Month: August 2006 (Page 15 of 17)

The season has gone belly up on the Tribe and many mistakes have been made. But getting rid of Eric Wedge is not the solution, according to ABJ writer Terry Pluto. Amidst the team’s disappointment and struggles, Shapiro says Wedge will definitely be back next season.

“It would be absurd” to fire Wedge, he said. “He was second in the voting for manager of the year last season. In his first three years, he took a team from 68 to 80 to 93 wins. This has been a horrific, painful year. All of us need to take responsibility and take a close look at what went wrong.”

“It’s too easy to make a manager a scapegoat — and at the first real sign of adversity, to fire him. We are all accountable, but I also think this season will make us all better.”

Pluto acknowledges that both Shapiro and Wedge have made their fair share of bad decisions this season. Shapiro’s errors include the signing of Jason Johnson, not signing Bob Howry, and the whole Boone situation. Wedge’s failures come from pushing Vazquez over Phillips and being too patient with his players. Shapiro and Wedge are in a “partnership” together and it doesn’t seem like anything will change that. As Pluto argues though, the team’s failures have more to do with talent than anything else.

Everything is pointing toward 2007, and the collapse of the team this season should do more than cause Shapiro and Wedge to revise some of their thinking. It screams for ownership to supply more money for the player payroll.

What this season shows is that the talent level wasn’t nearly as gifted or as deep as the Indians once believed.

The Indians’ bullpen is about as stable as the first little pig’s house right about now. It’s not a question of when a blowup will occur but who will administer it. It’s almost as if there is a pool of gasoline on the pitcher’s mound and it’s just a matter of which Tribe reliever will bring the matches to torch the game.

Cabrera, Betancourt, Carmona, Mota, you name it. Unless a Tribe starter goes a complete game, there’s no real reason to feel comfortable about the team’s pitching. Jason Davis, who got his first save the other day, is probably the only Tribe reliever you can feel good about at this point. And even he can have his ups and downs. When the time comes to relieve their starter, Eric Wedge and Carl Willis really have no solid option. They might as well throw all the bullpen members’ names in a hat and choose it that way. It would be about as effective as any method they’ve used thus far.

The confusing thing about this part of the team is that they really do have some tremendous arms out there in the pen. Carmona, Davis, and Cabrera all can throw in the mid to upper 90s and have above average secondary pitches. They have the stuff to totally dominate the opposition at the end of games. So, what’s the problem? Is it the pitchers themselves or is it the coach? Guys like Mota, Cabrera, and Betancourt have all been successful in the past and have gone to crap this season.

While the blame should mostly be placed on the shoulders of the players, is it reasonable to say that Carl Willis deserves some of the criticism as well? It sure isn’t Wedge’s fault because all he can do is call for a certain reliever. It is Willis who works with these guys as the pitching coach. At least he’s supposed to.

With the Tribe bullpen, no lead is safe. They built a 5-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth but could not hold it as they lost 7-6 Friday night in Detroit. They have no problem getting off to good starts but finishing has been the issue. A three-run first gave the Tribe the early lead. In three of the last four games now, the Indians have scored at least two runs in the first inning. Travis Hafner hit another home run and Andy Marte ended his hitless streak by getting two hits and an RBI. Victor Marinez added three hits and Choo stayed hot, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Cliff Lee was cruising until he ran into some trouble in the sixth and seventh. Lee ran into a wall and couldn’t get out of the seventh, but the Tribe still held a 6-4 lead. Then came the always interesting Tribe bullpen. Rafael Betancourt relieved Lee and let up two quick singles to start the eighth. Fernando Cabrera then entered and, after giving up a sac fly, surrendered the game-deciding two-run homer to Craig Monroe.

“I made a mistake and I paid for that,” said Cabrera, after sitting facing his locker with his face in his hands after the game. “I was aggressive with him and I didn’t hit my location.”