Monday, July 02, 2007

Free agency news...or is it?

Sorry I've been away. With the slowdown of Ohio State/Cavaliers news, it's been difficult to get to the computer as much as I'd like to. Plus, I'm stalking a 6-foot blonde who lives 1,800 miles away. Actually, it's 1,781 miles....you have to be precise if you want to make an impression on your target. It's a full-time job.

In case you didn't hear the news, the Cavs tendered offers to free agents Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao. The discussion on Cleveland sports talk radio was often asking which player we should keep and which we would rather lose, making the casual fan assume we'd only be able to have one on the team next year. This move gives us the opportunity to keep both, but don't get too excited.

It's merely a strategic move.

We offered contracts to both players on Saturday, the day before free agency opened. It immediately moved Pavs and AV from unrestricted free agents to restricted free agents. Basically, we can offer first refusal. If a team offers them a higher-priced contract, we can match it and keep the player.

It gives us more time to scour the free agency field and see what we can sign, and balance the books while we wait to hear what the new salary cap is. Plus, if we hadn't tendered offers to the pair, any other team could have made signed them and we'd have lost them for nothing.

No, it doesn't make Danny Ferry seem smart...yes, it's a wise move and it's commonplace when you want to keep players like Pavs and AV.....but it sure shows us that our GM is not stupid.

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