Paul Hoynes at the PD is reporting that Eric Wedge will not coach past the end of the season on Sunday.
Eric Wedge has had a couple good runs with the team (2005 and 2007), but consistently underperformed his Pythagorean record, and has turned in several years of terrible starts (2006, 2008, 2009) in years in which the team was expected to contend. Increasingly, Wedge had put incomprehensible lineups out on the field (Ryan Garko in the outfield, anyone?) and has played marginal veterans (Jamey Carroll) or favorite players (Gimenez, Trevor Crowe) over high-potential newbies like Andy Marte.
It is time for a new voice in Cleveland. Much speculation is that John Farrell is the front runner for the job. He has previous experience in the organization as director of the minor league program, has spent the last few years in the winning Boston organization as a successful pitching coach, played for the Indians and even lives in Cleveland in the offseason. It will be interesting to see whether the Indians bring in an old hand to guide what will very likely be a team full of young and inexperienced players, or whether they take a chance on another minor league manager like Wedge.
The dismissal of Wedge will add drama to the situation building with who plays first and third next year. It seems pretty clear that Peralta was not a favorite of Wedge, who publically called him out several times over the years. Marte, too, somehow made it into Wedge’s doghouse and never managed to get out long enough to determine whether with regular playing time he could adjust to major league pitching. Marte can play first or third, but has yet to establish his bat and would be ill-suited to a backup role, as he apparently needs regular playing time to get sharp and stay sharp. LaPorta can play first base and left field; however, the performance of Brantley in his September callup has a large number of folks penciling him in at left field next year. Who’s the odd-man out? Can we get anything of value for Peralta or Marte in the offseason? Stay tuned.
Press conference today at 1:30 p.m.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Tim // Sep 30, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Chris Gimenez is the biggest reason that Eric Wedge has no business managing an Arby’s next season. Gimenez is almost a historically bad hitter, posting an OPS+ of 33, placing him well below such luminaries of the bat as Yuniesky Betancourt (who elicited a couple of articles from respectable sportswriters decrying him as the worst player in all of baseball). What’s more, he’s a catcher that Wedge used in high-offensive positions. As silly as Garko playing in the outfield was, at least Garko was a one-tool player, because he could hit with enough authority to be a non-embarrassment as a corner outfielder offensively. Once Marte came up, Gimenez should never have held a bat in his hands again this season. There was no reason to put him on the 40-man roster over someone like Josh Barfield, who may not be worth a roster spot, but at least looked talented at one point and could serve as a defensive replacement or pinch-runner if necessary.
I have disliked Wedge since he decided to take the first issues with Milton Bradley public and ruin Bradley’s trade value (admittedly, Shapiro salvaged something out of it, but Bradley was worth more than Gutierrez and his tantrums weren’t public knowledge before Wedge made them public). His insistence on using Rafael Perez in leveraged situations this year, benching of LaPorta (and now Marte), and once-again astounding underperformance just sealed a deal that should have been finished before it started.
I don’t really believe that managers make much of a difference to a ballclub and I think there are a few reasons why the Indians have underperformed their pythagorean expected record that aren’t just Wedge-related. That said, Wedge never deserved the job in the first place and certainly did nothing to warrant seven years in it once he had it, so I’ll shed no tears to see him getting to spend time with his family while drawing a seven-figure salary for 2010.
2 Baseballbriefs.com // Sep 30, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Baseballbriefs.com tracking back So Long, Eric Wedge…
Baseballbriefs.com tracking back So Long, Eric Wedge…
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