CLEVELAND, Ohio - After a week off, we are back for another edition of the Terry’s Talkin’ podcast with Terry Pluto and host David Campbell. In this episode, we discuss the Browns’ signing of Jameis Winston to be the backup quarterback to Deshaun Watson. We also get into whether the Cavs are the NBA’s most-injured team this season; and we look at how various positions are shaping up for the Guardians at spring training.
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Read an automated transcript of this week’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.
David Campbell (00:02.314)
Hey, we’re back for a new edition of the Terry’s Talking podcast after a week off. I’m David Campbell, your host, and I am joined by Mr. Terry Pluto as I am every week. Hey, Terry, how are you? Good. Hey, we got a lot to talk about with free agency with the Browns and I want to get into the guardians with you a little bit and the calves. Uh, but first there’s some leftover stuff from our survey that I wanted to get your thoughts on. We’ve kind of been hitting these topics as we go. We did a survey about a month, month and a half ago, and we got some great responses. And I wanted to.
Terry Pluto (00:10.685)
I am well, David.
David Campbell (00:32.114)
A couple of people suggested we have a guest every so often and I wanted to get your thoughts on it. Somebody who didn’t leave their email said, hey, I would love to hear Terry interview guests like Cleveland sports legends. We got another response from Jeff Zile. I hope I get your name right there. Jeff, he says, I really like the podcast. I understand the format is centered around the Browns Cavs Guardians, but it might be cool if Terry could bring in a guest once in a while for a short interview. He has some great connections to the past like Rocky Colavito, Phil Dawson, Wayne Embry.
You guys could advertise it the week before and fans could send in some questions. They could be maybe 10 or 15 minutes long. This would be a great way to add some value when there’s not much going on. What do you think of that, Terry? Maybe two, three times a year? I don’t know, what do you think? We’ll talk to the producer in the...
Terry Pluto (01:10.59)
I don’t think, I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. How’s that? I mean, what? Yeah. Well, when I was younger, I would think I’d immediately have to have an opinion. As I’m like older, I’m like, I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. And I also know there’s technical concerns. And a lot of times when you want to bring, let’s say someone like Rocky Calovito or somebody older, the assumption is, oh, they know how to do Zoom or they know how to do Riverside and they know how to do all this. they don’t and they don’t wanna know. And I get that one if I were over 80. So those are all things we have to look at. Yep.
David Campbell (01:44.534)
Yep, change is hard. Yep. We’ll kind of think about that. Maybe we could try one this year or two. I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes. One thing people probably don’t know, like this is it, like me and you, we do the whole thing by ourselves. We don’t have producers, we don’t have editors. So anything that we’re gonna add is gonna take extra time. But I think that maybe we’ll kind of pick a name or two before the end of the year and see what we wanna do. So, all right, Terry. free agency week for the Browns. We were off last week and we’re back in the middle of it here. It’s day two. We’re taping this late on Tuesday afternoon. Big news is that the Browns are not bringing back Joe Flacco and they are bringing back Jameis Winston, a one-year deal worth up to eight million dollars, eight point one million with incentives. And I know you weren’t, you’ve written that you’re not a big fan of this move. Why don’t you explain why and then we can kind of get deeper into it. So go ahead.
Terry Pluto (02:36.286)
Well, let’s first, let’s talk about why the Browns did it first. So with that bottom line, they actually think Winston’s better than Flacco. He could argue that, but they do. They think he’s the age part. He’s younger and that his style will fit more into the type of law offense they want to run. And working behind all this is not that the fans would be cheering for Flacco or whatever, but that’s true. That that’s an issue.
But it is that the Browns, like the rest of the NFL just didn’t buy into Joe Flacco, even though he was playing as well as he did all the interceptions. Um, that really bothered them. Now again, I’m speaking from how they look at it. And I mean, maybe Joe will end up somewhere by the time people listen to this. But as we’re talking about it now, I mean, Marcus Mariota is signed and Tyrod Taylor has signed and just all these guys.
David Campbell (03:30.155)
Unbelievable.
Terry Pluto (03:32.886)
And Joe’s got to feel like this is a rerun of last year. I mean, I, he goes, I am come back part of the year and I, I sincerely doubt that they’re sitting there, um, who’s wanting a lot of money or something. So there’s something about Flacco that football people don’t like.
David Campbell (03:53.134)
probably that he’s 39 and that he doesn’t extend plays like Winston can. And that nine years, I mean, I think Flacco turned 39 on January 16th and Winston turned 30 on January 6th. So there’s nine years there. And when it comes to extending a play for a few seconds, we didn’t see that much from Joe Flacco. And I wonder if they’re thinking.
Terry Pluto (03:55.454)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (04:13.786)
Although I will say this, yeah, that could be, but I will say this, when Joe rolled out those scripted rollouts, he was pretty good at that. He really was. And it wasn’t as if he was getting sacked a ton either. I mean, just to be fair, he wasn’t. But granted, we all like, probably most people watching just like Flacco, so we’re seeing what you wanna see. But...
Other clearly the tape on Flacco is alarming to a bunch of football people. We’d have a job by now. We would have had a job last year.
David Campbell (04:51.946)
Yeah, I mean, like you said, Terry, the guys who have signed, you can’t, if you’re Joe Flacco, you got to be worried. Like it is going to be a repeat. So it’s not, not a good market for him right now. Um, so there’s some people out there as fans are wondering like, oh, did the Browns take the easy way out because they don’t, if Flacco’s on the bench and Deshaun Watson throws an interception in the first quarter of the opener, you’re going to hear the, the Joe, Joe chants and all this stuff. I mean, the Browns, they, everything they do is
Terry Pluto (04:57.574)
Yeah.
David Campbell (05:20.866)
geared toward helping the team win. And so there’s nothing to that, obviously. This was strictly a football decision, right, Terry? Let’s put that to rest right away.
Terry Pluto (05:29.37)
I would say yes, they don’t want that though, David. Let’s not be totally naive. They don’t want any more extra pressure on Watson than he already has. That’s a fact. He’s coming off major arm surgery, shoulder surgery. He’s coming off where this best game of his career, but it was still a rocky season up and down on how he played. And he’s coming off where...
He’s as a fan base that for the most part, I would say at least half are not buying into them. And so those are all, and then on top of it, all the things that were said about Watson, be patient, he’s rusty, all that, Flacco comes in and blows it up. So I mean, those are realities. Now does it have to be Jameis Winston? That’s my point. Why did it have to be, how did it come down to that, those two in a race?
I mean, granted, maybe Jacobi Bressette wanted to go to New England because Alex van Pelt is there and he felt he got a really good chance to start, at least in the beginning before they dropped the quarterback. I just would have, I would have looked around me Winston.
Terry Pluto (06:46.954)
He, the, the Winston that the Browns like is the guy in 2021 who started the first seven games of the season for the saints. They went five and two, 14 touchdowns, three interceptions. That really is the only time in Winston’s career where he didn’t throw a bunch of interceptions. I mean, you’re talking about interceptions. This guy threw it. Todd, 30, 30 interceptions. Yeah. It was in that.
David Campbell (07:07.347)
Yeah, he was the first player to throw 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in the same season.
Terry Pluto (07:13.882)
And that was the Tampa bagel on for Tom Brady. And that went to him actually ending up behind Drew Brees and with the Saints. Um, he ended up as a backup there. Um, then what happened in after those first seven games at 21, he blew his knee, had the ACL surgery. Then he came back in 22. He was the starter of the first couple of games. Didn’t play particularly well, hurt his foot and something with his back. Andy Dalton came in and that was the end of that. And then last year.
the Saints brought in Derek Carr and, um, what was the backup? Now, the fact that the Saints kept him through these different quarterback changes tells me he must be a good backup, you know, a good, good guy to be around that kind of thing. You know, I’ve gotten some emails from some fans of good and one guy harshly ripping me say, well, Deshaun Watson, all those problems. And this guy had problems. And you know, why are you like this soft peddling this?
Well, as far as I could tell the last problem that Winston had was 2018, where you suspended for three games or something with an Uber driver or something. And then there was some stuff I think in his Florida state career or right after, but that’s six years ago. And also the Browns didn’t trade six draft picks and the contract and bring in a guy who was facing an 11 game system. It’s not the same. And I’m saying this as a guy who didn’t want him.
David Campbell (08:43.614)
Yeah. All right. So here’s my theory, Terry. I think you were right. I think the Browns really wanted to bring, bring Jacoby Berset back. And when that didn’t work out, I think they didn’t want 39 year old Joe Flacco. I think they did want to go younger. And I think what they’re seeing, I mean, these guys do their homework, right? Not just analytics, but also they make calls. And I do think, we’ve talked about this, like, James Winston is a different guy now than when he was drafted and was a little immature. And
Terry Pluto (08:50.386)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (08:59.601)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (09:09.103)
Yeah.
David Campbell (09:12.898)
Jimmy Graham, who, you know, the Saints tied in, he posted about Jameis Winston, this man is the best teammate I’ve ever had. He loves the city of New Orleans, this game, and embodies everything you can ask for in a leader. I mean, who does that sound like? Jacoby Brissett. Yeah, and so it seems like as Jameis Winston has gotten older and kind of has understood what his place in the NFL is,
Terry Pluto (09:29.007)
I mean, that’s all COVID reset, yeah.
David Campbell (09:40.99)
I think the Browns wanted that. I think they wanted, they wanted Jacoby Bursette light. Like they couldn’t get the real things. So they took the next best thing and they real, and after doing their homework, they realized this is what they hope they’re getting. So I don’t know if the numbers will match, but that’s kind of what I think happened. I don’t know.
Terry Pluto (09:52.326)
Yeah. We’ll see. I’m the nice thing about watching, you know, when you bring in. Bursetta or Flacco Eric Mangini had a, um, wine, a green sticker guy. And that was, you know, exactly what you’re getting. I mean, you don’t know that Flacco is going to be as good as he was, but you know, you were getting a professional quarterback with all the right intangibles. Same thing with Jacoby. You know, I mean, Flacco Baltimore trained.
Jacoby, New England trained. You get these guys and you just know they got the right pedigree in terms of being professionals. Whereas Jamis did not have that. But I’m just going on what I have heard. And also to be fair, you don’t, this league, they don’t keep you around if you’re a really big problem when you’re not playing that much, unless you happen to be doing a good job in some other area. So, and clearly he must have been.
So that’s why I’m not all that worked up on the character issue with him, because I think, and with Hugh, I think the characters change. I just don’t know how good he is.
David Campbell (11:04.482)
Well, so, you know, putting the Uber incident in the past here, I wanted to ask you what you think would happen with this situation. So do you remember back in week 18 this season when the Saints put Jameis Winston in the game late and they were in victory formation against the Falcons and they were going to just take a knee at like the three yard line. And Jameis Winston wanted to get Jamal Williams a touchdown because Jamal Williams was so important to the Saints and he hadn’t scored a touchdown all season. And in the last minutes of the game.
Jamis Winston changed the play from kneel down to hand the ball to Jamal Williams and he scored a touchdown. And Jamis Winston apologized, again, this goes back to him, the guys thinking he’s a good teammate. And he said after the game, I have to apologize to Dennis Allen, my coach, like that was totally me. It was a team decision. We wanted to get Jamal a touchdown. I apologized to Dennis Allen, but we had to do it. So I’m thinking like, what if he pulled something like that?
Terry Pluto (11:44.486)
Yeah.
David Campbell (12:02.018)
with Kevin Stefanski, like, what do you think would happen?
Terry Pluto (12:03.706)
Wow. That’s, it’s a really interesting dilemma because did you do the wrong thing for the right reason?
David Campbell (12:16.43)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (12:18.762)
And if that’s true, last game of the year, first touchdown for the guy, okay. If you wanna go Catholic parlance, at best it’s a Vinylsson. And probably it made him happier, made him even stronger with his teammates. So I’m going on what...
David Campbell (12:36.165)
Hahaha
Terry Pluto (12:46.598)
the little bit of homework I did in terms of his character, that it is different there. What I am, I’m just asking, it’s just a straightforward question. How good is he? Because the last four years, he just hasn’t played much. In the last two years, he’s hardly played at all. So even though it feels like he should be like 35, you know, it seems like we’ve heard about Jameis Winston forever. So we’re gonna find out.
But this is, it’s an important move because when you just look at Watson’s injury history and people get tired of me dwelling on that. And I was concerned when he showed up and he hadn’t even played that whole year before they made the move for him. Then he was suspended. And I mean, right now you’re at 12 games played over the last three years. And you could argue for whatever reasons his decision was his, and his alone to sit out in 2021.
His actions off the field led to the suspension in 2022. So didn’t play 16 games in 21, didn’t play 11 in 22. And then he got, nobody’s falling that he got hurt in 23. Although please he’s got to stop running into people and dropping that shoulder because that’s what leads to some of these injuries. So there you go.
David Campbell (14:06.738)
Alright, well Terry we’re going to recap a few of the free agent moves, but the Browns did make a trade while we were gone and they are bringing in Jerry Judy receiver from the Broncos. They gave up fifth rounder and a sixth rounder. I think it’s 135 and 202 overall. This is a good kind of low investment low risk type of move right. What do you think of the Jerry Judy trade.
Terry Pluto (14:25.415)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (14:29.726)
I mean, is it, is it Elijah Moore all over again? You know, a younger guy kind of been an underachiever, um, and the same parallel, you know, where Judy had a little bit of a problem with his attitude. Well, so did Elijah Moore, you know, Moore I think did not play as well as the Browns at hope, but he was very good off the field, on the field, all that behavior was, was almost exemplary from, uh, cause it’s funny, you don’t get, um, given Stefanski.
being very effusive and he often was at about more in terms of his preparation, willing to learn different position, all that stuff. So Judy’s only 24. They get a chance to come in here and play quite a bit and if it doesn’t work, okay, it doesn’t work. I know it takes a 13 on the salary cap although they’re going to probably work that somehow. But I was fine with it. But this is not a Mari Cooper. I got some people saying that. Remember how they got.
Cooper on the cheap. No, Amari Cooper was in his prime, a four time pro bowler, an accomplished receiver and Dallas had a complete brain fart on not being able to rework his contract or just given up on him. And I don’t know what the rest of the league was watching to what Andrew Barry just waltzed in there and pick him up for basically nothing.
David Campbell (15:50.122)
Yeah, that’s going to go down as one of the great trades in Brown’s history. There’s I think there’s no doubt about that right now. So, um, all right, Terry. So Janus Winston, we already talked about Nahim Hines coming in, running back punt returner from the Bills, uh, the Browns are adding. And again, these deals can’t be official until Wednesday when they can be signed. This is all, uh, agreed to terms, uh, offensive tackle Hakeem Adheneji, who was with the Bengals Browns fans, right? Might remember he played with the Vikings last year.
Terry Pluto (15:55.742)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (16:07.279)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (16:17.862)
How good is he? I know very little about him.
David Campbell (16:19.786)
Yeah, he had a very hard time cracking that Browns off a Browns Bengals offensive line a couple of seasons ago Uh, he you know, he played a handful of games, but he just didn’t you know, he was just a guy basically He was just kind of a fill-in so they must see something in him Maybe he had a better season with minnesota and michael dunn is coming back So yeah, he’s been good for the browns Defensively jordan hicks is going to have a reunion with jim schwarz a linebacker and that’ll help because anthony walker is leaving
Terry Pluto (16:32.036)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (16:39.321)
I think that’s good.
Terry Pluto (16:44.289)
Mm-hmm.
David Campbell (16:49.154)
to help fill out that defense. And then up front, the Browns are bringing back Shelby Harris and Moe Hurst, which is good news because Derek Henry is headed to Baltimore behind that amazing offensive line. And you gotta have some big guys up front if you’re gonna be playing the Ravens twice a year, especially with him in the backfield. But you like bringing these guys back. And of course, the Darius Smith is coming back too. That’s the biggest move I think of the week for the Browns.
Terry Pluto (17:02.148)
Yeah, he is.
Terry Pluto (17:17.454)
Mm-hmm. I mean really the guys see only talkie talkies the one that I thought that they will miss Where did he go New England, I think I think he went yeah, I think he went to New England but
David Campbell (17:26.922)
I think so, yeah.
Terry Pluto (17:32.866)
Walker always just kept getting hurt. Great guy, all that stuff, but he just could not stay on the field. And so to add on those guys in the defensive line, and remember how Andrew Berry picked up Zedariah Smith? That was, I’m trying to remember, two or three months after the free agent period began, if I’m not mistaken, certainly at least a month after. And so they can, and Shelby Harris was a late pickup too last year, and that ended up being very good. So...
I’m sure he’s going to keep shopping. They just didn’t want to go, I think, deep into big money for guys that they’re just, um, feel they don’t need. And so I didn’t have a big problem with, I wasn’t expecting a lot in free agency. You know, I was on the backup quarterback, uh, parade just because one, I can’t, you know, kickers and backup quarterbacks are my things. And secondly, um,
I just think it’s critical to have a good one. There were 66 different guys started at quarterback watchers, 66. And to pretend that your guy is going to play even 15 to the 17 games, I think is naive. There are a few guys who would do it, but not many.
David Campbell (18:42.902)
Yeah, there’s a few people on social media making fun of Browns fans. I’ve never seen a fan base get so uptight about a backup quarterback. But like, if you’ve been watching this team, you’re right, Terry, the guy is going to play anywhere between three and eight games, like. Mark it down. Like that’s what’s going to happen. And this is an important signing.
Terry Pluto (18:54.958)
Yeah. Mark it down. I mean, yeah. Also, I mean, then I’ve heard the argument. I love this one, like setting up the parameters just to fit. Well, if you don’t have to show on anyway, you’re not going to the Superbowl. So what’s the matter with the backup is? Oh, I see. You’re going to charge all this money for all these fans to go out there and just throw anybody in it back up.
And all your other players, you tell them you’re going to try to win. And yeah, poor PJ Walker out there. We can’t figure out where to throw the ball. Remember that? So no, you are to present a good product for your customers and you are to present a respectable backup quarterback for the rest of the, uh, the guys in the locker room, because they know the difference. And I will argue that this past year was very entertaining and it’s a big part of running a football team.
is entertainment and having a legitimate product.
David Campbell (19:56.21)
Yeah. And you, this isn’t like the NBA or something, Terry, where it’s the end of the season and you’re just playing the string out and guys are running up and down a court for two hours. You’re playing, you’re asking guys to go out and run into each other head first for three hours and you, you owe it to them to give them the best possible teammates. Like that’s, that’s another way of saying what you just said, but yeah, there’s no doubt.
Terry Pluto (19:58.546)
No.
Terry Pluto (20:07.279)
Yes.
Terry Pluto (20:17.186)
See, I think the Browns will make the argument when it comes time for them to talk about, uh, Jamis, that is that kind of best possible teammate that he has changed and his time in New Orleans. Let’s face it. That’s a sin city down there, baby. If you want to get in some trouble. Um, there were none of those incidents, at least that we are aware of and that he can help them. So, but I’m really big on not that you throw everything at this year or whatever, but you just don’t.
You still want to be awful. And if you, I mean, had Joe Flacco not showing up last year, I don’t know where that season goes.
David Campbell (20:57.078)
maybe eight, nine wins at most instead of 11. And who knows if they make the playoffs. So, yeah.
Terry Pluto (21:01.61)
maybe eight because if they were four and one so that meant they were um what seven and five when he showed up because they played 17 games they would have been lucky to win two more games.
David Campbell (21:18.358)
Alright Terry, let us take a break here. When we come back, I think that Cavs fans probably feel like their team is the most snake-bitten with injuries this season. And I did a little research, I wanna share some numbers with you on are the Cavs the most injured team in the NBA this season? So we’ll get into that, we’ll talk some guardians, and we do have a couple more. We’re getting down to the end of our 100th episode request where we asked fans to write in where they’re from and why they’re Cleveland sports fans. We’ll get into that.
Terry Pluto (21:27.466)
Yeah.
David Campbell (21:46.054)
And more when we come back on Terry’s Talking.
David Campbell (23:33.878)
We’re back on Terry’s talking. Terry, the Cavs are beaten up physically. They’re 41 and 24. They’re down to third place in the Eastern Conference. I think they’re nine and a half behind Boston as we tape this on Wednesday afternoon. They’re a game behind Milwaukee. They’re still on pace for 51 or 52 wins, but last night, Cavs lost to Phoenix. Once again, they were without Donovan Mitchell, knee bone bruise, Max Struce, knee strain, Evan Mobley, sprained ankle. Dean Wade was out last night.
And it kind of got me wondering, and I think a lot of Cavs fans are wondering, like, are the Cavs more banged up this season than other teams in the NBA? Because it’s just been one thing after another, like guys going out, trying to hold it together. And so I did a little research and this was interesting. So the Cavs are actually the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, 10th most injured team this season. And this is off of spotrac.com.
They actually keep track of how many players and games and how much money has had to sit out because of injuries. The Memphis Grizzlies.
Terry Pluto (24:37.975)
That that last part might be more indicative of anything
David Campbell (24:42.602)
Yeah. So I wanted to share some of these numbers with you. I’ll try and run through it real quick. The Memphis Grizzlies are the most injured team according to this list. Seventeen players have missed 387 games with over 55 million in payroll. And that is the most in the league, both for the payroll and the games missed. The Cavs are down at number 10 at 178, which is...
Terry Pluto (24:59.043)
Mm-hmm.
David Campbell (25:11.087)
lower than I thought, right? Didn’t you think it was going to be higher, Terry, with everything that had going on?
Terry Pluto (25:12.886)
Yeah. What I’ve learned over the years is we only think our teams get hurt. Because it’s all we pay attention to and you have to sometimes.
You know, kind of look and check and see. And this is a little bit on a different thing. Like you did look at the numbers there. I got an angry email from somebody saying, JV Bickerstaff is so stubborn. He just won’t break up. He plays those two big guys all together, you know, meaning Mowgli and Allen. And it’s not good and blah, blah. So I went and looked and they’ve only been begun the floor for 33 games together this year. Guess no on top of that.
Terry Pluto (25:55.282)
How many minutes per game do you think they played together? So you’re talking a 48 minute game, so what do you think?
David Campbell (26:01.718)
I’m gonna say 18.
Terry Pluto (26:05.842)
Did you look? That’s it. Yeah. Well, I mean, so my answer is, so what? I would have guessed early twenties, you know? But yeah, so that, but you will know if you didn’t look, but it seems like, you know, people say, well, it seems like, it seems like they’re always hurt. The big thing for the Cavs, of course, has been without Mitchell. That’s been, that’s been the big erasers go on for them.
David Campbell (26:06.922)
No! Is it really?
All right, I got one, finally. I’m always wrong.
Terry Pluto (26:35.226)
And they’ve won some games without him, but still that’s, you can see what agony it is playing in these games without him.
David Campbell (26:41.998)
Well, last night, I mean, Darius Garland went off in the first half and then they started doubling him and blitzing him and he turned his ankle and there was just no way they could keep up in the second half. And that’s what you’re looking at when you just have all these guys out, especially Donovan Mitchell, as you said. But anyway, the tides you want to run through the top 10, it’s Memphis, Portland, Charlotte, Miami, Atlanta, the Lakers, the Suns, the Nets, the Bulls and the Cavs.
Terry Pluto (26:49.231)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (26:55.582)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (27:07.622)
Yeah.
David Campbell (27:08.286)
So anyway, I thought that was interesting. And the guy who’s missed the most games is Darius Garland with 24. Donovan Mitchell has missed 18. Evan Mobley, I’m sorry, Evan Mobley is actually at the top of the list with 28. Um, not counting, just counting main rotation guys. Ty Jerome has missed 63. So anyway, it’s Mobley, Garland and Mitchell. If you add those up, you’re looking at, um, 46, 50, 70 games missed by Mobley, Mitchell and Garland. So.
Terry Pluto (27:21.719)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (27:34.686)
Yeah, they were fortunate. Alan missed his games early and then that’s pretty much Bernetti’s been playing about ever since. Because I had the stats on him, like when the Cavs have him playing and when they don’t, that was early in the season. And I’m sure it’s even gone up. It’s pretty, it’s basically they win two thirds of the games when he plays. And it’s like maybe one third when he does, doesn’t. I mean, it’s, it’s a real game changer, him being on the floor.
David Campbell (28:02.85)
So Terry, one guy who’s been a mainstay that I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about is Jared Allen. And man, you know, to see what he’s doing this season, we talked about the Cooper trade being one of the best trades in Brown’s history. This Jared Allen trade is probably gonna go down as one of the best trades in Cavs history. I’m sure you could name a few other ones off the top of your head, but just to look at what he’s doing this season, all right, 60 games. His career average is 12 and a half points a game.
Terry Pluto (28:08.142)
Mm-hmm.
David Campbell (28:32.162)
He’s averaging 16.2. His career rebounds per game was 9.1 and he’s averaging 10.7. His career assist per game is 1.6 and he’s up to 2.7. He’s shooting over 62% from the field as usual as he’s done for his whole career. And his performance efficiency rating has gone from 20.2 to 21.6. That’s basically how efficient of a player you are. This guy is, he’s carried this team in a lot of ways, hasn’t he?
Terry Pluto (29:02.022)
without losing his edge on defense, I may add, because he is asked to do more. It’d be interesting to look at free throws per game too, because I think he’s drawing more files. Yes, he has. And Kobe Altman will tell you, because I’ve had this discussion with him, the whole rebuild started with the Allen trade. And that’s when, to Kobe’s credit, was one of the James Harden trades going somewhere.
And whatever team it was, it was trading hard and they needed another first round pick. And so they had a first round pick that belonged to Milwaukee, I believe. And so they, they threw that in there and, um, Kobe had targeted Alan, tried to get them earlier. Uh, and so he was able to get them in this trade because to make sure that, um, hardened got dealt to wherever he was going.
that brought in, then of course you draft, they had Garland already, so then you brought in Allen, then you draft Moably, then you trade for Mitchell. But if you aren’t able to get in on that deal and see something in Allen that a lot of other teams did not see, I don’t think the Cavs are anywhere near where they would be right now.
David Campbell (30:22.734)
I mean, this guy’s good for like a double every night. And I’m trying to think of some of the other great trades in Cav’s history. I think probably the Larry Nance trade would be on your list, right? Are there other ones that are kind of?
Terry Pluto (30:24.917)
Ever?
Terry Pluto (30:30.81)
Yeah, although they traded a heck of a player, Kevin Johnson for him, who went there. They traded a second round pick and $150,000 for Mark Price.
David Campbell (30:44.258)
Is that right?
Terry Pluto (30:45.09)
Yes. They traded like another second and they threw in something to move up and take Mark Bryce. So that’s like one of the really the best. And they also traded Roy Henson for a pick that became Brad Doherty. And Henson, who was a pretty good player, but at the time his knees were shot. And so he really faded. So they made, that was, back then that was a time those two trades.
put the calves on course to come out of the dark ages. And I’m sure there were some others. When you look at what Alan has met, and this year it’s been fun to watch him because I always thought Alan did not realize how good he is, especially offensively, that he could do more. And he’s been forced to do it because of the injuries to mobility and others. And so in the meantime, I think he’s on year three of a five-year contract.
I mean, $20 million, I mean, that’s kind of like, you know, somebody making 20 bucks an hour at the factory for the way the NBA is, it really is. It’s nice, you know, but whatever, but it’s not, uh, you know, this, this huge amount of dollars. And so it’s fun to watch him to keep growing as a player. And, you know, he loves playing here. It’s just been, um, it’s been terrific. Cause I’m glad you pointed that out and I’m glad you did the, um, stuff on the injuries. That’s really good.
David Campbell (31:49.514)
Yeah, run with an old deal. Yeah.
David Campbell (32:12.706)
Yeah, I was just kind of curious. And you mentioned Alan’s contract, two more years at 20 million a year, and then there’ll be an unrestricted free agent heading into 26, 27. But I think that list of trades, Terry, I think this one will be up there when all is said and done. So thanks for the context on that. I had forgotten about the price thing. I just thought he kind of got drafted along the line from the calves and found his way into the lineup, but that was a trade. Yeah.
Terry Pluto (32:19.808)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (32:24.943)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (32:35.898)
No, it’s a trade and I got, I probably have a little bit of the details. There was some money thrown in and Dallas had the pick and Indiana thought they had a deal made with Dallas, but it turned out Cleveland did. There was like a real, a big, one of those kind of in the weeds arguments between these two franchises and all kinds of stuff. So
But you look at those things and nobody thought Mark Price was going to be like that. I remember when they tried it for him and I liked Price. And, but I compared him to Kyle Macy. How about that? You know, just kind of a, sort of a good shooting outside, you know, kind of third guard can make some outside shots. Remember this before the obsession with three pointers and, you know, so there you are. And Mark Price, I really believe had he not kept, he blew his knee, came back and had other injuries.
he could have really been borderline Hall of Fame. I believe that had he been able to stay healthy, he just couldn’t do it. And I think he made four All-Star teams as it was.
David Campbell (33:46.85)
Alright Terry, we’re gonna get into the Guardians here a little bit and we’ll start with a letter from our long time listener Neil in Jamestown, New York. And again, before I forget, if you want to hit us with a comment question, you can just email us at sports at Cleveland dot com and put Terry’s talking in the subject line. And Neil says, Hey Terry, please help me out. The Guardians say shortstop is an open competition. I just read Arius is hitting 188 in spring training.
Rokio is hitting 100 and Angel Martinez is hitting 500. Of course, spring training isn’t everything, but between Arias and Rokio, I’d give the job to Rokio. I’d even consider giving the job to Martinez. But what is the deal with believing so much in Arias when he has shown so little at the plate after a very long look? And again, that’s Neil in Jamestown, New York. Uh, you worried about shortstop here, Terry yet? What do you think?
Terry Pluto (34:39.386)
Am I surprised that Arias is not hitting? No. In fact, I wrote a thing early in spring training about how he hit terribly in winter ball, around 200 and struck out a lot. And usually you kind of dismiss winter ball stats because they’re often inflated, kind of like spring training stats. But my view was after he didn’t hit last year in Cleveland then didn’t hit in winter ball.
Well, what did he do? Now? Rokeo has been a big disappointment to me because I thought he, now he did have a big winter ball season and you know, he was ascending and I just thought he would be able to kind of take over and grab the position, but he hasn’t done anything either. Angel Martinez. I wrote about him on Sunday. He’s kind of a lost, um, prospect, but baseball people have liked them. I think baseball America, they had a number six on their list and, uh, pro football.
excuse me, Fangraphs, the equivalent of Pro Football Focus, the analytics site, Fangraphs, which I like. By the way, if you ever want to really look to find some good salary information, go to Fangraphs. You got to kind of dig in there, but they have nice charts that lays it out. It’s easy to follow. They wrote a thing. This was at the start of 2023. So in other words, 12 months ago, they called them sleeper hitters and the miners, and they had singled out Martinez.
as one of those five or six guys that you probably don’t know. Um, because he was younger, always the youngest guy at his age thing. And they just think that he’s got a chance to be pretty good. Uh, I’m sure they’ll, they’ll send Angel probably to AAA. And then I believe, um, I can’t remember if Aries is out of options or not. So that would be a decision there. They are basing it on, you know, Will Benson, Nolan Jones.
some of these guys that they gave up on too soon. I think they’re afraid, because if you look at Arias, strong arm, he does have some power, he’s got good range, and they’re afraid probably they’re gonna blow it with them if they give up on him too soon.
David Campbell (36:49.474)
So what would you think, Terry, of like Tyler Freeman being the opening day shortstop just to buy these younger guys some time and not, you know, stabilize the position a little bit with a veteran, a guy who’s done, you know, a little bit of everything for this team. What do you think of that idea? Yeah.
Terry Pluto (37:05.038)
I think it’s a bad idea. Yeah, pick a kid and play them. You’re not good enough to worry about that. Meanwhile, they are very intrigued by Freeman in the outfield, which tells you, of course, the state of the outfield. And Estevan Foriel, I mean, they’re trying to give him center field. I haven’t looked at his stat the last few days, but he’s doing nothing.
The last time I saw you had struck out eight times in his first 16 at bats. And so, you know, then you’re down to, cause I was texting with somebody way up, um, in the food chain there with the team and, and they were talking to me about how they were so pleased with Freeman and the outfield and that they think he could be a factor out there. And, and I get it. I mean, you’d want somebody hit some home runs, but just want somebody to get hit period. You really like anything, the double once in a while.
And so, uh, mean, meanwhile, you just, you just pick somebody. I was really hoping Rocio would go in there and grab that position. By the way, that’s Roberta’s prospect. That was her last year. That was her guy, Rocio. So, um, you know, that was, uh, we’ll see, but it’s, it’s frustrating, David. It really is. Cause they’re trying to give a lot of it past to people. Deval Santos, I see is starting to hit a little bit. They want him to make the team.
David Campbell (38:18.286)
That’s right.
Terry Pluto (38:33.966)
Now the cool thing is neither one of these guys are slayed to make the team, but the water and Manzardo have been hit. They hit in fall league and Manzardo, once he got healthy, he had, he got off to a rocky start with Tampa Bay and AAA. Then he was out for a while. I forgot what he had. He had some type of injury. Then he came back. He scuffled a little bit in the beginning with Columbus, but then finished strong. And then he hit in the fall league and, um,
The Lauder, I just fell in baseball love with him last year at Lake County. And he’s just been smoking the ball everywhere he’s been. So that’s encouraging.
David Campbell (39:12.722)
It’s really, yeah, you wrote about his scissors, batting style where it kind of reminds me of Harold Baines from the White Sox, where his back foot comes off the ground as he’s swinging and it slides back toward the edge of the box. But the ball just jumps off his bat. It’s really amazing.
Terry Pluto (39:16.075)
Yeah, the scissors flying, yeah.
Terry Pluto (39:21.277)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (39:28.292)
Yeah, you’re used to...
Terry Pluto (39:33.046)
It’s almost like as that’s going, he’s putting that thing back there to launch himself forward. But he doesn’t strike out a ton. He’s got good power to the opposite field. That’s the other thing about Manzardo. They both have good power to the left center. By the way, the lotter, you want your right fielder, there he is. He’s big. He’s got a strong arm.
David Campbell (39:38.666)
That’s a good analogy. Yeah. Like he’s throwing his whole body at the ball or something. Yeah. So I’m really excited to see him.
Terry Pluto (39:59.482)
He was throwing 91, 92 miles an hour as a college pitcher early in his career. So, um, by the way, you know, look at this. You just wonder about not only scouts, but like people who were supposed to know better, the louder you look at him, like granted, he wasn’t as heavy as now, but he was tall and thin. He leaves, um, his, uh, High school team, uh, Martinsburg, West Virginia, leads into the state title. He pitches bats for it, the whole thing.
The only division one scholarship was from, oh my goodness, Harrison, James, maybe Harrison Berg, James Madison, that was it, the only one. I mean, where’s Virginia at in that? You know, I mean, what are you doing? And so we’re the Mac schools, you know? So anyway, that’s what’s always fun about baseball is you get a lot more of that stuff, you know, guys coming out of nowhere.
David Campbell (40:35.362)
James Madison.
Terry Pluto (41:00.07)
And I’m excited about those two. I’m disillusioned about the guys that are closer that they were hoping would do something and they aren’t.
David Campbell (41:11.406)
All right, Terry. Well, there is some good news for Guardians fans coming out of, and it’s related to the pitching staff, but Shane Bieber has gained, he’s been working at this facility, I think it’s down in Texas. Paul Hoynes, our colleague, has been writing about this. And he’s gained two miles an hour on his fastball. I think he’s up from 91 to 93 miles an hour with his fastball. Tristan McKenzie said he feels really good. You know, this is around the time a year ago where he started to have the issues.
Terry Pluto (41:13.03)
Yep.
Terry Pluto (41:17.051)
Mm-hmm. Good.
Terry Pluto (41:31.871)
Yes, he is.
Terry Pluto (41:40.55)
Mm-hmm.
David Campbell (41:41.634)
Good signs, especially with Shane Bieber and getting the velocity up. I know it’s been dropping off the last few years. So that’s good news.
Terry Pluto (41:47.662)
Yes. And also I was very concerned about McKenzie because, you know, you only pitched a couple of games and you turn around and you just wonder, geez, is that what it’s going to be? And so the nice thing there is he has been, um, throwing well, uh, beavers it’s really encouraging. It’s called the drive line or drive time. I forgot the name, but that’s the, that’s the place. Uh, the guardians have a lot of respect for it. They like it. And so, uh,
that worked out well. I know everybody was a little suspicious of when the drive time people put out all those things about how he’s throwing 93, 94 miles an hour. They tweeted all that stuff, but it turned out that was true. All right, here we go. I’m looking at some.
Terry Pluto (42:49.134)
Yeah. Okay. Some spring stats. Oh boy. Estevan Florio. They want you to make the team. They want, they’re giving you center field. You’re three for 23 with 10 strikeouts. Yeah. Okay. Brian Roquio. They want you to make the team. You’re two for 20.
Terry Pluto (43:14.174)
Arias they’d like you to do something You’re three for seventeen with six strikeouts The guys that are hitting Dale Santos is now seven for 28. He started slow. So that’s encouraging, you know quants hitting 300 Freeman sitting 320 Jose’s in 300 angel Martinez is 11 for 23 and I’m looking to see other prospects here to see what we’ve got
And that’s what, oh, the water is five for 12. And where is Manzardo at six for 14? They’re not playing those guys that much. So I’m sure they’re playing in some B games that they don’t keep the track of the stats here. So that’s the update. So in other words, those key guys, Florio and Rokio and Arias and even De La Sentos, I think they were hoping for more. He finally hit home run the other day.
are just not doing anything with the, I granted it’s a small sample size, all that stuff. But I’ll tell you, as somebody who’s been to 30 straight spring trainings, if you’re not hitting in Arizona, that was the big alarming thing last year and Oscar Gonzalez. I mean, he just was not hitting the ball hard at all. And we’re going, is this Arizona? Nobody’s they talked about figuring them out. Nobody figures anybody out in Arizona. They’re just going to throw it in there. So yeah.
David Campbell (44:40.118)
Yep, it’s warm, it’s sunny, the air is light, and the ball goes far, yep.
Terry Pluto (44:42.794)
Yeah. And you know, your fifth, sixth inning, you’re pitching some kid from AA. I mean, there have been, and I follow baseball and I love it, but I’ve seen guys whose names in the box score. I’ve had to dig deep to find out who the heck they are. You know, there’s some guy that played, you know, 50 games at Lake County or something, and he pitched an inning. So, um, that’s, uh, you know, that’s, that’s the deal there. So.
David Campbell (45:06.558)
All right, Terry and the bullpen, they’re going to be piecing it together. It doesn’t seem like James Karenchek is still battling injury and it’s, uh, it looks like it’s, they’re going to be going to the season, trying to piece that together and we’ve talked about building a bridge to get to class a and they’re, you know, if they’re going to have to find a way to do it, they have a lot of arms, it’s just who’s going to be in which roles, right?
Terry Pluto (45:08.64)
Ugh.
Terry Pluto (45:13.019)
Hahaha
Terry Pluto (45:20.066)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (45:27.862)
Yeah, I’m pleased. I’m looking at Carrasco. He’s given it, he’s pitched eight innings, given up three runs, five walks, but I think he makes a team, he at least is a reliever, if not a starter. And, uh, Tim Heron, as usual is pitching pretty good in spring training. That’s what he did last year. Um, you know, so it’s just Hunter Gaddis, Nick Sandlin. I I’m nervous about this whole thing because
I wrote a while ago that about.
Terry Pluto (46:03.234)
I’m pausing for a moment to try to refresh my memory. The last three years, he’s been in more safe situations than anybody else. He’s pitched in more games than anyone else in the major leagues. It’s too much. It’s just too much. And you know, they brought in Barlow to help with that. But they did they need some of these other guys. You know, Eli Morrigan, I don’t know, I wish they had more of they have this guy, Almond, they kind of like to throw us pretty hard, but we should have more guys like that.
Terry Pluto (46:33.122)
a minor league pitcher in the bullpen, David, as one scout told me, he needs a pitch and a half. I go, what do you mean? He goes, you know, main thing, whether it’s a killer slide or a killer fastball, then something else, just sort of, as you said, a half-blot change up, you know, a spinning curve ball, just something else. And he goes, that guy, Cody Allen did this, blew through the minors. Some other guys could just blow through the minors that way, get to the big leagues fast because they don’t need the full repertoire.
of three or four different pitches. Now maybe, but a lot of times they have that guy, we just don’t know his name. He’s liable to become, Kate Smith is a guy to watch like that. But they need a couple of these guys that we don’t really know their names to come through and bolster that bullpen.
David Campbell (47:19.982)
And if history is any guide, they’ll probably find one. I saw, I saw too, Terry, that, uh, Hoynes was writing about how Shane Bieber is, is developing his change up now that he always had one, but he never really used it and now he’s kind of got a new way of throwing it and he’s going to lean on it some more. So, uh, yeah, yeah.
Terry Pluto (47:34.374)
That can help. I’ve seen guys develop that later in their career because now the way they throw changeups, David, if you watch from a right-handed pitcher, it’s almost like an old-fashioned screwball. It goes away from the left-handed hitter. They do different things with the grips and that. It’s not just the straight off speed. It has a tail to it. And so that would be very helpful. Like, Bieber’s really good, and I’ve always liked Shane.
David Campbell (47:46.19)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (48:03.402)
And I also know, you know, Drew Rosenhouse is still his agent. He ain’t going to sign here. And that’s reality. Remember Drew is the big football agent and he is started just recently, last couple of years going into baseball. He hired one of the top guys that used to work for Scott Boros’ agency. So they need to hit a home run with Beavers contract.
David Campbell (48:25.198)
All right, and I did check that real quick at his drive line, Terry, just to make sure we have that right for them to get the record straight. So, all right, well, the guardians are coming up on their home opener. It’s only a couple of weeks away, March 28th, as they go back to Oakland and Stephen Vogt’s old stomping grounds. So that’ll be coming up two weeks from Thursday. So, all right, Terry, our survey, a lot of people wanted to hear us spend a little more time on your faith in U column, which comes out every week. And over the weekend, you wrote about when people have bad things happen, how if you...
Terry Pluto (48:28.465)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (48:47.596)
Mm-hmm.
David Campbell (48:54.962)
if you’re trying to help people get through it, what to say and what not to say. Why don’t you talk about that for a minute about, you know, ways you can approach things and how not to approach them.
Terry Pluto (49:05.842)
Too often we want to just say the right thing is going to make somebody feel better. But if you’re sitting there with, like a friend of mine, Dr. Diana Swoop, she was pastor of Arlington Church of God in Akron for years and years, 10 year battle of cancer. She said, I really, and this is a strong woman of God, goes, I really didn’t want to hear people say, God won’t give you anything more than you can handle. Because when you’re in the middle of that chemo and you’re throwing up.
and you can’t sleep and all that, you don’t feel like you can handle anything.
And she said, a lot of times just people just sit there or sometimes just talk about something else other than that, just be there as opposed to trying to fix. You know, um, also sometimes, uh, you, they want to be people to read like where they are emotionally. And other times, maybe the person really wants to talk about all that they’re going through and you just kind of listen, go in that that’s really bad. You know, that kind of stuff, but really.
you know, sometimes throwing out, like there’s a Romans 8.28, and it’s a great verse that says, you know, all things work together for good for those who love and trust the Lord. And so they’ll throw that out to somebody who’s, you know, maybe just gone to their third funeral in 13 months, and that you could look back, you know when you see that verse work as when you look back at things afterwards, but in the middle of it, you don’t see it, because your soul just wound up in all your emotions. I sometimes call it a fly by.
a fly by, a drive by rather, a Bible verse thing, as opposed to seeing where the person is at. So I guess the big thing is, you know, try to be a little bit in their shoes and see what they’re dealing with as opposed to how quickly you can kind of get in and out. Because that’s what I talked to.
Terry Pluto (51:01.682)
two pastors, Napoleon Harris, he’s at Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland. That was Marvin McNichols church, a famous one. And then the other is Wayne Dawson, is it, you know, the TV morning guy in Channel 8, who’s been pastoring this church, Grace Tabernacle in Linhurst for several years. And Wayne said what he’s noticed too, is a lot of times he says, I gotta watch it myself. I wanna get out of the conversation. So I sort of throw this quick line in there, because I don’t even wanna, I don’t even know what to say, as opposed to saying.
I feel so bad I really don’t know what to say. That’s not a bad thing to say.
David Campbell (51:34.742)
Yeah, this Napoleon Harris quote, I thought it was really apt for this, Terry, he says too often we want a quip or an easy answer for someone hurting so we can quickly turn away. We need to meet them in their pain, not preach to them. I thought that was a really good phrase there to meet them in their pain and not preach to them, which is exactly what you’re talking about. Yeah.
Terry Pluto (51:46.577)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (51:52.722)
Mm-hmm, yeah, you know, there’s a one of the verses Jesus said, weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn and celebrate with those who celebrate also. So that’s, it’s a big thing being able to read there. The faith columnist, when I’ve gone out with speaking and things, it’s really nice to hear people that they are responding to it still. Feel free to send me emails on topics. I’m not talking about.
theological, great debates between denominations or versions of the Bible or that stuff. Now I’m talking about real life problems that people are facing. One of the big ones, how did it feel when you had to put your grandmother, whatever, in the nursing home, that kind of stuff. Where are you at?
when you have a kid and the kids just struggling in school and you’ve been doing all you can. That kind of stuff, those are the stories that resonate and those are what I’m interested in.
David Campbell (52:56.618)
Yeah, and you’ve always said this, Terry. That’s why it’s called Faith and You. Because it’s, yeah, so. All right, we do have a couple of letters, Terry, from our 100th episode where we ask people to write in and tell us why they’re Cleveland fans. So we’ll wrap up with these two. This first one is from Elliot Tramer, and Elliot is from White House, Ohio. And he says, hey, Terry, my dad took me to my first Indians game in 1949 when I was seven. We were playing the Yankees. I still remember him pointing out Lou Boudreaux at shortstop.
Terry Pluto (52:59.238)
Faith in you, yeah.
Terry Pluto (53:13.819)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (53:19.535)
Wow.
David Campbell (53:25.042)
and the Yankees Joe DiMaggio who hit a double, I also recall that the Tribe lost the game. Unfortunately, I have no memory of the Indians’ World Series win the previous year, but that 1949 game ignited a lifelong passion for the Indians and Guardians. That passion was extended to the Browns when my dad took me to my first game a few years later. I remember they beat the Packers 38-10. The only two plays I remember from that game was a long pass from Otto Graham to Dante
Terry Pluto (53:33.862)
Huh.
David Campbell (53:54.078)
It’s odd that I have specific memories from two games so long ago, maybe because they were my first. I will be 82 in January. Actually, this is, we got this before January. So Elliot is actually 82 already. So happy birthday, Elliot. And he says, I’m still patiently waiting for that Brown Superbowl and a guardians world series title. Patience is a virtue in Cleveland. Thanks to Terry for his engaging articles and podcasts. So yeah, it’s funny. You always remember your first game kind of, you know, that, that just kind of, kind of burned into your memory and you never forget. Do you remember your first game?
Terry Pluto (53:55.921)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (54:13.017)
I’m out.
Terry Pluto (54:24.61)
No, I wish I did. I remember the first memory of a game. I don’t know if it was the first one. I know. I keep thinking it was 1961 and my dad took me to see the Indians play the Yankees when Marissa Manil were going for the Babe Ruths record. And I just saw, clearly we went to a game there because remember my dad talking about all that. Now, did I go to a game before that? I would have been six. Would I be going to a game before that? Possibly. But I remember that. I remember we were sitting in the upper deck too.
David Campbell (54:25.899)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (54:53.906)
and one of the Yankees hit a foul ball that came near us, but we didn’t get it.
David Campbell (54:58.882)
That is so funny because the first game I can remember was in the early 70s at Wrigley Field. And my dad brought us brought me to a game with our neighbor and his son. And we were in the upper deck along the first base foul line. And Ron Santo hit a foul ball into the upper deck. And my dad stood up on his seat to try and catch it. And the guy behind us caught it. But that’s like my first baseball memory. And it’s funny. It was both similar.
Terry Pluto (55:03.409)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Pluto (55:13.733)
Mmm.
Terry Pluto (55:18.806)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (55:23.694)
I remember catching a foul ball off the bat of Alex Johnson when he was not, he was briefly with Cleveland, but he was with the angels. That was back when he actually was a 300 hitter before he got into like fighting with teammates and managers and everything else, which he did later in his career.
David Campbell (55:42.49)
Alright, well thanks for that letter and here’s our last one. This one is from Carol D. Just Carol and then D period and Carol says, Born in Bread and Cleveland one of my fondest memories of my dad was in the early 60s calling me excitedly from playing outside one Sunday afternoon to see the Browns play football. He let me know that Jim Brown was one of the greatest football players ever. It was a special moment I have always remembered.
Born in Cleveland, I grew up in Maple Heights and over my 60 plus years, I have lived in Berea Garfield Heights, Cleveland Heights, Northfield Center in Macedonia. A lifelong Cleveland sports fan, I lived and died every Sunday with the cardiac kids, fan girling out and becoming unable to speak. Friends now don’t believe I ever lost my voice when I met Brian, I met Brian Sipe in Chagrin Falls at a Kentucky Derby party. He was so handsome.
Terry Pluto (56:23.322)
Hahaha
Terry Pluto (56:28.782)
Wow.
David Campbell (56:31.878)
I froze, screamed, and cried at Brown’s playoffs games, and I’m unashamed to admit that I once dated a guy because he had season tickets in the dog pound. I love my Brownies and always will, and thanks for a trip down memory lane. Again, that’s from Carol D. So there we go.
Terry Pluto (56:41.137)
Well...
Terry Pluto (56:48.106)
Alright, I want to hear from some fans. The Browns keep sending out this thing saying they have 8,000 people on a waiting list for season tickets. Are any of you among the 8,000? If so, and then why are you waiting?
David Campbell (57:05.738)
Hmm. Okay, we’ll get some interesting answers for that one. So Yeah, this will be good Terry because we only have I think we have maybe five of these 100th episodes left and then we’ll have some other good stuff to get into All right
Terry Pluto (57:14.991)
And I got another one if you want, and there’s more. Since I told the story about Alex Johnson, which you upped with Ron Santo, almost catching a foul ball with you since you didn’t. I wanna hear about a foul ball you caught from somebody.
David Campbell (57:31.598)
I like it. I’ve never caught one. I’ve never caught one. How many have you caught in your life?
Terry Pluto
Oh, oh, probably four or five. Yeah. One in the press box in Anaheim, I remember that. And I forgot who hit it. It was somebody from the Angels because they have an open press box. The rest are like upper deck in Cleveland. I don’t remember who it was from when I was going like in the seventies. There’s nobody there. I’m not catching them on a fly, just walking over, picking them up.
David Campbell (57:39.993)
No, but how many have you caught in your life? Like, a game, yeah. Yeah. Any in the press box or all as a fan?
David Campbell (58:06.374)
right? There’s a lot of a lot of empty seats for that at the old stadium, right? You’ve heard about those stories. So, alright, Terry, I think we’re done here. Anything else? Oh, do you have a book of the week this week? I forgot to ask about that. Do you have a book you wanna mention?
Terry Pluto (58:09.79)
Yes, there were. Yeah. That’ll do it.
Terry Pluto (58:18.13)
A book of the week, this is kind of hard to find, but there was a thing called the Ed McBain or the whole series of books on novels on police. I think it’s called the 82nd precincts thing. It’s actually the very first book of the series was called Cop Hater came out in 1956 and Ed McBain and I looked it up. I happened to just run into it for a dollar in a bookstore. I’m reading it now. And it’s, you talk about a different world of like.
police procedurals from almost 70 years ago to now, written there. So that’s been kind of, McBain’s very easy to read, and that’s been fun to do that, so.
David Campbell (58:56.778)
We were in San Francisco last week and somebody used to run a dash all Hammett tour of, you know, the old style, uh, San Francisco cop detective stories, but he stopped doing it because he said he was getting too advanced in his years and couldn’t do it anymore. I was kind of looking forward to taking that. So I’ll have to settle for your book instead maybe and read that. So, all right. Once again, don’t forget to sign up for Terry’s newsletter. I wanted to mention that this week. You can catch that by going to cleveland.com slash newsletters.
Terry Pluto (59:01.793)
Oh, yeah.
Terry Pluto (59:07.921)
Yeah.
Terry Pluto (59:12.738)
Yeah, that would have been cool, yeah.
Yeah.
David Campbell (59:26.254)
clicking on Terry’s box and putting in your email. It takes a minute. You can get everything Terry writes in a given week. Thanks for listening everybody. We will catch you next time on Terry’s Talking.
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