It's Only Words But...

Last week, new Cleveland Indians' manager Manny Acta was in town and took part in a pretty extensive interview with Plain Dealer sportswriter Paul Hoynes. During that interview, many topic were covered and the following caught my attention.

When asked about the slow start the Indians have become accustom to over the last 5 out of 7 years, Manny replied in a very positive and pro-active way. He said that being ready for the season at all positions in both offense and defense along with avoiding injuries in Spring Training were his priorities. He also added that he does not buy into the adage that it is a long season and there are 162 games. He was very committed to ensuring that everyone in the organization knew that a win in April is just as important as a win in September.

That is a direct contrast to his predecessor Eric Wedge who could win a contest versus anyone in watching his chin hairs grow or viewing the impending girder bolt in the top of the dugout rusting through.

There is no denying that under Wedge's leadership, this team was seldom ready coming out of Spring Training and not in great shape either.

I believe that Manny Acta has keyed in on a huge deficiency in Cleveland Indians' baseball of late. I have been screaming about the conditioning of this team. Why do the pitchers year after year suffer from abdominal muscle pulls? How many guys (Victor Martinez, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner) have hidden injuries during the Spring only to pull out of the season for an impending operation when the GM sells off the high-priced talent at mid season?

Manny Acta had many good comments during the interview but these were the thoughts that impressed me. No more extended Spring Training for the entire team. Stop blaming things like the desert air for a team not ready to compete. Wedge is gone and their is a new manager in place. I have the distinct feeling that Manny Acta will not be "Nanny" Acta.

So what kind of team does he have to start with?

• A solid outfield in Sizemore, Choo, and Brantley who can hit and play "D" although all three are lefties.
• A pretty solid infield of Peralta, Cabrera, and Valbuena who also can hit and play "D" as well. The 2 question marks in the infield are 1st base and Catcher but relax. At 1st, the talent is there with LaPorta if he is healthy by February or some strength at AAA in Jordan Brown. Same/same at catcher with Santana and Toregas looking to hit their stride under the leadership of new coach Sandy Alomar Jr.
• The biggest wild card in all of this is pitching, both starting and relieving. Can Acta and Belcher put together a band of arms that can have good to great years? If Westbrook comes back strong and Carmona gets his head on straight and figures out what other pitch to throw when he doesn't get the low, low strike call, winning could become infectious.
• There is a lot of left-handed hitting on this team that could bring an interesting trade or two before the start of Spring Training.
• Look at the American League Central...pretty weak. Minnesota has the best manager who keeps getting the most out of the talent given to him as free agents walk to big money teams. How long can they just win the division and fold in the playoffs? The Tigers have a manager that apparently is a bit too old to weave all of their high-priced talent into a winner. Chicago has Ozzie Guillen who could have written the new comedy routine for Robin Williams, "Weapons of Self Destruction". Kansas City is still two years away at least.

The Cleveland Indians could be on the verge of shocking the baseball world once more. All the right moves have to be made but it is not out of the realm of possibilities for 2010. Acta has been compared to Terry Francona who won the World Series with the Red Sox in his 1st year managing the team.

If Acta puts his words into actions, hang on...The thrill could be back!

Stop With The Cleveland Jokes!

Sports in Cleveland have really hit the skids. This is a town that has an avid fan base but rewards those loyal fans with lousy teams. The Cleveland Cavaliers continue to be our only hope to a major sports title but can they grab the brass ring this year and keep Lebron James? With the season just under way, it looks doubtful.

Then there is the Cleveland Browns football team. How did things get so out of control? The owner is absentee and clueless about the sport, there is no general manager at this time, the head coach has failed to impress anyone in Cleveland or anywhere else for that matter and he has alienated the players and the fans. What would Cleveland football be without a raging quarterback controversy? The fact is that Brady Quinn is a controversy all by himself; from his initial holdout, to his alleged "gay-bashing" in Columbus, to his poor play as a starter, to his cheap shot on national television. This team is in such disarray they make the Cleveland Indians look like a well-oiled machine.

What about the Cleveland Indians?

Maybe things aren't so bad. Yeah, OK, I said it. Is it wishful thinking? To some degree, yes. They sure aren't the New York Yankees but they are not the Washington Nationals either...uh, except we got their manager.

It is true, I did not want Manny Acta to manager this team but he is the manager at least for now so he deserves a chance. His coaching hires have not been all that impressive until he secured Sandy Alomar Jr. as the first base/catching coach. Sandy had many a big game for the Indians through the '90s. From Rookie of the Year, through All-Star MVP at the corner of 9th St. and Ontario, to helping to guide the team to two appearances in the World Series in 1995 and 1997 while winning the American League Central title five years.

So there is some good news in Cleveland.

Welcome back Sandy!

Run Sandy, Run!

Now, if we can get Randy Learner to sell the Browns to someone or some group that will bring respectability back to the area of the country just north of the cradle of football, life will become liveable without that annoying twitch we get when someone mentions "Football".

And, if Dan Gilbert will let Lebron James sign on as a part owner of the Cavaliers, the greatest player ever in the game without a championship can at least stay right here until we match him up with a Scottie Pippen-like player. Sorry, Shaq ain't it!

And, if the Dolans and Mark Shapiro would go get lost in a rain forest somewhere for the next 12 months, maybe, just maybe the Indians could keep a contending team together past June and shock the sporting world once again!

Keep your head up!

Hurry To Sell, Rush To Buy!

Manny Acta is the new manager of the Cleveland Indians. He got his first Cleveland perception right; there will be no parade or fanfare over his hiring in Cleveland. What this amounts to is another low salary manager who is deemed very valuable by this organization because he is bi-lingual but has a losing record as a major league manager. What it really amounts to is that they replaced one yes man with another. Could you imagine some of the conversations between Bobby Valentine and Mark Shapiro? "Well Mark, we thought we might try to beat these guys today with our guys. Just who are our guys today?"
or
"Mark, put down the cell phone and back away!

So now that we have settled into another 3 years or so of the same Indians' baseball, what else could go right, wrong, or anything but the same catatonic boredom we have become so oblivious to?
Well, if the Dolans would do the right thing, they would have the team up for sale. One possible buyer could be Rush Limbaugh! After all, the NFL snubbed him on his attempt to buy the Rams. Think of the possibilities...The team is already considered politically incorrect with their Chief Wahoo mascot. But Rush could turn a "Deaf Ear" to this. The team already plays ultra conservative baseball and that should suit Rush just right. Rush could be right at home handling the steroid issue. He could compare 'roids to his own dependency of prescription drugs.
Yes, a new low has been hit when considering the possibilities of who could wind up buying the Indians...and finding the possibility an improvement!

Valentines Day?

OK, so we have a bona fide manager interviewing for the job of Manager of the Cleveland Indians! Getting this proven winner in the wigwam is the first step to rebuilding and putting a light at the end of the tunnel for becoming a winning franchise once again!

We need Bobby Valentine...Now!

There is a lot of speculation and otherwise horse shit in the local daily paper about the good, the bad, and the ugly of hiring Bobby as manager.

One guy claims that Bobby Valentine is a bit of a loose cannon and will buck upper management. Yeah, Cleveland doesn't do too well with loose cannons as some of those all star players are showing up on every body's post season playoff rosters! A loose cannon is just what this team needs! We have had it with the yes men who go along with the fire sales and the injury cover-ups, and all of the weaknesses associated with losers!

This guy Valentine is a winner!...And he hates to lose!!!

He is hailed as a great baseball mind but some of our sports writers would prefer to mire in the fact that Valentine has been out of American baseball for 6 seasons, that he doesn't have a good knowledge of the American League and the Central Division, and that he is unfamiliar with the new OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage). OK, so what challenges can you think up for day two?! Give me a break!

You can be sure that this team will leave Spring Training ready to play and compete everyday instead of whining about the desert air affecting our hitters and pitchers.

Are there risks for Bobby Valentine? Sure there are! But in analyzing this young team, he would have to be very excited about the talented outfield and infield already in place. Pitching is the big question mark with this team. Valentine has got to be thinking that this is an opportunity to grow a young team quickly into a contender...It just takes the right leader!

This guy is personable, knowledgeable, likable, talented, driven, and a winner!

This town will open their hearts (and wallets) to him and his team. Little Italy will probably name a street after him and make him the Grand Marshall of the Columbus Day Parade!

Let's not let this guy get away. The Indians need Bobby Valentine and right now, Bobby Valentine needs the Cleveland Indians!

Dolan, Shapiro...Have You Completely Given Up?

Here is an excerpt from a story about Manny Acta on the Cleveland Indians official website;

[Manny Acta is a realist.
He knows the average baseball fan, given a preference, would like to see a big name manage his team.
"Everybody in this town and probably every town in America would want a top-[name] guy, a Joe Torre, a Tony LaRussa, one of those guys to walk in and manage their club," Acta said.
Acta, who was in town Tuesday to interview for the Indians' managerial job, also realizes names like his won't result in a ticker-tape parade with people lining the streets downtown.
"The reality is those guys don't go for those jobs," Acta said of baseball's big name managers. "Those type of jobs go to guys like me."
Acta managed the Washington Nationals for two-plus seasons and compiled a 158-252 record before being replaced in July.]

So Manny, what are you saying...this is a second rate job?

Perhaps that is the way the job is being portrayed to him.

Until the ownership and upper management of the Cleveland Indians grasp the reality that they must compete at a higher level than they have been or even want to, they will continue to challenge for last place in the American League Central Division.

In August, Indians' President Paul Dolan stated that this team in this small market can only be expected to be competitive one to two years in a five to six year span.

Now we have to swallow the fact that managing a major league baseball team in Cleveland is a second rate job. Sure it is, if all you are willing to pay for is a second rate manager!

Manny Acta, take your .385 major league managing "losing" record and go manage Houston!

Mr. Dolan, SELL THIS TEAM!

MY2K Could Cheat Us!

By now, you have heard of the movie, seen the previews, read something in the paper about the Internet hysteria developing, or you have just been working so hard that you are unaware of the craze sweeping the world. Yeah, it's all about the movie "2012" depicting the events of the end of the world. Silly you say? Yeah, probably, but the momentum the movie is giving the quickly developing panic is of some serious concern, now known as MY2K. Want to write it off? Google 2012 and see what you get.
It seems the basis of the movie and the concern is the fact that the ancient Mayan calendar ends in 2012, December 21, 2012 to be exact. A prediction of a Planet X or possibly two planets on a collision course with Earth is raising the speculation that the Mayans may have had more insight to this instead of just getting lazy and ending their calendar when they did.


But hold on a sec...What if they did know something? After all, about the time the Mayans were building their great temples, Egyptians on the other side of the world were building pyramids of similar size and shape. OK, so what the heck does this have to do with a Cleveland Indians blog?


Well, when you visit some of the 2012 web sites, there is so much speculation, some out of prophecy, some out of fear, some even humorous. I tend to take a humorous approach to these things. Why? Well I live in Cleveland where we haven't had a major sports championship since 1964 and every day appears to be cataclysmic in not only sports but the weather, the economy, etc. So it seems that these Mayans were Indians, right? It would be fitting that the Cleveland Indians should win the world series two months before the end of the world. If these guys can predict the end of the world they certainly ought to be able to make book on something as simple as who wins the 2012 world series, don't ya think?
But wait, what if they got part of this wrong? What if they got the end date wrong? What if the end date is really October 21, 2012? Now that would make a lot of sense in Cleveland. Picture this; The Tribe handily wins the division, breezes through the ALDC and the ALCS to reach the 2012 World Series in mid-October. They begin play in the series where the lights are not needed to be turned on because of the brilliance of the two approaching planets on a collision course with Earth. Then, just as the Indians are about to go 3 games to none on their series opponent, WHAM-BAM, catastrophe hits!

Well, don't get overly concerned. This team is far from being competitive until at least the 2013 season. Hell, they don't even have a manager yet!
Enjoy the movie but don't lose any sleep over it, unless you are an Indians' fan where sleep is constantly interrupted by other catastrophes caused by a lack of solid ownership and management.

Who Dat Man?!

As the Cleveland Indians trick or treat through their search for a new manager, I cannot help but unmask who I believe to be the right man for the job, Bobby Valentine. While managing the Mets, Valentine was ejected from a game and later appeared back in the dugout with sunglasses and a fake mustache. He was fined and suspended for this action.
I loved it then and I love it now!
Here is the important part; Bobby has big league management experience, a winning record, and a pennant. How many of the other candidates have that? I guess we don't really know until the also rans are announced when the new manager is named. But speculation leads us to understand that they may be talking to John Farrell (no big league management experience), Travis Fryman (NBLME), and Brad Mills (NBLME).
Of course, names like Buddy Bell surface and even though he has big league managerial experience, he lacks a winning record...too often. Mike Hargrove keeps surfacing as well. Commitment would be the big question. Remember he quit on Seattle.
So Bobby Valentine is probably the leading candidate. Come on Bobby, there is no hiding the fact that you want to manage in the bigs again so dust off the sunglasses and mustache and bring your passion for the game and sense of humor to the shores of Lake Erie!

Good Fit? Yeah!