Bradley fine with Wedge's Position

[JosephC]

From Milton Bradley:

"Whatever took place was six or seven years ago and I'm over it" and "[Wedge] was a disciplinarian and I felt our team lacked discipline last year. Hopefully, he instills some of that.''

[Igoe4Mariners]

Good to hear. Nice find.

[Nateyb24]

I never really had a problem with Milton this season he had one major blow up and then he was really calm the rest of the season.

Im fine with Wedge i just hope the organazation stabalises the Manager and gives him full 3 years even if he has a fluke season of the team over achieving.

Can't believe he didn't win that one season when he had Cliff Lee,CC on the team in the post season.

[Igoe4Mariners]

I never really had a problem with Milton this season he had one major blow up and then he was really calm the rest of the season.

Im fine with Wedge i just hope the organazation stabalises the Manager and gives him full 3 years even if he has a fluke season of the team over achieving.

Can't believe he didn't win that one season when he had Cliff Lee,CC on the team in the post season.

Can't believe we sucked so bad with Felix and Cliff Lee on the same team.

[clarknova]

I felt our team lacked discipline last year.

Oh, Milty. You're such a ham.
That's like me saying "I feel like this forum has too many excessively long posts".

I felt it lacked maturity. Discipline? Yeah, but maturity... We should get some of that.

I agree with Nateyb- Just let the guy stay. The team is not going to be awesome in 2011, but for the love of god, let him stay. He's going to do some really annoying stuff y'all. I've read posts from Indians fans that sound EXACTLY like my beefs with Wakamatsu: He plays "spin the wheel" with the lineup, he puts players in curious spots defensively, he wears out the bullpen... We'll see, but you know, they all do that stuff- Piniella, Cox, Maddon, EVERY one of them did/does some stuff that drives fans crazy. I'm going to try to let some of it go. It's going to be hard. Especially the pinch hitting. That drove me INSANE! Why Rob Johnson should ever be hitting after the 8th inning in a tight game is totally stupid... IMO.

Imagine what disgruntled Reds fans were saying to M's fans in 1993 when Piniella came over after being canned in Cincy. He won a WS there, but also got into an infamous fist fight with a bullpen pitcher. I have massive respect for Sweet Lou. Not just nostalgically.

I'm glad Uncle Milty has given his approval, now, if you could just hit the ball more often I'd put some credence into what you say. Hard to pallet exclusive ESPN interviews, and "seals of approval" when you're hitting .200 and playing half a season for $12 million. I do like you though Milton. Now, hit that ball where there isn't anyone!

[phredmojo]

piniella wasn't canned by cinci. they wanted him back. he chose to leave and not re-sign with them

[clarknova]

piniella wasn't canned by cinci. they wanted him back. he chose to leave and not re-sign with them

BUSTED! Just kidding, my bad. You're right. I had to dig quite a bit to find an article about him leaving, but you got me. I don't know why I thought that...

Too bad we don't have ownership like Marge Schott huh? She may have literally been a nazi, but she won a World Series!

Interesting that he left a team that he'd won a WS with two years prior to manage one of the worst teams in baseball (Mariners), who he then eventually managed to the most wins in league history, only to leave after the next season to manage the worst team in baseball (Devil Rays). Got to hand it to the guy.

[Nateyb24]

Can't believe we sucked so bad with Felix and Cliff Lee on the same team.

Yea but he also had players on the offensive side of it Grady Sizemore,Jim Thome,Victor Martinez so he actually had players to score if we couldve put up atleast 2-3 runs a game for Hernandez and Cliff Lee we wouldve won alot more games.

[clarknova]

It wasn't Eric Wedge's fault they lost that series. It was his illogical responsibility.

That's baseball. In 2000 The Chicago White Sox won the Central Division by 8 games and their Manager Jerry Manuel won manager of the year. They had Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez, Paul Konerko, and Carlos Lee in their lineup and were swept in 4 games by the AL Wild Card Mariners. Does that mean Jerry Manuel was an ineffective manager?
The next year the Mariners won more games than any in the history of the AL and lost in the ALCS to the Yankees. With a team that performed that well, anything short of a world championship should be considered a failure, right? Would they have won with a different manager? If Joe Torre was managing the M's and Piniella the Yankees would it have made a difference in that series? I would argue no.

It is surprising that with Lee and CC, they didn't win... until you consider that they lost to the 2007 Red Sox that had Schilling, Wakefield, Beckett, Buchholz, Lester, and Dice-K (who was good that year, 15 game winner). They also had David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell, Pedroia, Drew, and Youkilis.
Also, when you consider that 2007 was the year Cliff Lee was sent down to the minors by Wedge after going 4-9 with a 5.38 ERA. He was called back up when rosters expanded in September but only appeared in 4 games, ALL coming out of the bullpen. He didn't start any of the games in the ALCS. That year he beaned Sammy Sosa in the helmet during a game Sammy was being honored for hitting his 600th corked bat roided out home run and ended up in an altercation with his own catcher Victor Martinez. (I added that tid bit because I thought it was funny... Sorry).
IN FACT! It's actually pretty shocking that the Indians took the series to 7 considering that C.C. Sabathia gave up 8 earned runs in Game 1 in a loss, and then in his next start they lost 7-1. Both losses were against Josh Beckett. The Indians star pitchers of the series were Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd. C.C. Sabathia was only slightly worse than Fausto Carmona who got shelled in the series as well. Sabathia even got an extra days rest before game one as Wedge, with a 2-1 lead in the division series over the Yankees in which they beat both Andy Pettite and Chien-Ming Wang (twice) opted to pitch Paul Byrd on short rest in game 4 to save Sabathia for game 5 if neccessary, betting that Byrd on short rest could possibly beat Chien-Ming Wang, and if not, he had Sabathia for game 5 with a 1 game lead.

So the real story is that the 2007 Cleveland Indians, with a rotation of C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, and Paul Byrd beat the New York Yankees in 4 games 3-1, and then took the eventual World Champion Red Sox who swept the Rockies out of the World Series in 4 straight, to a 7th and final game in the ALCS when their best pitcher (Sabathia) was getting absolutely shelled. Considering all that, I'd say it's surprising they didn't do worse.

I would actually call that an over-performance, but that's just me.

[Nateyb24]

It wasn't Eric Wedge's fault they lost that series. It was his illogical responsibility.

That's baseball. In 2000 The Chicago White Sox won the Central Division by 8 games and their Manager Jerry Manuel won manager of the year. They had Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez, Paul Konerko, and Carlos Lee in their lineup and were swept in 4 games by the AL Wild Card Mariners. Does that mean Jerry Manuel was an ineffective manager?
The next year the Mariners won more games than any in the history of the AL and lost in the ALCS to the Yankees. With a team that performed that well, anything short of a world championship should be considered a failure, right? Would they have won with a different manager? If Joe Torre was managing the M's and Piniella the Yankees would it have made a difference in that series? I would argue no.

It is surprising that with Lee and CC, they didn't win... until you consider that they lost to the 2007 Red Sox that had Schilling, Wakefield, Beckett, Buchholz, Lester, and Dice-K (who was good that year, 15 game winner). They also had David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell, Pedroia, Drew, and Youkilis.
Also, when you consider that 2007 was the year Cliff Lee was sent down to the minors by Wedge after going 4-9 with a 5.38 ERA. He was called back up when rosters expanded in September but only appeared in 4 games, ALL coming out of the bullpen. He didn't start any of the games in the ALCS. That year he beaned Sammy Sosa in the helmet during a game Sammy was being honored for hitting his 600th corked bat roided out home run and ended up in an altercation with his own catcher Victor Martinez. (I added that tid bit because I thought it was funny... Sorry).
IN FACT! It's actually pretty shocking that the Indians took the series to 7 considering that C.C. Sabathia gave up 8 earned runs in Game 1 in a loss, and then in his next start they lost 7-1. Both losses were against Josh Beckett. The Indians star pitchers of the series were Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd. C.C. Sabathia was only slightly worse than Fausto Carmona who got shelled in the series as well. Sabathia even got an extra days rest before game one as Wedge, with a 2-1 lead in the division series over the Yankees in which they beat both Andy Pettite and Chien-Ming Wang (twice) opted to pitch Paul Byrd on short rest in game 4 to save Sabathia for game 5 if neccessary, betting that Byrd on short rest could possibly beat Chien-Ming Wang, and if not, he had Sabathia for game 5 with a 1 game lead.

So the real story is that the 2007 Cleveland Indians, with a rotation of C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, and Paul Byrd beat the New York Yankees in 4 games 3-1, and then took the eventual World Champion Red Sox who swept the Rockies out of the World Series in 4 straight, to a 7th and final game in the ALCS when their best pitcher (Sabathia) was getting absolutely shelled. Considering all that, I'd say it's surprising they didn't do worse.

I would actually call that an over-performance, but that's just me.

I actually like the hiring of Wedge as long as him and Z aren't hand cuffed by upper management i read about him on Wiki he devoloped some really good players. I agree with you though Clark after that season he pretty much lost all his talented players no way he had a chance the next season which he flopped they were basically rebuilding so they fired him unfairly the GM of the Indians liked Wedge and would've kept him if the ownership didn't step in and decide to find someone to fire for there season.

Wait and see for me though i just hope Chuck and Howie realize that this isn't just a 2 year process and atleast gives Wedge his full 3 years they contracted him for. As much as i bash them i can give them credit though atleast for the first time we heard them come out and say this is a rebuilding process something we already knew but atleast there acknowledging it.

[phredmojo]

BUSTED! Just kidding, my bad. You're right. I had to dig quite a bit to find an article about him leaving, but you got me. I don't know why I thought that...

Too bad we don't have ownership like Marge Schott huh? She may have literally been a nazi, but she won a World Series!

Interesting that he left a team that he'd won a WS with two years prior to manage one of the worst teams in baseball (Mariners), who he then eventually managed to the most wins in league history, only to leave after the next season to manage the worst team in baseball (Devil Rays). Got to hand it to the guy.

well, probably because most managers when the leave its because they get fired and very few leave willingly lol