While We’re Waiting… Anderson’s Allegations, Thoughts on Powe, and Cheesy Browns Posters
August 12, 2009Trading Down Looking Better by the Day
August 12, 2009
The Tribe is hot during a meaningless second half folks. Deal with it. Eric Wedge’s crew continues to grind their way through another playoff contender and last night they did it through pitching and defense.
Aaron Laffey was masterful yet again in the Tribe’s 5-0 win over the Texas Rangers. He went 6.2 shutout innings, scattering six hits, and wiggling his way out of a bases loaded, one out first inning jam. The best starter in the Indians stable is now 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA in five home starts.
All night long, the ground-ball was on display and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera put on an absolute clinic on how to play the position. Best of all, he did it in front of his idol, the Venezuelan shortstop who used to roam the same spot in Cleveland, Omar Vizquel.
AC made four tremendous plays in the field, including a sliding, spinning grounder on the second base side of the diamond to end the eighth. “Asdrubal’s unbelievable out there, isn’t he?” Laffey said. “If a ball’s hit anywhere near him, there’s a great possibility he’s going to make the play.”
“He’s hungry,” Wedge said. “He believes he can get to every ball, then he works hard to finish off the play. The more he’s out there, the more comfortable he gets.”
As for his starter, Grindmaster Flash is more and more impressed with each start. “Aaron set the tone. He was consistent from inning to inning, aggressive and efficient.” That is all he can ask for these days. Joe Smith and Tony Sipp once again shut the door over a scoreless 2.1 innings. Over the last three weeks, Smith seems to have found his groove and Sipp has settled nicely into the late inning lefty role.
Offensively, the Tribe did all of their damage in the third inning. Texas starter Dustin Nippert, who seemed to have the Indians number in every other inning. Grady Sizemore and Cabrera opened the inning with back to back singled. Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch, even though the ball barely (if at all) grazed his jersey. Jhonny Peralta walked to score the first run. Travis Hafner followed with an RBI single to break out of his 6-37 skid.
The big hit came next off of the bat of Luis Valbuena. Sweet Luis laced a doubled down the right field line, scoring two and giving the Tribe a 4-0 lead. Trevor Crowe finished the scoring with a sac fly. They could have gotten more, but Nippert kept them at bay, thanks to a career high 10 K’s in his six innings of work.
It bears repeating, the Indians are hot. They have won 13 of 19 despite trading away seemingly every veteran with a pulse. The kids are playing with nothing to lose and Wedge is thriving again without a microscope on him.
“Obviously, we’re a completely different ballclub,” Wedge said. “But the kids are fun to watch, hungry and learning. They take pride in trying to win as many games as possible.”
If you don’t think Eric Wedge will be back next year with a strong finish, you are fooling yourself. Think about it. The Dolan’s are in money saving mode any way they can. The King of All Grinders has a year left on his contract where he gets paid regardless of whether he manages this team or not. With the kids seemingly responding to his managing and Mark Shapiro continuing to back him, don’t be the least bit shocked when Wedge comes back for an eighth season in 2010.
photos via Chuck Crow/Plain Dealer
22 Comments
This winning is just so bitter sweet. Great to see the younger guys perform under any circumstances, but its meaningless and might lead to a Wedge extension. So Conflicted!
In the meantime, Paul Dolan and Mark Shapiro went on separate choreograhped interviews (no fans calling in) to spin their lame tale chockful of spin and excuses. It’s all good, it’s been good, and it’s going to be of championship caliber. Woe is me, woe is you, woe is this market. Forget about accountability, there are too many outside factors that get in the way.
Shapiro hung Wedge out to dry yesterday. When asked about personal performance, he literally said that he’s supplied the talent to win, and it has underachieved; that is a definitive arrow/dagger pointed directly at Wedge.
The writers (Pluto…etc.) and Shapiro are pointing at Wedge rather than the Indians management and organization (drafting/player development….).
Shapiro will save his own skin by throwing Wedge under the bus, and you’ll get yet another manager/coaching staff that will play under his rules, rather than a competent major league manager with his own program.
If only the second half of the season counted, Wedge would be a Hall of Famer. I guess we’re going to be stuck with him as long as they win some of the time. Maybe Wedge believes “you can fool all of the people some of the time,” so he uses the second half of each season to fool us into believing he can run a winning team while sleeping through the rest of the season.
TD I’m having a problem “dealing with it.” I love the Indians, but I’m sick of this act because it never seems to carry over to the next year. I want to see our young players progress, but am so conflicted because this winning will likely lead to one more year of the Grinder and one more year of futility.
Here’s my question though – what’s the point of bringing him back for just a year? They’re obviously going to lose a lot of games next year, which management will blame on the youth movement and say that’s no basis for evaluating the manager’s performance. So I think this actually sets up well for a Wedge EXTENSION.
I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The difference between Shapiro and Wedge is that I think Shapiro actually understands his shortcomings and can change. I don’t think there is any chance that Wedge magically gets better at getting more out of these young players.
I think TD is right about Wedge returning unfortunately. It infuriates me to no end, but I believe it.
On a different track… I hope the Indians stay more consistent in their philosophy. I hope they don’t sign the next David Dellucci or Trot Nixon or Jason Michaels to steal at-bats from guys with potential. If they aren’t going to go get good free agents, then I would prefer if they would stop getting any at all.
That Veronica Vaughn is one piece of Ace.
Only 10 games out!
I don’t think Shapiro is throwing Wedge under the bus, I think Wedge shows that he has on idea how to prepare a team for the beginning of a season. He consistently plays guys out of position and gives way too much playing time to underachieving veterans.
The guy needs to go
“If you don’t think Eric Wedge will be back next year with a strong finish, you are fooling yourself.”
Respectfully disagree. He may be back, but not sure how you can say that the usual meaningless decent second half makes it certain. Paul Dolan’s recent comments (reprinted in today’s PD) indicate he thinks the fans want to hear a new voice. While money is obviously their overriding concern, he is thinking about attendance and next year’s tv revenue. What is Wedgie scheduled to make in ’10? Probably 1/3 of what DeRosa was going to make, or the same as a average middle reliever. Dolan may be thinking increased ticket sales/interest will more than make up for eating his last contract year.
TD-I’m fooling myself……
I GUARANTEE Wedge won’t be back next year, with 100% assurance. Shapiro (and Dolan) just said it’s not the talent, and said talent should have won at contending levels. They are compelled to do something, anything, if only to offer a fake placation to the fans. Wedge is by far the cheapest option; far cheaper than actually addressing the issue which is Shapiro/Antonetti and their entire player evaluation staff. Read the words-Shapiro and Dolan have already said Wedge is THE issue.
Mark it down…….WEDGE will NOT be back. The next stepford wife will move into place.
So if the Indians somehow manage to pull a Colorado Rockies and make the playoffs. How ridiculous will it be to watch Aaron Laffey face down C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez?
Is Adsdrubal Cabrera are best player at this point? Choo?
@ #12 – It won’t happen, so no worries. Once this team gets within a sniff of contention (say, within 5 games by the end of the month), they’ll fold like a house of cards because Wedge will start to “manage” again.
asdrubal was 3 plays of the espn top 10 last night… SICK!!
i was at this game, it was so amazing to get to see omar play again.
also… asdrubal’s a beast
I don’t understand the reference to “kids” stocking the lineup when only Crowe and Valbuena can really be considered rookies. Everyone else has a couple of years under their belt (Marte, Asdrubal) or are mid career veterans (Sizemore, Hafner, Peralta).
The lineup hasn’t changed that much and the best prospects are still in the minors.
What has changed is the pitching, which is as inexplicably good now as it was inexplicably bad then.
@4….you do not remember the September of 2005 then.
I will continue to sit back and enjoy the games…as I said before, and I will say it again, they got rid of pieces that were not working and identified what they needed…I think that the confidence they are getting now will be invaluable in the future…theyre a fun team to watch, and I will still stand by my statement that they are much better off after the trades than they were before them…
Go Tribe!
while a lot of these “kids” seem to be filling in quite well, don’t forget that the bulk of our minor league talent (laporta, brantly, santana, mills, chisenhol) hasn’t arrived yet. september should prove to be quite interesting.
on another note: aaron laffey, 2010 opening day starter?
AJ-nothing against Laffey, but if he’s opening day starter 2010…….100+ losses.
How about bringing Omar back as a utility infielder next season? He can still play (not everyday) and might help sell a few extra tickets (especially if (when?) Wedge returns).
Just get rid of Wedge.