Factory Lines: Cavs Insiders Squash Roy Hibbert Rumors, Cleveland Indians Attendance, Browns After The Bye and Ohio State Recruiting

Cleveland media insiders have temporarily squashed any Roy Hibbert rumors, but could the Cavs have actually made an inquiry? According to @TSpence26,  the Cavs front office did just that, and the news was later confirmed by Fansided.

Fox Sports Ohio’s Sam Amico said there’s nothing happening…

While Factory of Sadness’ Glenn Moore said his source laughed at him when he posed the question.

BUT…Believeland Insiser, which nailed some major news over the summer, Tweeted Hibbert is on the Cavs on the radar.

So, what do we take away from this? Of course Hibbert’s on the Cavs radar. And of course the front office probably called, just like I called a bunch of girls looking for homecoming date back in the high school days.

However, as I found out, calling doesn’t mean anything’s close to happening. General manager David Griffin wouldn’t be doing his due diligence if he didn’t call to inquire about a rim protector the team so desperately needs.

Cleveland Indians

The 2014 season closed on the Indians with a 7-2 win against the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field. Tribe bats got to Rays starter Alex Cobb for four runs and 10 hits over four innings.

You’ll remember Cobb from last year’s Wild Card playoff, when he froze out Indians hitters over 6 1/3 innings, allowing zero runs.

A little too late…

• T.J. House and relievers C.C. Lee and Kyle Crocket and Zach McAllister totaled eight strikeouts, giving the club 1,450 for the year. This is the new MLB record.

• Michael Brantley knocked his 200th hit of the season Saturday, capping off an MVP-caliber season. Brantley is the first player in Tribe history with 200 hits, 40 doubles, 20 homers and 20 steals in a season.

Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury is the only other player to hit those plates in the past seven years. If Brantley was voted the AL MVP, I’d debate anyone who argued otherwise. Where would the Indians have been without him? His 6.9 WAR tied him for second in all of baseball with Andrew McCutchen. Mike Trout‘s 8.1 was first.

• There’s got to be some tired arms exiting the bullpen this offseason. Brian Shaw, Scot Atchison, Cody Allen and Mark Rzepczynski all appeared in over 70 games. That’s an AL record. Shaw led the majors with 79 appearances.

• The Indians avoided finishing in the cellar of baseball’s attendance ratings, drawing an average of 18,428 fans per game (in 79 home dates) For a team that was coming off a 92-win season in 2013, followed by a season in which the club was contending for the postseason up to the final series of the season, this is a huge dent to the city’s sports cred.

No one’s showing up. but that doesn’t mean fans don’t care. As early as August, the Indians had the fifth-highest local TV ratings.  Considering the team was contending, it’s hard to imagine those ratings slipped.

Cleveland Browns

The Bye’s over, Johnny Manziel had a tame weekend, and the lowly Tennessee Titans await the Browns this Sunday.

• Remember when Week 5 was supposed to the the perfect time to enshrine Manziel as the starter? You don’t need to be told, but Ian Rappaport found it important to remind us…

• The Browns weren’t active yesterday, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t games going that affected the team’s future. Every Clevelander is rooting against Buffalo this season, and the Bills didn’t disappoint, via Dawg Pound Daily.

• Really enjoyed this post from Dawgs By Nature, titled, “The only ‘same old Browns’ thing about 2014 is the losing.”

Ohio State Buckeyes

If your an offensive oriented fan, Saturday night’s Bucks/UC game was for you. Ohio State made an assault on the OSU record books, while netting the third-most total yards in school history.

• Dual-threat quarterback recruit Torrance Gibson told Eleven Warriors before his official visit that he wouldn’t commit to OSU at the time. He’s holding true to his word, and will probably take another visit, but as 11W writer Jeremy Birmingham writes, the Bucks are in the drivers seat to land his services.

• In other recruiting news, the Bucks’ impressed four-star athlete linebacker and Florida commit Jerome Baker–a product of Cleveland’s Benedictine High School. According to 11W, Baker and his family were blown away by the atmosphere at Ohio Stadium Saturday night.

Baker’s certainly leaving room open to change his mind, via Cleveland.com:

"“I am still committed to Florida. That’s where I want to go. But of course I am still thinking about Ohio State. I always thought about Ohio State, even up to when I decided to commit to Florida.”"

Sounds like the Gators will be sweating this decision out all the way up until Signing Day.