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The Indians' managerial search has apparently whittled its way down to just three names after a round of phone interviews last week. Paul Hoynes at the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the Indians have called Bobby Valentine, Manny Acta, and Travis Fryman to Cleveland for a second round of interviews and that GM Mark Shapiro is likely to name a manager before the World Series ends. Valentine's name is the big one that's obviously going to get people talking. He's got over 1,000 career wins and a National League pennant over his 15-year career with the Rangers and the Mets, plus a Japanese Series title in 2005 with the Chiba Lotte Marines. It's been rumored that he's made it clear there are teams he won't manage for in 2010, so presumably the Indians are a job he would want.
The other names are just as interesting to me, though. Acta was supposed to be one of the best managerial prospects in baseball when he was a coach with the Mets. His stint with the Nationals ended poorly, but he did show an ability to think about baseball in a way that would be unconventional for most managers. That might appeal to a GM like Shapiro, who's known for outside-the-box thinking in Cleveland.
Fryman played for the last of the Indians' dominant squads in the late 1990s and now manages their New York-Penn League affiliate in Mahoning Valley, Ohio. He's got considerably less name recognition than the other two names on the list, but Shapiro's familiar with his work and he must be doing something the GM likes if he works in the system and has made it this far in the process.
It's hard to imagine that Valentine isn't the front-runner here, but there certainly seem to be reasons that Shapiro would be equally interested in the other two candidates. Assuming that one of the three guys from this list is hired, we may have an answer before the World Series even starts.
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