One of the game's most disappointing teams, the Indians kick-started the coming managerial merry-go-round Thursday by firing Manny Acta.

Sandy Alomar Jr. will manage the Indians in the season's final six games, and the Indians say they he is a candidate for the full-time job. Alomar, a former Indians catcher who is extremely respected both within the organization and throughout baseball, is viewed as one of the better young managerial candidates in the game.

The Indians, after an 80-82 finish last year, have seen the bottom fall out this year. They were tied with the Twins for last in the AL Central on Thursday at 65-91 and have been getting hammered for weeks. One scout who spent time with them recently harshly chastised the club for poor body language and looking like they were going to lose even early in the game.

"Even the manager," the scout said. "It's brutal."

Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said last month that Acta would return in 2013. But the Indians' sharply declining play over the past few weeks essentially left the club with no choice. Interest in the Indians has nosedived in Cleveland given sharply declining attendance and hostility directed toward ownership.

"I have great respect for Manny and appreciate the effort he exhibited not only leading our team, but also the contributions he made in our community over the past three years," Indians Chairman and CEO Paul Dolan said in a statement. "I fully support Chris' decision to make this change and am confident that he will lead a tireless search to find the right individual to lead the club to our ultimate goal of winning the World Series."

The Indians have not won a World Series since 1948.

As colleague Danny Knobler points out, the only manager with more career games than Acta -- who also managed the Nationals -- and a lower winning percentage was Jimmie Wilson with the Phillies and Cubs in the 1930s and 1940s.