I read a quote from Eric Wedge the other day where he said he wanted the players to think “happy thoughts” in the second half of the season. I did not believe he said that when I read the quote, so I read it again. Yes, the words “happy thoughts” were right there in front of me.

This was a few days ago. Today, I Googled it trying to find his exact words, but came up empty. Now, I am partly convinced I imagined the whole thing since this is a Major League baseball team and not Little League. Maybe if they are good after the All-Star break, Wedge will take the team out for ice cream.

In the mean time, I have some concerns about this ball club that holding hands and singing Kumbaya will not fix.  Don’t get me wrong, a positive attitude is a great asset in life, but all the happy thoughts in the world are not going to help the bullpen get outs and put up 0s. About two months ago I would have said  that positive thinking would be enough to turn the team around. Believing that you can do something and putting out a positive energy can be very helpful in actually accomplishing that goal. However, being 14 games back in the division sort of squashes that optimism.

I still have hope that this team can turn things around. Do I think this turn around will lead to October baseball for the Tribe? Probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to hope. I don’t think any Tribe fan would still be watching or going to games if they didn’t have some shred of hope left that this team could do something. Even if that something is just making it above the .500 mark.

Now what needs to be done:

BULLPEN- Complete overhaul. Betancourt, Sipp, Wood can stay…..maybe. The rest? I think we need to get 2 or 3 solid bullpen guys for the remainder of this season. Sowers might be a viable option as a long-reliever. Maybe a trade could be made, but I don’t know who would want to come to this ‘pen or who we could get and if they would be any good long-term (if at all). Also, a new bullpen coach seems to be in order.

STARTING ROTATION- Cliff = Ace. Mr. Dolan, do whatever you need to to keep him. There are not many prospects in the minors and no other pitcher in the current rotation that could fill his shoes. It may take some begging and pleading for him to stay in Cleveland beyond next season, but it is worth it. He is the heart of the rotation and as we have seen, pitching is key to a success. As for the second half, Sowers need not see another start, unless he is taken out immediately after the fifth inning. A Pavano trade might be beneficial.

HITTING- Maybe Derek Shelton is telling these guys sound advice and it is just not sticking. Maybe he has been doing this for years. I don’t know, but what we have now,  and for quite some time for that matter, is a schizophrenic  offense. I want to see consistency. I would like to stop seeing certain players making the same mistakes over and over again. How much of this can be fixed by the hitting coach? I don’t know. A new approach is needed most definitely.

LINEUP- No more tinkering. You have had three months to figure out what players you have to work with. And please, no more Garko in the outfield. He is not horrible. He is just not an outfielder. Leave him at first where he belongs (and more often).  

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT- Not so much for the short-term, but if we hope to contend in the future, playing in such a small market, high-quality players coming through the system is a MUST. This clearly is not happening. I think the entire systems needs to be analyzed and possible revamped from top to bottom. Scratch that, AA Akron seems to be consistently good, at least the past few seasons. What goes wrong when they get to AAA then? Fix it! Also, why does every outfielder have to be turned into a first baseman? And where have all the pitchers gone?

There you go. That’s all I have for now. I know there are many more issues to be addressed and options to be debated, but my happy thoughts are getting lost just talking about the mess the first half of 2009 was. Remember Tribe fans, keep thinking happy thoughts so we can fly away to Never-neverland with Peter Pan and Tink. Maybe they can help us in the second half.