This should be an interesting offseason for the Browns, with ESPN’s John Clayton reporting that the team is roughly $21.5 million under the $92 million cap.

Of course, who knows how everything’s going to play out at this point? With the NFL’s labor negotiations at a stand still, there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding this offseason. (Rather than having me regurgitate the info, visit our sister site, The Scores Report, to read all about the ramifications of the stalled labor talks.)

One thing is for sure, though: Only two teams, the Vikings ($24 million) and Cardinals ($21.8), are in a better cap situation than the Browns, and with Phil Savage running things, you’d like to believe that money will be put to good use this year. Especially intriguing is the fact that, because of the labor problems and the cap ramifications that could follow, several teams will be forced to cut talented players in an effort to get back under the cap number:

“In past years, you’d see a lot of guys released who maybe still had some name value but who were really in decline in terms of production,” said one AFC team executive who was working late Tuesday, trying to figure out how to pare down a prohibitively bloated cap figure. “This year? People are going to be stunned — not just by the quantity of players who are cut by Thursday but by the quality, too. It’s going to be ugly. There’s going to be blood in the streets and, compared to past years, it’s going to be from some bluebloods, guys who can still play.”

So let’s see: an abundance of cap space and a surplus of quality talent on the free agent market? Sounds like the perfect storm to me.

Can’t say I’m upset about this one:

New York Mets closer Billy Wagner and Cleveland pitcher C.C. Sabathia withdrew Wednesday from the U.S. roster for the World Baseball Classic and were replaced by Washington right-hander Gary Majewski and Yankees left-hander Al Leiter.

“Although I would love to pitch in the inaugural World Baseball Classic and am proud to represent my country, I will not be ready to pitch in a competitive-game environment when play begins on March 7,”Sabathia said in a statement released by the Indians.

It would’ve been kind of cool to see C.C. out there but this could be the year Sabathia finally steps up as a true staff ace. I’m not saying him skipping the WBC will propel him to a 20-win season, but it should help ensure that he doesn’t wear down at some point during the year.

My only question would be, why did he wait so long to drop out? Now the U.S. Team is left with…Al Leiter? Really? Ugh.