Wedge the orator

Gary Miller of ESPN thinks Indians manager Eric Wedge is a great public speaker. Those of us in Cleveland would love to see those motivational speaking tools manifest itself in his team somehow.
Miller attended a Wedge speech to the third annual Teen Summit before a recent game at Jacobs Field, and said he was so moved by what Wedge had to say, he had to share it in his column on ESPN.com.
"It applies to any of us, at any age, every day of our lives," Miller said, before delivering a Wedge quote from the speech:

"When I was your age, and thought about the future, the future seemed forever away But when I look back, and think about the decisions I made, the right ones, the wrong ones, and think about how it affected me from year to year, I realize every decision you make is important. And you've got to believe that you're important. You can't let people around you bring you down, you're too important. Everybody here is important. I don't care what people tell you, or who tries to bring you down, you've got to believe that. If you can take every day, and get the most out of your life, do your homework, pay attention to people who care about you, be a good friend, and make good decisions; if you can take care of those things, every day, then you will have a future."

Miller said he gained "enormous respect" for Wedge that morning. His players seem to back it up. Wedge is known for giving speeches on the first day of spring training that rank right up there with "win one for the Gipper."
So we know Wedge brings solid orator skills to his job. That counts for something. Managers have to work with people, and working with people means communicating.
If only we all could be so sure Wedge is as good at getting through to his players on a day-to-day basis, when he's not on a soapbox. If only we could be so sure Wedge is at least an adequate tactician, capable of knowing when a pitcher needs to be pulled, when to bunt and when to use a pinch hitter.
If only we could be so sure Wedge, along with GM Mark Shapiro, didn't fire hitting coach Eddie Murray to deflect criticism over the team's anemic offense.
I want to be as impressed with Wedge as Gary Miller is. I want to see Wedge the baseball manager grow and keep pace with Wedge the benevolent orator, who took time out of his schedule to try and inspire 100 kids with his words.