Coming Together: Acta names three to staff

Shocked much?

Manny Acta made three additions to his coaching staff today and two of them were names we've heard.

But like the pitching coach, Acta and company threw us a bit of a curveball with a name that hasn't really been thrown out there.

In fact, when I say Steve Smith, all the jokes will come about the Carolina Panthers Wide Receiver or the now New York Giants receiver, or that basketball player that was named Steve Smith or the American Dad..

Such a generic name. Why do you think the former ESPN reporter/writer went by Stephen A. Smith. Because the Steve Smith population is astounding and he'd just be another Steve Smith to get confused with.

At least he's the only Steve Smith in baseball.

Oh Wait..

We have an issue here.

You see there's a player in the Indians organization named Steve Smith and I've already created the tag, Steve Smith.

So what to do?

Steve Smith the Coach?

It's going to have to be, even though it's long as hell.

Anyway, that's my side rant for the moment.

Manny Acta did indeed hire Steve Smith to be his third base and infield coach, Scott Radinsky to be his bullpen coach and Tim Tolman to be his bench coach.

That leaves first base and hitting coach as his last spots to fill.

Everyone seems to think Jon Nunnally is the guy to fill the hitting coaches spot.

As for the first base spot. It's anyone guess.

But the third base job/infielders position going to Steve Smith impact Torey Lovullo's chances very much. Lovullo was an infielder and if you were going to hire him to staff, that'd probably the spot.

However here's the good news as far as wanting Lovullo to be hired.

Tim Tolman is an outfielders guy, so if Acta wants all the bases covered, he's already done so.

Here's the other news... Tolman is the bench coach, I'm not sure his duties would involve being the outfield coach as well, but who knows.

Here's the other news... This staff does not have a former catcher on it.

In fact this is a complete 360 from the old staff that had nothing but catchers on the staff. Joel Skinner, Eric Wedge and Jeff Datz were all catchers. Luis Rivera coached infielders.

Yeeeikes.

Now does any of this really matter? Just because someone didn't play the outfield, doesn't mean they can't instruct the person on the fundamentals on baseball or execute the positioning they want (hey look at the spray charts and trends and make your decision, boy!).

This all being said, there's that phrase again, Acta's got some nice diversity on his staff already and he still has two hires to make. So far, he's covering all the bases like he said he would.

Here are some short profiles I've put together on each new coach.

Tim Tolman
Bench Coach
Last Organization: Seattle
Last Position: Coordinator of Instruction
Career Statistics

Tolman spent the last year in the Seattle organization after being fired from this third base post in Washington under Acta. He spent two years there as the third base coach.

Tolman has a history with Cleveland as well. He spent four years in Cleveland working int he minor league part of the organization. He now returns to Cleveland under his old boss and former co-worker with the Houston organization. Tolman played for Detroit and Houston in his major league career.

Scott Radinsky
Bullpen Coach
Last Organization: Cleveland (Columbus)
Last Position: Pitching Coach
Career Statistics

Scott Radinsky didn't get this job last year when it was open. So he returned to Columbus as their pitching coach for another season.

Now he's back in the big leagues and finally on a major league staff. He was considered an option for the major league pitching coach opening, but lost out to Tim Belcher. Still, his career as a relief pitcher may suit both him and the Indians bullpen in this role.

Radinsky had a good career in the major leagues, playing for Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis and finally Cleveland. His career ended with the Indians after he returned from Tommy John surgery and was not the same.

Radisnky joined Cleveland in 2005 and was the pitching coach for the Lake County Captains. A year later he was in Akron and a year after that Buffalo. He made transition to Columbus this past season with Torey Lovullo.

Scott is also the lead vocals for a band called Pulley since 1995. Radinsky has doubled in a musical career and was even kicked out of his previous band because of the time constraints to baseball.

Steve Smith
Third Base Coach
Last Organization: Philadelphia
Last Position: Third Base Coach

The last job Steve Smith had brought him a World Series victory.

Smith was the third base coach of the Philadelphia Phillies when they won their World Series in 2008. He was fired following that and was not on a major league staff last year.

Smith has loads of major league experience as not just a third base coach for Philadelphia, but Seattle and Texas prior to that. He also managed over 1,600 minor league games.

Back in 2007, Smith was suspended for three games after a tirade with umpire Laz Diaz. He was suspended for two on-field incidents in his coaching career.

He is not to be confused with the Baylor coach of the same name.

---

Of course the big unknown here is Steve Smith. Tim Tolman is actually a bit of an unknown to us, but Smith is a bigger one because his name hasn't been thrown around.

But I've read some good things and some bad things. Taking a look at some of the Phillie fans perspective on Smith, I'm coming away a little excited about his prospects.

A lot of the comments that were supporting Smith in the wake of his firing were intelligent and well thought out. The ones that were not in support of Smith were short, abrasive and quite frankly, hilarious.

If you believe some Phillie fans, he never made the right decisions on when to send and when not to send and that he "blows monkey dong." Pardon my language, I'm just quoting. Others will tell you he was the best coach on that staff and that his firing marked a new 25 year curse on the organization. Again, quoting.

What I do pull away from it is that the Phillie players liked Smith and he was a guy who would motivate them. He seems like a fiery individual, something this staff has not had before, at least in the last regime.

In fact, he seems to be a bit of a Wild card both in the sense that we have not much on him at this point and his personality is a bit of one.

Which I think is fantastic.

Not only does this staff need to be diverse in what they teach, but they need to be diverse in personality.

We've got a bilingual champion communication, a punk rock lead vocalist and now a guy that has had a past of being a real firebomb.

So far, so good from my perspective. Acta is really setting up this staff in a positive way.