Access Journalism

[dprep80]

1 minute ago, True Grich said:

Yeah, ten starting pitchers going on the DL is an excuse.  Team overcome that all the time.

Ok.  You got me. 

I'm not blaming him for the DL'd staff.  Never did.

[Angel Oracle]

4 minutes ago, Torridd said:

How is he managing that's antiquated?

The lineups being too stable, even when player struggles for 1-2 months; the refusal to remove someone from the lineup when they have struggled for 1-2 months

It took forever to DL or remove Kole from the lineup, and meanwhile he played most every game despite the plummeting to .374 OPS.

But admittedly, part of it is Scioscia becoming stale for longtime fans like myself.  

There is a reason that only FOUR managers in MLB history have more wins with one team. 

[T.G.]

I love how some people dismiss facts as an excuse.

While I believe this is Scioscia's last season in the dugout, I just don't buy into the narrative that this season is his fault.

[T.G.]

Just now, Angel Oracle said:

The lineups being too stable, even when player struggle for two months; the refusal to remove someone from the lineup when they have struggled for 1-2 months

 

So, you'd take Harper out of the lineup?  And you would have taken Goldschmidt out too?

[Angel Oracle]

4 minutes ago, True Grich said:

So, you'd take Harper out of the lineup?  And you would have taken Goldschmidt out too?

Harper should be moved down, but because of the still decent enough OPS since June 1 (.675), not taken out of the lineup.    And outside of Trout, which of the Halos compares to Goldschmidt?

Maybe two months is a better gauge, as Goldschmidt and Harper have had one bad month each (May for Goldy and June for Harper) while Kole had two horrible months.

[dprep80]

1 minute ago, True Grich said:

I love how some people dismiss facts as an excuse.

While I believe this is Scioscia's last season in the dugout, I just don't buy into the narrative that this season is his fault.

I'm dismissing your use of "facts" as an excuse because you are using them to implicitly defend the manager or a lack of criticism against the manager.  It's either an excuse or a tangent.

[Stradling]

24 minutes ago, dprep80 said:

If it doesn’t matter one way or another then why pay so much for it?

Here’s a better question, why pay twice for it?  

[Inside Pitch]

So in short.  This is a MS sucks thread. 

When everything is an excuse, and no possible outcome other than he is bad and or makes the wrong decision there is no discussion to be had.  

I anxiously await our next manager and tip my cap to the innovative approach that was taken in the opening post.

Not being snarky, I actually thought it was a good question.

[T.G.]

I am an idiot.  I knew better then to jump into this conversation.

[Stradling]

9 minutes ago, dprep80 said:

A good clubhouse means nothing if you aren't winning or even making the playoffs. Winning games = Happy Trout.  Does Scioscia give them the best chance to win?  

He gives them about the same chance to win as anyone else.  

[dprep80]

1 minute ago, Inside Pitch said:

So in short.  This is a MS sucks thread. 

When everything is an excuse, and no possible outcome other than he is bad and or makes the wrong decision there is no discussion to be had.  

I anxiously await our next manager and tip my cap to the innovative approach that was taken in the opening post.

Not being snarky, I actually thought it was a good question.

That's fair.  However, I still legitimately would like to know if Angels media is unique in not criticizing MS or if that is the nature of the beast for all non NY/PHI media.

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

The lineups being too stable, even when player struggles for 1-2 months; the refusal to remove someone from the lineup when they have struggled for 1-2 months

It took forever to DL or remove Kole from the lineup, and meanwhile he played most every game despite the plummeting to .374 OPS.

But admittedly, part of it is Scioscia becoming stale for longtime fans like myself.  

There is a reason that only FOUR managers in MLB history have more wins with one team. 

Dude, everyone complains about his line ups being unstable.  It didn’t take forever to remove Kole, it took 2 plus months.  Veterans deserve those types of commitments.  

[T.G.]

3 minutes ago, dprep80 said:

I'm dismissing your use of "facts" as an excuse because you are using them to implicitly defend the manager or a lack of criticism against the manager.  It's either an excuse or a tangent.

[Inside Pitch]

4 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

The lineups being too stable, even when player struggles for 1-2 months; the refusal to remove someone from the lineup when they have struggled for 1-2 months

It took forever to DL or remove Kole from the lineup, and meanwhile he played most every game despite the plummeting to .374 OPS.

But admittedly, part of it is Scioscia becoming stale for longtime fans like myself.  

There is a reason that only FOUR managers in MLB history have more wins with one team. 

Remember when the argument was that MS didn't stick to any one lineup long enough for players to get into a flow?   Back when he had multiple options he tried to play them all and there was criticism.   He's had fewer options of late -- he's played the same lineups more often.  People criticize that too..

Don't get me wrong -- there are moves that piss me off too, remember my stabbing post?, but with MS it really is a case of familiarity breeding contempt.

He's been around a long time and it really doesn't matter what he does anymore -- we have all seen him do it before.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, dprep80 said:

That's fair.  However, I still legitimately would like to know if Angels media is unique in not criticizing MS or if that is the nature of the beast for all non NY/PHI media.

No, that’s not what you want.  What you want is to be told you are right in your criticism.  Some here will agree with you while others don’t.  

Next topic, was Scioscia the second gunman on the grassy knoll?

[dprep80]

2 minutes ago, The Boogie Man said:

He gives them about the same chance to win as anyone else.  

Debatable, or better yet, impossible to prove one way or another.

[dprep80]

3 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Hey I didn't make it personal and you are! Bad form for a blogger no?

[Angel Oracle]

I just think it might be better to have a new manager to work with all of the new guys coming up from a now solid farm system over the next 2-3 seasons.   Then this will truly be Eppler's org, from the scouts to the players to the coaching staff.

[Stradling]

Just now, dprep80 said:

Debatable, or better yet, impossible to prove one way or another.

Then I agree he is as good as the other managers since it is impossible to prove.  

[dprep80]

2 minutes ago, The Boogie Man said:

No, that’s not what you want.  What you want is to be told you are right in your criticism.  Some here will agree with you while others don’t.  

Next topic, was Scioscia the second gunman on the grassy knoll?

I can tell you with 100% certainty that is not what I want.

[T.G.]

2 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

, remember my stabbing post?

Yeah, how'd you get away with not following through on that?

[Inside Pitch]

15 minutes ago, dprep80 said:

That's fair.  However, I still legitimately would like to know if Angels media is unique in not criticizing MS or if that is the nature of the beast for all non NY/PHI media.

Seattle used to protect it's stars, not so much it's managers.  But I dated a girl who was part of the Seattle media during Griffey's heyday..  it was public knowledge (to them), that he had some extra-marital affairs and at least one love child that ultimately required a pretty large sum of money to keep the woman quiet.  The media never covered it, in fact the M's asked them not to make mention of it or risk having access restricted.

How much that happens we likely will never know.   

Edited July 5, 2018 by Inside Pitch

[Jeff Fletcher]

2 hours ago, dprep80 said:

Sorry if this has already been discussed/played-out, but does anyone think the reason no Angels media member criticizes Sosh is because they would otherwise lose their access to the Angels?   I'm sure this is an issue for all teams, however, it's bizarre that there is no institutional criticism of Scioscia anywhere.

First, you have to decide who you are expecting to criticize him. 

I would say most of the media criticism in sports is done by two entities: columnists and talk radio. In LA, there are only two newspapers so there are only about 4-5 columnists, and a few of them pay no attention to the Angels. As for talk radio hosts, I don’t really pay attention to what that scene is like is LA, but my sense is there just isn’t that much of it. One of the stations that has that stuff is actually owned by the Angels. 

Is there’s much “institutional criticism” in LA of the other teams? I don’t know because I pay little attention to what anyone writes about the Clippers or UCLA.

When you talk about the rest of the media, like beat writers, our job is not to criticize Scioscia. It’s to make him accountable. Basically, our job is to find out why he does what he does and let you guys decide if it’s good or bad. 

In general, I find the focus on managers in MLB to be overblown. Managers win if their players stay healthy and play well.

[T.G.]

2 minutes ago, dprep80 said:

Hey I didn't make it personal and you are! Bad form for a blogger no?

It's just baseball.  I'm just trying to make light of the discussion.  I do that every now and then... and then again and again and again.

[dprep80]

2 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

First, you have to decide who you are expecting to criticize him. 

I would say most of the media criticism in sports is done by two entities: columnists and talk radio. In LA, there are only two newspapers so there are only about 4-5 columnists, and a few of them pay no attention to the Angels. As for talk radio hosts, I don’t really pay attention to what that scene is like is LA, but my sense is there just isn’t that much of it. One of the stations that has that stuff is actually owned by the Angels. 

Is there’s much “institutional criticism” in LA of the other teams? I don’t know because I pay little attention to what anyone writes about the Clippers or UCLA.

When you talk about the rest of the media, like beat writers, our job is not to criticize Scioscia. It’s to make him accountable. Basically, our job is to find out why he does what he does and let you guys decide if it’s good or bad. 

In general, I find the focus on managers in MLB to be overblown. Managers win if their players stay healthy and play well.

That's fair and thanks for the response Jeff.  I agree that the small size of our media (especially relative to the population) plays the biggest role.