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He replaces Eric Wedge who was let go at the end of the 2009 season. From AP-
The Cleveland Indians have hired Manny Acta as their manager.
Acta signed a three-year contract with a club option for 2013, team spokesman Bart Swain said Sunday. Additional terms were not disclosed.
Acta was fired by the Washington Nationals in July.
The Indians chose him after a second round of interviews over former New York Mets manager and ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine and Indians Triple-A manager Torey Lovullo.
Acta had a .385 winning percentage while leading Washington. That is pretty awful, but the Nationals are a woeful team. So I think it is safe to say Acta will do better in Cleveland.
He will be allowed to finish out the 2009 season. From ESPN-
The Cleveland Indians fired manager Eric Wedge in the final days of a terrible season.
Wedge guided the Indians to one playoff appearance in seven seasons, and this year the club fell out of contention early and is currently one game out of last place in the AL Central.
The Indians, who are 64-92, have scheduled a Wednesday afternoon news conference at Progressive Field to announce Wedge’s dismissal.
Cleveland recently lost 11 straight games and has dropped 20 of its last 25 games.
Wedge, who had one year left on his contract, will finish out the season as manager, including Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox. Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis, hitting coach Derek Shelton, bench coach Jeff Datz, first-base coach Luis Rivera, third-base coach Joel Skinner and bullpen coach Chuck Hernandez were also told they will not be retained, but some could be rehired by the Indians’ next manager.
The Indians are expected to begin interviews for a new manager in the weeks ahead. Among the names that figure to be mentioned are Boston pitching coach John Farrell, former Indians manager Mike Hargrove, former Arizona manager Buck Showalter and Torey Lovullo, who managed the Indians’ Triple-A Columbus franchise.
Cleveland has a long history of hiring within the organization. The last time the Indians went outside was in 1990, when they hired John McNamara.
I swear McNamara either was an Indian coach or worked for the organization at the time of his hiring. As for Wedge, the firing isn’t surprising. The Indians were one of baseball’s biggest disappointments this year.
He was a journeyman reliever for six teams. I remember Collum’s name well from my playing of Strat-O-Matic Baseball past seasons. RIP.
Collum, who was born in Victor and lived in Grinnell for much of his life, pitched in the 1950s and 1960s.
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He died Saturday at Mayflower Health Care Center in Grinnell. Memorial services were held Thursday.
Collum served in the U.S. Army in World War II in the Philippines. He returned home to pursue his major-league dreams.
As a minor leaguer in St. Joseph, Mo., in 1948, he had a 24-2 record.
Collum reached the majors in 1951 and compiled a 32-28 record and a 4.15 ERA with six teams: St. Louis, Cincinnati, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota, Cleveland and the Chicago Cubs.
Collum played alongside Hall of Famers such as Stan Musial, Sandy Koufax and Ernie Banks.
He pitched until 1958, then had stints with the Twins and Indians in 1962. He was known as a good hitter, too, with a .246 career batting average.
He won a career-best nine games in 1955 with the Reds.
The previous mark had stood for 21 years. From AP-
Zack Greinke had a relatively benign game plan against Cleveland: throw strikes early, let the hitters put the ball in play.
He was way off — and ended up in the record book.
Greinke struck out a team-record 15 in eight overpowering innings and got some rare offensive support, helping the Kansas City Royals end a five-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.
Taking advantage of Cleveland’s passive approach to breaking balls early in the count, Greinke (12-8) changed his mindset, going after hitters with a nasty variety of offspeed pitches. He left the Indians baffled all night, passing his career high with 12 strikeouts in the first six innings, breaking Mark Gubicza’s 21-year-old team record of 14 by getting Andy Marte in the seventh.
That the record stood for 21 years, doesn’t surprise me. The heyday for the Royals was during the 70’s and 80’s. That the mark was just 14 is a little bit surprising when you think of a team that had pitchers like Bret Saberhagen, Dennis Leonard, Danny Jackson, David Cone and Steve Busby pitch for them in the past.
He hopes to be back playing in the major leagues before the 2009 season is completed. From AP-
Aaron Boone is back playing baseball, appearing in a minor league game in Texas less than five months after open-heart surgery.
Boone batted second Monday night for the Corpus Christi Hooks, a Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. He swung at the first pitch and popped up to the first baseman in foul territory. Boone played third base against Midland and was hitless in two at-bats before leaving the game.
“It felt good to get out there and play in a real game,” Boone told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “I felt good physically. I always have nerves whether it’s a spring training game or my first game in Corpus.
“I was excited tonight. I think it went really well. I had a couple of balls come my way and got to face pitching for the first time in a long, long time. A little overwhelming, but a necessary step on the way back.”
The 36-year-old Boone had an operation in late March because of a congenital defect in his aortic valve.
Boone is perhaps best remembered for his game 7 winning homerun in the 2003 ALCS. He was a favorite player of mine during the 2001 Star Tournament season. I platooned him with Eric Chavez at both the Fort Lauderdale and Fall Orlando tournaments where I each finished 2nd.
It sounds as if Boone was born with a bicuspid heart valve and had AVR(Aortic Valve replacement) surgery. Something I have more than a passing familiarity with. I had AVR performed on me one year ago this week. Boone is stronger than me, I don’t know if I would be swinging a baseball bat so soon. I wish him well in his recovery and comeback.
He is one of the last original Florida Marlins to still be playing in the Major Leagues. From AP-
The Milwaukee Brewers have acquired Cincinnati right-hander David Weathers for a player to be named later.
Weathers is 3-3 with a 3.32 ERA in 43 games. He pitched one inning and got the win in Friday’s 10-5 comeback win over the San Francisco Giants.
The 39-year-old reliever starts his second stint with Milwaukee. He previously pitched for the Brewers from 1998-2001.
Weathers, who first came up with Toronto in 1991, is still putting up decent numbers. Anyone want to take a guess how much longer he can keep on pitching in the majors?
Lee was the 2008 American League Cy Young award winner. From ESPN-
The Cleveland Indians traded Cliff Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco to the Philadelphia Phillies for four minor leaguers on Wednesday.
Triple-A right-hander Carlos Carrasco, Class A righty Jason Knapp, catcher Lou Marson — the likely heir apparent to Victor Martinez — and shortstop Jason Donald were sent to Cleveland.
“At the root of this deal was balancing the conviction of our ability to compete in 2010 with the opportunity to impact the team’s construction for years to come,” Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said in a statement. “Without the sense of confidence in the team’s ultimate competitiveness, we acted aggressively to add players that will impact the organization in 2010 and beyond.”
Why don’t team owners come out and say why certain personnel transactions are made instead of lying? Indians fans know why Lee was dealt. Salary considerations and the fact Lee was likely to be lost to free agency after the 2010 season.
The Phillies weren’t required to give up pitcher J.A. Happ or the three prospects they balked at trading for Roy Halladay — outfielders Dominic Brown and Michael Taylor and pitcher Kyle Drabek.
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Lee, the 2008 AL Cy Young winner who turns 31 next month, is having another solid season for the Indians, posting a 3.14 ERA while walking just 33 in 152 innings. He will make $8 million in 2010 and then be eligible for free agency.
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Lee would be the sixth Cy Young winner to be traded in the offseason or during the season following his Cy Young win. Last season, 2007 AL Cy Young winner CC Sabathia was traded by the Indians to the Milwaukee Brewers.What does it say about an organization when it trades its best player year after year? Nothing good is the answer. It angers a team’s fans, who are ultimately the customers of the business/Major League baseball team. Cleveland is already finding it difficult to fill its stadium because of their dealing away people like Lee, Sabathia, and others.
Lee gives the Phillies another top starter to join Cole Hamels. Hamels, who was MVP of the World Series and NLCS last fall, has been inconsistent this season. He’s 7-5 with a 4.42 ERA, though he pitched well in a Tuesday night victory over the Diamondbacks.Hamels has been worked awfully hard at a young age(He’s only 25, but this is his 4th season as ML starting pitcher). As baseball stats man Bill James has documented in some of his books, young pitchers who are worked hard before their arm matures are more likely to have their careers shortened by arm trouble. Some Baseball people recognize that, Earl Weaver for instance who said the best place for a young pitcher was long relief.
The injury has to be considered career threatening. From AP-
Colorado Rockies left-hander Alan Embree is out for the season after a line drive fractured his right tibia on Friday night.
Embree will have surgery Saturday.
“There will be some type of compression screw put in there,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.
Atlanta’s Martin Prado hit a 3-2 fastball from Embree back up the middle in the seventh inning Friday night. The ball ricocheted off Embree’s right shin to third baseman Ian Stewart.
“It sounded awful,” Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta said. “I couldn’t even track the ball it was hit so hard. It sounded really bad.”
*****
Embree, who signed as a free agent with the Rockies this past offseason, was 2-2 with a 5.84 ERA in 36 appearances.
Embree is 37-43 lifetime in a career that started in 1992. Other than 4 games he started in 92 for the Cleveland Indians, he’s been exclusively a left handed relief specialist for 10 MLB teams. I have always liked Embree, he was a key part of a winning Star tournament team of mine, but his career looked to be in decline before this injury. If he reestablishes himself as a quality pitcher in 2010, I’ll be greatly surprised.
How gullible can a baseball fan be? From AP-
Coco Crisp thought he still had a chance to get to Shin-Soo Choo’s bouncing base hit. A bird beat him to it.
The ball flattened a low-flying gull in the 10th inning and rolled past Kansas City’s center fielder and Mark DeRosa scored from second base without a throw to give the Cleveland Indians a 4-3 win over the Royals on Thursday night.
“Crazy things happen in this game,” Crisp said after Shin-Soo Choo’s line single over the second-base bag clipped the wing of one of hundreds of birds that buzz the ballpark. “It was hit so sharply, I felt like I had a chance,” Crisp said. “You never know what the heck is going to happen.”
The stunned bird flopped around for a few seconds before finally flying off.
Just another wild win at Progressive Field.
“I didn’t see it, but I’ll take it,” Choo said.
Two years ago, a swarm of bugs rattled New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain in the AL division series, helping the Indians rally.
The ballpark which has hosted the Cleveland Indians for over 15 years, is close to Lake Erie and regularly has problems with birds through the stadium. I’m surprised it too so long before one of them interfered with a game being played.
Feel free to add your own jokes about what happened last night.
He and his brother David resurrected the moribund franchise that was too often the laughingstocks of MLB. RIP.
Richard E. Jacobs stepped up along with his brother in the 1980s to rescue Cleveland’s baseball franchise, which was struggling under weak financial backing and poor fan attendance at an outdated, mammoth stadium.
Under his leadership, the Cleveland Indians twice reached the World Series and sold out 455 consecutive games at a new ballpark.
Jacobs, who had been in ill health, died peacefully at the age of 83 on Friday, his real estate company confirmed. Other details were not immediately released.
Jacobs and his brother David bought the Indians from the Steve O’Neill estate in 1986 for $40 million. David Jacobs died in 1992.
Richard “Dick” Jacobs focused on restoring the struggling American League franchise’s profitability and making it competitive on the field.
The team’s new ballpark in downtown Cleveland became Jacobs Field when it opened in 1994, and the Indians made it to the World Series in 1995 and 1997, losing to the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins. Jacobs owned the club until 2001.
The park was renamed Progressive Field last year after Jacobs’ naming rights deal ended and Progressive Corp. signed a new agreement.
Jacobs was a low-key owner who preferred to let his baseball executives and manager be the face of the team. But Jacobs attended most of Cleveland’s home games while he owned the team, sitting in the loge behind home plate.
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