Players: Acta's Approach Respected, But Need for Change Won Out

Posted by Emilie Cole on Jul. 16, 2009 at 7:23 PM
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As the Riggleman Era kicks off, it's cautiously easy to look back on quotes like this one and see some obvious foreshadowing:

"You have to stay positive and keep talking to the guys. We have to keep working, and we are gong to snap out of it."

Then-new manager Manny Acta was facing a 9-24 start to his first season that day in May 2007, and would go on to be quoted along similar lines too many times in his little more than two-year stint at the helm of NatsTown - including throughout the horrible (and injury-ridden) 2008 season and this year's bullpen misery. At the end of it all, players (most notably, Zimmerman) would speak of Manny's firing as a needed public display of change, even if it was a result of their own poor performance. 

Quotes in the past few days indicate players' disappointment in themselves more than anything, but with a "this is how it goes" slant, and looking back over the mostly frustrating history of Nationals baseball, it never seemed to be any other way.

Just a few months into Acta's span, with a record of 40-55 (a "decent" losing record for the half-way mark), World Series champ Ronnie Belliard said Acta was focusing the team to win. "They said we weren't going to win 50 games [this season], and look where we are now. I think all those positive things come from our manager, Manny Acta. He's a winner. He's going to do what it takes to win the ballgame, day in and day out."

Later that 2007 season, as the team blew an 8-3 lead over the Dodgers to lose 10-9 and continue a six-game losing streak, players felt bleak toward the team's performance, but glad about their skipper. Now-defunct firstbaseman Robert Fick remarked, "It all starts with Manny. His attitude has been so good the whole year."

That "whole year" ended up being the "bright spot" in team history by ending 73-89 (the Nats ended fourth in the East and the F.O. was even pushing for Acta to be named the NL Manager of the Year, no doubt a move intended for encouragement more than anything), and players continued to stand by Acta through thick and thin. Yes, he would be questioned for his lack of emotion...but not by his players.

During 2008's terrible showing, many in the media camp were almost amazed at Acta's level of patience and calm. Acta credited his cool head to his time in the minors, where he found that "kicking and screaming doesn't get the best out of people most of the time." He logically explained his Zen-like approach by stating, "If I throw a phone around or turn over the spread, the score is not going to change. I have done a lot of research and have data to prove it's not going to work." And he concluded that the best way to gain player respect was by "treating them fairly and keep showing them that I do have faith in them."

For a team that put players on the DL 30 times (for a combined total of more than one thousand lost games among them) that season, people steered clear of blaming the skipper, with Bowden stating last September, "I believe when Manny Acta gets the horses, Manny Acta will win."

As one of those potential horses going into the '09 season, Lastings Milledge said in October, "I know he takes a lot of heat because we didn't win. He handles the team great and he knows how to handle young guys. The biggest thing is, he knows how to communicate with guys." At the outset of this year, another one, Willie Harris, called him a "player's manager." And the first day of spring training had Adam Dunn praising, "It's hard to get those many guys organized. That's impressive."

So in the end, it seems Acta's players had what they needed from him: Good communication, ability to handle and even discipline younger players, and a positive attitude to boot. The elephant in the...stable...however, became the need to change something - anything. As recently as May, the term had crept into the locker room's regular lexicon. Scott Olsen was quoted in frustration after the team went 7-18 in the first NL East stint, "It definitely has to change. The atmosphere and culture around here -- something has to change."

Still, likes of Ron Villone and Nick Johnson took an equally as candid view as recently as last month, noting that there was only so much Acta could do. "Manny is doing everything he can to put us in the position to win and we are not winning games for him," said Villone. "It's up to us to do the job." Johnson added, "It's on us to play better baseball." Even Zimmerman's recent interview in the Post, while mentioning the need of urgency and "fire," focused more on accountability within.

Now that he's gone, it's easy to see that even during the past two months - and as his tenure came to a close and became distracted by rumors of his firing - Acta did what he's always done. He stayed calm, left fate to the Fates, and focused on staying positive to his ballclub. Said Acta in late May, "I just prepare myself to go out there every single day and give this team the best possible chance to win."

Maybe Acta will get what he wanted in the end, even if he is somewhere else. Change could up the chances for the Nats. Only time will tell, but in the meantime, patience is still a virtue...and one which Riggleman will have to embrace.