Acta
For that, he was rewarded Thursday, with Cleveland general manager Chris Antonetti announcing the club would exercise its contract option on Acta for the 2013 season.
“I feel much better where we are organizationally today than we were a year ago, and a lot of that is due to Manny Acta,” Antonetti said.
With few picking Cleveland to finish any higher than fourth in a suspect division, Acta and the Indians were baseball’s early surprise story, sporting the majors’ best record for nearly all of the first two months of the season.
Injuries, performance issues and a surging Tigers team ended Cleveland’s bid at contention, but expectations were clearly exceeded for a young team with what the organization believes has a promising future.
“I’m happy to be a part of this,” Acta said. “From Day 1, my goal was to be here. I wanted to be here.”
The Indians added starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez at the trading deadline, and Acta figures to get more to work with next season, with Antonetti saying Cleveland’s payroll would increase “significantly.”
The GM did not go into specifics, but the Indians are expected to be on the search for a position player or two to improve offensively — a substantial weakness in 2011.
Cleveland’s payroll was at $49.4 million to begin this year.
The Indians have a wealth of decisions to make this offseason, including whether to exercise the options on Grady Sizemore ($8.5 million) and Fausto Carmona ($7 million).
Sizemore, a three-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove award winner, struggled through another injury-plagued season, while Carmona was inconsistent after beginning the year as the team’s ace.
Antonetti did not rule out re-signing outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, who, like Jimenez, was acquired in a trading deadline deal with the Cubs, and was a valuable asset over the final two months of the season.
But it appears the Indians are unlikely to bring back Jim Thome, the franchise’s all-time leader with 337 home runs. Thome’s return boosted attendance, but Cleveland already has a designated hitter taking up a large part of its payroll in Travis Hafner, who is owed $13 million next season in the final year of his contract.
Along with Acta’s return in 2013, another certainty is that Tim Belcher will not be back as pitching coach. The 49-year-old Belcher resigned, citing family responsibilities, but will take a different job in the organization in 2012.
Acta said he was surprised when Belcher informed him he was stepping down three months ago.
“After much reflection and deliberation, I have decided not to return as the major league pitching coach for the 2012 season,” Belcher said in a statement. “When I accepted the position two years ago, I understood and embraced the challenges of the role. Over the last two years, I was fully committed to the responsibilities of the job and enjoyed it. However, as I began to look forward to 2012, I felt that I would not be able to balance the changing needs of my family and the demands of the job.
“I want to thank the Indians for the opportunity to work with a good young pitching staff the past two years. I am excited about the future of the team and I welcome the opportunity to continue working for the club in another capacity going forward.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.
