Manny Acta Deserves Better

(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

The rumors aren’t whispers, they are discernible shouts over the constant din of failure emanating from Nationals Park. Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta will likely be fired in the coming days, and it is unfortunate given the mess of a franchise that he is charged with leading.

Acta, whom many regard as a superior manager of egos and a knowledgeable baseball mind, didn’t choose to assemble a team of malcontents, arrogant blowhards, and pitchers who would’nt come out of the bullpen for the Williams & Connolly softball team. His bosses did.

Acta could not have predicted that the team would be utter failures at everything not related to product on the field.

And certainly, he could not have controlled emerging new sports media capital of the world that Washington D.C. has become, documenting every flop and “NOT POSSIBLE!” moment that the Nats have pulled out of thin air over the last three seasons.

It’s not a situation where players aren’t responding to his coaching style or motivational techniques. It’s that they don’t give a damn about the team anymore. They read the blogs, hear the jokes and see the final scores. They have nothing to play for, and it’s nothing personal against Acta.

And yet, the Nats compound their failures by drawing out the dismissal of the fall guy.

Somebody has to go, and since the Lerners can’t be fired and the league has made no designs on contracting the team, Acta has to be relieved of duty in place of the players who absolutely won’t produce. But the franchise owes him better than the whole world seeing the writing on the wall that he has to pass everyday on his way to a job and a franchise that is beneath him.

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