Cubs to interview former Indians manager Manny Acta for open job

In the midst of a bunch of rumors surrounding Joe Girardi and Sandy Alomar, Jr., the Chicago Cubs are reportedly going to the well with a ‘seasoned’ managerial candidate.

According to Kaplan, who represents CSNChicago.com, the Manny Acta interview will take place in the very near future (if it hasn’t already), as the former Nationals and Indians manager is already in town.

Acta has the look and feel of a Major League manager (something that most organizations seem to value very much), but his managerial record is subpar, to say the least. In 890 career games, Acta has a .418 winning percentage, and while some of that was certainly due to talent (remember where the Nats were before the Strasburg/Harper era?), he had notable gaffes throughout both tenures.

However, Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer (the braintrust of the Cubs) certainly would lean toward a statistically “savvy” manager, and all reports indicate that Acta is open and willing to using more advanced metrics.

Acta isn’t the “splash” hire that Cubs fans would like, but it wouldn’t be a disastrous one, either. The final verdict is probably days (or weeks) away, but Joe Girardi may not be walking through that door.