Manny Acta has been named the Cleveland Indians' Manager for the 2010 season. As if Cleveland fans were not already disappointed in their team's lack of production (or trading back to back Cy Young winners in back to back seasons). Their reward is the Manager who was fired just over half way through this MLB season by the team with the worst record in the league.
In two and half years at Washington, Acta had a record of 158-252... a .385 winning percentage. Are Indians fans supposed to be excited about a coach whose career record is not losing but almost 100 games below .500?
Cleveland has seemed more like a farm team to larger market teams in the past couple seasons. And the addition of Acta makes it seem like they could be in that position for years to come.
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In your analysis you also have to look at the positives of this hire...
ReplyDeleteActa is only 41 years old. His youth, enthusiasm and positive outlook will bring Cleveland fans (imo the most hopeful fans there are) back to the ballpark just because they are excited to see what the new guy can do (which will help bring in the money to sign the stars we have to keep letting go).
His communication skills are a great asset as well. He speaks English extremely well for a guy born in the Dominican Republic, and his roots there will make communication easier and more effective with the heavy base of talent coming out of that nation.
Another point to be aware of, Acta is a progressive thinker in the game of baseball. He's one of the few managers and even GM's that actually study the game and statistics (see "sabermetric ideas").
A big reason the Indains jumped to hire this guy was because of his desire to coach OUR team...not just any team. He came prepared knowing the talent in our system. The guys that have already played in the pros, and the guys in the minors. He even studied our opponents and offered up his idea of how the Indians can progress within the AL Central.
Even though these positives cannot be as easily backed up with numbers, you have to at least look at the positives before you claim this is a bad hire without seeing the results.