Manny Acta will have a lot of things on his mind this off-season, but who would have guessed one of them would be snow tubing?
Shin-Soo Choo sat out of Sunday's season finale against the White Sox, and finished with his second consecutive .300 season.INDIANS CHATTER
Clubhouse confidential: Shin-Soo Choo will return to South Korea on Oct. 10 and will start working out with Korea's national team on Oct. 25 in preparation for the Asian Games in November. If South Korea wins the gold medal, Choo could be excused from two years of military duty.
“My situation is not the most important thing,” said Choo. “Playing for the national team is. A lot of players want to play for the national team, but not everyone gets the chance.”
Choo is eligible for arbitration. The Indians talked to him about a multiyear deal in spring training, but he doesn't know if that conversation will resume this winter.
“That's why I have an agent [Scott Boras],” said Choo. “My job is to play.”
Dealt: Asdrubal Cabrera has been traded. Not by the Indians, but by the Lara Cardenales to Caracas.
“Starting in December, I'm going to play for Caracas,” said Cabrera, who hasn't played winter ball for the last three years. “I'm going to play six or seven weeks.”
Dave Hudgens, Indians minor league field coordinator, will manage Caracas.
Stat of the day: The Indians, including Choo and Cabrera, could have as many as eight players in arbitration. Andy Marte, Jensen Lewis, Anthony Reyes, Rafael Perez, Chris Perez and Joe Smith are the others. Chris Perez and Lewis should make it as super two players.
The Tribe hasn't had a player go to arbitration since 1991.
— Paul Hoynes
CHICAGO -- It's going to be a busy off-season for manager Manny Acta. He headed home to Florida after Sunday's season finale. He'll be in Goodyear, Ariz. later this week through Oct. 15 for meetings and to watch the Indians' prospects in the Arizona Instructional League.
Then it's on to Los Angeles to do the NLCS and World Series for Fox Sports Espanol. He'll be involved in strategy talks with GM Chris Antonetti as well.
While all this is going on, there is one thing percolating in the back of Acta's mind. One thing he just can't do without. You guessed it -- Snow Days.
"I'm coming to Snow Days," said Acta. "I'm dead serious. I'm not bringing any skates. I'm going to come down the hill on that tube. I'm checking my calendar when I get home and I'm coming.
"I'm not joking. I'm going down on that tube all the way. I'm going to sell that to my wife. She doesn't like flying in the middle of the snow. I'm definitely coming."
The Indians are turning Progressive Field into a winter wonderland starting Nov. 26. They're going to make 150 tons of snow a day and build a 10-lane snow tubing hill from the top of the bleachers to the field below.
They're also going to make a quarter-mile skating track in the outfield.
Acta, born in the Dominican Republic, isn't interested in lacing up the skates, but there's definitely a tube with his name on it. It was suggested that a picture could serve as the cover on next year's media guide.
"It will be me and Slider coming down the hill," said Acta.
Day of rest: Managers are supposed to take care of their players.
Acta took care of Shin-Soo Choo on Sunday, the last day of the season, just as Eric Wedge did on the final game of last season.
The two managers didn't start Choo so he could end each season with .300 batting average. Choo will go into the off-season hitting .300 (165-for-550) with 22 homers, 90 RBI, 22 steals and a .401 on-base percentage.
Last year, Choo hit .300 (175-for-583) with 20 homers, 86 RBI, 21 steals and a .394 on-base percentage.
"Manny said after Saturday's game, 'If Kansas City loses, you're not playing Sunday,'" said Choo. "Wedgie did the same thing last year. I told Manny, 'Don't worry about my batting average. If I hit .300, I hit .300. If I don't, I don't.'"
When Kansas City lost Saturday, it clinched fourth place for the Indians.
Acta said he was accomplishing two things by not starting Choo.
"It gives me an opportunity to let my best player go into the off-season healthy," he said. "Yes, I believe in taking care of your players. You make sure that when they battle for you for six months, you take care of that kind of stuff.
"This guy played every day for me. Every inning for me. We're accomplishing two things."
Numbers game: Former Indian Omar Vizquel stole his 400th base Saturday night in a 6-2 win over the Tribe. The steal tied him for 68th on the all-time list for steals.
He's still one hit shy of 2,800. It's a hit he'd like to get, but he didn't play Sunday.
"Take a look at how many guys have a chance to do that, and not that many guys have 2,800 hits and steal 400 bases," Vizquel told the Chicago Tribune. "I consider that a pretty big accomplishment in my career, especially for a guy that nobody really expected to hit."
Winter plans: Here's what some of the Indians are planning this winter:
• Shelley Duncan is getting married on New Year's Eve in Scottsdale, Ariz. He and his fiancee, Elyse, will live in Tucson.
• Mitch Talbot said, "I'm going to hunt and sit. I'm taking a little vacation."
• Carlos Carrasco and his wife will find out the sex of their child Monday when he returns home to Florida.
"I'm really excited," said Carrasco.
• Matt LaPorta said he's going home, take a couple of weeks off, and start preparing "to play a full season" next year.
"Would I like to have had a better year? Yes," said LaPorta, "but this year I've learned to handle different pressure of the game.
"I hope this year as a springboard and come out firing next year. I know it's in the tank. It just has to come out."
• Travis Hafner will spend time with his family, continue to dabble in fantasy football and change a couple of things in his off-season preparation to see if he can improve his offensive performance from this year.