Wedge = Done, Part 2

After last night's collapse to the Kansas City Royals -- that's right, the Royals, not the Red Sox or Yankees, the Royals -- I believe that Eric Wedge has to go.

You can say the bullpen is a mess, you can say the hitters aren't hitting, and you can say Wedge can only play the players he has. You can say that all you want, but the bottom line is, he cannot manage his pitching.

Cliff Lee was at 97 or 98 pitches last night going into the 9th and Wedge made the decision to put in his closer. Sounds like a good idea, but this is last year's Cy Young award winner who could have used the confidence of putting a complete game win under his belt.

Now, back to Kerry Wood. Wouldn't a manager see the first home run and say, "Gee, maybe he doesn't have it tonight, I should get someone else in there." That's what Joe Torre, Ron Gardenhire, Jim Leyland, Tony LaRussa, etc. would have done -- even if there bullpen was a mess.

Eric Wedge, Carl Willis, and Jeff Datz have to go. I know the Dolans love them because they are cheap, but the bottom line is, the fans will not go to watch this team.

Will another manager fix all this? Probably not, but it couldn't hurt right now.

Can the season be saved? Believe it or not, I think so.

But how? Easy -- trade, release, and send down/bring up. Things have already changed -- Peralta has moved to 3rd, where he should stay. Cabrera is at short, where he belongs. Place Josh Barfield or Jamey Carroll there for now, until Luis Valbuena gets his bat back in the minors.

Trade who? Ryan Garko, Jhonny Peralta, Josh Barfield, and Ben Francisco for nothing but pitching.

But that will leave some openings? Nope, Mark DeRosa plays 3rd, Victor Martinez/Matt LaPorta platoons 1st, and Matt LaPorta plays left.

OK, who to release and send down/bring up? Release David Dellucci. Send down Luis Valbuena to play every day and bring up anyone right now. They have already released Masa Kobyashi, which is the right move and sent down Rafael Perez.

The AL Central is the weakest division in the majors. All is not lost. It comes down to Mark Shapiro and his braintrust on whether or not they want to make these moves. Not if, but want. Shaprio has an unhealthy relationship with Eric Wedge -- he thinks that Wedge is the second coming of Lou Boudreau.

Eric Wedge is a AAA manager who is not ready for the bigs. Will Shapiro ever see that? Let's wait and see.