Report: Manny Acta to Become Indians Manager (Updated)
John Heyman from Sports Illustrated is reporting that former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta has been hired as the Cleveland Baseball Indians’ manager.
Heyman followed up by stating he things Acta is a good hire. The Houston Astros were also reported to desire the services of the Dominican skipper. Acta impressed in his post-interview press conference earlier this week.
The Indians other options included Bobby Valentine, Ron Roenicke, and Torrey Luvullo.
Updates will follow as more details are available.
3:10 – Anthony Castrovince is reporting the same.
3:20 – Paul Hoynes reports that the deal is a three-year contract with Acta, who reportedly turned down an offer from the Houston Astros.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
What a complete joke…I hate Cleveland sports.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Good hire. I am happy they went outside the system and had someone who at least had experience. Now on to bigger issues: FIND SOME STARTING PITCHING!!
October 25th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Man, was hoping for Bobby Valentine. Oh well, he would’ve been the second choice. Good move.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
There didn’t seem to be an ideal option out there that was willing to come to Cleveland (Farrell seemed like the best choice), so I guess Acta’s acceptable. Tough to know what to make of him since he had such a losing record but had nothing to work with here in DC. I hope they go ahead and bring in an experienced bench coach like Mike Hargrove to assist.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
So the Indians hired a cast-off from the Washington effin’ Nationals… That’s worse than the Mangini hiring…
October 25th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I like the hire. We know he can endure the pain of Washington with no talent and at least win a few so hopefully he win a few more with mroe talent. I’m watching the Browns so I am hoping for something positive in next year and Acta and at least is better than the Grind.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
How can anyone still want Valentine after seeing his press conference? I want a manager who works in the best interest of the team not themselves. I think the Acta hiring was fine, but it’s still contingent upon who he appoints to his staff.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
can people stop harping that they want Hargrove? I liked him as a manager, but he never finished with some of the best lineups this city will ever see, THEN he quit on his last club. Valentine more than likely will hold out for a better offer and Mattingly had no experience. They needed to go outside the system. I only worry that Acta is too much a players coach, but after the tension of the grind, maybe it will be a welcome change.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
A good hire, Ben? A good hire??? This guy has a career winning percentage of .385! He has never even led a team to a .500 season! By winning percentage, he’s the worst manager in MLB over the past 5 years. Good hire??? What drugs are you on?!
October 25th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
He must have come cheap, terrible record and a complete nobody. Way to make a splash Dolan & Shapiro. Bobby V must have been too much money, and the fact that he is a winner must have scared you.
Once again another dumb move by an ownership that has no clue along with the GM who should have also been booted like Wedge was.
Well as we say in Cleveland there’s always next year.
This must be the big splash that they intend to make in the off season, boy this will really bring the fans back with this big name manager.
No hitting, no pitching, no money and no fans a recipe for success.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
@ # 9 – he also had a completely bare cupboard in terms of players in DC. Yes, his win percentage is terrible (but he only coached for 2.5 years, not 5 like you’re making it look). But he’s not a terrible hire, like you’re making him out to be. In my opinion he was the best option of the guys they were checking out.
Rather than trying to do internet-tough guy-ing towards ben, how about you bring something constructive to the table. Who would you rather have, and why?
October 25th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I told you all this would happen-this wasn’t an interview process, rather another phoney Shapetti show with the only agenda of hiring yet another faceless nameless non-entity who won’t bark at what he’s told. Wait until the nameless, faceless coaching staff is named. Go ahead, plunk down your hard-earned dollars for this committment. Total sham. I don’t care what “John Heyman” has to say.
This is a JOKE. JOKE. JOKE. As is Dolan and Shapiro. Now go ahead and spin away. Manny Acta and Eric Mangini……..what a freakin joke.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Great-you all like the hire, should anyone expect differently? Has the thought of getting someone with a winning heritage and the ability to transmit that to the locker room ever crossed your minds? Enjoy the Acta way, committment to losing.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
@ johnnydom – way to make a splash? So are you saying that the only good hires are ones that everyone will clap hands about because they’re a big name? By that logic, you probably told everyone you know to buy their replica Larry O’Brien trophy when the Cavs got Shaq because you’d heard of Shaq before.
I know folks that really, really wanted Acta in Houston. A complete nobody? The team’s Latin players are going to love this hiring – expect to see them play hard for Acta.
Regardless of who the manager is, the team still would have “no hitting, no pitching, no money” – so if this hiring is all it takes to turn you away, then I’m all for it. But hey – enjoy being a curmudgeon.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I swear, I will punch anyone who I speak to who pays to see this team while Dolan owns it. If you keep giving money to this guy, then you deserve every ounce of crap you’re forced to deal with. Have fun watching CC vs. Lee in the World Series, because YOU PEOPLE who paid to support this Dolan team have empowered that.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Isis, do you also believe that 9/11 was a government farce?
Honestly – nameless, faceless? THERE’S A PICTURE OF ACTA ABOVE HE CLEARLY HAS A FACE.
Ability to transmit to to the locker room – you mean like speaking Spanish? Nope. That’s not the kinds of transmissions we like here in AMERRRRICA.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Realism – have fun spending time in jail after punching lots of people in the face.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
@15, that has to be one of the most irrational responses to sports I’ve ever seen. I mean, I wouldn’t mind taking the chance to punch Derek Anderson in the face, but assaulting all of the thousands upon thousands of people who contribute to the Indians’ coffers and are still fans of this franchise? Either you spend a lot of time in jail or you pick the wrong bar and spend a lot of time in the hospital. Smart.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
When did everyone who started commenting on this site become such Negative Nancy’s (to the WFNY editors, I just saved you the trouble of editing my comment)? Geez, every comment I read here now is about how awful Cleveland sports are, how everything running a team is stupid and we, the people commenting on the internet, are the smart ones. The only people who every use common sense in the comment section are the WFNY editors, I really feel bad for you guys. Isis, you must be a truly miserable human being. Ive never seen you write anything happy ever, all you do is complain, and if you are just doing this to piss people off, the you are a sad human being. I really feel sorry for you, either way your life must be miserable. Everybody, before you comment on here and look like an idiot, take a deep breath, use research to find facts about what you are claiming, and then do it
People who talk about this guys win percentage need to look at the roster he had in DC. Zimmerman is very good, Dunn is ok, and then after that the lineup was awful, and there was nothing resembling starting pitching on that team. The Indians are going to have a very young and inexperienced team next year, so hiring a guy with coaching experience and is used to trying to develop young talent seems smarter then hiring a bench coach with no managerial experience. Just complaining about his horrible win percentage is not a valid argument because the team he had was nowhere near mediocre.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Bobby Valentine has been in Japan the past few years, and he never went far in the playoffs while he was in NY, with some pretty damn good teams. And he is certifiably insane. But yea, he is a winner
October 25th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Let’s be honest….
This may be a good hire but we’ll really know in 1-2 years. From what I’ve read, he comes with a “common sense” approach. Personally, i would have liked Mattingly as it would have been a “statement hire” and it would have been a culture change for the team. I don’t know much about his leadership capabilities, his game management style or his strengths.
I think we need to wait and see with Acta. Just because he speaks Spanish doesn’t necessarily mean he can make Carmona throw strikes.
The Tribe needs to work on PR now. They need to give the fans a damn reason to watch next year. They are suffering mightily with team access and garnering interest….
Go Tribe….i guess
Neal
October 25th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
The lead in for the local DC news sportscast – “The Nationals trash is another team’s treasure”.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
As much as I fight with Isis about the Browns complaining, I am actually going to agree with him on this one. We went and hired a guy with an abysmal record. Way to go Dolan, go get the cheapest guy you can. So this guy couldn’t do anything with no talent they had in Washington? What is it that we have here in Cleveland? A bunch of All-Stars? Any guy that starts to do anything, we just trade him anyway. This franchise is a joke.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Mangini/Acta, I’m 54 and a lifelong Browns/Indians fan. Wasn’t old enough to remember 64 Browns and won’t live long enough to see another with these kind of hires.
“Momma don’t let your babies grow up to be Browns or Indians fans.
Teach them to root for Patriots and Phillies”
October 25th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I really don’t think anyone, even god himself, could have coached the nationals to much better than what Acta did. Have you seen that team? That roster? that SYSTEM? If you assume we are now automatically a sub .400 team you’re crazy.
And on top of that, how many of you have ever watched a Nationals game and even seen Acta manage? I would bet…uh…about none.
@ Realism- the idea that you would punch anyone going to Indians games is moronic. Even more so, the fact that you think their paid attendance caused CC and Cliff Lee to get traded away is beyond stupid. If anything, it is people’s refusal to go see and support the team that led to the Indians to not being able to afford to keep those players.
I’m not saying I support this signing, but given the options, I’ll take it and give it a chance. We have a good farm system and decent young players…let’s see what Acta can do with that instead of the joke of a Nationals’ roster.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
<— has seen a Nationals game and seen Acta manage.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
It’s called sarcasm, morons. Overstating the obvious. Like saying “I’d kill for the Indians to win a World Series.”
I guess the common sense you’ve just applied to the statement also reflects your own intelligence when it comes to paying to support this team.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
We have a font for sarcasm here, tough guy. It’s called all caps.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
@jeff p, that was an ignorant statement. First off, see above. It’s sarcasm. Learn to recognize it. But will I hit my friends in the arm if they tell me they paid for Tribe tickets. Sure. Make sure to call the cops on me…while you’re at it, tell them I was texting this while driving! I’ll be sure to go to jail then!!!!
Now back to common sense, which you refused to apply in your post…
Acta did coach a terrible Washington team, but to say God himself couldn’t coach them? Acta’s replacement had a .440 winning percentage with the same team Acta had a .299 WP with this season. .440 is better than Acta’s WP last season too.
Now, have you ever seen the Indians’ team? Have you seen the roster? Every single player that becomes successful (read: worth more money) is traded away for a Single-A player. Had Texas seen something in Acta and hired him to run a team they will invest in, I would understand…because Texas has proven they will actually invest in a team. However, the Indians will not. So you’re taking a guy who was a miserable failure in a cheap program, and putting him in the exact same position in another cheap program. That’s the definition of insanity…doing the exact same thing over and over again while expecting different results (to be fair, it’s not an exact comparison because Washington was actually more aggressive on the free agent market than were the Indians).
Now back to my initial point…if CC and Lee were traded away because of poor attendance, consider that poor attendance is the direct result of the Indians not building a successful franchise. It is absolutely ridiculous that some people are still too blind to see it at this point, but you might have noticed that under Jacobs, the Indians actually went after talent, built a successful team, and had a record amount of sold-out games as result. Under Dolan, the Indians have gotten rid of all our talent, not gone after any worthy free agents, have not traded for any All-Star caliber players, and fans have not supported them as result. And yes, I know that there were a couple years where the Browns weren’t here and the Cavs stunk and all we had was baseball. But the Cavs, Indians and Browns were all good when the Gladiators started here, and they still had 18,000+ people at many of the games because they WON. Build a winner, and Cleveland will support it.
I’m sorry that you might not understand this, jeff p, but if you want to sell pizzas, make a good product and price it right. You can’t make a crappy pizza and tell your customers that you’ll improve it if they start buying it. That’s the most basic element of business, and Dolan and all of his defenders do not get it. The Indians fans need to hit this moron where it hurts–his wallet. Quit investing in this miserable failure of an ownership, and he will learn to either sell the program or change his strategy to stop losing money. Either way, we all win at that point.
And if you even respond to this with Shapiro’s “we’re a mid-market team” BS, I swear, I will…flick you…but please don’t tell the police on me!!!
October 25th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Wow, Denny. You’re talking trash to someone through your own blog, about a statement I made and directed at no one in particular. And yet, you’re calling someone else a “tough guy.” Amazing. Truly…
October 25th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
These comments are getting more and more like cleveland.com’s every day. The anger is getting out of control.
FWIW, I think the debate about whether Acta was a good hire will be very similar to the DA vs. BQ debate. Arguments will continue to be made from both sides of the aisle, and no one will change their minds until the results are seen. I’ll just prepare now for the mindless banter that’s sure to be going strong until at least the All-Star break.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Acta is a phenomenal hire. To have his winning percentage with the Nationals was incredible. I’ve watched them play for the last five years (I live in the area) and trust me, they’ve had a pitching staff most AA teams would love to have the entire time.
You idiots clamoring for Grover were probably calling for his head ten years ago. Bobby V demonstrated what an idiot he is at his press conference. Mattingly has never been a manager anywhere and has only worked in big markets for clubs with big money. Lovullo might have been OK, but it was important to go outside of the organization here to get some fresh perspective in my opinion.
Manny Acta will be a fine manager.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Hey Denny,
You Latin? Cause I didn’t put down Acta or whatever his name is. The Larry O’Brien trophy, you must write comedy for Conan O’ Brien, he is about as funny as you. I am not a curmudgeon I am a Cleveland fan sick and tired of piss poor excuses from management that includes the Indians and the Browns. No one wants them to be winners more then I do, but please be real here, this is another “cheap” hire and don’t use this as motivation for the Latino players, it should have been someone that knows how to win like Bobby Valentine, just like Lerner who hired Mangini a losing coach when Super Bowl winning coaches are available, don’t make excuses for the Dolan’s and Shapiro unless that’s who Denny really is???
October 25th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
This is why I think he is a good hire:
1. He won 73 games in 2007. In Washington. Let that sink in.
2. I think he fits the roster and they could use a players manager after the grind.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
For the record I am not taking any drugs.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I agree, we should’ve hired Valentine. He’s an experienced head man who likes to run a team exactly his own way, despite being chased out of NY at his last job.
Oh, wait, I just described Eric Mangini.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
For those who are bi**hing about the hire… Who did you want? Give me a name and a reason why a). you want them and b). why they would accept the job.
bcoz
October 25th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I agree with you on 2007. But he got worse each season after. I also agree on getting someone with experience. However, I just can’t make sense of getting an experiences guy who also just so happens to maybe have the worst record of any available former head coach in MLB history. If you want someone with experience who maybe didn’t work out perfectly with a former team, but showed plenty of potential, why not Willy Randolph? Why not Valentine? Heck, I did not think Hargrove would be a good fit with this team, but at least the guy has proven he can get the job done!
This is so frustrating to me mainly because it follows the exact path of Dolan/Shapiro. Go cheap first, make excuses later. I knew from day 1 that Valentine was only in there for show, just like Dolan “made a comparative offer” to Thome for show, after he already agreed to a contract with the Phillies. Valentine would have demanded the team invest in players, and Dolan would have never had it. So I knew there was no chance of that. But in my humble opinion, Acta was the worst hire he could have gotten. The guy has a much worse record than the bad manager we just got rid of.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
You guys need lay off of Denny.
@ Realism, Denny was pointing out that we use caps when we type in sarcasm, so people don’t misunderstand your point, like what just happened here. So calm the heck down. Don’t let your emotions get in the way of an intelligent argument.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Why not Willie Randolph? Why not John Farrell? And did anyone consider hiring a decent coach away from another decent program? Other teams do it…
October 25th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
@Realism
Uhhh… because John Farrell said no?
October 25th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Lebron3eb, as you can see, my emotions are not getting in the way of an intelligent argument. Had Denny made that point without twice throwing in the snide “tough guy” name-calling that sounds like junior high playground trash talk, I would have continued to ignore him, just as I did the first time he said it. Sorry, but Denny went out of his way to criticize me for something he blatantly became guilty of doing.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Kind of…we don’t know the details there, and the Indians did not pursue him. For all we know, they may have made a low-ball money offer or told him we would not stop trading away our top players, and he may have said “Ok, then we won’t talk any longer.” He said himself he wants to pursue coaching at the next level. Saying he is “finishing his current job” is a nice way of saying he doesn’t want to go to the next level with this particular Indians team, for whatever reason that we don’t know about.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
There is no reason to get excited about the Acta hiring. It isn’t a splashy move. It is suspect until he proves that he can find a way to make the Indians perform better than the Nationals did. Calling it a failure is premature, but he has a lot to prove and I will be looking closely at what coaching staff they hire.
For example, if they hired a stellar bench coach, I would feel a lot better. I am not sure who that would be, but I will let you know as they start hiring.
I would love to know why Shapiro thinks this guy will be better than Wedge.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Maybe we can get Uecker over here, convert Hafner to voodoo (and get him to hit fastballs again at least), sign Sal Fasano again, and pick up a felon. We already have the experienced but really no-name manager, terrible owner, and enough guys who can run but not hit down in the minors, with no excitement and the prospect of extremely low attendance numbers for the season. Then it turns out that Dolan used to be a stripper in Vegas. We don’t have a long way to go.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I don’t think this is a good move at all but I hope I am proven wrong.
October 25th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
I also would have been OK with Randolph. I do find it a little odd that I am not really hearing his name anywhere this winter. I don’t think Farrell wants to be here because he knows the Boston job is his in the future. Look at it this way; for all that some people here complain about the Tribe; the Astros and the Indians made him an offer. He came here.
October 25th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I am growing to like the hire. Peralta and Carmona are vital cogs and maybe Acta can get thru to them. Bobby V did not want the job.. its pretty obvious.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
@ Realism – I apologize for being dickish. I’d pre-braced myself for the flood of negativity that I knew was coming with this hire and was a bit more reactionary than I should have been. I shouldn’t have ruffled feathers like I did and I apologize for that. Anger mounts quickly – you’re fairly new to commenting, so please for everybody’s sake put a sarcasm disclaimer going forward (typing in caps is how we typically do this).
While I’m not a ‘kool aid drinking rose glasses wearing homer cheerleader’, I think that of the candidates that have been interviewed, Acta is the best one. I’m not saying he’s the best guy for the team – I don’t know who exactly that is. I just really do not look forward to having the BQ/DA debate about the Indians’ manager for the next 7 or 8 months (kudos to JDaz for pointing that out). People are screaming bloody murder left and right and there’s no real well-defined answer except that, obviously, everyone is correct and immobile in their opinion.
@ johnnydom – I am neither Latin nor a writer for Conan nor a Dolan nor a Shapiro.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
#49- “I am neither Latin nor a writer for Conan nor a Dolan nor a Shapiro.”
But you could be, if you stay at a Holiday Inn Express.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Where is Rodney King and his “can’t we all just get along” statement when we need him.
Give Acta a chance, just like most of us are begging the browns to do the same with Quinn. I bet if the Browns had won, or at least played like a D-1A school, the talk in here wouldn’t be so negative.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:33 am
And in other news, CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee will be starting Game 1 of the World Series….
October 26th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I appreciate that Denny, and I apologize as well for being overly blunt about things without really declaring what I was saying as sarcasm. I’ve grown to a point with this Indians ownership that nothing surprises me, yet somehow I am still baffled at some of their moves. Acta could turn out to be a great manager, but by Dolan/Shapiro’s track record, I am forced to assume this is nothing more than them looking for another way to save money, and spin it to a positive. I can’t help but think Valentine and Farrell both told the Indians they would have to invest in talent to be successful, and Dolan/Shapiro decided to do things their own way. Thus the reason both CC and Lee are pitching in the World Series right now…and neither for us.
That being said, I am constantly amazed at this…if I laid out any number of dumb Indians moves as a hypothetical six months in advance, many of my friends would say that’s an absurd move, and that they would disown the Indians ownership if they did it. Six months rolls around, the Indians do just that, and I find those same people making excuses for them. The way I see it, if we as fans want anything to change, we have to show Dolan that we will refuse to financially support his cheap decisions. I understand many don’t see it that way, but–and it pains me to say this–I’m a fan who will hold out until 1/ Dolan invests in this team, or 2/ Dolan sells this team before I will ever buy tickets or merchandise again.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Just to clarify, I think the people not giving Acta a chance are not those who have anything against Acta. We are coming from the angle that this ownership always takes the cheap route. When I was ticked that the Indians traded CC for LaPorta, it wasn’t about not giving LaPorta a chance…it was about giving up on re-signing a top caliber pitcher, and instead trading him for a Single-A prospect.
Acta could turn out to be a phenomenal coach and a better person. However, I don’t believe you can take a guy with an absolutely horrid track record, put him into practically the exact same situation he just was fired from, not support him with acquired, proven talent, and expect a majorly different result.
If the kid at Akron has a 1.4 GPA, you can’t toss him into Harvard, not provide any study assistance or counseling, and expect a 4.0.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:24 am
I like the hire – mostly because it makes Isis and Realism angry. GRRRRR!!!! ANGRY!!
I CAN’T WAIT FOR A WHOLE SEASON OF THEM COMPLAINING ABOUT A BAD TEAM WE KNEW WOULD BE BAD!!
October 26th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Realism:
The Astros front office wanted Acta. It’s the organization he came up with, and he described a return to Houston as a “dream.” Yet Drayton McLane wouldn’t pony up for a third contract year, so Manny came to Cleveland. How do we come across as cheap in that context? Only as compared the potential hiring of Valentine, whose total joke of a press conference made it clear he had no interest in this job, and Mattingly, who was never more than a rumor anyway (and, from all accounts, is in line to take over for Torre in LA in 2011 anyway).
I don’t get the thousands of fans like you who come at this team from one predetermined angle – DOLAN IS CHEAP! ARRRGH! – and blame every failure on it. Dolan’s budget didn’t hurt Hafner’s shoulder or make Fausto lose his control or freeze Jhonny’s development. I agree with you that Acta has a lot to prove, but Miller Huggins couldn’t win with those problems. Conversely, Wedge COULD have won the Central (did you see the team that did?), even without Cliff and CC and Victor, if those things had broken right.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Mike, as I previously noted, if a team that actually invests in talent (Texas was the example I used) had seen potential in Acta, yet saw that he was restricted by Washington’s ownership, I would understand. Houston is very close to Mexico, has a large Hispanic population, and invests in talent. Acta would be a hero to the Astros fans, would grow a large fan base south of the border, and may have an opportunity to flourish under a different style of ownership. So there’s no wonder why Houston wanted him.
However, Acta does nothing for the local population, and is going in to a very similar situation as to that he was just in–and failed miserably at–in Washington. So I don’t get it. I also could understand if a successful team with a different style of ownership went after Wedge. He showed potential with the Tribe, but ultimately had his hands tied. Maybe he really is as poor of a manager as his record showed. However, there are no organizations in the MLB that got rid of the kind of talent the Indians did, yet still expected their manager to succeed. In all honesty, your excuses of Fausto’s injury and Hafner’s decline should support the Indians KEEPING Wedge, opposed to HIRING Acta.
I get that injuries and other unexpected incidents could have made the Indians better. But if not for injuries, the Indians would have also been swept by the Yankees in 2007. So injuries go both ways, and the only successful year Dolan has ever brought us was due to them going against our opponents.
A good owner/GM would have recognized Fausto was young. He would have built around pitching, opposed to trading top pitching to “build.” He would have invested in additional batting power to surround Hafner, as Jacobs did when he brought in players like Matt Williams, Juan Gonzalez, David Justice and Robbie Alomar. He would have gone after a true lead-off hitter so Sizemore wasn’t being wasted there. He would have gone after a true closer earlier, instead of paying too much for a career-injured, declining Kerry Wood, only because he just saw the guy he should have gotten–K-Rod–sign for less this season than he signed Wood for (and we both know he didn’t go after K-Rod because he felt he would want too much).
I’m sorry, but I feel Dolan brought Acta in to a position where he is set up to fail. I keep waiting for Dolan to prove me wrong, but thus far, every prediction I’ve made about him at the beginning of each season has been dead on, and even surpassed my most pessimistic assumptions. At this point, I no longer think it’s my duty to “give him a chance.” He has to start proving himself to me, and all other former Indians fans, for once.