Acta and Rizzo: Their futures remain TBD

Posted by Ian Koski on Jun. 22, 2009 at 6:56 AM
There are 3 comments | Add yours

Consistent with media reports throughout the week, team president Stan Kasten did his best Saturday to avoid tipping his hand on the futures of his manager, Manny Acta, and his interim general manager, Mike Rizzo.

Near the end of a fairly casual 25-minute interview with more than a dozen fan bloggers about the team's present and future, it was pointed out to Kasten that he hadn't yet uttered Acta's name. Asked about the manager's future, Kasten expressed his frustration with the reports last weekend from Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal and Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman claiming Acta was about to be fired.

"This has been a week with more confusion than there needed to be," Kasten said. "I can't explain anything about last week's news reports. You'll have to ask the people who wrote those. The one thing that was unfortunate was the notion that there was someone out there twisting in the wind. Maybe because media people were having them twist.

"Manny and I were always completely in sync," he continued. "Manny and Mike, Mike and I -- the three of us talk all the time, including about last weekend's stories. What we say to each other is, of course, private. I don't talk about personnel and I NEVER comment on other media reports."

After undermining the original reports, Kasten offered support for Acta, if not a commitment.

"I'm a big supporter of Manny," he said. "Obviously we need it to work and at some point, if it's not working, you know, we'll have to find a solution. But there's no one who's a bigger supporter and believer of Manny than I am. And that's always been the case since the beginning."

Kasten's statement is fascinatingly (and predictably) non-committal, but it's the bolded line, where he lays the groundwork for an eventual termination, that is the most interesting.

Just moments later, with Rizzo standing beside him, Kasten was then asked when the "interim" would be removed from the former's job title.

"When I made the change in March for the reasons that I did," Kasten responded, "I explained to Mike and the world at that time that the franchise owes it to itself to make sure this is the best long term... and there are a lot of things involved with making sure of that. And it's been working out really well.  So when the time comes that we can make a change, we'll make a change. I haven't commented on it from that day to this and it's worked REALLY well not commenting."

The emphatic response drew laughter from those in the room (and a smirk from Rizzo).