Did he get a fair shot?

"I'm the manager of the team. It's my job to go out and win ballgames. There's not an asterisk next to it that says, 'only if you have this, that or the other.' It's your job. I'm a big believer in being accountable for what you do. I preach it to the players. I preach it to people around me. That's the way I live. I take responsibility for this."

Is it harder to win in baseball market this size?

"It's more difficult and it's more challenging but it's also more rewarding. What we came pretty close to doing in '07 is pretty special stuff."

On his values:

"How our players play, how they act. The way they represent the Cleveland Indians. The way they play the game. You always hear me talk about respecting the game and being a good teammate. They're the two most important things that I think you can do in this game. Then you have to go out and play well on top of that."

Did he learn from the disappointment of 2007?

"I would be a poor manager and a poor leader if I didn't learn from ultimately every situation I've been through in the past."

Could he win with the style of players he managed?

"It doesn't matter to me what type of team I have. I think it's my job to work off that and go out and win as many games as possible."

On the circumstances of being let go:

"The right thing to do is to handle it appropriately, professionally, and then move on."

Does the disappointment of 2007 linger?

"You can't harp on it, because if you harp on it you don't get to the next level. I remember after '05, (people said) 'oh we got so close we'll probably never get there again. Bulls—. I don't understand that. That's not the way I look at it. We will get there, and we'll surpass that. That's the way I looked at it from '07 on. Granted, I'm not going to have the opportunity to do that here. But I hope for all Tribe fans that the next guy that sits in this chair does have an opportunity to do that."

The future for the Indians?

"I was here back in the beginning. I understand really rebuilding. Starting from scratch. This is not that situation here in Cleveland. You need to understand that, fans need to understand that. You have a solid organization. You have solid leadership intact. You have a solid minor league system. You have a process here that works, in this market. So they're going to be fine."

On not showing more emotion to the public:

"It allows me to come out here every day and be the same guy for the players. The players are first and foremost. I'd rather (fans) get on me than the players. I'm OK with that."

On the concerns about his future:

It's not something you think about. I'm a big believer that you get busy doing your job. Don't worry about your job. If you worry about your job you're not doing your job."

The Indians announced that Eric Wedge would not be back next season, a nice way of saying he’d been fired. This produces a lot of ambivalent feelings.

I’m not as virulently anti-Wedge as many folks seem to be. I don’t get all that upset about things when a really good guy does his best and things just don’t work out. It happens sometimes. I’m big on the quality of the person. It seems that kind of person deserves a lot of leeway – provided his decisions aren’t consistently preposterous.

Wedge made some head-scratchers, yes. Ryan Garko in the outfield. The constant juggling of lineups. Brandon Phillips. The complete regression of guys like Rafael Perez and Fausto Carmona.  The thing that always surprised me was how few moves were made during games, aside from monitoring pitchers. Once the lineup was posted, the game took over. At least that the way it seemed. Wedge didn’t do a lot of bunting, didn’t employ the hit-and-run a lot and didn’t have his guys aggressively running the bases. Yes, this could have easily been a result of the kind of player he had.

When he ha d a full deck, Wedge had two good years in three. That led to a Manager of the Year Award. Two bad years later and he’ll be looking for a job. GM Mark Shapiro and owner/president Paul Dolan both believe Wedge will manage another team soon, and do well. Shapiro even went as far as to say that Wedge probably will be more embraced and appreciated by fans now that he’s gone.

One thing was clear: Had Wedge communicated and expressed himself with the passion and feeling he did on Wednesday, he’d be viewed differently. Wedge was at his best during the farewell news conference; anyone who heard it had to be impressed (Perhaps I’ll try to post a transcript of some of that news conference here later).

One thing that was unfortunate was the way Wedge was judged on his appearance, his personal quirks, his little statements. Grinding. Separating. That kind of thing. The bottom line about the guy was that he worked hard, he cared and he represented the team and city well – and he made sure his players did the same. That matters.

Wedge isn’t made for TV. That’s clear. But if the guy can manage that shouldn’t matter. We always cry about character and that kind of thing, and then a guy who fits the values of a town perfectly comes along we cry because we don’t like his mannerisms. This does not seem completely fair.

The entire scenario about Wedge finishing the season seems a little odd, but that’s Wedge. He wanted to finish, and he believed it was the best thing for his players and the team. That’s actually a pretty admirable trait. And Wedge has a lot of admirable traits.

That being said, there are times when a team simply needs a change, when a new voice is needed. The tone of the news conference Wednesday indicated that Shapiro did not believe that time had arrived, but owners Paul and Larry Dolan did. So the move was made.

The fact that it produces ambivalent feelings might say enough about the situation. You’d like to be passionate about the manager, and Wedge did not produce passion. Not from me at least.

But … he did produce respect, from many quarters. Decry all the moves you like, but Wedge deserves our respect in return. And our thanks for doing everything he could every day to try to make it work. If it doesn’t work because of machinations and manipulations and mind games (like in Berea), that’s one thing. If it just doesn’t work despite honest effort and communication, that’s another.

Wedge is a good man who had a good run. With a new corps of young players coming along, his time simply came due.

They have a point. Anthony Castrovince of Indians.com points out that Romero was surprised to find himself starting, that he feels better at second or shortstop and had just seven starts at first base for Columbus this season.

Letsgotribe.com also points out that Ross Atkins of the Indians said Jordan Brown was not called up because with Marte and Matt LaPorta would be playing first.

It concludes by calling for Wedge to lose his job and saying: “Giving Marte major league at-bats is critical at this point as the Indians need to gather as much information as possible before the offseason. The decision on Marte is going to reverberate to a decision on Peralta and also to decisions on guys like Brown. Wedge stupidly wasting a game watching Romero isn't just stupid, it's hurting the team.”

Here’s a sampling of opinions and thoughts on the Indians as they play out the string:

Waitingfornextyear.com asks: “But what if Shapiro does decide to keep Wedge around? Could you imagine? Shapiro has been the darling of the national media throughout the decade, but the bloom is off the rose. It’s time for him to step out of the partnership with Wedge and be his own man. Its the only way he can save face with an eroding fan base in his adopted city of Cleveland.” 

Its position analysis is here and here.  Its starting pitching analysis here, and its bullpen analysis here.

Cleveland Sports Perspectives takes a look by the numbers, including some interesting stuff on Travis Hafner’s slugging percentage.

Anthony Castrovince, who does such a good job for Indians.com, keeps trying to make a less and less compelling story compelling.

And letsgotribe.com has an offbeat view of things, which might be what everyone needs at this point in time.

Wedge will remain the manager – and his coaching staff will stay. This is reasonable. I mean, Wedge has a house and his coaching staff does too and people have put down security deposits and things. No need to upset that apple cart.

A few thoughts:

• Is anyone surprised? And can anyone figure why the type-face just changed? Way bothersome for a person as anal as me.
• An interim manager is not going to do anyone any good, or change the fortunes of this team. It is what it is. If the Indians are going to make a change – and it would not be at all surprising if they did after the season because Wedge has been here seven years – it makes sense to take the time to get the right guy rather than the guy who is available at the moment.
• This mess really isn't Wedge's fault. I actually agree with Shapiro when he says that he's responsible for what happened more than Wedge. He's the one who built the bullpen, though I must admit everyone in baseball thought the Indians bullpen would be a strength.
• This team must address three things. First is the lack of development by its young players once they reach the major leagues. The last two years there has been a shocking lack of growth by some young players. Second is the pitching staff. Good luck with that one. The state of pitching in the major leagues is not exactly strong – Shapiro is right when he says 26 teams are searching for pitching – and finding it isn't easy. Third, it must address the high draft picks. Something simply isn't clicking. I'm not naïve enough to think the Indians aren't addressing these things anyway; I just thought I'd put on record what I think. Because that is what a clog is all about, right? Putting down your every thought for the world to see?
• The most disappointing part of this scenario? The Indians have now officially screwed up and put an end to the odd-numbered year thing. No longer are they good in odd-numbered years.

It's hard to believe what happened to this team since Game 5 of the ALCS two years ago, but it's happened. Solving it won't be easy either. Off to the orthodontist …

Bottom line: Wood is being paid to get three outs, and he didn't. Wedge trusted Wood, he let Wedge down and because of that the decision seems silly and the second-guessing begins. As Yahoo wrote: "If Lee's not tired and could have pitched the ninth, Wedge was being a sheep. Bahh! General manager Mark Shapiro bought him an expensive toy, a closer, in the wake of the demoralizing ninth innings of 2008. The Indians might have won the AL Central if the back of their bullpen had been in order. These factors probably went into Wedge's thinking. When it came to push the ninth-inning button, he did it. He's no fool. Except, that, he was."

Cliff Lee pitched outstanding, but Kerry Wood – the guy brought in to solve the late-inning problems of a year ago – blew a save and the Indians dropped to 14-26, worst in the American League and better only than the miserable Washington Nationals.

This is the kind of season that gets people fired. Managers. Players. Even the front office.

There's really no sign that things are going to get better. Some days the starters do well and the bullpen fails. Some days the pitching goes right and the hitters don't hit. This night things went perfect and were set up for the big-time closer, but he failed. Right now the Indians project to lose 105 games. Which is just one miserable summer.

The moves and constant moves and lineup shuffling reveal the Indians for what they are – a team in search of a solution but finding none. Standing pat with guys not doing the job won't help a lot, but the solutions tried aren't real solutions. Manager Eric Wedge reflects the philosophy of trying anything. His lineups have the consistency of jello.

Jamey Carroll is at second one game, Luis Valbuena another. The shortstop-third base thing with Jhonny Peralta is bizarre; moves like that are for spring training, no? Mark DeRosa has played third and first, which has moved Ryan Garko from first to left, and that's just not sound thinking to play Garko in left. Garko finds himself yo-yoed all over the lineup after leading the team in RBI last season. Matt LaPorta is called up and does not play every day. And David Huff struggled in his first start; why is it that some pitchers in their first start confound the opposition because the opposition hasn't seen them, yet Huff got rocked?

Rosters are made for guys to be used, but guys also need to know their roles. Right now even Victor Martinez's role is all over the board. Catcher one day, first another. All to keep Kelly Shoppach happy and give him time. The Indians have to use everyone at some point; if they didn't they'd have a 16-man pitching staff (which might be a necessity by July). But it seems past time to stop the shifts that resemble panic, and settle on an order.

The move of Grady Sizemore from leadoff put him all the way to second in the order. I know there are reasons for him hitting second, but what's the big difference in that move? Putting him third makes a change, shakes things up. This talk about doing it to take pressure off Sizemore and putting him back at leadoff once he gets going sounds like kid gloves. The guy's not been very good this year (which actually might be the counter-argument to hitting him third). Everyone likes Sizemore, but giving him a foot in the hindquarters doesn't end his baseball career.

Right now the Indians seem to be grabbing smoke with their belief that the team is better than it's played.

Rock bottom pretty much stinks.

Let's do the math. The Indians have lost nearly twice as many as they've won, and if they want to win 90 games they'll have to finish the season 79-51. That's 28 games over .500, and a .607 pace. It can be done, I guess. But last season, one team — the Los Angeles Dodgers — finished with a won-lost percentage better than .607. Silver lining: Many thought 86 games might win the division, so that means the Indians only need to go 75-55. Hoo hoo.

So far the Indians have tried a lot of moves to make things work. None have worked. This weekend the players backed manager Eric Wedge. All that's left, really, is the vote of confidence.

To scapegoat Wedge for this fiasco is probably not fair. Clearly, it's not all his fault.

But … at some point in every struggling team's existence the manager takes the fall, be it deserved or not. At some point the losses might become too much, and some kind of move might be necessary just to change the chemistry and the approach.

Nobody knows when that point will come — and personally I'd be shocked if Wedge were fired given how close he and GM Mark Shapior are — but the questions become: At what point does everything add up to a manager being fired? And if Wedge is fired, who replaces him?

Two years ago Wedge was the AL Manager of the Year. He's not gotten stupid in two years, but his team is not playing well either. And it comes on the heels of 2008, when another bad start relegated the Indians to "playing for pride" most of the second half. Poor Aprils have become a trend, and the inconsistency of the bullpen from year to year is maddening.

That being said, Wedge didn't solely pick the starting rotation, didn't solely pick the bullpen, didn't solely pick the every-day players either. Two years ago the Indians looked to be a team on the rise, with plenty of young , talented hitters. Now they look  slow, plodding, and are playing as if they were all overrated.

Grady Sizemore is the least of the Indians problems, but he's hitting .227. He's struck out 36 times, which ranks him third in the American League. Third. Silver lining: Jhonny Peralta has struck out fewer times. He's fourth in the AL with 34. I know Sizemore has talent and he gets on base a lot, but he seems emblematic of things to me: How in the world can a guy touted by so many to be so good (remember that SI cover) be hitting .227 with 36 strikeouts?

Let's be honest … at some point these players have to live up to expectations, or it's time to really and truly start over with the roster. And it's appearing that the re-start is rising on the horizon.

Whether that re-start includes Wedge depends on how the Indians front office views the troubles, whether they feel a change in approach might change the chemistry and change the results. A new manager isn't going to add speed or make players what they're not, but a new approach can be a spark. A managerial could happen, but I'd be surprised if it does happen.

Firing a manager is not a pleasant topic, but it's also part of baseball. If Mike Hargrove could get fired by the Indians, anyone can. It's just hard to fathom this team being 11-21 after starting the season with what seemed like legitimately high hopes.