By Fitzgerald Cecilio

Cleveland, OH

The Cleveland Indians have fired manager Manny Acta with six games left in their disappointing season and promoted bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. to fill the spot in an interim role.

"The Cleveland Indians would like to thank Manny Acta for everything he has done for the organization in his three seasons as our manager," general manager Chris Antonetti said in announcing the move. "Manny's passion for the game, positive attitude and tremendous knowledge of baseball helped guide us to a number of high points during his tenure.

"Managerial changes are never easy or taken lightly, but as we approached the end of the season and turned our attention to assessing the year, we determined a change was necessary," Antonetti added.

The Indians will re-evaluate their coaching staff after the season and will start their managerial search.

"I have great respect for Manny," Indians CEO Paul Dolan said. "I appreciate the effort he exhibited not only leading our team, but also the contributions he made in our community over the past three years.

Dolan, however, said he fully supports Antonetti's decision to dismiss Acta from his post and expressed confidence that the general manager will find the right man to lead the Indians to their first World Series since 1948.

The Indians never had a winning season in three years under Acta, who was hired by Cleveland prior to the 2010 season. In nearly three full seasons, Acta guided the Tribe to a 214-266 record.

Cleveland started the season full of promise, starting the year with a 30-15 record and even taking first place with a 37-33 record in June.

In July, the Indians closed in to within 3 ½ games of the division lead after beating Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers but it was all downhill from there.

Since their win over Detroit, Cleveland has gone a Major League-worst 15-42 heading into the final week of the season.

Cleveland suffered the first 0-9 road trip in the team's 112-year history and experienced two losing streaks of at least nine games in the same season for the first time. The Indians went 5-24 in August for the worst one-month showing in team history.

Entering Thursday, the Indians (65-91) were tied with the Twins for the worst record in the American League. Cleveland is trying to avoid becoming the fourth team in Major League history behind the 2006 Rockies, 2005 Nationals and 1991 Angels to finish a season in last place after being in first through 70 games.

The 46-year-old Alomar was hired by Acta prior to the 2010 season as first-base coach and was promoted to bench coach last offseason.

Several teams have also expressed interest in Alomar for their managerial post. The Blue Jays interviewed him after the 2010 season while the Red Sox and Cubs showed interest in him a year ago.

Alomar played 11 seasons with the Indians during his 20-year Major League playing career. He earned AL Rookie of the Year honors for the Indians in 1990 and was named to six All-Star teams during his time with the team.

 

 

Indians Fire Manny Acta, Promote Sandy Alomar Jr. as Interim Manager