Francona Figures to Give Youngsters a Shot

The big hullabaloo about the out clause in new Indians’ manager Terry Francona’s contract if team president Mark Shapiro and/or GM Chris Antonetti are no longer with the organization is another case of people making more out of something than there actually is.

The fact is if Shapiro were to be let go and another president was named, the new guy would want to hire his own GM, and that GM would want to hire his own skipper.

The thing no one brings up is that they may hire someone Francona is very comfortable working with and he would stay on anyway.

That all said, you have to love the aggressiveness of Shapiro and Antonetti, even those who have been highly critical of the Tribe front office.

Francona has instant credibility, with two World Series championships to his credit. And for those who point out the Red Sox’ high payroll in those years, there are plenty of large market teams paying players huge dollars who aren’t winning World Series.

Shapiro is said to be very respected within the game, and that respect and friendship with the former Boston manager led to his hire.

The Indians organization desperately needs the opinion of an outsider, particularly one connected with a winning franchise. Terry Francona provides just that.

Another plus is the new managers success in breaking young players into the major leagues. Much has been made of “Tito” giving breaks to players such as Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Jon Lester, but even in Philadelphia, he made everyday players out of Scott Rolen, Mike Lieberthal, Bobby Abreu, and Pat Burrell.

Contrast that to previous managers who had to be dragged kicking and screaming to play young players, preferring marginal veterans instead.

While it is true those players were highly regarded in the minor leagues, save for Youkilis, only Rolen, Ellsbury, and Burrell were ranked in the top 20 prospects in the game.

You have to believe that Lonnie Chisenhall has to feel good about being the everyday third baseman for the 2013 Indians.

With his resume, you have to believe Francona will not hesitate to challenge the front office’s opinions on certain players. He knows and understands what it takes to win in the major leagues and will make sure everyone wearing a uniform understands that winning is important.

His career winning percentage, including when he was in Philadelphia is .519. Compare that to Manny Acta’s record of .418. Remember, managers get paid to win ballgames.

He likely will bring in a new coaching staff as well, although Sandy Alomar Jr. may return as bench coach, and that’s because Francona and Alomar are former teammates and the new skipper wants him.

That means a new hitting coach with a different perspective, a new pitching coach that will no doubt emphasize throwing strikes, and an entirely new way of looking at the game in total. A winning way of looking at it.

Last year, when the Arizona Diamondbacks surprised and won the NL West title, a look at their manager and coaches showed Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammell, Matt Williams, and Charles Nagy, all players who spent most of their career on winning team.

That rubs off on young players, and it wouldn’t be a shock if Francona did something similar and bring in proven winners to teach his new club.

The guess here is we’ve heard the last excuse made by the Indians’ field manager in a very long time.

The Issue With Acta.

The Cleveland Indians started their off-season a little early by jettisoning Manny Acta with six games remaining in the season.

The timing was odd, only because the front office could have easily waited a week until the season was over to do it. In fact, doing the deed when they did seemed a little classless.

It was the first of hopefully many moves this off-season to repair an organization that has put together nine losing seasons in the last 11 years.

Unfortunately, from the baseball operations, this appears to be the only change since team president Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti will remain in charge going into 2013.

You can make a very good argument that Acta had a better last 12 months than his boss, but he got the gate and the GM remains on the job.

Most supporters of Acta come from the angle that the former manager is a good man, which there is no reason to doubt. However, that’s not enough to be successful at the major league skipper.

His starting pitching stunk for much of the season, and his usual line up was made up of five decent to good hitters, followed up by four guys who couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag.

However, there are two lasting impressions of Manny Acta for most Indians fans.

One was his seeming refusal to argue calls that went against the Tribe.

The situation that galled most Indians fans was the play in Yankee Stadium when DeWayne Wise fell into the stands to catch a foul ball off the bat of Jack Hannahan, and clearly dropped the ball before he emerged from the seats.

Acta never came out, and waited for Hannahan to be ejected by the third base umpire the next inning before coming out of the dugout.

There is a sentiment out there that he may have lost his team right then and there.

His other weakness was his hesitation to use young players. In his three years in charge, the only young players he willingly put in the lineup were Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis.

It was a no brainer to use Santana over Lou Marson, but with Kipnis, he was kept in the minor leagues at least a month longer than needed while Acta kept playing Orlando Cabrera who struggled since the end of April.

Acta also didn’t use Cord Phelps instead of Cabrera when he was brought up to the bigs after a solid season at Columbus.

He preferred using veterans for the most part, using players like Jack Hannahan and Casey Kotchman over younger guys.

Perhaps that was an organizational decision, but he could have argued for the Lonnie Chisenhalls and Russ Canzlers of the world.

It was noticeable that in Sandy Alomar Jr.’s first game as manager, he had Phelps hitting in the two hole and Chisenhall higher in the batting order.

The successful managers in the major leagues generally aren’t afraid to give young players a shot over established mediocre guys.

Look at Davey Johnson. He knew Bryce Harper was better than the players he was using, even at 19 years old. He did the same thing with the Mets and Dwight Gooden.

Even in Cleveland, Charlie Manuel went to the wall for a 20-year-old C.C. Sabathia in 2001. The organization wanted to send him back to the minors.

Manny Acta isn’t a horrible major league manager, but he wasn’t a difference maker either.

However, that’s what the Tribe needs and Chris Antonetti has to figure out whether Alomar or Terry Francona can be exactly that.

Needing a Veteran Coach/Manager

There is a scene in the baseball movie “Bull Durham” when the manager is perplexed as to what to do with his struggling team, and asks Crash Davis for his thoughts.

Davis tells him “scare them, they’re kids”.

Granted, the movie was set in the minor leagues, but it doesn’t take much to apply it to the professional sports teams in Cleveland, because the Indians, Browns, and Cavaliers are all very young compared to most of the squads in their respective sports.

The Tribe just let go of Manny Acta, a younger manager who didn’t seem to be an “old school” disciplinarian, and now GM Chris Antonetti is in the market for a new skipper, with Sandy Alomar Jr. and former Red Sox manager Terry Francona regarding as the leading candidates.

Pat Shurmur is a first time head coach, and seems to fit the profile of a players’ coach, not a person who is going to be tough on young players, educating them in the ways of being a professional football player.

Only the Cavaliers seems to have the “my way or the highway” leader in veteran NBA coach Byron Scott. Scott has established early and often that he’s the coach, and things will be done the method he prefers. If you don’t like it, you will play elsewhere. Ask J.J. Hickson.

Those coaches usually don’t have a long shelf life, because players get tired of the constant harping, and start to tune them out. Again, Scott is the prime example as although he had success in both New Jersey and New Orleans, he lasted just four years with the Nets and five with the Hornets.

But they are needed to teach and guide young players in the ways of being a professional.

With the Browns, Shurmur seems like a good man, but do the young players wearing the brown and orange fear him? That’s doubtful. Take the case of Greg Little, yes he is disappointed that he drop passes with the frequency other people blink, but when does the coach sit on him on the bench? Sometimes, a player has to understand that he won’t play unless he produces.

With the Tribe, Francona isn’t a Billy Martin type, but he would command respect based on winning two World Series with the Red Sox. He would be the first Indians manager with a resume of success since who knows when.

In fact, since 1960, the only coach/manager hired with a world championship in his background was Lenny Wilkens, who won a title with the Sonics in 1978-79.

Francona has been regarded as a players’ manager with the Sox, but he didn’t put up with Manny Ramirez’ antics when his contract was coming up, so he will put his foot down when he had to. He also developed several young players such as Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Jacoby Ellsbury.

Perhaps a skipper who was tougher on players would insist that Asdrubal Cabrera would pay more attention to his craft and stay in better shape in the off-season, and would have consequences for players who seem to be happy to play, but don’t expect to win.

Joe Torre worked with the Yankees, but that group was mostly made up of veteran players, so an easy-going guy works better with players who have been around. He did break in Derek Jeter, but Jeter was very respectful of his manager and the older players probably guided him as well.

When new coaches are hired in Cleveland, the type of team they will be inheriting should be kept in mind by the front office.

Maybe it’s not scaring players, but it’s difficult for the person being the boss for the first time to be able to guide young players on how to be a pro.

Tribe Needs to Start Over on Mound

When Larry Dolan bought the Cleveland Indians, he and his new GM Mark Shapiro made a statement that would change the direction of the franchise.

They were going to build the team around pitching.

How’s that working out for them?

In the last 11 seasons that Shapiro has run the organization, the Tribe has had a few dominant starting pitchers, including three Cy Young Award winners, two won with the Indians (C.C. Sabathia in 2007 and Cliff Lee in 2008), and one elsewhere (Bartolo Colon in 2005).

Since the trades of Sabathia and Lee for little return (that’s a subject for another day), the Tribe has struggled to find effective starting pitching.

A good way to find an effective starter is to look at his hits to innings pitched ratio and his strikeout to walk ratio. If they’ve allowed fewer hits than innings and struck out twice as many as they’ve walked, then they are good pitchers.

Since trading Lee in 2009, Cleveland has had just two pitchers accomplish this feat, both last season. They would be Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin.

So, looking at 15 regular starters (five per year for three years), only two hurlers can be viewed as being solid starters.

Keep in mind that Tim Belcher was the Tribe pitching coach in 2011.

So, the Indians don’t have any pitchers that can throw strikes, and they don’t have anyone with good enough stuff to overcome that.

Going forward, would you blame the front office is they cleared the decks and brought it five new starting pitchers?

Masterson looks to have good stuff, and may be worth salvaging, but does he have the mental toughness to be a starter on a good team? Certainly his joking with Tigers’ slugger Miguel Cabrera after allowing a home run to him has to raise some eyebrows in the front office.

As for Ubaldo Jimenez, he’s another who doesn’t appear to be mentally tough enough to be a starter on a contender. Perhaps it is because his mechanics are a mess, so he’s lost confidence, but it’s tough to imagine putting him out on the mound 35 times next season.

Zack McAllister throws hard and for the most part is around the strike zone. He’s probably the only starter who should be in next year’s rotation for sure.

Carlos Carrasco also has a leg up if he’s healthy. Remember, he had a very good run last season before his elbow started to hurt, going 4-2 with a 1.90 ERA in June.

The sinker ball theory this organization has trotted out in recent years leaves too much room for error. Groundballs find holes, and if mixed with walks, allow runs to score.

If you make your living getting guys to hit the ball on the ground, you must have good control.

It’s another failed experiment for the Indians.

Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti seem to run the Tribe as a 7th grade science project, trying different things that may cost less money and still allow the team to win.

You have to get pitchers who can strike people out. That’s a tried and true way to win baseball games.

Sure, you can have a sinkerball/control type pitcher who can win, but name pitchers like that who are good on a consistent basis.

Whether they get them in trades, or develop them in the draft, the pitching isn’t going to get better unless the front office gets some guys with swing and miss stuff.

Guys like Colon, Sabathia, and Lee.

It’s another case of the Indians’ organization selling the fans a bunch of fertilizer.

Tribe Needs to Change, Not Overhaul

The rumors about the Cleveland Indians’ off-season are starting to fly fast and furious.

MLB Network contributor Jon Heyman reported that the Dolan family is growing disenchanted with manager Manny Acta, leading to speculation that he will be dismissed.

Another report has the Tribe willing to trade players such as Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, Justin Masterson, and Chris Perez.

Sound like a total rebuilding effort, doesn’t it? Wonder how that will play with a fan base already angry by this season’s turn of events.

Then again, it has also been reported that because people don’t show up at Progressive Field, the front office doesn’t feel the need to make major changes in the off-season.

Nice, huh?

The Indians don’t need to destroy everything this winter, but they do need to make major changes, particularly in the pitching staff.

In regards to trading Cabrera and Choo, GM Chris Antonetti (or whoever will hold that title) would basically be dealing their best two offensive players.

And if you do that, you must replace both of them with equally talented players if you plan on contending next season. Therefore, it makes no sense to trade either player, although the organization is scared silly about Choo’s impending free agency.

With Lonnie Chisenhall looking like he’s ready to assume the hot corner, the Indians need to get a solid right-handed bat to play 1B or LF, and they will have improved the offense greatly.

Part of the problem this season was the five decent hitters the team has hit in the top five spots in the batting order. A couple would get on base, and the dreadful sticks in the 6-7-8-9 slots would come up and make outs.

That why a good team needs at least seven good hitters in the lineup. The Tribe does need to add some power, because you need to score every once in a while by getting one hit, a home run.

As for the pitching staff, the bullpen should be fine, even if you trade Chris Perez, but not because he blasted management, but because you have Vinnie Pestano, who can close.

The one area the Cleveland farm system has some prospects in relief pitching with guys like Scott Barnes, C.C. Lee, Cody Allen, Tyler Sturdevant, etc. ready to help the big league club.

As for the starting rotation, keep Zack McAllister and feel free to get rid of everyone else.

Justin Masterson has a good arm, but doesn’t have the demeanor to be a top of the rotation starter. Ubaldo Jimenez has a $6 million option for next year, but you can get someone more reliable than him for that money.

Roberto Hernandez? Goodbye.

Jeanmar Gomez and Cory Kluber can compete for spots in the ’13 rotation at spring training. But you have to go out and get at least one proven arm and more prospects.

And hope than Carlos Carrasco can come back from Tommy John surgery.

That’s where the GM should concentrate his efforts. The Indians rank last in the AL in ERA, a major reason for why they are where they are.

The other thing that must change is the total passiveness of the organization. Some players deserve patience, such as Chisenhall.

If he hitting .230 in the middle of May, the manager has to keep writing his name in the lineup.

If a borderline veteran isn’t doing the job, he has to be replaced instead of carrying them around all season long.

It may seem crazy to say this after the incredible losing skein the Indians have been on, but they do not need a total rebuild.

The pitching staff is in need of dire repair, but other than that, it’s the philosophy of the organization that needs the biggest facelift.

They have to stop being afraid. They need to get over their fear of young players, big contacts, and aggressiveness.

Until that happens and they upgrade the talent, firing Manny Acta will have little or no effect.

Time to Evaluate the Tribe (Part 1)

The Indians are spending the month of September playing the role of spoiler and evaluating some of the players they have added to the roster for the last month of the season.

However, everyone has seen enough of the players who have been here for a while, so we can start rating those players right now.

First, the infielders…

People who read this blog on a regular basis know we felt the signing of Casey Kotchman was a bad idea. Yes, he’s a great glove man at first base, but he’s not a good hitter. Last year’s .300 batting average with Tampa was an aberration.

Kotchman will not be back next season.

2B Jason Kipnis is a keeper, but he’s not having as good of a season as people may think.

The average OPS in the American League is 732, and four Indians with over 300 at bats have figures higher than average. Kipnis isn’t one of them.

As the season went on, Kipnis stopped driving the baseball, so he’s become a singles hitter. That’s fine, but he should be doing better than that. Since this is his first full season in the big leagues, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but he needs to improve in 2013.

At shortstop, Asdrubal Cabrera made the All-Star team for the second consecutive year. However, he’s faded in each of the last two seasons, and apparently needs to stay in better shape. His defense has slipped as well.

Several people have talked about dealing Cabrera, but the Tribe has no one in the wings to replace him. Cabrera would seem to benefit from a manager who is more demanding of him. He should be at short on Opening Day 2013.

As for Jack Hannahan, apparently the Indians front office thought his career year in 2011 would be the norm going forward, which was not the case.

This is another spot where the Tribe needs an upgrade, and Lonnie Chisenhall should be the ’13 Cleveland starting 3B barring a spring training in which he hits .050 or he gets hurt.

As for the reserves, the season began with Jason Donald being the utility infielder. It is hard to judge him offensively because of inconsistent at bats, which comes with the job. He seems to hit left-handers, but looks to have a big swing.

Defensively, he’s not the answer. He has developed the “yips” with his throwing and the front office started looking at him as a super sub, being able to play both infield and outfield.

His best position looks like 2B, a problem because of Kipnis at the big league level and Cord Phelps at AAA.

Brent Lillibridge has done okay since coming over from Boston, and his ability to play all four infield spots could give him the job going into next season.

As for Phelps, he should get a good look in September to determine if he can play everyday somewhere on the field or be used as trade bait over the off-season.

Phelps had his second straight OPS over 800 at Columbus, so he can hit, and he’s only had 80 big league at bats.

At first base, it would have been nice to see Russ Canzler and/or Matt LaPorta get regular at bats throughout August and September to see if they can be part of the solution at first base.

We will look at the outfield and catching spots as well as the pitching staff later this month.

As for the infield, trying to replace half of your starters is never a good thing. However, the front office didn’t realize the options put in place weren’t going to work going into 2012.

What the Dolans Should Do

The end of this baseball season can’t come soon enough, and it seems insane to keep going over the inadequacies of the current roster any more.

It’s starting to feel like piling on to mention that Casey Kotchman, Jack Hannahan, and Shelley Duncan stink. Oops, we did it again!

And since the people who run the franchise don’t feel any urgency to address the future of the franchise, we decided to fill a suggestion box and tell the ownership what they should be doing.

First, changes must be made in the upper reaches of the organization. At least two of the big three (Mark Shapiro, Chris Antonetti, and Manny Acta) have to be replaced.

And we don’t care how coveted Antonetti was several years ago. He completely messed up the off-season, particularly not giving Josh Willingham a third year, and giving Grady Sizemore $5 million to take a year off.

Bring in a new GM who has experience with a successful mid market team. Perhaps he can shed a fresh perspective on the way teams like the Indians have to operate.

Of course, that GM will want to hire a new manager. Let him. Although Acta is a small part of the blame this season, he’s not a difference maker. Right now, this young team needs someone who will be a disciplinarian, an old school type of guy.

That type of skipper doesn’t last long, and isn’t the type of guy hired by the Indians in a long time, but for the next couple of years, it would be the correct choice.

The next thing they have to do is raise the payroll. Again, no knowledgeable fan thinks the Tribe can have a payroll of $150 million. However, $85 million should be well within the Indians’ means.

That would mean a whole lot of money for the new GM to spend after the Travis Hafner settlement is reached.

It would also mean a competitive offer can be made to arguably the Tribe’s best player, Shin-Soo Choo. A nice 3-year deal at $10-11 million per year should work.

It would also allow the Indians to get a quality starting pitcher and a right-handed bat that it desperately needs.

The higher payroll commitment would stop the trolling for low risk, high reward free agents like Kotchman. The players the team signs are available after Christmas for a reason, no one wants them, at least good teams don’t want them.

It will also eliminate the need to keep these marginal players on the Opening Day roster at the expense of younger players. For example, the Indians should have handed Lonnie Chisenhall the 3B job from the beginning of camp, and told him it was his job to lose.

The player development department should also be overhauled. Mid market teams need to have a steady flow of talent acquired from the draft. That hasn’t been the case in Cleveland.

In addition, the Indians need to promote players quicker. Yes, Akron may win the Eastern League, but they are doing it with a lot of players who are repeating AA ball for a second year. There isn’t any reason why OF Thomas Neal and C/1B Chun Chen should still be in Akron with the numbers they’ve put up.

And if a guy hasn’t performed in several opportunities, cut him loose. David Huff comes to mind here. If he isn’t an option to help the big league team, then release him.

This is just the beginning of what should be done with the Cleveland Indians going forward.

It may be painful for the Dolan family to do some of these things, but what they are doing now isn’t working.

Changes should start on October 4th. The day after this nightmare season ends.

Tribe Missed An Opportunity

One of the best things one can say about the Mark Shapiro led Cleveland Indians is they didn’t waste downtime.

When the Tribe fell out of contention in a given season, Shapiro didn’t hold on to players who weren’t part of the future in Cleveland, mostly players who were not coming back the following season.

If the player’s contract expired at the end of the season, the then-GM made a move to try to get something for that player.

That’s how the Indians acquired several key players: SS Asdrubal Cabrera came in exchange for Eduardo Perez. Ben Broussard was traded for Shin-Soo Choo, and Mark De Rosa was sent away to get Chris Perez. Carlos Santana was picked up for Casey Blake.

Unfortunately, the current GM, Chris Antonetti forgot the organizational roots.

After an 11 games losing streak and relative inactivity at the trading deadline (getting Brent Lillibridge doesn’t count as doing something), the time to start looking toward 2013 would have been August 1st.

For some reason, the Tribe front office still isn’t looking forward, and that is mind-boggling.

It is apparent that the players currently on the roster who will be free agents don’t have any value to other teams, and certainly aren’t going to bring back another team’s good to very good prospect, like a Choo or Cabrera.

Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t moves that can be made.

People can pretty much be sure that players like Casey Kotchman, Jack Hannahan, and Shelley Duncan will not be wearing a Cleveland uniform when spring training starts next February.

Yet, they are still on the major league roster, and manager Manny Acta continues to give them at bats.

That’s crazy!

The organization will tell you there aren’t any prospects in Columbus, no one that can help the big league club.

The response to that is how can they be sure? They are the same people who think the three players listed above could be contributors on this season’s team.

Matt LaPorta was just added to the roster last Friday, and right now he needs to play every day, not just against left-handers. A decision must be made on him, and the only way it can be decided he’s not part of the future is by giving him regular and consistent playing time.

He’s probably not the answer, but why not find out for sure?

The same with Russ Canzler. Obviously, Antonetti saw something in him last winter when he claimed the right-handed hitter off waivers from Tampa Bay.

He ranks in the top ten in most slugging categories in the International League, so why isn’t he getting some at bats in the majors to see if those numbers can translate?

We’ve said this before about Canzler…you cannot classify him as a AAAA hitter because he’s had a grand total of three at bats in the big leagues.

You can make the same argument about looking at Jared Goedart and Tim Fedroff.

The Indians had a tremendous opportunity to get at least a few of these players perhaps as many as 200 at bats to find out if any of these guys could help the ’13 version of the Tribe.

Why it hasn’t been done is just one more mystery for the Shapiro/Antonetti leadership, adding to several others that have caused fans to roll their collective eyes this season.

Although all of those guys could get a September look, baseball people understand that you have to look at stats compiled in this month with a jaundiced eye.

This is another reason to be critical of the current administration. Another “could have” moment.

Who is to Blame With Tribe?

The one thing the Cleveland Indians have done during this collapse which has extended to 18 losses in 22 games in put their entire organization under the public microscope.

Unfortunately, most of the blame is placed at the feet of the ownership. From the standpoint of they are the ones writing the checks and putting the people in charge, then they should shoulder that burden.

But this horrible situation is like an onion, there are many layers to peel away and doing it makes your eyes water.

Certainly, the Dolan family has put Mark Shapiro in charge of the organization. Under his watch, the Indians have put together nine of eleven losing seasons.

There are people who think Shapiro should stay because he’s not involved in the day-to-day running of the baseball operations. However, he would hire the new GM if he chooses to fire Chris Antonetti, and more than likely, he will hire someone with similar ideas.

So, there wouldn’t be a new direction there.

Others feel Manny Acta should be the fall guy. But if Antonetti and Shapiro stay, do you really think the new manager will be different from Acta or his predecessor Eric Wedge? Doubtful.

Fans blame the organization for not wanting to go a third year for Twins’ slugger Josh Willingham last winter, but whose decision was that?

Did the ownership tell Antonetti not to include a third year or did the baseball people decide it wasn’t worth the risk?

Did the ownership push the baseball people to sign Grady Sizemore or Casey Kotchman? Doubtful.

Did the ownership say not to call players up from Columbus? Also doubtful.

Did the GM make the decision to deal three top ten prospects for a pitcher with make up problems in Ubaldo Jimenez, and then deal a pitcher who could have helped the bullpen in Zach Putnam for Kevin Slowey?

On the other hand, did Acta push for Kotchman in order to improve the infield defense?

Does the skipper have a problem with young players Matt LaPorta and Lonnie Chisenhall and that’s why they both started the season in Columbus?

Does anyone know if Acta went to the front office and asked for reinforcements at the beginning of June, or did he assure Antonetti and Shapiro that the Indians could contend with its current roster.

We just don’t know. Nobody does, and it is doubtful anyone will find out the answers to these questions any time soon.

That’s why the Dolan family have to do something we know they are loath to do, and that is clean out the entire organization.

Since they’ve owned the team, they have put a great deal of trust in Mark Shapiro, but seriously name one area of the franchise that is in top-notch shape right now.

The farm system is ranked very low by experts. The top two levels (Columbus and Akron) don’t have many impact players.

We’ve talked about the performance of the big league team over the same time frame. It also doesn’t pass muster.

And fan morale and belief in the front office is at an all-time low. That means it is getting more and more difficult to sell new season ticket packages.

What makes it more difficult is that the Dolan’s seem to be good people. It would be very hard to get rid of someone who they have worked very closely with since they bought the team.

It’s time for a new fresh set of ideas. That can only come with new leadership.

To borrow a phrase from a different sport, Mr. Dolan, the ball is clearly in your court.

Manny Acta’s Imaginary Job Interview

When Manny Acta was hired as the skipper of the Cleveland Indians, both GM Chris Antonetti and team president Mark Shapiro were very impressed with the way he knew a lot about the organization. He did his homework.

Here is how we imagine the interview wrapped up:

Shapiro: Congratulations, Manny. You are the next manager of the Cleveland Indians.

Antonetti: We do have some things we want to discuss as to how we run things here before we make the announcement.

Acta: What do you mean?

Antonetti: Well, things like we have total control over the roster. You can make out the lineup, but we get total control over who is on the 25 man squad.

Acta: You mean to open the season? No problem. I get to make suggestions right?

Shapiro (laughing): Oh yeah, we’ll listen to you, but no, we get to have total control of the roster for the entire season.

Antonetti: And we have to talk about how we speak to the public. You have to use words like “process” and phrases like “in our situation”.

Shapiro (laughing again): You can’t use “grinding” anymore. Wedgie used it so much that people are sick of it. They make fun of him now.

Acta: OK?

Antonetti: We like to use platoons too. We think instead of getting one good player, you can use two limited ones and get the same production. Can you like with that?

Acta (thinking about not getting the job): Sure, no problem.

Shapiro: That’s good. You know, we had Showalter and Farrell in the organization and they kept telling us different things we did wrong. We told them we had to be in charge for the process to work.

Antonetti: Good one, Mark! You used “process”.

Acta: Well, what if a guy who makes the opening day roster starts out struggling, how long do we stay with him?

Antonetti: We are very patient. I’d say we have to wait until around the All-Star game before we can be sure the guy can’t hit. We don’t want to give away someone who can play.

Shapiro: Like Phillips. I told Wedge that was going to bite us in the rear end. We won’t make that mistake again. By the way, Manny, you said “what if”. I like that. I think we can do something with that phrase.

Acta: Ok, I think. Does the ownership plan to invest if we are contending?

Antonetti: We tell the public that, but we’re in this to make money. If we win great, but the owners want to recoup the cash they put up when they bought it. Old man Jacobs really snookered them.

Shapiro (sternly): Chris! We’re not supposed to talk about that. We’ll spend a little, but when a player starts creeping up on free agency, we have to think about moving them. Remember, I’m good at that, I stole three good players for Colon. Damn, we should’ve kept Phillips!

Acta: I think I’m fine with that. I’m not a real fiery guy, is that ok with you?

Antonetti: No problem. Hey Mark, remember when Manuel got thrown out of a couple of games early in his first year? We had to talk to him about calming down. It doesn’t present the right corporate image.

Acta: Corporate? This is baseball, I’m a little confused.

Shapiro: This is the new age, Manny. Heck, if we could make Polo shirts part of our uniform, we would. You’ll see in a few years, every team will operate like we do. We’re on the cutting edge.

Acta: I hope so. I’m your man, let’s do this.