Goodbye, Eric Wedge

The Eric Wedge era is over, after seven years. Well, OK, it's not over until Sunday. But it's official now that Wedge is gone at the end of this season, an extremely disappointing 64-92 (so far) year that began with the Indians expecting to contend for a division title. Despite being in baseball's most mediocre division, they never threatened to get into the race.

During Wedge's tenure, the Tribe went to the playoffs exactly once. That was in 2007, when they won the AL Central with a 96-66 record, tying the Red Sox for baseball's best mark, and losing to those same Red Sox in seven games in the ALCS. Had the Indians won that series, they likely would have rolled over the Rockies in the World Series, as the Red Sox did. But as we all know, that didn't happen. The Indians were up 3-1 on Boston, but didn't come close to winning any of the last three games. Was that Wedge's fault? A little, probably.

Wedge's only other plus-.500 season as manager was in 2005, when the Tribe overcame a lousy start (lousy starts were very common during the Wedge era) to finish 93-69 and threaten to overtake the White Sox for the division title, only to lose five of their last six and fall short of the division and the wild card. That was an epic collapse. Was that Wedge's fault? A little, probably.

Their next best season under Wedge was 2008, when they finished 81-81 after another cruddy start. They were expected to contend last year, but they didn't. They were expected to contend in 2006, but they didn't. As mentioned above, they were expected to contend in 2009, but they didn't. Was that Wedge's fault? I think largely so, yes. For whatever reason, he didn't have these guys ready to play.

Eric Wedge seems like a genuinely nice guy, and a pretty smart guy. I wish him well in whatever he does next (unless the Yankees hire him as a coach). But I'm glad someone else will manage this team in 2010.

Double-digits and counting

In what surely came as a surprise to absolutely no one, the first-place Detroit Tigers kicked the crap out of the last-place Cleveland Indians last night. The 11-3 loss was the Tribe's 10th in a row, knocking our boys down to 61-90 on the year. At this point, a 2-9 finish that would allow the Indians to avoid a 100-loss season seems almost optimistic. As my friend Jeff Brown pointed out to me, the AAA team currently wearing Tribe uniforms is 3-19 in its last 22 games. That surely isn't all Eric Wedge's fault, but he just as surely will be looking for employment in a couple of weeks. These guys have just plain quit. Their 10-game skid is two shy of the franchise record, set way back in 1931 — three years before my dad was born.

These are not fun times to be a Cleveland sports fan. The Browns have failed to even get within smelling distance of a victory, the Indians are playing like the worst team in the world, the Buckeyes recently let a great chance to stay in the national championship hunt slip through their fingers ...

But on the bright side, the King-n-Shaq Show is scheduled to open October 27 at an NBA arena near you. (Provided you live near Quicken Loans Arena.)

Now that the pressure is off ...

The Indians are playing very well right now, using players who have spent large portions of the season in AAA. Since the trade deadline, the Tribe has won six of nine, taking three straight series against Central Division teams, capped off by yesterday's 8-4 win over the White Sox. The stars of that game were David Huff, who opened the season in Columbus; Jamey Carroll, who has been the club's utility infielder all year; and Wyatt Toregas, who would still be in Columbus if not for the Victor Martinez trade.

In an odd way, the Indians' recent run seems to somehow reflect badly on Eric Wedge. I don't know if that makes sense, but think about it: The Tribe got off to a very slow start, as they have almost every year Wedge has been here, and fell out of contention early, even while playing with an $80 million payroll made up of players we were counting on to make us contenders. Now that many of those players are gone and there's no pressure, the players who are left are playing their best ball of the season. Where was this in April and May?

I've heard a lot of people calling for Mark Shapiro's head, and some of the same people are calling for Wedge's. Leaving aside the Shapiro question for now; it's hard to know what a manager's true effect is on a team, but I say somebody else ought to get a shot to get these guys playing well out of the chute next year. As we've said in this spot, it seems like Shapiro's given up on 2010 already, but the reality is, it might not take more than 85 or 86 wins to take this division next year. If these guys can play like this in August 2009, they ought to be able to play like this in April 2010. But I don't think it'll happen with Wedge in the dugout.