Mark Shapiro is the Cleveland Indians general manager.  Eric Wedge must be his buddy.  Shapiro declared Sunday before the Oakland A’s – Indians game that Wedge would remain at the controls for the rest of the season.  I am not sure I understand why.

By firing Wedge and getting a new manager in place now, the Indians can realistically look to next year optimistically.  By waiting until the end of the year to do the obvious thing – firing Wedge, you are stalling that true rebuilding process. 

When the Indians traded Mark DeRosa last week, it signified the white flag.  We surrender.  I fear many core players are going to be traded for prospects over the next couple of weeks.  Not if, but when, Victor Martinez gets sent somewhere, I will go completely over the edge with this team.  True, the Indians are loaded at catcher at every level of their farm system.  Carlos Santana in Akron, could be called up by the end of the year.  But lets face it, trading DeRosa for Ryan Franklin, a 12-pack of St. Louis grown Budweiser, and a couple of pictures of a clydesdale aren’t going to do much in the present or the future for Cleveland.

Wedge needed to go last month.  I have been adamant about firing him since the “ultimate motivator” watched quietly as his team raced out to an 0-7 start this season.  The team needed a spark and he failed to provide one.  It is his job to win.  With the talent pool Cleveland had going into 2009, there is no excuse for the shoddy product being displayed every other game by the lake.

If Mark Shapiro thinks for one minute that Eric Wedge is going to better prepare this year’s team for a run next season, than the powers that be should really consider Shapiro’s future with the team.  If you are going to paint the house, paint the whole house, not just the front.

I’m not sure anyone involved has a clue.  Maybe we should just promote the entire Single-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers team to Cleveland for a three-game series, what would it hurt at this point? 

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