Eric Wedge serves notice: Chone Figgins needs to start showing something

veteran presence prompting Matthew of Lookout Landing to say Fire Eric Wedge.

71 OPS+ is nearly double 2011’s output. That’s “something.”

In the case of Figgins, Wedge said he is mystified by all the strikeouts he’s seeing from his veteran leadoff hitter.

“I don’t know where they’re coming from,’’ Wedge said. “I didn’t see that one coming. Because from what I saw this spring and even early on, he’s a guy who had the ability to foul off pitches when he needed to. And did a good job with two strikes, fighting through ABs. And for whatever reason right now, there’s a lot of swing and miss. And that’s something he has to rectify.’‘

And Figgins had better rectify it soon.

“We’re still giving Figgins an opportunity, but he has to do it—simple as that,’’ Wedge said. “I mean, if he does, we’ll keep him in there. If not, we’ll make a change.’‘

After the jump, some Wedgian expostulations on veteran presence prompting Matthew of Lookout Landing to say Fire Eric Wedge.

Wedge was asked why it’s important for him to give time to veterans when the team is supposed to be in the middle of a rebuiding plan.

“Because you’ve got to have veteran presence,’’ Wedge said. “It’s enough on the kids already. We don’t have a 30 (HR) and 100 (RBI) guy , a veteran guy, in the middle of our lineup these kids can always count on him coming to the ballpark. These kids have to count on themselves.

“So, to not have any veteran presence in there and just fully throw in the kids? It will get in the way of their production. It will get in the way of their development, literally. It will take them longer to get there if we don’t have that. And I know that for a fact.’‘

Wedge said he’s learned that, both as a player, a manager and watching other teams and how they go about their seasons.

“We’re all human beings,’’ he said. “That’s just the human factor. That’s what I think a lot of people fail to understand—that these guys aren’t robots. These guys are human beings with hearts and brains and something else too. So, you’ve got to balance all that.’‘

Wedge said he can already see some of his younger players taking on too much by themselves to make up for the lack of hitting in the lineup. To have no veteran presence in there, he added, would simply be a disaster.