Cleveland Indians fire Coaching Staff

The Cleveland Indians have announced today that Manger Eric Wedge, and his staff will not be back with the team in 2010. This brings to an end the Wedge era of the Indians that has lasted since 2002. In that time the Indians have had just two winning seasons, and just three non losing seasons. Even with all the talent this team has had in those years, they have always felt one or two pieces away from putting together a strong playoff run.

Along with Wedge, the Indians are letting go of Pitching Coach Carl Willis, Hitting Coach Derek Shelton, Bench Coach Jeff Datz, First base Coach Luis Rivera, Third base Coach Joel Skinner, and Bullpen Coach Chuck Hernandez. While the staff will complete the rest of the 2009 season, they have put together a very disappointing 64-92 record.

How much of the blame the Coaching staff should bear remains a larger question. As I stated before this has always been a team that needed a piece here or there and the Front office never seemed able to get those pieces. Of course Wedge’s overall record as Manager of the Indians was 634-655 and that simply is not good enough no matter who is on your roster.

The team will owe, Wedge somewhere approximately 1.3 million for the 2010 season, and will likely not hire their new manager from within their own organization. That will mark the first outside managerial hire for this team since 1990. That fact alone may be the reason this organization has struggled so much in the past 10 years.