Building From Within - 1992

[Angelsjunky]

Its time to really focus on the real problem with the team.

 

If Pujols was just 80% of what he was in St Louis, if Hamilton was just 70% of what he was in Texas, and if CJ was just 70% of what he was in Texas than we would be in the hunt.  Fact is there are three key players not performing.  And I don't think anyone would have guessed there under performance would be this dramatic.  And yes, as much as I hated the Blanton signing, I never thought he would be this bad!

 

Not to be too nit-picky but Wilson hasn't been THAT bad. Sure, he's not the pitcher he was in Texas--a very good #2--but he's still been a solid #3. That's about 70% of what he was.

[Chuck]

So it's Sosh's fault that Blanton sucks?  It's his fault that Pujols, Burjous and Aybar are injured?  It's Sosh's fault that two of the main pieces of the pen were damaged goods when signed?  It's his fault that Hamilton seems to have the mental makeup of a cracker jack toy?

 

If it isn't Dipoto's fault, it sure and the hell isn't Sosh's.  The only move I fully blame Sosh for is leaving Blanton in the rotation.  However, he doesn't even have that choice if Blanton is given a two year deal for millions.

 

Who said it's Scioscia's fault that players suck, or that it's Dipoto's because they suddenly sucked?

 

I'm saying that not benching Blanton in favor of Williams is on Scioscia. Period. 

[mtangelsfan]

Agreed. 

[Angels Never Die]

A GM should, but the results are not yet even a 1/3 of the way in. 

 

If you assessed Jerry's first six weeks on the job last season, would you give him an F or do you place blame on the players for not living up to their expectations.

 

At some point, you have to look at all the data and make a smart decision on just who's to blame for the results on the field. 

 

Okay, the results are incomplete, but how does that make fan reaction relevant?

 

I personally don't care about whether players are to blame for not living up to expectations (if they are though, those expectations would have to be fair in the first place), I don't really look at the game with that perspective. Regardless, I don't see how it's an either/or scenario, the bottom line of a GM's job is to essentially predict what a player is going to do. Some reasons for a player's failure may be harder to predict than others, and you can't expect a GM to be a psychic, but if they continually fail to predict players' performances adequately and maximize their assets adequately, then they're not doing their job well. There's only so much you can attribute to bad luck before it strains credulity.

[Jim]

To me, this article seems like it stopped abruptly before coming to a conclusion.  What happened to Whitey and Fountaine? I actually clicked on the link thinking there was more to the article.   

I second this

[austin724]

Isn't it time for Arte Moreno to start bad mouthing the GM and Manager?

[stormngt]

But again, NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND believes Blanton was this bad. Hamilton was this bad. Pujols was this injured. Madson & Burnett provide almost zero help in the BP and knew that Bourjos, Weaver, Aybar and others spend loads of time on the DL.

 

All of that considered, you can't put the blame on Dipoto other than maybe even signing Blanton in the first place. Take that one mistake away and do you still blame Dipoto? Thing is, one player i.e. Blanton doesn't make or break a club. 

 

Another thing... It's Scioscia's job to play the best players regardless of how much a player is signed or for how long. Benching Hamilton for one game doesn't do shit, nor doesn't NOT benching Blanton in favor of Jerome Williams who is clearly the better starter. This is on Scioscia! 

This is where I disagree with you.  You can't just bench players who are struggling.  Often you have to try to push the right button to get your under achievers to perform.  As much as I would prefer to see Williams start over Blanton, there is some sense in staying with him since Williams career isn't much better than Blanton.  Benching Hamilton makes no sense.  We are going no where with him on the bench.  They only way we get competitive is when he starts playing like he should.

[Chuck]

I second this

 

My bad for not adding a "To Be Continued....." at the bottom of the article. It's updated on the website, just not in the forum post. 

[Angel Oracle]

Why is Blanton's salary supposedly keeping him in the rotation?

What is he owed at this point?   Some $12 million through next season?   That isn't enough to keep him in the rotation.

 

To be truthful though, neither Blanton no Hanson deserves a spot ahead of Williams.    That's just stupid on Scioscia's part. 

He says it's because Williams is used to long innings relief and the other two aren't.

Since when did long innings relief become more important than starting???????    SMH

[Mark68]

Chuck has a point. BP even had a write-up about how ridiculous this season has been for the Halos. Nearly every single player is playing below their expected projections. Just NOTHING is going right

 

nobody could have seen Hamilton and Pujols being this awful this soon. You'd figure that they'd be this crappy at the tail end of their deals, not year 1 and year 2 of them

 

The only player who is actually playing better than we thought he would is Howie Kendrick. Trumbo and Trout continue to be the steady studs on this team, and that's about it

 

What we can fault Dipoto on is the bullpen. He signed 2 arms to help it, one of them being a guy coming off TJ surgery. They really needed a more surefire option along in there while they signed Madson on a low risk deal. Counting on him to be a big contributor wasn't a good decision.

 

The lack of depth in the system was an issue from the get-go and there wasn't really much Dipoto could do to fix that. That's where the scouting and drafting comes into play and it's also why this team is doing so poorly this year. Injuries have caused them to miss some of their key players, and they haven't had competent fill-in's. The pen has been nothing but a revolving door of a bunch of who's who call-up's who have provided much of nothing.

 

If there is one positive about this season, hopefully it has shown the FO that they need to focus on supplying the talent all through the org, not just the major league level. Every team has to withstand injuries, but it's the teams who have the depth to make up for them that get through things and play on into October. It's a 40 man roster for a reason, you aren't going to be relying on the same 25 guys from game 1 to game 162.

 

Replenish the depth, make some low key FA signings for reasonable deals, and then pray that Hamilton and Pujols have some good seasons left in them.

I am encouraged by the work that was done prior to this year's draft. Obviously, it's been less than a week, so we don't know how these kids will do, but I am encouraged by what they CAN do, given where we were drafting.

 

It's only been a year and a half, and I'm sure that we can all admit that Dipoto took over a total crapfest of an organization (F'ing Reagins). He's trying to balance the owner's and the fans' "Win Now" attitude with trying to rebuild the organization from the ground up. Yeah, a lot of the moves haven't worked out. I didn't want Pujols, but his injury is not helping matters. I REALLY didn't want Hamilton. Blanton was an enigma, but I figured that as long as he had a typical Blanton season as the 5th starter, I was OK with it. He's having a horrible year even by his career standards (look it up, he's never been THIS bad). I like the Morales-Vargas trade, the Walden-Hanson trade, and the Frieri trade. Burnett has never had an injury problem like this before, and Madson was a relatively cheap gamble.

 

In other words, most of the players are performing well below career norms or have been injured (including some who have never had red flags or injury issues before). That is not on Dipoto.

 

Besides, even F'ing Reagins got four years.