FanHouse MarkShapiro

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.

To me, the playoffs mean one thing: the wise decision-making skills of Cleveland Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro! After firing Jim Thome/snapping turtle hybrid Eric Wedge as the Tribe head coach, Shapiro has really gotten down in the dirt to find a new skipper, looking in the only place you're allowed: the big recycling bin of failed coaches who didn't do a good job somewhere else and were fired by someone else. Why they sound PERFECT!

Fun fact: That guy in the photo to the right was eating in Heritage Park and just throwing his trash on the ground. Thanks a lot for your contributions, Cy Young! Have an eighth of a hot dog!

Tonight's Dugout is after the jump.

The Indians' managerial search has apparently whittled its way down to just three names after a round of phone interviews last week. Paul Hoynes at the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the Indians have called Bobby Valentine, Manny Acta, and Travis Fryman to Cleveland for a second round of interviews and that GM Mark Shapiro is likely to name a manager before the World Series ends.

Valentine's name is the big one that's obviously going to get people talking. He's got over 1,000 career wins and a National League pennant over his 15-year career with the Rangers and the Mets, plus a Japanese Series title in 2005 with the Chiba Lotte Marines. It's been rumored that he's made it clear there are teams he won't manage for in 2010, so presumably the Indians are a job he would want.

It's now ten days after the end of the 2009 baseball season and the only thing the Cleveland Indians know about their vacant managerial position is that it won't be filled by Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell. That's because Farrell, who was initially seen as a front-runner for the job, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer today that while he is interested in managing some day, he's not interested in the Indians job and he'd rather stay in his position in Boston.

As the former farm director in Cleveland under Mark Shapiro, Farrell seemed like maybe the most logical choice for the job, but this isn't the first time he's turned a managerial job down. He was believed to be the frontrunner in 2007 in Pittsburgh, where former Shapiro assistant Neal Huntington is GM, but he also asked for his name to be removed from consideration then, as well.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's weekly look at some aspect of America's pastime.

Instead of handing our hardware to Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer, Zack Greinke and Chris Carpenter (yes, those would be my votes), I thought we'd mix it up a bit. Plus, being a Cubs fan, I'm plenty filled with negativity at this time of the year -- which, really, is normal. So these are the Bizarro World Awards. The Suck Awards, if you will. The envelopes, please ...

Back in May, Indians' GM Mark Shapiro put manager Eric Wedge on the hot seat by vaguely supporting him for an unknown amount of time. Since then, he's said that he would make a decision on Wedge and his coaching staff when the season ends. And no one's really said anything since then, but since Wedge says no one's really approached him about anything, it really seems pretty likely that the Indians will be looking for a new manager when the season ends.

Wedge has managed the Tribe since 2003 with some mixed results. He very nearly stole the AL Central from the White Sox in 2005, took the Indians to Game 7 of the ALCS in 2007, and has finished .500 or worse in his other five years at the helm. The disappointing performance of the team since that ALCS berth in 2007 is probably what's most damning for Wedge.

In the blurb for yesterday's Dugout, Jon mentioned how difficult it has been to write lately, and how sometimes the honesty of the writer overtakes the sincerity of the project. My problem has been a little bit easier to define: I have been trying to live in the same city as the Cleveland Indians for the last six months. Today's title isn't from a news story or the topic of today's strip, it's just that with all the fastballs to the head going around I wanted to take a moment to picture it happening to someone who deserves it.

Have you ever gone to a bobblehead night for a player who doesn't play for the team anymore? I have. Have you ever watched a crowd sit silently for five innings, then lose their minds for a fictional hot dog race? I have. Do you think John Adams wishes the Yankees had something to do with drumming?

Today's Dugout is after the jump.

This handsome devil, former Vice President Dick Cheney pitcher Erik Bedard, is on the disabled list again, this time because of inflammation in his left shoulder. Wikipedia tells me that about half of the letters in Erik Bedard's name are supposed to have accent marks over them, but I don't know how to put an accent over a capital E. The Mariners are hanging in there in the AL West and even closer to a Wild Card, so losing one of their top pitchers right here in the middle of the season when they can't use him or trade him is tough.

Tonight's Dugout deals with this important talking point and others (for example, "why does Don Wakamatsu's face look like that in his photo day picture, I mean were they shining a light in his face or what"), after the jump.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

"This concludes our test of the emergency attendance enhancement system. We now return to the regularly scheduled season."

Yes, the 13th season of interleague play wraps up Sunday, except for a Cubs-White Sox makeup game. We have survived six San Diego-Seattle games (that's more zeroes than an A-Rod paycheck).

We didn't learn much we didn't already know: the system has inherent flaws and the American League rules.

For the sixth straight year, the AL has had** the better record in interleague play – 129-108 going into today.

Take out Cleveland and Oakland, and the AL is 119-84.

"It probably is" as big a gap between leagues as in past years, one AL team official said, "until you get to the World Series. Then it doesn't matter."

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

Sorry for the delay, kiddos, on the Power Rankings. I'm sure you spent the entirety of Wednesday wondering "WHERE IN GOD'S NAME ARE THEY??? WITHOUT THEM I'LL HAVE NOTHING TO BANTER SENSELESSLY ABOUT TO MY CO-WORKERS!!!1" Or something like that. Either way, it's time to debate the worthlessness of your favorite baseball team in numerical form once again. Do enjoy.