Jerry Dipoto

[Mark68]

Yeah, Prince was my choice. Mainly because he's younger, and I figured he would be a lot cheaper than he actually signed for. But I think that was all arte. Same as Hamilton. Arte wants a Lakers team. Big names, Hollywood. Arte would love Oaklands success, but would not want a bunch of relatively non-known guys doing it. (Sadly).

I was pushing Prince, as well. I think, over the length of their contracts, Prince>>>>>Pujols. He has certainly been a more consistent producer since the beginning of their respective contracts. Fielder may not have the name recognition, but winning baseball will always trump name recognition.

 

As for the pitchers obtained during this last offseason, once Greinke took Magic's money, that left scrubs and projects in the pitching market. Everybody left had warts, and so you try to find diamonds in the rough, or pitchers who should at least have been counted upon to give you serviceable starts. There was no way to project them being this bad, especially Blanton.

 

The pitchers should get better, but whether that will be too late is the question. They can't wait until Weaver comes back (although Weaver didn't exactly look like himself, either).

[YouthofToday]

Is Arte the Woody Johnson of MLB? All about off-season press and making the big splash for attention?

Are we the J-E-T-S of MLB?

You don't sign players for milestones or attention. You sign players to win games. That is it. If you win you sell seats and have higher TV ratings.

If Arte seriously thought signing players because of their name was a good marketing decision then I have serious questions about the future of this organization.

[YouthofToday]

We might as well sign Tim Tebow and be done with it.

[stormngt]

yeah and he picked the best options that were available at the time. not much more he coulda done...what was he to sign greinke for what was 180 mil?  

He could have picked Saunders over Blanton!

[stormngt]

Bill Stoneman.  Never took crap from ownership, never worried about scoring points with the fan base.   Got criticized for not making the big signing or the big splash..  Team just won and defied the odds.  Dude knew how to pick up players off the scrap heap, knew how to build a farm, knew how to build a bullpen..   Knew how to build a winner.

 

Fans hated him.  BTW, the off-season Pujols was signed...  Sciocia, the fat idiot was concerned about the pitching.  He was mocked for it, and JD was celebrated for completely leaving him out of the equation when he signed AP.  The SP imploded, the pen was awful.  

 

Sometimes people are so full of themselves they can't see when someone else has a clue,

 

This team has some huge holes...  It needs time to right itself but, if the pitching doesn't improve.. there isn't a manager in MLB that can win with this staff.

Good post......I regret most of the negative comments I made about Stoneman.  Be careful what you ask for people you want personal removed.

[ukyah]

great, now we're clamoring to fire dipoto. the only guy i can see on the angels who does his job properly. he's not perfect, i didn't care for the blanton signing at all, but perfection doesn't exist in baseball.

 

the worst thing about a team not meeting any expectations is having to endure the fans.

[tdawg87]

Hey ukyah do you teach a class on how to be a super fan? If not you definitely should. I think people could learn a lot on how they should be a fan of their team.

[Jay]

If not fired then Dippy should be flogged and forced to follow Kim Kardashian on Twitter.

[Taylor]

Dipoto needs to follow some more people on Twitter.

 

https://twitter.com/JerryDiPoto

[ten ocho recon scout]

I still highly suspect the Wells/Napoli apocalypse had Scioscia fingerprints all over it.

I do too. But I also think Arte was just as big on the idea. I think Arte is an 'old-school' fan. Sees 30 HR's, 100 RBI and thinks its great (not reading any deeper about splits, walk rates, etc). I think that would also explain GMJ, chasing crawford, etc.

[ten ocho recon scout]

I was pushing Prince, as well. I think, over the length of their contracts, Prince>>>>>Pujols. He has certainly been a more consistent producer since the beginning of their respective contracts. Fielder may not have the name recognition, but winning baseball will always trump name recognition.

 

As for the pitchers obtained during this last offseason, once Greinke took Magic's money, that left scrubs and projects in the pitching market. Everybody left had warts, and so you try to find diamonds in the rough, or pitchers who should at least have been counted upon to give you serviceable starts. There was no way to project them being this bad, especially Blanton.

 

The pitchers should get better, but whether that will be too late is the question. They can't wait until Weaver comes back (although Weaver didn't exactly look like himself, either).

Yep, I remember Mark. I remember you being one of the most vocal. And that was before the TV deal was announced, when we all mostly thought there was no way in hell we could land a high dollar FA. To be fair, I also didnt think Pujols was even an option. Figured we would never spend 200 mill (lol, wishful thinking now), and that Albert would stay with the Cards.

[ukyah]

Hey ukyah do you teach a class on how to be a super fan? If not you definitely should. I think people could learn a lot on how they should be a fan of their team.

 

it's cool that you think i'm a super fan. i'm sorry that my being right about fans, in general, upsets you.

 

i never said a word about anyone specifically, you included yourself in a general statement about the fans being the worst part about a struggling organization. i believe that to be true. do you think i'm happy with the state of the angels for the last several years? i'm not, and i think/thought scoscia should be fired last year.

 

the difference is i can hold my water. apparently, you can't

[tdawg87]

it's cool that you think i'm a super fan. i'm sorry that my being right about fans, in general, upsets you.

 

i never said a word about anyone specifically, you included yourself in a general statement about the fans being the worst part about a struggling organization. i believe that to be true. do you think i'm happy with the state of the angels for the last several years? i'm not, and i think/thought scoscia should be fired last year.

 

the difference is i can hold my water. apparently, you can't

 

I don't know what you are talking about. I really think you should teach a class on how to be a fan. It really would be quite the learning experience for anyone who takes it.

 

Or at least do a blog or something.

[YouthofToday]

While I was initially arguing for Fielder>Pujols I failed to maintain by conviction after the euphoria of THE signing. Credit to TORS.

[Ohtaniland]

Because Fielder is fat and an injury risk.

 

(Actual argument used by many fans during the 2011/2012 off-season).

 

Yep, Fielder has missed one game in 4 seasons (2nd game of a double header). Injury risk argument is a Lol.

Fielder's health > Pujols health and it's not even close! 

[Inside Pitch]

great, now we're clamoring to fire dipoto. the only guy i can see on the angels who does his job properly. he's not perfect, i didn't care for the blanton signing at all, but perfection doesn't exist in baseball.

 

the worst thing about a team not meeting any expectations is having to endure the fans.

 

 

I don't think he should be fired, but, he is clearly at fault for this rotation.  He wanted to employ certain principles in the hopes that players with a certain skill set would work out well in a certain environment -- namely pitchers park with plus defensive OF...   Problem is he may gone too far in one direction.

 

People here love to say the team has underachieved the last three years when in reality, it's pretty much performed to what it's talent level has been.  The minor league depth was becoming an issue, the pen was allowed to fall into disarray and every move made to try to stave off the decline impacted both of those situations.  FA's cut into the influx of talent, and trades made to compete impacted the number of arms that could be used in the pen.  It's not something people like to talk about but Nick Adenhart's death and the the complete lack of action in the international market have really hurt this team.

 

Right now, I'd argue Dipoto erred building this rotation.  Most would argue that any team with this sort of payroll can't just brush it off as a mistake and stay the course, but that may very well be the best option.  Unfortunately, fan expectations and the "need to win" will demand a head on a pike and both Dipoto and Sciocia will catch the brunt of it.  But, if this team needs to win it needs to allow for the plan to work long term.

 

If this team starts switching gears and philosophies every two years -- it's back to the Autry era 80s Angels.  

I wan't no part of it.

[AZMike]

I don't think he should be fired, but, he is clearly at fault for this rotation.  He wanted to employ certain principles in the hopes that players with a certain skill set would work out well in a certain environment -- namely pitchers park with plus defensive OF...   Problem is he may gone too far in one direction.

 

People here love to say the team has underachieved the last three years when in reality, it's pretty much performed to what it's talent level has been.  The minor league depth was becoming an issue, the pen was allowed to fall into disarray and every move made to try to stave off the decline impacted both of those situations.  FA's cut into the influx of talent, and trades made to compete impacted the number of arms that could be used in the pen.  It's not something people like to talk about but Nick Adenhart's death and the the complete lack of action in the international market have really hurt this team.

 

Right now, I'd argue Dipoto erred building this rotation.  Most would argue that any team with this sort of payroll can't just brush it off as a mistake and stay the course, but that may very well be the best option.  Unfortunately, fan expectations and the "need to win" will demand a head on a pike and both Dipoto and Sciocia will catch the brunt of it.  But, if this team needs to win it needs to allow for the plan to work long term.

 

If this team starts switching gears and philosophies every two years -- it's back to the Autry era 80s Angels.  

I wan't no part of it.

 

Note that I personally think the Angels should've gone through a down period after 2009 and allowed their farm a chance to rebuild. Not saying fire sale the team and start over but perhaps take chances on giving some youth more time and making more low-key moves for a year or two instead of losing draft picks to free agents and losing talent to trades. 

 

Trading for Dan Haren in 2010 was the right move at the wrong time. After Morales broke is leg that season, the team was not realistically in a position to go deep in the playoffs. As it turns out we didn't get to the playoffs at all in the time Haren was here. We added Pujols and Trout put up an unexpected historic rookie season and even that wasn't enough to get in.

 

We would be much better off with Corbin and Skaggs in the rotation today, and having a couple more young prospects waiting in the wings had we drafted pitchers with early picks instead of losing them in free agent deals. 

[Angels Never Die]

It's really starting sink in that Fielder is four years younger than Pujols and signed for a year less. God dammit.

[Jay]

It's pretty clear that the pitching talent isn't what it needs to be.  Mistakes were made.  It's going to be a long season.

[Mark68]

It's really starting sink in that Fielder is four years younger than Pujols and signed for a year less. God dammit.

Not to be an "I told you so", but...

 

Also, he may be naturally (fat) slow, but it doesn't effect his ability to produce as much as Pujols' "plantar fasciitis" (in quotes because I suspect there's a larger underlying issue).

[summit21]

I'd like to know who out there is available that would do a better job than MS?

[tdawg87]

I'd like to know who out there is available that would do a better job than MS?

Wrong thread.

[Mark68]

I'd like to know who out there is available that would do a better job than MS?

That's not really the point.

 

Look, he did a lot of wonders for this team for about an 8-year stretch.

 

But that stretch ended in 2009. Now, this team seems to be emotionless and going thru the motions. They don't look prepared, and they are making a lot of boneheaded plays. Something different is needed, a new message or a new delivery.

[Jim]

Anaheim isn't a baseball town.

You're joshing

[Jim]

That is a nightmare senario I have pkayed iver and over in my head. What a disaster that would be. This team needs a new voice, who that is I don't know. It is way past time for Sosh to move on. After the season, go after Bud Black.

Yeah, because his last place Padres are doing so much better.

 

In addition, you might want to fix your spell check. It has gone haywire. F’n Apple