CLEVELAND -Manny Acta had two choices for his second job managing in the majors. He picked Cleveland over Houston, where his baseball career began. Acta, Washington's former manager who turned down a chance to return to the Astros, was introduced as Cleveland's 40th manager on Monday. Acta signed a three-year contract with the Indians, who outbid the Astros over the weekend for the 40-year-old.
"This is a perfect place for me," Acta said. "That's why I'm here. I'm attracted to all these talented young players. I'm looking forward to teaching and leading them and helping this team win a championship."
Acta spent 2 1/2 years with the Nationals, who fired him after a 21-61 start this season. He compiled a 158-252 record in Washington, but was confident he would get another chance.
Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said Acta's win-loss record became less of a factor as they learned more about him.
Cleveland began with an initial list of 35 candidates, which the club whittled to about 10 before inviting Acta, former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine and Torey Lovullo, the Indians' Triple-A manager, to Cleveland for second interviews. The team had also planned to interview Los Angeles Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly a second time.
But when the Astros made an offer to Acta, the Indians jumped in and negotiated with his agent before agreeing to a contract on Saturday night.
"I knew we might lose him because he got offered a job," Shapiro said. "They offered him a job first while we were still working through our process. We just sped up our time frame, since we were headed in that direction."
During the club's search, Shapiro said the team kept getting the same positive feedback on Acta.
"When you look at the resume and the characteristics of the person, you combine those and put them into our situation, he's the right man for this organization," Shapiro said. "He's the right man for this city and he's the right man for our team."
Acta said he didn't sense the Indians' strong interest in him until they offered the job.
"These people are very good poker players," he said.
Acta's losing record is a stain on his resume he would like to erase. But he's not the first manager to begin slowly and hopes he can one day be viewed as nothing but a winner.
"If you give people the opportunity to chose between Joe Torre after his first three years with the Mets or Joe Torre now, I believe everyone would pick Joe Torre now. Not everybody who is a big shot now was a big shot when they started. Big shots are little shots who keep shooting.
"I'm willing to keep shooting until I become a big shot."
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