Cleveland Indians

With another disappointing season under his command, the Cleveland Indians have finally decided to release Manager Eric Wedge.  With a current record of 64-92, what else can they do?  This is the second year in a row that the very talented Tribe have been a disappointment.

How do you go from 96-66, one win away from a trip to the World Series, to becoming the bottom-dweller in your division?  The Tribe haven't finished last in their division since 1991, when they drug up the rear in the AL East, and they have never finished last since joining the AL Central.

Eric Wedge inherited a young and talented baseball team seven years ago when he took over as manger of the Tribe.

After a season of massive underachieving and general hopelessness, the Cleveland Indians have fired manager Eric Wedge.

Wedge, who came to helm of the Tribe in 2003, led the team to within one win of a World Series appearance in 2007.

That year's squad held a three games to one lead over the eventual world champion Boston Red Sox before collapsing and losing three in a row (a meltdown that, to this writer, is strangely not grouped with the other infamous Cleveland sports disasters), ending Wedge's most successful year as manager of the Indians.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Eric Wedge will reportedly be fired as the manager of the Cleveland Indians today.

There are few who would dispute that Wedge needed to go, but just how much of what went so wrong for the 2009 Indians was his fault? Perhaps not as much as he has been blamed for, but certainly enough to merit his dismissal.  

Over the next few seasons, some of baseball's brightest young stars will become free agents for the first time.

And while baseball fans like myself are excited to see how much money these young stars will get on the open market, simply thinking about a new contract must be a scary thought for the mid-level teams who simply do not have the salary structure to take on huge contracts.

MLB betting: Jays Try To Keep Up With Streaking Yankees

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Tribe fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the Indians each week throughout the season.

This week we debate how to divvy up the blame for the season between Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge, how Shapiro’s strategy of cobbling together a team from spare parts has backfired, and what players should and shouldn’t say to the media.

I would like to thank this week's participants Dale Thomas, Scott Miles, and Jeff Smirnoff for their contributions.

The bottom line on the ESPN SportsCenter screen scrawled by and the White Sox versus Indians score blinked an all too familiar array of crooked numbers. 

The 11 runs scored by the White Sox, in a rain shortened game to boot, helped cement a growing 2009 pitching legacy that bathes in futility.

It's been well known, the struggles that the Indians pitching staff has had this year. The Indians have given up 440 runs in 2009, which is exactly 80 runs more than the next highest allowed run total of anyone in the American League Central. 

Circle the wagons, grab your money, buy the seats, because the Cleveland Indians we expected are ready to return. Travis Hafner shows signs of the player of years gone by and Grady Sizemore has returned. Asdrubal Cabrera should return to shortstop next week. Aaron Laffey is slated to return to the starting rotation.

Now its time for Wedge to make the Great Experiment: a set lineup.