Manny Acta's Easy Choice

There's no doubt about it that Manny Acta was put in a bad situation in Washington. There was no real chance to win and he was fired earlier this year. Yet, as of Saturday night, he was negotiating his next job between two teams: Cleveland and Houston.

Houston, 233-252 over the last 3 years, wanted Acta for 2 years plus an option. Owner Drayton McLane believes the Astros are always a step away from winning it all. Only 2 of the 8 starters in the lineup were under 30 on opening day. This team went 25th in OBP, 25th in HR and 27th in runs in the majors. Roy Oswalt is now on the wrong side of 30 and has increased his ERA over the last 3 years. Oswalt's FIP has also been around 3.80 the last 2 seasons.

I haven't even mentioned that Wandy Rodriguez is your one positive, your ace for the future. Jose Valverde is gone as a free agent this year and who knows who the next closer in Houston will be. Their problem is the Astros believe every year is their year and decided to replace Phil Garner with Cecil Cooper. Cooper inevitably failed as the Astros got older and much worse.

Meanwhile the Indians, 242-244 over the last 3 years, were outs away from the World Series in 2007. Since then, boom goes the dynamite, the Indians imploded and traded their worthwhile pieces of Victor Martinez, C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee for plenty of prospects. The only player over 30 in this lineup is Travis Hafner. This lineup has enough young players that are trying to find a place to play, Matt LaPorta could be a regular in 2010 and Trevor Crowe is looking to fight for playing time. Grady Sizemore, moving into his age-27 season will look to rebound from an injury plagued 2009. Even with all that, the Indians were 10th in the majors in batting average in 2009 and can improve even more.

Meanwhile, the pitching has been a mess. Only the Baltimore Orioles 5.15 team ERA was worse than the Indians (5.06) over the course of the 2009 season. Jeremy Sowers (career 18-30, 5.18 ERA) has proven to be a first round bust from 2004. Fausto Carmona (13-19, 5.89 ERA since 19 win 2007) has not been able to get back to his 2007 form, making appear more as an anomaly than his true talent level. Over the last 2 years Carmona has struck out 137, the same amount he struck out in 2007 alone, his walks per 9 went from 2007's 2.6 all the way to 5.1. Aaron Laffey has proven to be a fringe starter, racking up a 16-18 record and career 4.39 ERA. Still, the only place they can go, is up.

Once Houston decided that they were firm to stick with a 2 year deal with a 3rd year option, Acta's choice became even easier. Maybe the Astros are still drinking the Kool Aid that they think they're contenders next year. Cleveland appears to understand that there will be a rebuilding process, similarly how there was after the 2002 firing of Charlie Manuel. Rebuilding is a good thing. Teams in these markets can't consistently contend, even if their owners think they should win at least 80 games a year.

Houston following up missing out on Acta, claims 27 year old outfielder Jason Bourgeois. Bourgeois, 28 next year, hit .189 in 40 plate appearances for the Brewers last year... I don't think there is any reason to be enthusiastic about the Astros. Other than Carlos Lee, this is a team that can't hit, can't score, can't pitch. Acta made the correct choice in the Indians.

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