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The Cleveland Indians announced Sunday afternoon that they've hired Manny Acta as their manager. They also interviewed Bobby Valentine, Torey Lovullo, and Ron Roenicke, while Acta also interviewed for and reportedly rejected the Houston Astros managerial position. Acta was fired by the Washington Nationals just before this year's All-Star Game after a 26-61 start and a 158-252 record over 2 1/2 seasons in D.C. The interest shown by both the Astros and Indians seems to indicate pretty clearly that teams aren't holding his ugly record over that span against him, though, and he's quickly going to have a chance to rehabilitate his reputation now that he's got another job.
Acta has long been a favorite of the sabermetric crowd (dig out your copy of Baseball Prospectus 2008 or see here for a brief explanation of how his use of defensive shifts and matchups helped cover for his terrible pitching staff in his first season in Washington), and so it makes sense that he'd be a favorite of Mark Shapiro, who certainly has a reputation as a statistically-oriented GM.
It's hard to believe the choice will be popular in Cleveland, though, given Acta's recent history in Washington. Shapiro's public approval is pretty low after the Indians' failure to follow up on their ALCS appearance in 2007 and if Acta can't turn the ship around quickly, this hiring is probably going to be viewed in a negative light.
No pressure, Manny Acta. Just turn a 97-loss team into a contender or face the wrath of Cleveland.
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