May 19, 2013

The Streak Is Dead! Long Live Manny Acta

August 9, 2012 by 93 Comments

They did it. They finally did it. Close to two long, excruciating weeks of blowouts, blown saves, and all around bad baseball had driven us all mad. But the 11-game losing streak mercifully came to an end yesterday as Justin Masterson and Shin-Soo Choo led the Tribe to a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.

I tried something different on this day. Disgusted by what I saw a night before, I needed a mental health day off from the Tribe. I was all set to go to the game, but I decided maybe I was part of the jinx. Maybe I need to completely divorce myself from the game for a day and see what happens.

Naturally, they won. Masterson went seven strong innings, allowing two runs (both coming on Alexi Casilla’s two-run homer) on three hits, striking out seven and walking four. Choo led an 11-hit attack with a 4-4 day, driving in two.

The win was long overdue.

“I’m sure there is relief in all of Cleveland and every Cleveland fan in the country,” said Masterson. “It’s like ‘ahhhhhhh, we can win.’”

Said Shelley Duncan one of the team’s elder statesmen: ”I knew we were going to win another game. We weren’t going to go like 0-73.”

Then there was the reaction of manager Manny Acta. The skipper has tried everything to get the streak stopped. Nothing he did seemed to work.

“We did have our big-time yelling and screaming,” Acta said, “with a few words that can’t be said here or printed in your newspapers. But you know what happened after that? We dropped five more in a row.”

He continued.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said. “And I hope I never see it again. I lost 11 in a row before in a rebuilding process in D.C., but I’d just never seen it the way it went here.”

Throughout this losing streak, where the Indians have been blown out several times, there have been whispers in this town that Acta should be the guy who ultimately bears the responsibility and the blame. Some people in Cleveland think that replacing Acta at the end of the season with bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. is the answer. The knock on Acta from his detractors is that he is too laid back and mild mannered.

“I know my story,” Acta said. “When things are going well, I’m being labeled as cool, calm and collected. When my team starts to lose, he doesn’t argue enough, he doesn’t show enough fire or passion. Passion doesn’t mean throwing stuff and yelling profanities and disrespecting people.”

He is exactly right.

GM Chris Antonetti said last week that Acta was not the problem and should be part of the solution, while saying he will be the manager in 2013. That is 100% the correct decision. How can any blame be at the feet of Acta during what has become a debacle season where his team was supposed to be all in? If anyone should have the dirty finger pointed at them, its the guy who as Bill Parcells once said “shops for the groceries,” Antonetti.

Think about it. How is it Acta’s fault that 60% of the guys he counted on to be in his rotation were either suspended (Roberto Hernandez), finished (Derek Lowe), or demoted to the bullpen (Josh Tomlin)? How is it Acta’s fault that the other 40% that were supposed to anchor the rotation (Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez) have been major disappointments?

How is it Acta’s fault that Grady Sizemore never played a game or that Travis Hafner continued to be the Travis Hafner of the last four years? How is it Acta’s fault that Carlos Santana waited until July to get his act together? How is it Acta’s fault that he was handed a left field platoon of Duncan and a washed up Johnny Damon in and was told to make it work? How is it Acta’s fault that Casey Kotchman and Jack Hannahan were his all field, no hit, corner infielders? How is it Acta’s fault that Lonnie Chisenhall finally got his chance and then was hit by a pitch which broke his forearm and ended his season?

Noticing a trend here?

Up until two weeks ago, Acta had this group above .500 for the majority of the season and at times in first place. He should be commended for remaining in the race as long as he did. I get that everyone in Cleveland loves Sandy Alomar Jr. He is a Tribe legend and another reminder of the good old days. Sandy is a brilliant baseball man and a future manager, but Acta is a hidden gem that is under appreciated. To a man, the players in that clubhouse all love playing for Manny. He is smart and straight-forward. The players all know where they stand with him. He is the complete antithesis of his predecessor Eric Wedge.

Do you honestly think that Sandy could do any better next year with a team that will have these same holes next season?

So before you start calling for Acta’s head when this disappointing season ends, take a long look at what he was given to work with.

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  • mgbode

    and there is the key. yes, we still have some good pieces (though not much in the minors behind them). those 6 hitters + 2 pitchers + 3 RP (Perez/Pestano/J.Smith).

    now, do we trust Antonetti to fill in the roster around those pieces? from what we have seen, I would have to say no.

  • nj0

    The moment things don’t go well? We haven’t finished above .500 since 2007! Things haven’t been going well for five years. Laporta was a bust and Knapp is now gone.

    I can only speak for myself, but this week is the first time I started talking about firing people.

  • nj0

    I know. Which makes we wonder “wtf”?

  • mgbode

    Antonetti should be fired because every single free agent signing has failed, every single trade has failed, and every single coaching hire has failed.

    Why should he keep his job?

    —————————–

    Bud Grant gets credit on the drafting from the team (for better or worse – we’ll see moving forward).

  • Steve

    I said elsewhere that I think the Shapiro and Mirabelli moves weren’t really promotions – like O’Dowd in Denver. They got moved into roles where they have less responsibility on personnel. I think there was accountability there.

  • nj0

    So the accountability was a new title and a paycheck.

  • Steve

    Because a year and a half doesn’t constitute of enough trades or coaching hires or big FA moves to know how good a guy actually is. If Antonetti is deemed smart enough that multiple organizations want him in charge, he didn’t suddenly get dumb overnight.

  • Steve

    Welcome to the corporate world. You’ll notice this everywhere. Senior managers who have been with the organization for a while don’t just get thrown to the curb.

  • nj0

    Fair enough. I’m just not going to applaud it when it happens at the sports team I follow.

  • Steve

    Go as well as hoped. There’s a fine distinction. I’m not sure who to blame for LaPorta, but Knapp was a bad break with the lack of medical reports from Philly.

    And I think you have been completely reasonable about this. That wasn’t targeted at you.

  • mgbode

    we disagree then. i mean if it was just a couple moves, fine. but you cannot fail every single time you do anything. that’s crazy.

    http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/transactions/_/name/cle/year/2011/cleveland-indians

    you can scroll through transactions from Oct 5th 2010 on if you like there.

  • mgbode

    agreed.

  • Steve

    I’m familiar with the moves, and like I said above, he’s not getting a pass from me. Not getting lucky on Kotchman and Damon seem to be the biggest factors here, and to be, thats ludicrous. Teams go a year or two without any of their cheap fliers working.

  • nj0

    So you were hoping we’d be this bad this year?

    I’m for giving Antonetti another year simply because, like you said, a year and a half is too short of a time to do anything.

    I also wonder, and thought this at the time, if the Sizemore/Kotchman/Damon/Lowe deals (since they were all one year deals) as well as passing on FA this year were part of a long term plan to make serious acquisitions in 2013 when Hafner (and possibly Carmona) come off the books. I sure hope so.

  • mgbode

    actually, I would go the other way. LaPorta’s happen. He was highly thought of across MLB. He happened to bust, but not until he hit MLB. He killed pitching at all other levels. What can you do other than hope Brantley makes up for it?

    Knapp had shoulder issues and we traded for him without demanding to see a MRI of his shoulder. That one is actually on our FO IMO.

    and I also have not talked about firing people until I really lost hope the past couple weeks and started digging deep for answers (and finding such gaping flaws in the organization and the moves that we have been making)

  • Steve

    We couldn’t demand to see an MRI because there never was one.

  • mgbode

    despite everything. I would not be completely opposed to another year of Antonetti, but, if I was the Indians, it would be under heavy pressure (and he would know that).

  • Steve

    No, but in 2009 and 2010, people expected this team to be bad and rebuilding.

  • mgbode

    i do know that, but he could have had one (the negotations took time) or we could have demanded a different prospect if they refused (though JA Happ hasn’t exactly been doing well for himself either).

  • mgbode

    that is true.

  • Steve

    I wanted no part of Happ, and am glad they didn’t either. Unfortunately you have to just trust that other GMs are selling you rotten goods. I wouldn’t be dealing with Amaro again anytime soon.

  • Steve

    *aren’t*

  • JK

    Only the Sith deal in absolute.

  • mgbode

    ok, let’s list them out:

    Grady re-signing $5mil mistake
    Carmona opt-in $7mil mistake
    Lowe trade $5mil mistake
    Damon signing $1mil mistake

    Ubaldo trade cost 2 of top pitching prospects and was a mistake

    Radinsky pitching coach hire a mistake
    Dave Miller bullpen coach hire? not the same regression as the starters, but the bullpen outside the “good 3″ haven’t been stellar by any means. we’ll call it a push.

    hasn’t hit on any of his flier contracts (guys like Garland, Canzler, etc.). nor have any of the guys claimed off waivers or picked up in minor trades helped out much (Cunningham, Lillibridge, etc.).

    I’d argue Kotchman was a solid FA signing. Didn’t quite perform to expectations with the bat (a little regression), but within the realm of what should have been expected and he has been very solid with the glove.

    also, he got Thomas Neal for Orlando Cabrera. Neal hasn’t been great, but he did get something for O-Cab, which is impressive in itself.

  • mgbode

    even if Philly didn’t know his shoulder was that bad, I wouldn’t trade for a guy on the DL with a shoulder injury without insisting on seeing a MRI. simple as that and I said it was a concern when it happened.

  • Steve

    Sizemore, Lowe and Damon were all fliers. They were paid like below average players. I’m not sure how Hernandez was a mistake. Could Antonetti prevent that?

    Jimenez, and Radinsky, check. Though I feel that is more of one mistake than two. Like I’ve said many times, I hope they do something about the pitching coaching.

    I also think Hannahan was a decent flier pick-up.

  • nj0

    Hannahan was a good move both years as he was supposed to be a bridge/back-up to Chisenhall. Plus, he was actually pretty good last year and decent enough on the roster this year.

  • Steve

    Bicep tendinitis, not a shoulder injury.

  • mgbode

    umm, no:

    “Knapp was recently shut down with right shoulder soreness. He hasn’t pitched
    since July 11. The Indians don’t feel the injury is serious.”

    http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090729&content_id=6127566&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle

  • mgbode

    Carmona-H was a mistake because he was bad last year and really we should have tried to find someone better on the market (Bedard, Maholm, Chen, Chen, etc.). And, I admittedly was on-board with that decision at the time.

    Sizemore + Lowe = $10mil for this season. That is not a flier for a $65mil payroll.

    Damon was a plug to put in the leaking dam, yes.

    Hannahan, like Kotchman, has done the job he was asked to do, yes. Good point.

  • Todd P-Roddy

    BABABOOEY!!

  • Natedawg86

    should have tried to get something for him while we could. We know we had Chiz, and Han the Man was not long term.

  • Natedawg86

    we need to be at least in the 80s. It is ridiculous. I agree with you, I have not seen 1 acq that has been a real eye opener, and you have to find one every year at the level of our payroll. You can’t miss everytime, and you can’t sit idle and wait and see who no one else wants.

  • nj0

    Makes sense now, but back when we though we were going to compete….

  • TSM

    The single most important quality in MLB, NFL and the NBA is the evaluation and aquisition of talent. The Tribe brass has failed miserably at this. How many from our farm system have been impact players in the majors in the last 10 years? How many trades have we made where we gained in the talent area? With a small market team, our braws absolutely must be excellent in these areas for us to have a chance. I think Acta has done a good job with the talent he has, but our front office has failed to supply him with talent. Even worse, who will be in the maors from our farm system in the next 2 or 3 years that will make an impact?

  • http://twitter.com/GreatestHurley Jason Hurley

    Re: OF – We had already traded for Canzler and still had Carrera in AAA (not to mention Goedert). Boom – we have improved over the monster of Damon/Duncan/No Grady/Cunninham.
    A decent starter for $10mm? I bet I can find one…

  • http://twitter.com/GreatestHurley Jason Hurley

    Sounds like it tells the rest of us everything we need to know about your comments.

  • Hail2theChief

    You bring up some good points, but it is ultimately Acta’s responsibility to ensure that the team is 100% focused and prepared each time they take the field. To this end, he has clearly failed. The level of effort and execution of fundamentals were completely inconsistent during the losing streak. While I agree that the FO has not addressed our (many) shortcomings, this same group went 28-23 through May. They didn’t forget how to play baseball, they lost focus and let things snowball. That’s on the manager.

    I do have an issue with his listless demeanor (like most fans, it infuriates me when he doesn’t even bother to argue a clearly blown call), but let’s overlook that for now… The Indians are near the very top of MLB teams in stranded runners, yet we are dead last in sac bunts. How many times have we gotten two on, nobody out, or worse – loaded the bases and walked away with nothing? Sure, you can blame it on the players’ lack of execution, but isn’t it the manager’s job to understand his players’ ability and align strategy appropriately? In my view, this demonstrates poor situational management.

    While I do not put all of our troubles on Acta, I think it is ridiculous to think he should not bear some accountability. Don’t forget, Acta was not singing the blues in the off-season about the roster… He was at the forefront of the propaganda campaign to convince you this team would compete this year. If your points legitimately exonerate Acta, then he would have been tempering fan expectations, not inflating them… Although we disagree, nice article. I enjoyed your perspective…

  • Wheel

    Why would you make the cornerstone of trading your Cy Young award winner a prospect with a bum shoulder?

  • Steve

    I know, the backup QB is always the favorite guy on the roster, but Damon and Duncan both hit better in the majors than Carrera and Goedert did in AAA. Canzler, sure why not, but there’s a reason he hasn’t even gotten a shot.

    I’ll still wait on that pitcher.

  • Steve

    Hoynes reported it as bicep tendinitis.

  • Steve

    You can’t just put Sizemore and Lowe together and say its no longer a flier. Guys paid like below average players (and that’s what $5 mill gets you) are fliers.

  • mgbode

    the Indians have a budget. they knew they had that $10mil to spend. they chose to spend it on Lowe & Sizemore. That was a mistake. End.Of.Story.

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