Tribe ’09: Management Team Provides Stability

Written by: Michael Taylor on 3rd March 2009

Tribe ’09: Management Team Provides Stability | read this item

OK, pop quiz. See if you can name the five longest tenured General Manager’s in the major leagues.

You give up?

If you were able to answer Kevin Towers, Brian Sabean, Billy Beane, Brian Cashman, and Mark Shapiro, you are a serious fan of the game and I congratulate you. I had to look it up myself.

OK, next question. Of these five GM’s, which has the longest tenured manager as part of his team?

You can probably guess where I am going with this now as you are reading an Indians preview piece. Yes, the Indians have the longest tenured pair as both GM and Manager. In fact, Eric Wedge is the sixth most tenured manager in the game behind only Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa, Mike Scioscia, Ron Gardenhire, and Clint Hurdle.

Shapiro will be entering his eighth season as the Indians’ General Manager, and his right-hand-man Wedge will be entering his seventh season as the Tribe skipper. Not too many organizations in recent memory can say that they have had such a tandem last as long as these two have, and yet enjoy such mixed results on the field.

It has been an odd tenure, up one year, down the next. But overall the Indians do find themselves in a rather well placed position in the AL Central to be right in the mix to compete year in and year out, and that does not look to be changing any time soon with the young talent nearing the big leagues.

A lot of that credit has to do with the bold moves that Mark Shapiro has made to build this team from the ground up. During his first season at the helm he was the one to pull the trigger on the Bartolo Colon trade to Montreal in return for the likes of Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, and Brandon Phillips.

That move obviously paid dividends – some that the Indians never got to enjoy – but the organization also looks forward to enjoying dividends from to the most recent trades of CC Sabathia and Casey Blake. The Indians restocked their farm system with young talent such as Michael Brantley, Matt LaPorta, and Carlos Santana.

These moves just may be the kind of deals that help to project the Indians out as competitors for some time to come, and possibly give Shapiro a third Executive of the Year award in coming seasons – he is under contract through 2012.

But don’t tell him that it is all his doing. His manager has been there for all but one year of the ride, as his extension on the field. They both are working toward a common vision, and have an identical set of values. They are like business partners working toward the same goal, no matter what happens, you benefit from the successes together, and live through the failures together. They have already gone through each and are still marching on.

Shapiro stands by his manager, who now owns a 496-476 career managerial record. And if all goes well this season, Wedge may be due for another extension in the near future – his contract runs through 2010.

If that should happen, you may begin hearing about Wedge passing Hall-of-Famer Lou Boudreau as the All-Time Indians leader in managerial wins. He needs just 232 more wins to catch him, which conceivably could happen within three years time.

But that is still in the future and this is now – a big year in this duo’s tenure. Again there are expectations, can they meet them after the offseason retooling, or will this team again underachieve?

Time can only tell, but if team owner Paul Dolan has anything to say on the matter, it is that he believes in whom he has placed in charge. “We think we have the best management in the game,” says Dolan. “Nothing has changed our opinion of that. We have the executive of the year [Shapiro] and the manager of the year [Wedge]. My opinion on that isn’t going to change.”

To keep with the continuity theme, the Indians also will be bringing back the following coaches for the 2009 season, with just one new face.

Jeff Datz – Bench Coach – 18th season with organization, 7th as Bench Coach
Derek Shelton – Hitting Coach – 7th season with organization, 4th as Hitting Coach
Carl Willis – Pitching Coach – 11th season with organization, 7th as Pitching Coach
Luis Rivera – 1st Base Coach – 10th season with organization, 2nd on Major League Staff
Joel Skinner – 3rd Base Coach – 15th season with organization, 10th on Major League Staff
Chuck Hernandez – Bullpen Coach – 1st season with organization

Indians Mission Statement: “To sustain a championship caliber team that competes –passionately, relentlessly and professionally – and in the process makes a positive statement about its collective vision and core values.”

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Topics: Eric Wedge, Mark Shapiro

Nino Colla says:

March 4, 2009 at 12:12 pm

Bill Cowher isn’t coaching the Steelers, Joe Torre isn’t coaching the Yankees, yet Eric Wedge is one of the longest tenured managers in the game of baseball.

Thank God Jerry Sloan is still with the Jazz.

It is amazing how it still seems like yesterday Wedge was one of the youngest managers in the game. Now he’s still not that old but his gray hairs are growing and people have taken to him like a franchise should take to their manager.
Jason Bidlack says:

March 10, 2009 at 3:24 am

With Eric Wedge going for season number six as Indians manager and Mark Shapiro going for what seems like 20 years now, They have really got down what core values are and also hard working values will pay off if you stick to the program.Really think that by losing so bad last year and the year before one out from the world series it really struck a nerve with players that we can never ever take anything for granted. We nee to go out their from day one and kick some butt and not worry about everything else going on, you can only control you.Wedge is a nice laid back manager but I have seen him rip a new one into players this spring when he has too. he doesn’t do it in front of everyone but takes a player aside and lets them know what they did wrong and what they need to do next time.He is a real players coach.
Jason Bidlack