Cleveland Sports Forum

Chris Perez says a lot of his problems with the Cleveland Indians ended with firing of Manny Acta

Published: Tuesday, October 02, 2012, 7:32 PM Updated: Tuesday, October 02, 2012, 9:08 PM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- If closer Chris Perez ever did want to get traded, he's had a change of heart now that manager Manny Acta has been fired.

When the Indians were in Detroit in early September, Perez criticized ownership for not spending enough money to have a competitive team. Then he criticized the front office for its poor trading record.
Perez said Tuesday, a couple of hours before the second-to-last game of the season, that he did not make those comments to get traded.

"A lot of it was heat of the moment," he said. "I was upset. A lot of that walked out the door last week."
Perez was referring to the Acta's firing on Thursday. Bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. is the acting manager. He's scheduled to interview for the full-time job Thursday followed by former Boston manager Terry Francona on Friday.

In a 15-minute meeting with reporters, Perez listed his complaints with Acta.

-"The Manny (reporters) saw and the Manny we saw were different guys," said Perez. "He's not a very confrontational person.

"In this game we're men. We can handle it. Sometimes we need a kick in the butt. He did it this year, but it was a couple of weeks too late.

"Last year we didn't get it at all. He only gave us two speeches, one at the start of the season and one at the end and we were playing for first place up until September."
Perez said the Indians took on Acta's passive personality.

"It sounds like a cliche, but a team does follow its manager, good or bad," he said. "If a manager has no activity on the field. If he doesn't argue calls or get upset, why would his team?"

In the last two years under Acta's leadership, the Indians have been in first place in the AL Central for more games than any other team in the division.

"A broken clock is right twice a day," countered Perez. "It's nice being in first place, but it's not where you start, it's where you finish."

-Perez said Acta seemed to push the panic button in certain series.

"We'd play the Yankees and have to change our whole lineup around," said Perez. "Why?"

He questioned how Acta used the bullpen at times.

"OK, it's May and there are only 150 games left," said Perez. "Why use the whole bullpen against Detroit when we're going to play them 15 more times?"

Perez said he'd go seven to eight days at a time without talking to Acta, unless he was coming into a game in the ninth inning.

"We're a family," he said. "We're together so much. It was just a weird dynamic. I have a great deal of respect for Manny. From what he's accomplished and the charity work he does. I just disagree with some of his baseball tactics and strategies and how he runs the ship."

Perez said he felt Acta should have been fired on Aug. 8, when pitching coach Scott Radinsky was dismissed following an 11-game losing streak.

"The easiest way to get out of the kind of losing streak we were in is to get a new manager," said Perez. "It shakes things up and gets a new voice. They made the decision with six games left in the season.

"They had their reasons. . .I would have liked to seen what happened if they'd done it after that losing streak when they fired Rad. I would have liked to seen what happened with a month and a half to go. Who knows?
"It wasn't my decision. I stand by what they did. I respect them."

Nothing like a good stab in the back on the way out the door.

Geez, I wonder who in the hell has been telling you that since last season ?

Manny No Acta !

rusty2 Post subject: Re: ArticlesPosted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:04 pm


Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:41 pm
Posts: 1710
Anthony Castrovince ‏@castrovince


I'd be shocked if #Indians don't give Sandy Alomar Jr. the job full-time. Players love him, fans love him. Players had soured on Acta.

Added by Rusty. Chris Perez led the get rid of Manny Acta player group.

Camino said he spoke to two other players off the record that agreed Manny was part of the problem.

Smoke signals

• If it looked like there was less defensive shifting during Sandy Alomar Jr.'s first game as Cleveland's manager on Friday, he said it was purely a coincidence. Alomar said third-base coach Steve Smith handles those decisions with the infielders and there was no philosophical change just because Manny Acta is no longer managing.

"That was just yesterday's game," Alomar explained on Saturday. "[Eric] Hosmer was not playing. That's one of the guys we put on the shift for. Steve Smith does a great job with the report. They do a good job with the shifting stuff and the position of the players. I'm not concerned about that. There was nothing special yesterday. The guys did the same thing.

"Steve Smith is in charge of the infielders and [first-base coach] Tom Wiedenbauer is in charge of the outfielders, and I have a great deal of respect for those guys and trust. I've seen through the whole year that I've been watching, I don't think we've been burned many times."

• Alomar has heard from a host of family, friends and former teammates over the past two days since being named interim manager. The messages continued to flood in after he picked up his first managerial win on Friday night.

"I've got so many text messages right now, it's ridiculous," Alomar said with a laugh. "I have a phone with a hard drive. It's telling me to stop. I think it was full. It's hard to fill up a phone with data, but I have many e-mails and many texts from different friends. I'm very appreciative of that."

• Indians center fielder Michael Brantley (left groin) and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (mid-back strain) took batting practice prior to Saturday's game against the Royals. Alomar said both players might be back in the lineup on Sunday.

Jordan Bastian is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Major League Bastian, and follow him on Twitter @MLBastian. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Chris Perez wants more passionate manager


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October 2, 2012
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Outspoken closer Chris Perez thinks the Indians need a more intense manager and better players.

Perez said Tuesday that Cleveland's second-half collapse was embarrassing and the laid-back approach of former manager Manny Acta didn't help.

"August wasn't baseball, it was pathetic -- in all aspects," Perez said about Cleveland's 5-24 slide that came after losing nine of its last 12 games in July.

Acta was fired Thursday and replaced by bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. on an interim basis.

"I'm not saying that a change earlier would have done anything," Perez said. "But sometimes we pressed the panic button. Why? A lot of things left you kind of scratching your head."

Alomar doesn't mind Perez being outspoken and said the right-hander's occasional outbursts are not detrimental if you understand his mindset. Alomar pointed out that Cleveland had controversial players while winning five consecutive AL Central championships in the 1990s.

"That's what drives him," Alomar said. "He's an All-Star player and in the clubhouse he's everybody's friend, always talking. On the field, it's a little different."

Alomar said Perez's passion to win sometimes leads him to go overboard. He would not want to douse that competitive fire.

That's fine with Perez, who hopes whoever is hired as manager will match his own intensity. He said either Alomar or Terry Francona, who led the Boston Red Sox to two World Series titles, would be a better fit than Acta. Alomar is due to interview for the full-time job on Thursday; Francona on Friday.

Perez suggested that watching Acta not argue with umpires or get angry with underperforming players led to his own frustrations boiling over in comments to the media earlier this season.

"A lot of that went out the door last week," Perez said. "The Manny you see and the Manny we see are different."

Perez insisted he likes and respects Acta, but disagreed with some of his decisions. Most of all, he wanted him to take a stronger stand in the dugout and the clubhouse.

"He's not very confrontational," Perez said. "We are men, we can handle it. Last year, he had two speeches -- on opening day and the last day.

"It's not like we (he and Acta) had yelling matches. Actually it went the other route -- seven, eight, nine days not even talking."

Despite Cleveland's horrible second half, Perez thinks the Indians have a good foundation on which to build. They led the AL Central for 40 days, until June 23. A gradual fade turned into an all-out collapse to last place.

"We kind of fell off the cliff," he said. "We are better than this."

Perez said he had a "very professional" conversation with general manager Chris Antonetti and came away with a better understanding of the organization's plans. He said he wants to stay in Cleveland and be part of a winner.

"If I didn't want to play here, the easiest way to get out was to tank," Perez said. "I didn't.

"They have control of me (under contract) for two years and while I'm here I want to win."

Perez doesn't anticipate being traded, but said that is beyond his control.

"I got the impression we're going to build upon our very strong bullpen," he said. "We were not in first place on luck. We have some good players here. Not enough, obviously, because we're not in the playoffs.

"I can't see these same players jumping over four teams in our division, but we can get better."

Perez doesn't want veterans added just for the sake of getting experienced players, and he wouldn't mind seeing the Indians push younger players as they did with right-hander Cody Allen, who moved up four levels to Cleveland this summer.

"Talent plays, whether it is 18 years old or 40," Perez said. "Baltimore called up a Dylan Bundy at age 19 because he can pitch."

Perez pointed to that decision helping the Orioles clinch a playoff berth after a decade and a half of losing. He thinks a new manager can do what Buck Showalter has done in Baltimore.

"It took a couple years, but he definitely had an impact on team chemistry and camaraderie," Perez said.

Alomar said he is confident he can do that. The longtime Cleveland fan favorite as a player and coach acknowledged that Francona does, too.

"Anybody would want Terry," Alomar said. "What's not to like? I respect him, but I feel I am ready, too."

Perez doesn't anticipate being traded, but said that is beyond his control.

"I got the impression we're going to build upon our very strong bullpen," he said. "We were not in first place on luck. We have some good players here. Not enough, obviously, because we're not in the playoffs.

Geesh!! I'm crushed!

I was waiting for the Chris Perez outburst and his state of the Indians (post season) but this was not what I had in mind. Hopefully he'll have enough left over in the tank to give the ownership and the front office guys a good kick in the ass now.

I see where a certain someone all of a sudden has become a Chris Perez soulmate

I still stand by my statement of a couple of days ago. For a team that's gotten off to fast starts both last season and this season only to tank in the second half of both seasons because their manager failed to man-hug and argue a few close plays is childish behavior in my opinion. These guys belong in a day care center and not in the center of the biggest stage on earth.

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I feel cheated and I believe we deserved better. What a terrible excuse for not performing under pressure. What a terrible excuse for failing to perform in both second halves of both seasons because their manager was not a babysitter. Are you kidding me??

To Chris Perez......I luv y'a Man! You stood up when everyone else sat on their collective asses. If there was ever a most valuable player on this team, it's Chris Perez. Hope to see y'a next season Chris.

To Manny Acta......I stood by you until the end. I luv y'a also Man! Please heed this advice! In your next baseball life, be sure to take some day care lessons.

OK! That's that! Now!

I'm finally looking for that elusive championship that I've been waiting for since 1948. It appears that 2013 will be that year.

GO TRIBE!

rusty2 wrote:Geez, I wonder who in the hell has been telling you that since last season ?

Manny No Acta !

And again, Manny Acta was hired by one Mark Shapiro after Acta was in charge for a .385 winning percentage over three seasons while in Washington.

Before you pull out the munchkin trumpet celebrating the death of the Manny Acta witch, just make sure you know which old witch needs to get gone.

September 5, 2012

In an interview with FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi, Cleveland Indians All-Star closer Chris Perez was asked to discuss the difference between his team and the Detroit Tigers. He obliged, and rather handsomely.

“Different owners,” said Perez. “It comes down to that. They (the Tigers) are spending money. He (Ilitch) wants to win. Even when the economy was down (in Detroit), he spent money. He’s got a team to show for it. You get what you pay for in baseball. Sometimes you don’t. But most of the time you do.”

The payroll of the Cleveland Indians is roughly $50 million shy of their division rival Tigers. When asked for specifics, Perez, once again, provided. The Indians, in contention near the All-Star break, went on to win five games in all of August due to an utter collapse by the pitching staff coupled with a relative inability to produce runs and now sit 15.5 games back in the AL Central.

“You can’t miss,” Perez said. “You have to be right. That’s why I say it’s not just ownership. They don’t make the trades. It’s the GMs. It goes hand in hand. The GMs can only spend the money the owners give them, but they pick who they spend it on or who they don’t. They pick. The owners don’t pick.

“Josh Willingham would look great in this lineup. They didn’t want to [pony] up for that last year. That’s the decision they make, and this is the bed we’re laying in.”

Perez has been a sounding board for the duration of the 2012 season on topics ranging from attendance woes to the Browns and LeBron James.

I'll agree with that post most heartedly JR. Perez for owner and general manager

J.R. wrote:September 5, 2012

In an interview with FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi, Cleveland Indians All-Star closer Chris Perez was asked to discuss the difference between his team and the Detroit Tigers. He obliged, and rather handsomely.

“Different owners,” said Perez. “It comes down to that. They (the Tigers) are spending money. He (Ilitch) wants to win. Even when the economy was down (in Detroit), he spent money. He’s got a team to show for it. You get what you pay for in baseball. Sometimes you don’t. But most of the time you do.”

Just because Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti have blown the money they have been given to spend, does not mean others could and would have done better with the same $$ over the same years.

Just because Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti have blown the money they have been given to spend, does not mean others could and would have done better with the same $$ over the same years.

CALI/FLA: Sounds like you are defending the front office now?!?

J.R. wrote:
Just because Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti have blown the money they have been given to spend, does not mean others could and would have done better with the same $$ over the same years.

CALI/FLA: Sounds like you are defending the front office now?!?

My intent was clear. Kenm, Lassie, E.T., Rusty or Gloria Allred could and would have done better than Shapiro and Antonetti.