The Cleveland Indians Have A New Leading Man In Manny Acta

Don’t be fooled by his record, Manny Acta is the right man for the Cleveland Indians.

People will question the hiring of a manager who owns a lifetime managerial record of 158-252, but in his defense, his major league roster in Washington looked like castoffs from Misfit Island.

The fact is simple; there is something about Manny Acta that baseball teams love. This is why there were three teams all offering him their head coaching position, even with a two and a half year losing record. The Cleveland Indians acted the quickest, telling Manny that it was Cleveland’s talented core now, or never.

Acta is 40 years old and will learn from his experience in Washington. He builds relationships with his players well, is multi-lingual, has extensive ties to Latin players, and is just an all-around likable guy.

However, he has chosen a city with the most passionate fans in the world. This city has not seen a championship since 1964.  The Indians have not seen one since 1948.  He will be criticized because Tribe fans are hungry for a winner. Less than 100-feet from their gates is a team vying for an NBA championship every single season; Acta has a tough act to compete with.

Cleveland fans are looking for a reason to cheer again. They endured the Wedge era, which produced only one trip to the postseason. That one shot broke the hearts of Clevelanders all over again. Wedge allowed his team to squander away a 3-1 lead to Boston in the American League Championship Series. A deficit that was not supposed to be overcome, one that would lead us to the defenseless Rockies, and at last our World Championship.

Now Manny Acta faces the tasks of rebuilding faith in this team. He will do so through the use of the well-known baseball analytical method of Sabermetrics. The fans will not see this method, they probably will not understand it, but it is the bread and butter of General Managers Billy Beane and Theo Epstein. This method is used to solidify rosters through a method of objective knowledge about baseball. It employs all of the small facts, and not just the ones that show up in the box score.

As if that isn’t enough for his resume, Acta also has history on his side. The majority of managers in their second tenure have experienced success. 

One example of this is Joe Torre. If the baseball world had given up on him after his first tenure as a manager, the landscape of the game would not be the same today.  His first tenure lasted five years as the manager of the New York Mets. His record was a dismal 286-420. He was fired, and the very next season was managing the Atlanta Braves.  Over his three years there, his record was 257-229, pretty good for a guy who just got fired.

The opportunity to succeed is there for Manny Acta. A young, talented core of athletes awaits him in Cleveland. Players that are hungry and ready to prove to this town that they are as good as that team from 2007. Grady Sizemore will be healthy, Asdrubal Cabrera had a breakout season, and Shin Soo Choo is looking to smash the ball like “the Cerrano of old” all over again (Sorry had to get my Major League reference in there). With history on his side, and those three patrolling the middle of the lineup, Manny Acta will succeed in Cleveland.