extension,

which Baker, I was told, was not interested in, then I would have been open to it.

But... okay, so you're away from Baker.

He had a year left on that contract in 2022.

You just could have brought him back in his free agent year.

Or you could have went out and just brought in a bridge guy like Jacoby Brissett or something.

The question was not two answers, Baker or Deshaun Watson.

was against everything you would do.

What did you think of all these doings and maybe what Joel had to say? Well,

of course, the world changes there.

By the way, Baker did the same thing the second half of the year with Tampa Bay.

He was hurt and he kept playing.

On our podcast that last year with Baker, you remember that I was like – The horse.

The horse out of the stable.

I was Case Keenum's agent.

Right.

Find a rookie who can say that, right? He just hits,

which is what we've seen from the moment he stepped on the field at Lake County.

And, you know, in between the broken bones in his foot and the hamstrings and everything else, and to come back from these various injuries where you're out and just maybe get 7 to 10 games and, okay, I'm fine here, let's go, and just start hitting line drives all over the place.

I just think he's a phenomenal player, and it's just...

I guess since I think since August 1st is something like he's sitting 363.

So it just goes on.

But also I wanted to talk about batting averages a little bit.

Oh, you had a book you wanted to talk about

It's the first preseason game, like I said, but that delay of game kind of struck me as something you would not see from most

veteran quarterbacks around the league.

Especially, yeah.

You know, the problem is – many of us who've been covering Deshaun and watching Deshaun from a fan point of view, we're just Watsoned out.

You know, this is, it struck me the other day when I was out there, you know, for watching, this is five years of this stuff with this guy, five years.

And 19 starts.

And here we go again.

I couldn't see these current Browns drafting a Johnny Manziel-type situation now,

That's the game where he hurt his Achilles.

And I mean, maybe he's been bumped or something in practice, but that's it.

And so once again, we're in that thing of 22 months.

between him playing in a real NFL game.

I say again because in 2020, when he sat out, then the Browns traded for him later on, and I believe it was 700 days or something like that between regular season NFL games for him.

And when he came back and played, it looked like he hadn't played for seven years.

And so that, meanwhile, like in practice, they would tell you he looked pretty decent now.

Run that

And like, it's, it's hard enough [laughs] already, isn't it? I don't know.

Yeah.

It, it...

And you don't have to, you know, build the guy up.

You know, "Hey, Steven, when you're, uh, when you're, when you're a first-round pick, remember me," you know? [laughs] No, none of that.

But as you said, you don't have to s- slap him down either.

And I ran the, um, in the story today, the It was a c- called, a site called Perfect Game that would rate kind of college prospects and the thing about Steven Kwan.

What are you seeing from him?

Anything you wanted to run through with him or did you already kind of-

Just that this is a guy that when they...

He came in the Clevinger trade.

By the way, Clevinger trade still is producing stuff for them, as they got Cantillo.

Gabriel Arias is starting to hit the last week or two.

I don't trust any of it, but I have to give him credit.

He's starting.

Chris Fedor wrote a story today [chuckles] wondering if the Cavs did get a first rounder in the second round, because that's what teams say, and it's not always true, but some good, some promise here early on, right?

second-Same, right?

He liked my team.

That's, you know, that was good, too.

Third, he was a popular player, and as a writer, you're looking for this is a guy that somebody would want to read about.

And also, Mark was ahead of his time because the three-pointers and things, nobody figured out all the math and everything that they do now.

Then chemistry that, uh, Mark developed with Doherty on the pick and rolls was really good.

And back then, we used to be able to watch practice, and, um, I would see how Lenny was teaching Mark, uh, how to, especially how to throw the ball to the post.

But what I do need to hear is your heart and be your friend.

So how surprised were you when this came down so fast as it did?

Um, I mean, after what he said, I was thinking, "He's probably gonna do something." I thought they might go shorter.

In other words, two years with an option, you know, for a third year, that kinda thing.

Um, I mean, in the end, Donovan Mitchell does what he says.

I mean, you get right down to it, from the time he came here, he said he was interested in playing with Cleveland.

He'd see how it goes.

And then after, like, the first year or two, it's like, "I really like it here." All he ever says is, "I really like it here." And I talked to a couple guys that kinda work around the team.

And w- what is, what does their All-Star appearances next week say about the Guardians and how they do things to you?

Why?

No.

Uh, I mean, it can.

All right.

Among other things, LeBron missed last year.

Um, he only played 60 games.

He had lower back problems and sciatica.

Yeah.

All right, so Harden's contract is a $42 million player option for next year, which he – He'll pick up, you think that might change, but only $13 million of it is guaranteed, right? So anyway, tell us about Harden's contract, and then we can kind of look at the rest of the roster.

All right, so Harden's contract was that.

He had a no-trade clause.

He went into the Clippers at midseason.

Fourth time in six years, he asked for a trade.

That has to be a record for me.

I mean, four times in six years.

What are you seeing from the Guardians, and do you see anywhere they can turn here to kind of get a little more juice in the offense with all these guys out? Well, let's talk big picture.

I remember that, yeah.

And he says to Mike Brown, "You're on the clock." [laughs] And Brown, imagine being Brown, he's like 35 years old.

He finally gets a head coaching position.

You know, he's been a career coach.

He had worked for Popovich in San Antonio and Rick Carlisle, that was his last stop before he came to Cleveland, with, um, uh, with Indiana, and he's on the clock.

So anyway, he had to get them to the playoffs the first year.

Not only that, they got into the playoffs, they won their first round.

Wow.

But-

Yeah.

Maybe they play g- maybe they win a game or two or whatever, and Donovan could be playing with his pizza or I don't care.

But, uh, let's just get real.

The Knicks, you know, peaked at the right time, and a lot of it happened, Mike Brown was, kept tinkering with that offense, and when he found what to do with Carl Anthony To- Towns, a- a- and he put him at that, um, cat, as he's known, put him at that top high post, which is old-fashioned offense.

I love it.

Uh, the Denver does that also with the Joker.

D-U-N-N-I-N-G is how you spell his name, right?

Really?

Yes.

Yeah.

I've gotta make sure whether that was...

It's, it's at least the American League, and I believe it's the Guardians.

So, uh, yeah.

Here, I'm just checking.

What are you noticing about the way they're batting when they're in the batter's box? What's different now as opposed to before in terms of approach?

What do the Knicks fans have to worry about with the Cavaliers coming to town?

I mean, generally if you're a Knicks fan, you should think your team is perfectly positioned, uh, to take out Cleveland in five or six games, because you...

While Cleveland and Detroit were just beating each other up in this emotionally and physically draining series, you know, you guys were watching tape and eating out and practicing or whatever.

But the one thing that sometimes happens when a team doesn't play for several days and the other team comes in and has to play, like, 48 hours later, is sometimes that visiting team will steal a game.

I remember seeing this w- happen to the Cavs a couple times where, you know, they had all this time off between, and they just weren't ready to go.

Um, but in terms of, like, who's got a better roster, New York has a better roster.

But, you know, the Cavs, they have Donovan Mitchell, who, by the way, he is the seventh all-time scorer in NBA playoff history, averaging nearly 28 points a game.

Yep

Yeah.

Both.

It, you know, it's, uh, it's venting, getting it o- getting that going.

Um, also I just believe this series is so important to JB.

You know, he's got a new contract, everything else.

It's not about that, but he just really wants to make a point of beating the Cavs and going to the next round.

It is a very...

So they're doing something right

Yeah,

because, I mean, if he's healthy, he's thrown 97 miles an hour, and he's got a pretty good slider.

You only need two pitches.

All right, you know, everybody wants a new catcher, and I get it with – I mean, watching, I read about this over the weekend, watching poor Bo Naylor, this is really sad.

You know, everybody else, the big ones, Cooper Engel, and he's hurt, though.

He's got this hip thing.

But how about this? Cody Huff, K-O-D-Y Huff, H-U-F-F, who really was known primarily as a defensive catcher.

Do you guys agree? What say you? Do you agree? Well, first of all, yeah,

It's, it, it's just a weird vibe right now, and I know they need to work through it, but, um, I don't know.

Well, I, I agree.

I'll tell you this.

Now, let's give-- I've been all over Harden.

Nine rebounds in that game for the Beard.

That was huge.

See, this is when you're g- having trouble on the boards, and you know it's one of my themes, is guards can help rebound.

... a lot more weapons, right?

I have a very small ask.

Mm-hmm.

Well, it could turn into some very big mistakes.

I mean, that's one of the things we talked about in the book, Why Can't This Team Find a Quarterback? That- that led to, "I want to get to a Super Bowl yesterday.

Let's do this.

I don't care that Deshaun Watson's facing all these civil, uh, lawsuits.

I don't care that he hasn't played in a year and a half and is gonna get suspended.

But, but who's been the best and what makes for a terrible boss?

Hey, Terry, thank you for joining me.

me.Well, I guess it would be like if you had a f- favorite NFL team, and their record was zero and eight, and they somehow find a way to win their last nine games and make the playoffs.

That's what the Guardians did because I think that's unprecedented in the NFL, where they would go nine and eight after starting zero and eight.

Well, the Guardians in July were 15 games out of first place behind the Detroit Tigers.

No team had ever come back from more than 14 games behind to, uh, make the playoffs and that, the postseason.

That is the 2000, excuse me, that's the 1914 Braves.

I covered them, Hugh.

(laughs) No.

But the way that it happened, Cleveland fans are left and the NFL's left scratching its head.

(laughs) In, in a couple of ways.

I mean, number one is they did have a chance at Tra- Travis Hunter.

Uh, they passed on it and the Browns get mad at me every time I bring this up, I ask the question directly to Andrew Berry, wha- "Was part of the reason that you made that trade, uh, trading your number two pick for the number five pick and then another first round or some other draft picks because you traded, uh, three first rounders and other stuff for Deshaun Watson?" And e- like he said they had nothing to do with it.

Okay, fine.

That's what they've said.

But it's wrong.

I just watch basketball as a fan, and I really don't understand half of what people are saying on the podcast, but they're a lot of fun to watch, and they're homegrown, and dare we hope?