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.

As for Acta the man, the Indians have cited several key factors explaining why they think he's the right man for this renovation project. He's fluent in Spanish, which will help develop a strong relationship with the Latino players on the Indians. Those that could be on the 25-man roster at season's beginning include Fausto Carmona, Rafael Perez, Jhonny Peralta, Asdrubal Cabrera, Luis Valbuena, Andy Marte, Hector Rondon, and Carlos Carrasco. Next, they are intrigued by his interest and study of sabermetrics, the new-school statistical study of baseball that has created such frequently-used statistics as WHIP and OPS. This school of thought is growing to be a dominant ideology in most front offices across MLB. Finally, they have received ringing endorsements about his ability to manage the game. According to Terry Pluto's article earlier today, longtime Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox said of Acta that he was "exactly the kind of energetic manager the team needed, adding that he thought Acta was "well-prepared" when Cox managed against him". That's pretty good feedback from a guy who's been at the helm of his team for 20 seasons now.

Critics of Acta point at his tendency to be a "player's manager", lacking the discipline necessary for the job. Others point at the instability of the Nationals' front office for explanation of that situation. Either way, I don't see how it can be any more than a lateral move from the way Eric Wedge operated.

Of the four candidates for the job (Acta, Bobby Valentine, Torey Lovullo, and Don Mattingly), Acta seems to fit what the Tribe is trying to do right now the best.

Valentine would have probably been my first choice, but not for the right reasons. While I know relatively little of Acta after seeing the Nationals play probably five times during his tenure, I saw Valentine quite a bit during his tenure with the Mets. Watching him at various times on ESPN, he's an odd fellow, but you can tell he knows his stuff. I feel Valentine might have given the Tribe the best chance at contending right away (as much control as a manager has over that, at least). But, at this point of Valentine's career, I'm not sure he really wanted to roll up his sleeves and get into this rebuilding project. Acta has experience in this sort of game already, and he'll get the same sort of leash Eric Wedge had before he got the Tribe to the ALCS in 2007. He'll also come cheaper than Valentine.

As for Lovullo, if you were looking for an Eric Wedge clone, he was it. That's probably not fair to him, but he knows the Wedge regime like the back of his hand having managed at Triple-A the last four seasons and coming up to join the Tribe staff in September. The familiarity with the players would have been beneficial, but I don't know if the Tribe wanted to go in that direction at this juncture.

Mattingly has never managed (outside of his son's little league or Sunday slow-pitch softball anyway). That concerned me a bit, but he also has years as Joe Torre's right hand man, and his offenses were highly successful when he was hitting coach (albeit with significant monetary assistance). Donnie Baseball may have been a victim of timing as much as anything with his Dodgers in the postseason until last week.

The timing I speak of is the fact that the Astros, the team that raised Acta in his baseball life, offered him their managerial position on a two-year deal. The Tribe knew swift action was needed if they wanted Manny Acta, so they offered him their job on a three-year deal. When the Astros refused to give him a third year, Acta chose Cleveland over Houston. The deal includes a club option for a fourth year. Had Houston not been a player for Acta's services, the Tribe probably would've interviewed Mattingly and Angels bench coach Ron Roenicke for the job. What Shapiro did not want was Acta to take the Houston job, Valentine to lose interest in the Tribe job, and Mattingly to stay in Los Angeles where he waits for Torre to call it quits to assume his role. So, the Tribe front office was aggressive rather than letting other people and organizations dictate who they would get.

Whether Manny Acta is successful or not obviously remains to be seen, but the Indians hope they got a good communicator, a knowledgeable statistical mind, and the leader of the next Tribe postseason run.

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