The Cleveland Browns made a front-office move on Tuesday, hiring Alec Scheiner to be the team’s new president.

Schenier spent the past eight seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, the last five as senior vice president and general counsel. With the Browns, he will oversee all aspects of the Browns’ day-to-day business operations, including in-game stadium enhancements (finally) and local TV/radio broadcasting.

He will also work closely with CEO Joe Banner on strategic planning (as opposed to just regular planning), including stadium projects.

Now we know why owner Jimmy Haslam spent so much time talking with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones when the Browns played in Dallas early in the year.

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After playing two straight games against slow-paced opponents, Ohio State finally had a chance to stretch its legs against the up-tempo UNC-Asheville Bulldogs.

The Buckeyes fell one point of tying their season high, beating the Bulldogs 90-72 on Saturday afternoon.

Sam Thompson, surprisingly, led Ohio State with a career-high 18 points from five of seven shooting. Thompson was among four Buckeyes players to score in double digits as Deshaun Thomas chipped in 17, Lenzelle Smith, Jr. scored 16 and Evan Ravenel tied a career-best with 12 points.

"We watched film a lot on them the past couple of days and we noticed that they didn't stop the ball particularly well," Thompson said. "We knew that if we could get stops, we knew we could push the ball up the floor and could get to the rim and create for ourselves and other people. We definitely tried to capitalize on that."

Ohio State (8-1) shot 59 percent from the floor while holding UNC-Asheville to just 42 percent shooting. The Buckeyes did a good job defensively, but Keith Hornsby exploded, scoring a career-high 26 points from nine of 12 shooting.

"Honestly, he's a good player," Smith said after the game. “He came in here rolling. You've got a guy like that with a hot hand, you don't contain him early in the game it's always going to be tougher."

The Buckeyes will get another tune-up game against Winthrop on Tuesday before hosting the Kansas Jayhawks this Saturday.

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Per just about every MLB writer worth their weight in the industry, the Indians and Reds are nearing the completion of a trade that would send Shin-Soo Choo and another, unnamed, player to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for outfielder Drew Stubbs and shortstop prospect Didi Gregorius. Some believe that the Indians would then trade Gregorius to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for starting pitching help, with Tyler Skaggs and Trevor Bauer being the chief targets. Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com had the story first.

Nothing is complete yet, however, there seems to be a lot of buzz about this story and the hold-up is likely the second deal with the Indians and Diamondbacks. If Stubbs and Gregorius are the return, and no other deal is complete, the Indians will get a player widely regarded as a fourth outfielder and a shortstop with a tremendous glove and a bat that's a work in progress. Stubbs, who has a .241/.312/.386/.698 slash line in nearly 1800 at bats, is coming off a season where he batted just .214 and struck out 166 times in 493 at bats. In 2011, Stubbs struck out 205 times in 604 at bats. He has stolen at least 30 bases in each of the last three seasons, with 40 swipes in 2011. Gregorius, who made his Major League debut last season, has a career .699 OPS in the minors. He only has 48 games of experience in Triple-A, so there's certainly a chance that he could develop more at the plate.

This is mostly just a small blurb to update what the Indians are doing. If something big does break, a front page article will certainly show up tonight.

The No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes improved to 6-1 on the season after destroying the Long Beach State 49ers 89-55 Saturday afternoon.

Deshaun Thomas led all scorers with 18 points, going seven of 16 from the floor in 28 minutes of action. LaQuinton Ross continued his impressive play against the 49ers, shooting 50 percent from the field on his way to scoring 16 points.

Ohio State coach Thad Matta knows how important it is for his team to find scoring options outside of Thomas, "As you look across the board in college basketball and as you get into conference play, the Big Ten defensively is as good as there is in the country,” Matta said. “Just having different guys out there that can knock shots down is something that is going to be advantageous."

The Buckeyes shot 47 percent from the floor while holding the 49ers to just 31 percent.

Four Buckeyes players scored in double figures as Lenzelle Smith, Jr. hit three 3-points on his way to 14 points while Sam Thompson chipped in 13.

Midway through the first half, Ohio State was struggling. The Buckeyes were failing to hit shots as they led just 16-13 with 10 minutes until intermission.

Ohio State ripped off a 9-0 run to push its lead to 12, then ended the half on a 12-4 run to enter the locker room with a 39-25 lead at the break.

The Buckeyes started the second half with back-to-back baskets that forced 49ers coach Dan Monson to call a timeout. Monson was furious with his team, who had played the Buckeyes tough for most of the first half.

"This game was over one minute into the second half. To me, that's where [my] team has got to grow,” Monson said. “It is a bad basketball team, but it doesn't have to be. We have better players than what we played today. That's something that we've got to, we have to play better."

Long Beach State has already played North Carolina, Arizona and Syracuse this year, but Monson thinks Ohio State is the better than anyone they’ve played this year in one specific area, "I think Ohio State is the best defensive team," Monson said. "When you get in those big games like that, the defense usually overrides the offense. And I really like Ohio State is balanced, and yet they have a go-to guy. Thomas can go get a basket anytime he wants and then they have other guys."

Who’s Next?

The Buckeyes host Savannah State this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

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The Indians have made numerous offers in this offseason so far, but they've finally been able to sign their first name Sunday evening. Mark Reynolds has come to terms with the Cleveland Indians on a one-year deal worth a guarenteed salary of $6 million, according to MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli. He can earn up to $1.5 million in extra money. 

Reynolds fills a need for the Tribe at first base and brings some legit power threat to the position that they've been searching for. It also eliminates the possibility of signing Kevin Youkilis to man first base on a two-year deal that the Indians have reportedly offered the former Red Sox. Youkilis also has an outstanding offer from the Yankees for one year. 

The biggest flaw in Mark Reynolds' game is his strikeouts, which has been something that has come with his territory since he was in Arizona. Reynolds is the strikeout king of major league baseball, but for all the punch-outs, he manages to hit some bombs into the stands and find other ways on base to be a productive player.

The former Oriole hit 23 home runs last year and knocked in 69 runs while hitting .221 with a .335 on-base percentage. He has a career average of .235 and career on-base percentage of .332 in six major league seasons. He has led the league in strikeouts four years, last year being the first time he did not hold that dubious distinction since 2007.

The strikeouts are tolerable because Reynolds finds ways to walk and he does hit home runs. He has hit at least 17 in each season, with 17 coming in his 111 games played rookie year in 2007, but as many as 44, coming in 2009 with the Diamondbacks. In Progressive Field as a right-handed bat, he'll be good for 25 home runs, if not way more.

The signing of Reynolds ends some sort of thought over who the first baseman will be, but do not forget the Indians still have a designated hitter spot to fill, so they have some flexibility in that they could still hold an open competition between a lot of the names that were in the mix for the first base spot, including Rule V selection Chris McGuiness, waiver claim Mike McDade, and trade acquisition Yan Gomes.

With the Winter Meetings taking place December 3-6, the hot stove will be full of rumors. Nino Colla and I (Adam Burke) will keep a live blog in the Hitting the Fan section of any pertinent Indians news and notes, as well as other big news to come out of Nashville, TN. Bookmark this link as there's no telling when breaking news will pop up. Any major Indians news will have a corresponding front page article, but all of the rumors and potential trade talks will be discussed in this post. You can also keep up on Twitter by following our main website Twitter page (@TheClevelandFan), by following Nino (@TheTribeDaily), or following me (@SkatingTripods).

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Chris Antonetti said it was the toughest contract tender decision the club had to make.

But they had to make it.

Jack Hannahan was not tendered a contract for the 2013 season, thus making him a free agent and free to explore other opportunities.

Whether "Super Mannahan" will gain other opportunities is a given. He's proven to be a useful major league player and there is going to be some team that is looking for a top-notch defensive backup that will scoop him up and sign him. He even can give you some sort of a pop at times and is surely a veteran presence in the clubhouse.

The Indians though, have no room for him on a team that is looking to start Lonnie Chisenhall full-time, and have some flexibility off the bench. Especially with Mike Aviles on board.

If the Indians would have somehow found a way to sign a top-notch left field bad, I'd almost argue you could try Hannahan out at as a part-time first baseman, but that's too creative.

Hannahan carved himself out a niche in Cleveland. He was never supposed to be anything more than a depth option at third base a few years ago. Jason Donald was supposed to be the starter in 2011 until he got injured in spring training. Hannahan not only took advantage of the opportunity, he made his stay in Cleveland last two years and he established himself as a fan favorite for his superb glovework and firey on-the-field play.

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"I really believe, I think I said it, like baseball you’ve got to be strong up the middle," Shurmur said. "Your middle linebacker, you’ve got to get good play from your safeties. The guys in the middle of the defense tend to do most of the communicating, and getting everybody lined up. He obviously does that extremely well for us. I just see the way he functions in the building. I see the way he functions in the locker room, and I’ve seen him be a good leader for our guys. I think that’s important as well.”

(Photo by ClevelandBrowns.com)

Per just about everybody baseball-related on Twitter and per official Cleveland Indians team release, Rafael Perez has been designated for assignment to make room for Nick Hagadone on the 40-man roster. Perez, who missed nearly all of the 2012 season with various injuries, was a possible non-tender candidate, meaning that the Indians would decline the option to offer Perez a contract, despite being under team control as an arbitration-eligible player. The deadline to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players is later this week, but the Indians opted to cut ties with Perez earlier.

The team will have the opportunity to find a trade partner or outright release the left hander. Perez was a star for the 2007 Indians, serving as the team's late-inning left handed specialist, posting a 1.78 ERA in 44 appearances with a K/9 rate of 9.2. That was the high water mark of Perez's career, though he was still a serviceable reliever, posting ERAs between 3.25 and 3.54 in three of the next four seasons. The biggest blip was a 7.31 ERA in 2009.

Perez ends his Indians career with a 21-12 record, with three saves and a 3.64 ERA, in 338 appearances, spanning 329 innings. 

Only two players, Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera, remain from the 2007 Central Division champion Cleveland Indians.

Hagadone, who replaced Perez on the 40-man roster, was put on a disqualification list following the altercation between his left hand and a wall in the Indians clubhouse in July. He broke his arm in the incident. While hurt, Hagadone filed a grievance against the Indians for their decision to put him on the disqualification list. That grievance is still pending.