The 2007 season is just beginning and things have already started off on the wrong foot -- or should I say elbow -- once again for Dolan's Discounts.
I've been a Tribe fan for all my life. Normally at this time of year, I can't wait for the start of baseball. The season is full of hope. This is the year I'd always say. My neighbor would always tell me that the only way I'll see the Tribe in first place would be to turn the newspaper upside down. He was always right (back in those days, it was a pretty safe bet). However, this year, I'm not the least bit excited about the upcoming season. The reason -- Eric Wedge.
I'm tired of watching his teams' lackadaisical play in the field and constant errors. I'm not talking about strategy or decisions he makes during the game. I'm talking about basics. His teams are completely unprepared for their opponents. To start with, we have no philosophy for different pitchers except swing hard and often. Last year, they started off so well being patient at the plate. I was impressed. I thought that they learned something from the previous year. But, that only lasted a couple of weeks, then they went back to their old habits of swinging recklessly.
I can't watch another season full of errors that characterizes Wedge's teams. It's horrible. They make mental errors, defensive errors, and base running errors. Are these coaches doing any type of training with these players? We have outfielders that don't want to hit cut-off guys, we have fielders that boot the ball, pitchers that don't have a clue what to do with the ball if they catch it.
Speaking of pitchers, I think we are the only team that has a pitching staff that doesn't know how to hold a man on first. I can't believe major league pitchers are capable of being this bad at holding runners. To compound matters, we have a catcher that can't throw down to first. May be he should use Rube Baker's method of throwing and recite old Playboy profiles.
Even when the team can overcome it's poor play -- as they did in '05; Wedge's inexperience certainly becomes a factor. He was out-coached at the end of the '05 season when they had a chance to make the play-offs. Look at what Lou Pinella did that year with Tampa Bay. They had much worse personnel than we did, but, he had the second best record in the league that year. In that last week of the season; we saw who was the better manager.
The Indians should have gone after Sweet Lou. But, Dolan is content with watching mediocre play as long as it's cheap. And, Wedge comes about as cheap as you can get. I'm tired of hearing it's not Wedge's fault the team is not living up to expectations and that he's not under a microscope. I don't believe he's done one good thing since he's been here. I think the only reason we had a chance at the playoffs two years ago was because of Kevin Millwood. I don't believe that it was a coincidence we had the best pitching staff in the league the year Millwood spent with us; nor that we were the worst the year he left. We don't have quality coaches on this team (with the exception of Derek Shelton) and it starts with Wedge. He doesn't have the experience to be a major league manager. He has the ability to become one; but, he should be a coach for a quality manager first, such as Pinella or even Leyland.
This team has the ability to contend (which from the letters that the Indians send out, that's all they want to do) with the right manager. It's time for management to put Wedge under the microscope and see exactly everything he's not doing for this team. I know I'll be.
