Let's Go Tribe, a Cleveland Indians community

To me, you have to maximize at bats. Your better hitters should have a shot at getting that extra at bat.

Asked about third base, Acta said, "We'll see what's out there. if not, we're prepared to go with our in-house candidates." He took a slightly different route when answering about the club's search for rotation help. "We should be able to add a guy or two and have him compete. There are some guys that are going to go to Spring Training to compete for us who probably still need some more seasoning in the Minor Leagues."

Where does this put Donald in the Tribe's pecking order of second basemen?

''It depends on what we do in the offseason,'' Acta said. ''And that's something a lot of guys will be hearing.''

"It was one of our minor-league people," he said. "He said, 'Carmona threw so many strikes in the minors that we had to show him how to throw a ball.'"