusive version of the tag. The non-exclusive tag, would allow another team to sign Miller to an offer sheet and in return for two first-round draft picks if the Broncos don’t match the offer, would cost $14.129 million for 2016, fully guaranteed. The exclusive franchise tag would be based on the average of the five highest 2016 cap numbers for all linebackers, measured as of the conclusion of the period for signing restricted free agents to offer sheets, in April. The exclusive tag for linebackers currently is on track to by $14.04 million.

- FIFA has elected Gianni Infantino as its new president. Infantino won on the 2nd ballot, netting 115 out of 207 votes.  He will complete Sepp Blatter's term and serve until 2019. Infantino holds both Swiss and Italian citizenship and has been the general secretary of UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, since 2009. He worked with UEFA to expand the European Championship from 16 to 24 teams, and he has promised to expand the World Cup field to 40 teams. An attorney, Infantino has also served as a member of FIFA’s Reform Committee. Infantino becomes just the third Fifa president in 40 years personified by Blatter and his Brazilian predecessor João Havelange, during which Fifa’s revenues soared but scandals involving World Cup tickets, TV rights and corrupt bidding races multiplied. In May, Sepp Blatter was forced to promise to stand down and then was banned from football for six years for making a $1.3M "disloyal payment” to his one-time heir apparent Platini in 2011. 

- Major League Baseball handed Indians outfielder Abraham Almonte an 80-game suspension Friday for testing positive for boldenone, a form of a Performance Enhancing Drug (P.E.D). Almonte was signed July 31 2015 from the San Diego Padres and was to be the potential opening day starter in the early part of the season while All-Star outfielder Michael Brantley recovers from off-season shoulder surgery. Brantley has only now begun hitting off a tee and will not likely be ready by the start of the season. Almonte and free agent signee Rajai Davis were expected to get at-bats in the outfield as Brantley mended. Now, the Indians must lean more on Davis, and perhaps Colin Cowgill and Will Venable, who was signed to a minor league deal. Venable's deal is for $1.5M is base salary and can make an additional $2M in performance bonuses if he makes the team.

- The Cavs signed Jordan McRae of the D-League's Delaware 87ers will sign a 10-day contract. With Mo Williams' knee injury lingering McRae will help provide additional depth to the bench. The 6'5" guard is averaging 23.3 points, 4.6 boards and 5.2 assists for the 87ers this season.

- NBA veteran guard Joe Johnson was waived by the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, shunned the Cavs and has decided to take his talents to South Beach once he clears waivers today at 5pm. The Miami Heat are expected to sign the seven time all-star for about $3M for the remainder of the season. In Sunday's game vs. the Knicks, Johnson had 12 points in 30 minutes, on 5 of 10 shooting from the field.

- Making the oldest team in the NBA even older, free agent veteran Andre Miller has reached an agreement to sign with the San Antonio Spurs for the remainder of the season. Miller cleared waivers on Saturday after reaching a contract buyout with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

- Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry now has 287 3-pointers this season,breaking his own record from last year of 286 (GSW still have 24 games remaining). And he tied the record for 3's made in a single game with 12. He shares that record with Donyell Marshall and Kobe Bryant. 

Leadoff with Lee 2.26.16

By Chris Lee, @TripleThreatLee

- The Brooklyn Nets waive seven time all star Joe Johnson on Thursday. Johnson has until March 1st to sign with a team to be eligible for the playoffs. According to several reports Johnson's buyout with the Nets is worth about $21.9M. He has already been linked to sign with Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Boston and Toronto. Early indication is Joe Johnson will take a couple days to sift through offers, now that he's secured buyout. Johnson will clear waivers Saturday at 5 PM. He is averaging 11.8 points, 4.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game this season. Tax Implications for the Cavaliers for signing a player for the remainder of the season is around $980k (not including salary).

ESPN sources say there is strong confidence within the Cavs' organization that they are in prime position to win the Joe Johnson Sweepstakes

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) February 25, 2016

- On Thursday, MLB and the MLBPA jointly announced new rule changes for 2016 regarding slides to break up double plays.

- Runner begins his slide before reaching the base.
- Runner is able and attempts to reach the base with his hand or foot.
- Runner is able and attempts to remain on the base (except home plate) after completion of the slide.
- Runner slides within reach of the base without changing his pathway for the purpose of initiating contact with a fielder.
- Runner may not engage “in a roll block or intentionally initiate or attempts to initiate contact with the fielder’s upper body.

Not following the new rules will result in an automatic double play.

If the runner is deemed to have violated any of these conditions, then he and the batter will be called out for interference. Potential violations will be reviewable using instant replay, as will, for the first time, “neighborhood play” calls.

Also the pace of game program will expand this season to include timed 30-second visits to the pitcher’s mound by managers and pitching coaches.

- Browns VP Sashi Brown on Josh Gordon: 

"He understands that he's made some mistakes in the past, I think he's accountable for those and everything that we see and hear in talking to his representation and those that have been in communication with him is that he's eager to get back and contribute. And we feel like if he's accomplished those things, there's a spot for him on the roster, could certainly help".

That has been the strongest statement made by anyone with the Browns new regime concerning Josh Gordon since taking over. He's under contract for nearly $1.1 million in 2016, which is crumbs for a playmaking receiver. He'll be a restricted free agent in 2017.

- The word this week from the agent for Browns free agent Travis Benjamin was that contract talks ended. Despite that rumor, the Browns met with Benjamin's agent Ron Butler at the combine Wednesday night.

Don't expect the Browns to place the transition or franchise tag on any of their free agents, Mitchell Schwartz, Tashaun Gipson or Travis Benjamin, but at the same time Sashi Brown has made it clear when he said, "We're behind two or three weeks". Brown continued, saying "When you're on a coaching search, you're not able to spend as much time as we would have liked focusing on our rising unrestricted free agents' extensions. But they're all talented guys and can contribute".

Gipson will command about $10.6M with the franchise tag, while the amount for Schwartz is $12.7M and $7.5-$8M for Benjamin. 

- The Johnny Manziel domestic violence case against victim Colleen Crawley has been referred to the Dallas county district attorney's office for presentation to the grand jury.

If charges are brought onto Manziel he could face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000. Legal experts say Dallas Police decision to let a grand jury examine Manziel case means it's weak. But you better believe he will need to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before he steps back on to the field.

- Colon Kaepernick and his agents request a trade from the 49ers. This new s come days after the Niners said Kaepernick would be on the roster come April 1st when his $11.9M salary becomes guaranteed. The biggest issue for the 49ers is finding a trade partner and possibly if Kaepernick can secure a new contract with that new team. In order to seek a trade and not lose his guaranteed money, Colin Kaepernick needs written permission from the 49ers. He has not been granted that as of yet. 

A possible draft day trade? Are the Browns going to be players in the mix? Browns coach Hue Jackson said he thought Kaepernick was the best quarterback in that draft, which included No. 1 pick Cam Newton. When he was coach of the Raiders in 2011, he wanted to trade up to draft Kaepernick, but it didn't work out. "Scouting him, I fell in love with the kid", said Jackson. "Leader, won a ton of games at Nevada, really impressive when you talked to him, strong, all the tools to win in the NFL. No doubt in my mind he was going to be good".