Tribe Talk: Indians Finally Firing Wedge, Or Just Shooting Blanks?

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

In 2008, he struck out 133 times in 352 at-bats (38%). This year (through Monday), he’s struck out 49 times in 132 at-bats (37%).

My point is, we’re not exactly talking about Mike Piazza or Johnny Bench here, folks. And he’s still on pace to have close to the same HRs and RBIs as last year.

Has Shoppach stunk it up this year at the plate? Definitely. He's pressing, just like everyone else. But for Wedge to call him out is bush league.

The fact that he’s hitting poorly this year is about 99th on the list of 100 reasons why the Indians are terrible this year.

3. At a time when the Indians are desperate for any shred of good news about pitching they can get, they have instead been dealt another staggering blow: Jake Westbrook has had a setback in his rehabilitation yet again and his return date has been pushed from late June/early July to late July/early August.

Do you see this as an indication that Westbrook will never make it back to being the pitcher he once was, or is it merely a delay in Westbrook's return and just another stroke of bad luck for the Indians?

Nino Colla: Jake Westbrook had hit no snags in his comeback trail up until this one. I call it his luck running out.

I can't think of a Tommy John surgery that didn't take at least a year plus to come back from, so really the set-back is disappointing, but it should have been expected.

Honestly, at one point last season and in the off-season, I wasn't even expecting Westbrook to be back this year at all.

But Jake is a fighter and he's going to do his best to get back as quickly as possible. I don't see this as anything much. It's his first set-back, and I was quite shocked he didn't really have one until now.

It sucks that it happened so close to his return, but if it happened a few months ago, you would have just looked over it.

Samantha Bunten: Ultimately I think Westbrook will be OK.  The setback isn't the kind that indicates anything serious, at least at this point.

The greater problem is that the Indians have been hanging a great deal of their hopes on the "Much Anticipated Return of Jake Westbrook.", which has reached nearly mythic proportions.

If anyone truly believes that Westbrook is going to rescue this team, I  would  have to wonder if they have ever actually seen the guy pitch. Westbrook is a number three starter on a good day. Most days he's a number four or five guy who is now also coming back from major surgery.

In other words, he’s a solid back-end starter, not the franchise’s potential savior. With no disrespect to Westbrook, if the club is hanging our last hopes on the likes of him, then Tribe fans have every reason to start Waiting Til Next Year right now.

Dave Wiley:

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?