What's the root cause?

[HaloFan85]

Yeah, he made it clear to point out that clubhouse chemistry and on-field chemistry aren't the same, but didn't really elaborate on it. Other than saying the on-field chemistry was still developing, he never suggested it was a reason for their slow start.

[Jay]

I think DiPoto should be held accountable as well.  He has really been terrible at reconstructing this bullpen.  He's passed it off as not being that big of an issue, but he could have went out and redirected a lot of money toward getting that issue fixed.  For me it's the worst nightmare a team can have, a bullpen with no stopping power.  Any progress made by an offense gets tossed away night after night because the pen can't hold a lead or keep a game close.  I still think the Blanton signing was a terrible blunder as well.  Those issues, for me, are squarely on DiPoto.

 

Agreed

[red321]

This is a bad roster. 160 some odd million dollar payroll and it's constructed of 3 #5 starters, CJ Wilson, and Weaver. The bullpen is still a shambles and the key offseason acquisition still hasn't thrown a pitch, in any sort of game. There is little to no depth on the bench.

 

Folks can blame Reagins, Moreno, Scioscia, Butcher, etc....but ignoring what Dipoto has done is foolishness...he's spent a lot of money and you are left looking at the ballclub a week in to the season scratching your head.

[AZMike]

This is a bad roster. 160 some odd million dollar payroll and it's constructed of 3 #5 starters, CJ Wilson, and Weaver. The bullpen is still a shambles and the key offseason acquisition still hasn't thrown a pitch, in any sort of game. There is little to no depth on the bench.

 

Folks can blame Reagins, Moreno, Scioscia, Butcher, etc....but ignoring what Dipoto has done is foolishness...he's spent a lot of money and you are left looking at the ballclub a week in to the season scratching your head.

 

Pujols and Hamiltons were very likely moves done at the insistence of Moreno, who likes to go out and make "big splashes" in the offseason to build up hype and ticket sales etc. Those moves created logjams in positions where the Angels were fine and painted Dipoto into a corner which resulted in making some foolish trades while negotiating from a position of weakness. Entering the free agent and trade markets with three holes in the rotation was a huge disaster. We should've kept one of Haren or Santana, then tried to trade them AFTER obtaining new pitchers to fill their spots instead of trying to dump them so early in the offseason. 

[WallyWorld]

This is a bad roster. 160 some odd million dollar payroll and it's constructed of 3 #5 starters, CJ Wilson, and Weaver. The bullpen is still a shambles and the key offseason acquisition still hasn't thrown a pitch, in any sort of game. There is little to no depth on the bench.

 

Folks can blame Reagins, Moreno, Scioscia, Butcher, etc....but ignoring what Dipoto has done is foolishness...he's spent a lot of money and you are left looking at the ballclub a week in to the season scratching your head.

 

Yeah, Dipoto has definitely made some highly questionable moves.

[tdawg87]

The players being a bunch of p*ssy ass b*tches.

[red321]

Pujols and Hamiltons were very likely moves done at the insistence of Moreno, who likes to go out and make "big splashes" in the offseason to build up hype and ticket sales etc. Those moves created logjams in positions where the Angels were fine and painted Dipoto into a corner which resulted in making some foolish trades while negotiating from a position of weakness. Entering the free agent and trade markets with three holes in the rotation was a huge disaster. We should've kept one of Haren or Santana, then tried to trade them AFTER obtaining new pitchers to fill their spots instead of trying to dump them so early in the offseason. 

 

Moreno signed off on those moves, but offseason articles made it clear Dipoto was the one who went to Moreno and convinced him to make those deals (both last year and this).

 

The Pujols and Wilson deals last year were win now, and the club didn't address it's biggest weakness going in to 2012, it's bullpen. What killed the season? Bullpen.

 

Hamilton was a win now move. Signing Aybar and Kendrick to extension were win now moves. And then you go and run Vargas, Hanson, and Blanton out there...while signing a closer coming off Tommy John surgery and doing little to address a huge weakness...bullpen? You don't go sign a guy for a few million to have some bench depth?

 

The Angels are in win now mode...and yet seem to ignore their biggest issues.

[nate]

I am not ready to blame Dipoto until a competent manager is in place.

[full circle]

This is a bad roster. 160 some odd million dollar payroll and it's constructed of 3 #5 starters, CJ Wilson, and Weaver. The bullpen is still a shambles and the key offseason acquisition still hasn't thrown a pitch, in any sort of game. There is little to no depth on the bench.

 

Folks can blame Reagins, Moreno, Scioscia, Butcher, etc....but ignoring what Dipoto has done is foolishness...he's spent a lot of money and you are left looking at the ballclub a week in to the season scratching your head.

 

No, this is a pretty good team but a very large chunk of the roster does not look prepared to play ball.  The players are performing well below their career norms.  Getting the most out of the players you have is the job of the manager and nobody can say Scioscia is getting ANYTHING out of this group.  

[Blarg]

The Angels pitchers don't bean enough batters for hitting home runs.

[red321]

I am not ready to blame Dipoto until a competent manager is in place.

 

yeah, friggen Scioscia...can't believe the bullpen and starting staff he put together. And really...why hasn't Butcher turned Joe Blanton in to the second coming of King Felix.

[full circle]

yeah, friggen Scioscia...can't believe the bullpen and starting staff he put together. And really...why hasn't Butcher turned Joe Blanton in to the second coming of King Felix.

What an idiotic response.  

[red321]

No, this is a pretty good team but a very large chunk of the roster does not look prepared to play ball.  The players are performing well below their career norms.  Getting the most out of the players you have is the job of the manager and nobody can say Scioscia is getting ANYTHING out of this group.  

 

This has the looks of a a bad roster. Nobody is going to turn career #5 starters in to all-stars. Scioscia didn't create a bench consisting of, hell, I'm not sure I even knew some of those guys existed. Scioscia didn't build a bullpen where you say..."Kevin Jepsen...why the **** is Kevin Jepsen in there"...and then you realize he's probably the best option.

 

That's not on the manager.

[red321]

What an idiotic response.  

 

Thanks. I'll take it under advisement.

 

Feel free to tell me how, when you really take a close look at this roster, it's built to really contend as it's currently constructed.

[Blarg]

What an idiotic response.  

He was trying to match wits.

[jshep]

[full circle]

This has the looks of a a bad roster. Nobody is going to turn career #5 starters in to all-stars. Scioscia didn't create a bench consisting of, hell, I'm not sure I even knew some of those guys existed. Scioscia didn't build a bullpen where you say..."Kevin Jepsen...why the **** is Kevin Jepsen in there"...and then you realize he's probably the best option.

 

That's not on the manager.

Nobody is asking the coaching staff to turn #5 starters into all stars, another idiotic statement, we're asking them to keep us in ballgames.  3 runs in six innings, a 4.50 ERA, that's what we ask.  This club is clearly supposed to slug the ball as its main source of wins.  The bullpen with the addition of Burnett and eventually Madson is supposed to be better.  It's a roster that if everyone plays just to their normal capabilities wins a lot of games.  That is not happening.  There is something else going on here in regards to the atmosphere in the clubhouse or in the lack of focus and mental preparation for each game.  

[Blarg]

Are you certain that it has to do with atmosphere instead of players not performing? How do quantify atmosphere?

[Angel Oracle]

Wally World brought up a good point of who left after 2009.   The problem though was that Eddie Bane's high risk high reward drafts weren't producing many MLB caliber players, and so the farm system was still on the light side as a result.    Maybe it will begin to recover under Dipoto and Ric Wilson, but it's going to take a lot of time.

 

One of Stoneman's very few mistakes (along with GMJHGH and never trading any prospects) was hiring Eddie Bane.

As class an act as he was, his high risk high reward drafts just weren't very productive, aside from Weaver, Trout, Trumbo, Bourjos, and if he had lived, Adenhart.   

Those drafts did nothing for farm system depth.

 

Also, Reagins allowed foreign scouting to dive out of control.

 

All that being said, what the heck was Dipoto thinking when he signed Hamilton instead of finding a solid pitcher?    Should have kept Morales (yeah, Bo-arse being the agent) and signed the best FA pitcher they could get after Greinke ($147 million too much for his talent level).  

[full circle]

Why are so many players not performing?  

[red321]

Nobody is asking the coaching staff to turn #5 starters into all stars, another idiotic statement, we're asking them to keep us in ballgames.  3 runs in six innings, a 4.50 ERA, that's what we ask.  This club is clearly supposed to slug the ball as its main source of wins.  The bullpen with the addition of Burnett and eventually Madson is supposed to be better.  It's a roster that if everyone plays just to their normal capabilities wins a lot of games.  That is not happening.  There is something else going on here in regards to the atmosphere in the clubhouse or in the lack of focus and mental preparation for each game.  

 

People calling for Butcher to be fired after 2 weeks, certainly are. You can afford to run an innings eater out there, but if you are serious about contending that can't be 3-4/5ths of your staff. You go in to the offseason knowing your bullpen is your biggest weakness and your big acquisition is a guy coming off surgery who may not throw a meaningful pitch until June.

 

But hey, it's the clubhouse "atmosphere".

 

Asinine

[moccasin]

The recent history of players performing, until they come to the Angels(and vice versa) has to raise eyebrows.

How can you become a great GM, when every single great player you bring in, starts sucking the moment they play in this uniform?

All the GM can do, is construct a team that looks good on paper, and Dipoto has done just that.

The rest is on the on-field management.

[red321]

Why are so many players not performing?  

 

Who is performing below average?

 

Hamilton

Trout

Ianetta

 

Who else?

 

Kendrick and Aybar so far are hitting above career norms. Pujols appears to have put last year behind him. Trumbo, Callaspo, and Bourjos don't appear to be far off what you might realistically expect.

 

Wilson appears to be enigmatic. Your 3 #5 starters are right where you'd expect them. The bullpen...are you shocked by anyone's performance?

[full circle]

People calling for Butcher to be fired after 2 weeks, certainly are. You can afford to run an innings eater out there, but if you are serious about contending that can't be 3-4/5ths of your staff. You go in to the offseason knowing your bullpen is your biggest weakness and your big acquisition is a guy coming off surgery who may not throw a meaningful pitch until June.

 

But hey, it's the clubhouse "atmosphere".

 

Asinine

Actually no, the big acquisition was Sean Burnett, Madson was more of an educated gamble.  Pitching is clearly this teams weak link, but if they performed just at career norms, we'd be in position to win a lot of ballgames.  Looking at this talented roster and blaming Dipoto because nearly everyone is shitting themselves is what is asinine.  

[edcoffin]

Yeah, he made it clear to point out that clubhouse chemistry and on-field chemistry aren't the same, but didn't really elaborate on it. Other than saying the on-field chemistry was still developing, he never suggested it was a reason for their slow start.

On field chemistry is having all the position players thinking the same way about handling balls in play, where to throw, and correctly anticipating what each other will do given 'x'.  Clubhouse is more about being on the same attitude page, not the same as the performance page.  Really, few teams have both on field and clubhouse 'chemistry'.  Yes, it goes beyond mindset - has to become almost involuntary response in unison.  That said, it's one of the hardest things to bring about especially any needed conversion to being an effective part of a well oiled machine on the field.  Too often it's what can I do to excel, not what can I do to make Joe over there great.

 

Edit:  It's still too early to think of this or any other good team as a failure.  Without Halotunnelvision you might see that Toronto spent a ton on 'upgrades' but isn't close yet in the East, and Kansas City not so much but have a chance to be a noisemaker in the Central.  Arte expects results commensurate with what he pays out, DiPoto expects some level of calculated performance from assessments on the players he hires, and MS expects people to give their best on the field and to pay attention to (and work on) continuous improvement.  In the end, only the players can really make a difference.  That's why the smartest organizations rate character (makeup) so high in scouting.