DETROIT — Manny Acta hopes to manage one day again in Major League Baseball on a full-time basis.
Perhaps he’s even found a possible bench coach for his future staff if he’s ever hired to lead a team again. But for now, he’ll take the two games in the series against the Tigers.
On Friday, Acta sat in the dugout of Comerica Park and met with the media, part of his duties as acting manager for the next two games. The Mariners bench coach is filling in for manager Scott Servais, who left the team on Friday morning and traveled to Oxford, Mississippi so he could attend the Saturday’s graduation ceremonies where his daughter, Jackie, will receive her Master’s from the Ole Miss School of Journalism and New Media.
“He laid down the law before he left,” Acta said. “He said, ‘Don’t mess it up, things are going good.’”
So will there be constant text messages between the two?
“No, we will be in touch,” he said. “We’ve got everything under control. If he has anything that pops into his head, he’ll let me know.”
But really, there won’t be much of a reason to do that. Acta actually has more managerial experience than Servais, having served as a manager for six MLB seasons with two rebuilding teams. He got his start with the Washington Nationals in 2007 and served as manager through 2009, posting a 158-252 record. He was then hired by the Cleveland Indians before the 2010 season and managed the Indians for three seasons, posting a 214-266 record.
After a two-year stint in television as an analyst for ESPN, he returned to the field as a part of Servais’ staff, first serving as third base coach and moving to bench coach this season.
But he wants to manage again.
His name was brought up with several managerial openings this past offseason and he even interviewed with the New York Mets.
“It’s my goal,” he said. “I’m in no type of rush. I don’t have any type of agenda. But it is my goal. That’s what I like to do. I had interview with the Mets and I thought it went well.”
He knows that his past managerial record could cause problems upon a cursory glance.
“Somebody at some point will probably take a chance on me,” he said. “I’ve done two rebuilding jobs. My only fear is that the same industry that put me in two rebuilds will only judge me on wins and losses, which is part of the game. Eventually I would like to get back at it. Right now, I have no timeframe on it. I’m having fun doing this.”
Acta believes his time away from managing has given him an added perspective that he would taken into a new opportunity.
“I’ve learned so much here, especially under Scotty,” he said “My teachers were Frank Robinson and Willie Randolph, those were the guys that I worked for before. And they were kind of old school type of guys. The game has changed so much. Whenever I go back, I will do so many things differently than I did in the past because that’s what I learned from Frank and Willie. But the way Scotty handles guys on an everyday basis and the way the game has changed, it forces you to change. Being on the outside looking in, the couple of years I spent in TV and now not being in charge and seeing how another guy handles a group of players, it’s helped me.”
The evolution of the game and the people involved is continuous.
“I think the game has changed drastically and we have all changed drastically,” he said. “We have the 24-7 news and the social media and all that. And whether you want it or not, it’s made us change. The way you treat people and the way players are expected to be treated and the communication that exists nowadays is really different. You have to adjust and adapt or disappear.”
With Acta managing, the role of bench coach will be filled by Ichiro, who will get to be in the dugout for the two games. Major League Baseball limits the number of non-playing staff in the dugout during games. With Servais gone and Acta managing, there is an open spot and Ichiro can fill it.
“I’m honored to have a guy like Ichiro be my bench coach,” he said. “It’s a luxury. Its another little piece of history I can tell my grandkids down the road. This week I’ve seen a few good things to add to those stories. There was the 3,000 hits of Albert (Pujols), the no-hitter from (James) Paxton and then having Ichiro as my bench coach. As a matter of fact, he’s moving up pretty fast in this game, huh?”
How much influence will Ichiro actually and will the language barrier be a problem?
“I communicate with him all the time,” Acta said. “That’s not going to be an issue. During the game, he’s going to be watching the game and managing the game just like I do. And anything that pops up, any idea, I will ask him and go from there. And probably at the end of the day, I will go with my idea.”
From an amusement standpoint, is there any way he could get ejected from one of the games so Ichiro could be manager?
Acta laughed hard at the premise, replying: “That’s not my strength getting throwing out of games and stuff like that.”
Also …
Dee Gordon was back in the starting lineup for Friday night after sitting out Thursday with a sore big right toe.
Dan Altavilla (AC joint strain) pitched a 1-2-3 inning for Class AA Arkansas in the first appearance of his rehab stint. Acta said Altavilla might not be back till the homestand with the Mariners wanting him ready to contribute and throwing well when he returns.
