Photo: AP

Mark Shapiro set a deadline, and not only did he meet it, but he left a couple weeks to spare. Shapiro, sped up by another team's wishes, named former Nationals skipper Manny Acta the 40th manager of the Cleveland Indians Sunday.

Acta, 40, had a record of 158-252 in his two and a half seasons in Washington from 2007 to July 2009. He was let go on July 13th after a 26-61 start to the '09 campaign. The Nationals' records his first two years were 73-89 and 59-102 respectively. To be fair, however, the Nationals have not had a winning record since 2003, when they went 83-79 as the Montreal Expos, and they certainly don't look to be headed that way anytime in the next season or two.

Photo: Jon Fobes/Cleveland.com

I had a feeling it was coming, I knew it was needed, and yet I breathed a sigh of relief when it finally came to fruition. Mark Shapiro pulled the plug on the Eric Wedge regime today, the entire regime in fact, as the entire coaching staff, including pitching coach Carl Willis, hitting coach Derek Shelton, 3B coach Joel Skinner, 1B coach Luis Rivera, bench coach Jeff Datz, and bullpen coach Chuck Hernandez, were relieved of their duties effective at season's end.

And so ends the underwhelming tenure of Eric Wedge. In his seven seasons, he compiled a record of 560-568 with his lone playoff appearance coming in 2007 with the AL Central Division crown, and he brought the team to the brink of their sixth World Series appearance, only to be shredded by the Red Sox in three straight games. Wedge nor his team or its fanbase have truly recovered from those three games, and they may not for some time.

For the second straight night, I was in attendance at Fifth Third Field as the Mud Hens and Clippers squared off. Tonight, Hector Rondon took the hill for Columbus against Scot Drucker for the Mud Hens. Here are my brief thoughts about tonight's game.

-Josh Barfield must've taken this writer's message to heart last night, because Barfield crushed a three-run blast in his second at-bat in the third inning to give the Clippers the early 3-0 lead. It was Barfield's 2nd homer as a Clipper. Once again, Barfield was in left field due to injuries.

-Color me disappointed that in two nights I failed to see Michael Brantley or Jason Donald and saw Lou Marson only once (unless you count watching him bullpen catch tonight), yet saw plenty of Jesus Merchan and Niuman Romero. Excluding LaPorta, the Clipper lineup can be best described as a "rolling blackout", i.e. very little power.

On a rainy evening in Toledo, balls were flying out of the park for the hometown Mud Hens as lefty starter Chuck Lofgren struggled through six innings. Here's my perceptions taking in the game in person tonight.

-First, let me start by saying that Columbus is quite depleted right now. Considering the Indians have dug deep into their Triple-A squad this year, that is to be expected. As a result, guys like Mickey Hall, Jesus Merchan, Niuman Romero, and Stephen Head were in the starting lineup tonight.

-Hall, who filled in for the injured Michael Brantley (ankle) in center tonight, went 3-for-4, reaching base in four of his five plate appearances, including two doubles. He was the player to be named in the Paul Byrd trade with the Red Sox last season. He has some speed, but he was picked off of first base after walking in the third inning.

-Toledo starter Ruddy Lugo didn't appear to want anything to do with Matt LaPorta tonight. LaPorta reached base his first three times to the plate via two walks and a hit by pitch.  LaPorta was 0-for-2 on the evening, including a fielder's choice to end the game with the bases loaded down four runs in the ninth.

In Columbus, there might be fewer Cleveland Indian fans than there are in the home city, but there is a good populus of them. Having the AAA affiliate based in this city does make the fan base grow. With that, there are people who want the same accountability held that fans in Cleveland expect.

The latest example took place earlier this week when WBNS-FM radio host Bruce Hooley, who used to be a sports writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, wanted answers from the top of the organization. In that, he wanted to talk to General Manager Mark Shapiro. Unfortunately, he was unavailable to comment. Therefore, Shapiro sent Assistant GM Chris Antonetti to face the questions from Hooley and his co-worker, former Ohio State and NFL linebacker Chris Spielman.

The following audio clip is of the conversation that took place: Note: WBNS AM and FM are part of the Indians Radio Network.
http://blog.971thefan.com/bigshow/2009/08/interview_with_indians_assista.html

Photo: Dispatch.com

Yesterday morning, young Victor Jose Martinez asked his father Victor when he woke up if they were still Indians. When the then-Tribe catcher told his son that they in fact were, he was excited. That shouldn't surprise you though, because that's the kind of family values and loyalty Martinez would instill in his own son, the one we've come so accustomed to seeing around the Indians on a regular basis, including when he joined his dad at The All-Star Game (pictured above in 2007) and also in last month's contest.

Mark Shapiro yesterday completed the initial process of rebuilding when he sent Victor Martinez to the Red Sox for RHP Justin Masterson, LHP Nick Hagadone, and RHP Bryan Price. In just a few short weeks, the team has parted ways with Mark DeRosa, Rafael Betancourt, Ryan Garko, Ben Francisco, Cliff Lee, and now Martinez. In return, they've received 11 players, nine of them pitchers and most of them being big, power arms in the hopes of re-infusing the player development system.

Photo: Cleveland.com/Jon Fobes

Did you plan on attending a Tribe game in October any of the next four seasons? If you did, this is a heads-up that you can make other plans. The Indians have officially thrown in the towel, backed the truck up, dug the hole and covered themselves up with dirt, phoned it in, and called the time of death on the 2010, 2011, and likely 2012 seasons. They will be buried next to the '09 season in the Curse Of Cleveland graveyard. The seasons are survived by far less fans than they had originally.

For the second straight season, the Cleveland Indians have made a July trade sending away the defending AL Cy Young Award winner for prospects. They added their everyday leftfielder in Ben Francisco to the deal. In return, the Indians will receive four of Philadelphia's Top 10 prospects according to Baseball America. But, they all have incredibly obvious drawbacks, and none are considered a blue-chip prospect, something you should expect when trading a Cy Young winner with a year and a half left under contract. Call it what you want (Shapiro Rebuild 2.0, Nuclear Winter, Slash and Burn, The Trade), but it signals the next phase in the vicious cycle that is small-market Major League Baseball business.

Photo: Cleveland.com

It began with the trade of Rafael Betancourt to the Rockies last week, and the Tribe took another step in trading away competitive parts to replenish their depleted minor league system by saying goodbye to Ryan Garko.

Garko was in his fourth year with the Tribe (not counting one at-bat in 2005), and he was a fan favorite. The firstbaseman/outfielder-at-times was hitting .285 with 11 homers and 39 RBI in 78 games this season. Gark was crucial to the Tribe success in 2007, busting out to hit .289 with 21 homers and 61 RBI. In last season's lost cause, he was the team leader in RBI with 90 to go with 14 homers and a .273 average.

Garko was incredibly consistent in his time with Cleveland. The 2003 3rd round pick of the Tribe was often ridiculed for a lack of power at first base, but he always had a solid average and drove in a respectable number of runs. In addition, he has absolutely crushed left-handed pitching in his career, batting .318 vs. .270 against right-handed pitching. He gets on-base plenty with walks and hits by pitch. He will fit the National League style of ball well, and he will be a solid addition to San Francisco's club.  If the Giants even use him as a platoon/pinch-hitter, he could flourish as well.

Are the Cleveland Indians going to compete in 2010? That question may essentially be determined by Friday's midnight trade deadline. If the Indians pull off a deal sending away C/1B Victor Martinez and/or SP Cliff Lee for prospects, the Tribe's chances at contending in the AL Central are diminished significantly.

Photo: Cleveland.com

Photo: Ohio.com

As predicted (or requested) by yours truly, the Indians have traded reliever Rafael Betancourt to the Colorado Rockies for minor leaguer Connor Graham, a right-handed starter who was at advanced Single-A. Graham will head to Akron most likely. The 6'6" righthander was 7-4 with a 3.14 ERA in 16 starts and 80 innings at advanced Single-A Modesto. He hasn't really been hit hard, but his walks are alarmingly high (4.6 per nine innings). He is a good strikeout guy though from his numbers (over one an inning). Graham is 23 years old.

Betancourt has been a member of the Tribe since 2003 when he was signed on the free agent market. Raffy made an immediate impact that season, posting a 2.13 ERA in 38 innings with Cleveland. Since then, Betancourt has been a staple of the Tribe bullpen and their best setup man overall for the most part. At times, they even tried him at closer, but they found that he was much more valuable being stretched out multiple times a week to get the team out of tight jams.