According to a variety of published reports, former Washington Nationals' Manager Manny Acta made the first cut in the Cleveland Indians' search for a new skipper. The 40-year-old Acta, who was fired from his first major league managing job after leading the nation's capital's favorite team to a 158-252 overall mark in a little over two-and-a-half seasons in DC, talks about the interview process in an article entitled, "Acta, Valentine on Indians' short list", which is credited to ESPN.com's News Services, telling ESPNdeportes.com's Enrique Rojas that he knows what to expect from the second round of meetings, having been through the process just three years ago with Washington:
"'It's the type of meeting in which you have to be at the park from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon...Teams want to know the opinion of a potential manager in regards to all areas of the team.'"
(cont.)...
As the article notes in its title, Acta will be joined in the second round of the process by former Rangers', Mets' and Chiba Lotte Marines' manager Bobby Valentine, whose name has been mentioned often in relation to the Nationals' search for a new manager, as two of the five candidates still in the running for the Indians' job out of the original 10 candidates Cleveland was reported to have been considering...
The Nationals, as far as we can tell from published reports, have yet to begin interviewing candidates for their opening on the bench, though they have, however, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson's blog post entitled, "Henley named to minor league position", promoted Bobby Henley from his role as the Gulf Coast Nationals' Manager to that of, "Minor League field coordinator for the 2010 season." Is that finally it for Front Office positions? Can we start talking skippers now?