Photo: AP

Mark Shapiro set a deadline, and not only did he meet it, but he left a couple weeks to spare. Shapiro, sped up by another team's wishes, named former Nationals skipper Manny Acta the 40th manager of the Cleveland Indians Sunday.

Acta, 40, had a record of 158-252 in his two and a half seasons in Washington from 2007 to July 2009. He was let go on July 13th after a 26-61 start to the '09 campaign. The Nationals' records his first two years were 73-89 and 59-102 respectively. To be fair, however, the Nationals have not had a winning record since 2003, when they went 83-79 as the Montreal Expos, and they certainly don't look to be headed that way anytime in the next season or two.