Yardbarker: Fausto Carmona

News and Notes: Acta Speaks, Again.

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:28:21 -0500

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP Mark Shapiro, normally the public face of the Indians, has given way this offseason to Manny Acta. Browse more photos » Indians skipper Manny Acta: 'I want to become one of the elite six or seven' managers | Cleveland Indians - cleveland.com - - cleveland.comManny Acta sits down for a lengthy interview with Paul Hoynes. The major acquisition the Indians se...

Breaking Down Acta: The Press Conference

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:15:00 -0500

HOLY CRAP

Has this guy been in the organization longer than one day or something?

He talked as if he's been here for awhile.

He dropped a Hector Rondon mention! I mean, who does that?!

He even dropped Nick Weglarz!

Um he was asked about Fausto Carmona specifically and he narrowed in to his final two starts as if he was in the dugout for them.

I mean, does this guy do his homework or what?

Let's start going over things... I'm going to talk quotes, but I'm just going through the presser and giving you my opinion as I hear it, I've pretty much listened to this thing twice now. I'll throw in specific quotes from Hoynes and AC's articles.

He recognizes a lot of things: the history of this franchise for the most part (the 455 sellout streak), the passion of the fan base, the weaknesses of the team (the starting pitching), the effort is going to take and the division they play in. He was sort of kind on it though calling it the "most balanced."

"These people over here are very good poker players." Got a chuckle out of me. It would hard to not be aware of you not being a favorite. I think this directly speaks to how aware he is, but only of the things that matter. He cares about Aaron Laffey taking the next step, but not necessarily the media reports that he himself is the favorite for the job. Sure he could be aware of that, but I think it just says a lot about what he values. Baseball is first with this guy.

He talked about not being a Youtube highlight. This isn't going to go over well with the people that wanted Wedge to show fire. Acta sounds like he is just like Wedge in the instance that he's a competitive individual, but not one to wear his emotions on his sleeve. I think a manager needs to know when to speak up and I think Wedge didn't do the greatest job at this.

Acta comes off as someone and given what he's said, as having that quiet competitive spirit that Wedge did. We'll have to see if he has the knack to know when to speak up. Shapiro called him an elite communicator, so remember that.

"If you give people the opportunity to choose between, say, Joe Torre after his first three years with the Mets or the Joe Torre now, I believe everyone would pick the one from now," Acta said. "I think we have to look back and know that not everybody who is a big shot now was a big shot when they started. I think big shots are just little shots who keep shooting, and I'm not willing to quit shooting until I become a big shot."

The response to his question about the record with the Nationals was brilliant. He made it all about the Indians and not about the Nationals. Yeah it was a rebuilding process and whatever, but this is where I'm at now and that's what I'm focused on. Then he referenced Joe Torre specifically as you can see above and gave this funny thing about big shots and little shots. I loved it. It shows he realizes this is his second chance to prove what happened in Washington happened in Washington and that he's far better than what that showed. Brilliantly handled.

He talked about the influence of Frank Robinson. That is not a bad guy to learn from.

"I battled this organization for years in the Minor Leagues," Acta said. "This is a place where a lot of people want to be. In 2007, I worked as an analyst during the playoffs [for Spanish-language FOX Sports] and fell in love with the Indians back then."

It really sounds like this guy eats, sleeps and breathes baseball. He talked about the 2007 stint as an analyst and how he fell in love with the team. He talked about seeing it from the other side when he was in the minors. So he is aware of some of the current guys just from that perspective.

The point when he starts naming players. Jake Westbrook, Peralta, Laffey, Carmona, Huff, Rondon, Santana, Weglarz, Mills. Just floored me. Okay he knew Jake Westbrook was good and needed him to get back and that Fausto and Jhonny have struggled. But to pull out Laffey and Rondon and Weglarz! WEGLARZ!

The lineup discussion is interesting. We'll get to that later, but it sounds the normal run of the mill perspective. You want a lineup but if changes need to be made, changes need to be made.

Big on pitching and defense was something he mentioned specifically as "big." You know I like that.. At this point he mentioned for the second time how athletic the team was.

With that he talked about the starting rotation and he fielded a question directly about Fausto Carmona. I mentioned it above, but he sounded like he was with Fausto with the two starts when he looked better. It's good to know they have a prior relationship though.

He tackled his favorite stat, which seemed to be OBP. Big on getting on base because that provides you chances to score. He threw in a little OPS love for Shapiro, but he was big on getting on base.

I loved when the woman in the press said the "1997 Indians" and he immediately corrected her. I don't even want to address what she said though because it wasn't really a question worth anything.

He isn't even waiting till winter to reach out to his players. He said it starts tomorrow. Beautiful, beautiful. He follows it up with his first joke about how he sucks at golf, so why do that? Again he eats baseball.

"It was very tough day for me emotionally," said Acta, who grew up in the Astros organization. "That being said, we have to do what's best for us. I felt Cleveland was perfect for me."

Acta confirmed he made his decision Saturday night and talked a little bit about making the decision between his "dream job" and the Indians. I think he made it clear this was a better situation.

Tackled Peralta. He said he has a higher ceiling and that he's going to reach out to him, which makes me happy if he's going to be around. He realized how important Peralta is to the success of this club offensively.

Acta said he will use the first few weeks of spring training to get a feel and take a look at guys, but that the last few weeks, it is "all out." You gotta love that Anti-Wedgeites.

Ah the Grady leadoff question... Knew that was coming... Of course Acta said he'll look at things. He keyed on LaPorta though saying it might rely on him and where they put him.

Acta said what I've been thinking.. Things aren't totally bad if this rotation is fixed. The problem is the rotation is really lacking that it really hurts. You put together a rotation you can do some things.

Um wow he's reference two reporters (David and Terry Pluto) by name. Seriously has this guy been around?

"People are always going to say the same things when things don't work out," said Acta. "I really don't worry about my reputation. Reputation is only what people think and say about you, and I can't control that."

Terry Pluto by the way brought up the discipline issue with Washington. Again, Acta said the right things. Things were said, by Washington of course and he's moving on. He mentioned how nothing was said when they exceeded expectations and he isn't worried about what went down.

I love the fact that he has that same sort of demeanor. It's what I liked about Wedge. Yeah I don't care about my reputation. I'll take the brunt and the blame, I can't control it. Let the players do the work type of mentality. Wedge protected his guys, I think Acta will do the same. He did it in Washington.

Mark Shapiro chimed in... At that point he laughed and said "this has been the best press conference ever."

Anyway Shapiro mentioned the elite communicator thing and said there was an "ease" talking to him. Shapiro wouldn't comment on Valentine specifically when asked. He made a general statement about insights gained from the guys they brought in to talk to and the ones they talked to on the phone.

"Every decision in life is tough," Acta said. "I wanted to come to a place where I can grow with the front office and the good group of young, talented players we have here, and become good for a long time. ... I consider myself a blessed human being. Both jobs were offered. It was a very tough day for me, emotionally. But that being said, you have to do what's best. And I felt that Cleveland was best."

Back to Acta... He was up front about not knowing much about the city itself. He said fans want to win just as much as everyone else and they don't come to see him, but the product on the field. But he did realize the passion and how could you not? Every city has it. He just might not know that this fan-base is a little crazy.

Manny wants someone in a bench coach that is managing with him, someone who is thinking and he can turn to and ask.

If Jamey Carroll returns, he'll have to pick yet another new number as Acta is taking 11. 14 was retired (Uh Doby!!!) so 11 it is after his birthday.

Okay.. Now Acta did a follow up with Bruce Drennen on STO. You can view that video here.

My impressions, because of course Bruce has to be nice and ask about his family.

Lefty/Righty... He used that "common sense" guy thing. He's a stats guy of course, so yeah he'll do what he needs to do. I loved his "bikini" comparison, brilliant.

Acta clarified a comment he made in the press conference when talking about the lead-off spot. I was kind of confused but he did say Choo was like LaPorta that he could change who does hit there based off where he hits.

Let's revisit the coaching discussion because this is something big that Bruce brings up. Acta said nothing will be forced on him and that they will make the decision as a team. They've already begun the process and according to Hoynes, they hope to have a staff finalized in the next two to three weeks.

Bruce brought up Luis Isaac specifically. Yaaaa.

Acta went back to the athletic point when Bruce brought up the national league style of ball. Acta seems like a guy who is going to manage to what his team's skill set is. I don't think he's a guy set on some sort of approach or mindset. He goes with what his team can do and I like that.

And because I didn't even bring it up, the whole thing with his 800-word English book. That's just fantastic.

And that would do it.

Overall.. I was impressed, just as much as I was with the initial media session. The guy has a way with words. He may be from the Dominican but he has a good grasp on the English language and knows his way around it, perhaps better than some Americans even do.

It all comes down to the field though. This is all well and good and I can sit here and praise him for his press conference and his interviews. But we're about to get into the testing of Manny Acta. Let's see what he's got. It was a good day for the Cleveland Indians right now and hopefully when we look back on it in a few years, it turns into a fantastic day.

Watch (part of) the press conference here.

Listen to the entire press conference here.

Game 150: Indians 11, Athletics 4

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:41:56 -0500

More photos » by Dino Vournas - AP Fausto Carmona only gave up runs in two innings. But what innings they were. Browse more photos » I suppose the one saving grace of this hideous September is that it will force major changes in the Indians organization. The Indians are now tied for last place in the AL Central, and just one game ahead of Baltimore for the worst record in the American League. Now they aren...

Another Heartbreaker as Tigers Sweep Tribe

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:00:58 -0500

A somewhat old version of Fausto Carmona came to play Thursday afternoon, unfortunately so did the bad old Rafael Perez. This was yet another game in which the Indians had plenty of chances to win, but came up short as they ended their stay in Detroit by getting swept. This loss was a 4-3 extra [...]

Fausto Turns Back the Clock

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:00:46 -0500

On a mild Sunday afternoon at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, Tribe starter Fausto Carmona jumped into his own personal time machine and set the clock to 2007. He gave himself, and the fans who came out to Progressive Field a real treat in the Indians 6-1 win over Seattle. Fausto, who hasn’t won [...]

What Is Going On With Fausto Carmona?

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:06:38 -0500

More photos » by David Richard - AP What does this all mean? Why won't you tell us how you feel? Browse more photos » As I said in the recap earlier, I'm pretty befuddled by what's going on with Fausto Carmona lately. I'm hardly alone in watching Fausto closely this season and primers on his performance thus far can be found here and here. In his start today, Fausto struck out 8 ...

Found: Tall right-hander, Answers to the name 'Fausto'

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:49:00 -0500

Fausto Carmona - missing in action for nearly two years now - has been found.

And he was right where the Tribe left him - on the mound at Progressive Field (though it was Jacobs Field when he was last seen prior to Sunday).

For the past two seasons - we have learned - an impostor has been wearing Fausto's No. 55 and taking the hill for the Tribe.

It is rumored that Tribe manager Eric Wedge, being tied up with his self-challenge to come up with 162 different lineups in one season, didn't realize the impostor had slipped into Fausto's uni beginning in spring training 2008.

It is unclear where the real Fausto has been over the past 23 months.

One thing is clear - the "real" Fausto - or at least what the Tribe hopes is the real Fausto - made the start Sunday at Progressive Field.

This Fausto had a ball that moved, but just far enough out of the zone to entice Seattle hitters to put the ball into play, or in the case of eight Mariners - miss it altogether. He had poise and "stayed within himself," as the players like to say.

It made all the difference in the world.

In all Carmona went seven innings, allowing five hits, one walk and one run. He threw 116 pitches - 76 of them for strikes.

It was - no doubt - Fausto's best outing of the season.

Tony Sipp and Chris Perez finished thing off quite easily over the final two innings, lending more credence to the rumor that some semblance of a bullpen has also been found - also after a two-year absence.

The guys who are likely to make up the core of next year's team - Travis Hafner, Jhonny Peralta, Grady Sizemore, Luis Valbuena and Matt LaPorta continued the team's hot hitting, making for a pleasant "family fun" day at the ballpark.

All of which is well and good, but the best piece of news to come down the pike in a while is that the real Fausto apparently has been found.

That, more than any other individual development in recent weeks, is key to the Tribe returning to respectability next season.

Tribe’s Quiet Bats Lose to Rangers / Thursday Tribe Open Thread

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:00:28 -0500

Last night Fausto Carmona was a tough luck loser. Carmona who has looked infinitely better since returning to the bigs recently put up 6 frames of solid pitching. He gave up five hits and two earned runs while walking three and striking out three. His rough inning was the third. Fausto started out by hitting [...]

Is Fausto Carmona Calming Down?

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:00:45 -0500

With the Cliff Lee trade watch essentially an “advisory system” away from being full go, I felt it would be prudent to discuss the guy who could then be looked at as our “ace” come next season: Fausto Carmona. Assuming you’ve stopped trembling from reading that, it may be worth noting that he is only 25-years [...]

Morning Update: Carmona Comeback Tour Hits Akron

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:09:00 -0500

Have you heard the news?

Fausto Carmona is coming back.

And after making a successful return to Lake County, the Fausto Carmona Comeback Tour took a stop in Akron last night.

What's the goal for Carmona?

After staying in his delivery last time out, the Indians wanted him to repeat that and turn in another good performance in a row.

That he did.

He didn't walk anyone and to me, that's awesome.

Now, I imagine they'll have him have one more go at it in Columbus before they consider getting him back to the big leagues.

Man if this is what he's needed, then I'll take it. We know what Carmona is capable of and if all it took was a hiatus away from the world and a little comeback tour throughout the minor leagues, then let's get that 19-game winning, nasty stuff Carmona back.

Or at least someone who can get hitters out.

Injury updates galore from yesterday, but thankfully these are starting to dwindle.

Rough set-back for Scott Lewis, who removed himself from a rehab start on the 21st after just four inning of work. Lewis will visit Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion after no structural damage was found. Who really knows what's up with him.

As it was pointed out in numerous places, Grady Sizemore will have surgery on that bothersome elbow, but not till after the season. No biggie right now, unless of course you are Grady, who's playing through the pain. He's a bit of a warrior though.

Tomorrow Jake Westbrook begins to throw again and apparantely he's feeling good. It's going to be another week of throwing just from flat ground before they put him back on the mound. What an irritating process this must be.

Rafael Betancourt might be on track to return soon. If all goes well on Thursday's session, he can be cleared to make his rehab assignment starting Friday.

He could join Aaron Laffey, who will make what he and most of us hope is his final rehab appearance for Columbus. Laffey is healthy and ready to go, but the performance of his last game left a lot to be desired and Eric and Mark want him to be coming in on a good note, not a shaky one. Laffey, given the volatile situation with the pitching staff right now, understands.

"We need to see more than that before we bring him up here," manager Eric Wedge said before Monday's series opener with the White Sox.

"I can't do the same thing everybody else is doing," Laffey said. "They need someone to come in and give them quality starts and not go to the bullpen after five innings. You want to get at least six innings out of your starter. With me walking six guys, I understand why they're tentative about bringing me back."

Finally on the injury front, it wasn't mentioned anywhere, but the great Mark Schwab mentioned it yesterday on the radio. Adam Miller is headed for his second surgery in his rehab process soon. This was that planned second surgery that is supposed to help fix something that they had to do in the last one to fix something else... Or something like that. In other words, this is really important and things need to go really well if Miller wants to pitch again.

Now let's get down to business.

There was a bee in the house, I think, earlier. I'm not at the house that usually has the stunned bees that are like half-challenged. This was a big-time bee man. I heard it buzzing and the dog was following it with his head. Fearing that he'd get stung, I yelled at him to get away from it. Well I wanted to hit it with a shoe, but he disappeared and now I don't know where he went. Was he outside or what? How did a bee get in without my knowledge? I'm the damn gate-keeper right now.

Anyway.... Real Business.

First off, Luis Vizcaino's era with Cleveland was short-lived as he was officially released yesterday after being DFAed a few days ago.

I listened to a lot of Eric Wedge yesterday, both on TV and on the radio and I heard a lot of interesting things.

The first thing he talked about that I want to say something on is the outfielder situation right now.

With DeRosa traded the Indians only really have three true outfielders. They've got Barfield who was optioned, Carroll, Gimenez and Garko to some extent who can all play out there, but still, this is a team that typically carried not four but five true outfielders for extended periods of time.

So now, Gimenez gets a few looks, Garko's been used there since the trade. But when Ben Francisco is hitting as poorly as he is, you can't run him out there everyday.

Wedge hinted that this won't be like this for that long, so Matt LaPorta better be up here soon and when he does, I'd expect him to be the everyday left-fielder.

Wedge was forgiving of Chris Perez and said he deserves a mulligan. I felt the same way after watching him. A little too excited to be a Cleveland Indian bud, tone it down.

Wedge was hilarious yesterday talking about the reversed call and his ejections. Me repeating what he said doesn't do it justice, plus I can't remember everything he said. But it was all gold.

You know what else is gold?

I just heard something hit the sliding glass door downstairs and I went down to see what was going on. It was the dog standing over the stunned bee.

Yes, the bee was in the house and my dog stunned it enough for me to come in and knock it completely silly with a shoe and then throw it down the toilet.

How did my dog just stun a bee? What did he do without getting stung by it?

Unsolved Mysteries...

Finally on the Wedge front. He talked about getting Ryan Garko more time since he's coming around. I look at it as he's coming around because he's getting more time.

Of course, he was out of action last night because Cliff Lee was pitching.

However, Pavano pitched the previous night and Shoppach was not in the lineup. That's the one thing I've been saying for awhile now. Stop letting him catch Pavano. As you could see, it didn't matter, Pavano still pitched well.

Chalk it up to a bad outing for Cliff Lee last night. Actually, chalk it up to one of his worst starts ever. Lee hasn't turned in that short of an outing since early 2006.

"It was a bad outing," said Lee, who turned in his shortest start since a 2 2/3-inning effort against the White Sox on May 29, 2006. "That's not what my job description is. I need to go deep into the game, give up less runs and give us a chance to win the game. It was not a good game. Period."

Wedge kind of hit it though. Everyone has these types of games at some point, Cliff has had them before. But we've seen nothing but greatness out of the guy the past two years, and the fact of the matter is, it's the first time he's done something as bad as this since 2006, which was before he even had his meltdown.

I blame this all on the person who mentioned that stat about him being the second Indian to turn in a bunch of starts of at least five innings. I think it was Castrovince who brought it up, but whoever told him and the rest of the media about it needs to be talked to for jinxing things.

Even though the game was seven innings long, the Indians still managed to use three pitchers. If anything, I'm sure Wedge is glad the game got called, this way he didn't have to exhaust his bullpen for meaningless innings.

The bright spots last night were obviously the men who drove in all the runs.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a three-run double and Travis Hafner hit his eighth home run of the year.

The biggest travesty about the All-Star game is the blind voting for Yankee and Red Sox fans and just people in general. How Jorge Posada and Jason Varitek are ahead of Victor Martinez in voting is known only to those nincompoops voting for them.

Joe Maddon will no doubt pick Martinez to the team when Mauer gets selected as the starter (at least the starter is a deserving player, which eliminates a snub from happening), but it's still frustrating to see Vic fifth in voting behind those two and.... Jarrod Saltalamacchia? Really?

Now is not the time. But when I do get my issue of SI, I'll talk about it. But there was a poll conducted and Wedge finished fourth as the "Manager ML's least want to play for."

Fausto Carmona Demoted to the Desert to Straighten Himself Out

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:30:46 -0500

by Pat LackeyFiled under: Indians, AL CentralFor some reason, I had it in my mind that Fausto Carmona was due for a big bounceback this year. After a shaky 2008, I figured he would shake off the heavy workload that the Indians' run to the ALCS in 2007 created and use his power sinker to help take the Indians back to the top of the AL Central. Boy, was I wrong. With 12 starts under his belt, Carmona's 2-7 with an ERA of over 7.00, and today the Indians announced they'd be sending h...

FIGHT!! Gary Sheffield Worked By Fausto Carmona, Tigers By Indians (w/video)

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 08:40:10 -0500

A big win for the Tribe and a bloody nose for Gary Sheffield. I couldn't ask for anything more...

New Deal for the young guy

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:00:09 -0500

Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona doesn't just have one of the coolest names in sports, he also now has a new 7-year contract (financial terms not disclosed).

A few quick hits

Sun, 20 May 2007 14:49:42 -0500

Today's Stiles Points deals with a few thoughts about Calvin Borel, the Yankees pitching staff, and someone named Fausto Carmona.....oh yeh, and my continuing frustration with my new computer....