Phillies interview Manny Acta for manager position
By John Town
The Phillies continued their managerial search, interviewing former Nationals and Indians manager and Mariners bench coach Manny Acta.
The list of those being interviewed for the Phillies manager position continues to grow. After adding two more names to their list a few days ago, Jon Heyman of Fanrag Sports has reported that former Nationals and Indians manager and current Mariners bench coach Manny Acta has interviewed for the job in Philadelphia.
However, the Phils are not the only team interested in Acta. Heyman and others have reported that Acta is a frontrunner to become the next manager for the Mets. Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post said Acta “lit up the room” in his interview with the Mets. It seems like Philadelphia may be too late if they want to hire him.
Looking back at Acta’s managerial career, he doesn’t exactly have the most impressive resume. He started his major-league manager career with the Nationals in 2007, leading that club to a 73-89 record. Acta came fifth in manager of the year voting, collecting four vote points overall.
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After that, it quickly went downhill for Acta in Washington as the Nationals went 59-102 in 2008. Their struggles continued into 2009 as they went 26-61 before Acta was fired in the middle of the season.
Acta then took over for the Indians in 2010, but the team struggled heavily, finishing with a 69-93. They improved to 80-82 and second in the AL Central as Acta wound up finishing fourth in manager of the year voting.
They then went right back to their struggles in 2012 and Acta was fired with a few games left in the season.
As a whole, Acta has a 372-518 record over six seasons as a manager. If he doesn’t get hired in Philadelphia, I won’t be disappointed.
After being fired by the Indians, Acta worked for ESPN for three years before being hired by the Mariners.
Next: Phillies manager search: Who's in, who's out?
The fact that Philadelphia interviewed Acta at all might not matter as it is a strong possibility he becomes the Mets manager. Compared to others the Phils have interviewed, they are likely better off hiring someone else.