Jhonny Peralta

36 hours into Manny Acta’s first spring training as manager of the Indians, and he’s already nestled himself a nice, warm place in the back corner of Cleveland’s media doghouse.

That didn’t take long, did it?

On one of the youngest teams in the majors with question marks for most of the team, Acta has curiously already ended all speculation and named Russell Branyan the starting first basemen.

“He’ll get a majority of the time at first base,” said Acta. “We didn’t sign him to be a backup guy.”

Jhonny Peralta headed into 2009 as a player many people thought would help buoy their middle infield, providing power from a position that was generally viewed as a source of speed.  After hitting over 20 home runs in three of the previous four seasons, who could blame them?

It wasn’t only that, however.  After injuries forced Peralta to spend the majority of his time in the middle of the Indians order in 2008, he responded with career highs in RBIs (89) and runs (104).  There just wasn’t much not to like about him.

Any Cleveland fan with a decent short-term memory knows that, for the past several seasons, the Tribe has experienced consistent inconsistency at third base.

Since Travis Fryman hung up his cap, the Indians have had a revolving door at the hot corner. The Indians have had four different Opening Day third basemen in the last seven seasons, none of them for more than two years in a row.

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Tribe fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the Indians each week throughout the season.

This week we revisit our past discussion on the fate of manager Eric Wedge, ponder the value of a manager calling out a player in a public forum, and address a few more of the Tribe’s many pitching woes.  

I would like to thank this week's participants Nino Colla, Dave Wiley, and The Coop for their contributions.

From Andy Castrovince's latest mailbag: