Let's face it...Dipoto is no more prepared to be a GM than Reagins was

[Mudville]

This is, by a wide margin, the most overused cliche on this board. Sure, calling out Dipoto for his moves is hindsight, but that does not mean he should not be held accountable for them. It's Dipoto's job to not only see what is best for the organization now, but in the long term as well. He may make a decision that receives praise at first, or at worst, indifference, but when it completely backfires (like the Blanton signing, Hanson trade, Madson signing, Greinke trade, Hamilton signing) then people are bound to change their tune. I liked the Greinke trade at first, because I thought that the Angels stood a serious chance at re-signing him and I didn't think Segura would be as good as he has been. I was wrong. I, however, do not get paid to make these decisions. Dipoto does. Is it completely his fault? Of course not, he isn't a psychic. I don't think anyone could have seen Segura having the year he has had, or Hamilton having the year HE has had. But these decisions have ultimately cost the team not only now, but for the future as well.

 

Dipoto should not have job security because his decisions COULD have turned out well, and maybe some fans liked them at the time they were made.

 

His year to date stats are misleading. After his blazing April and May, Segura has settled into being a .280 hitter with a .700 ops for the last three months. His OBP is like Aybar's, about 30 points above his average. So he has become what most projected him to be, a light hitting SS.

[Docwaukee]

I think this franchise has an odd dynamic going on between Arte/Ownership and the FO/leadership and how that is shaping the long term outlook of this club.

 

It appears that Arte's primary goal, perhaps even obsession, is to win a championship.  Having a franchise that is perpetually playoff bound is not enough.  Those in leadership positions understand that and want to accommodate that yet have attempted to do so at the sacrifice of the franchise' long term health. 

[Inside Pitch]

The sad thing is, is when you hear him talk baseball he can really sell you on his baseball IQ, but this past offseason he gets an F for rolling this pitching staff out there. You show your real GM skill through trades, and him holding onto Bourjos and Trumbo cost the Angels the season, and maybe his job.

 

THIS...

 

He talks a really good game, sounds like he has a real plan then he does things that aren't from the sabermetric play-book.

 

Moving forward I'm not going to listen to what he says, I'll just wait and see what he actually does.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

It wouldn't matter if he made all the right trades and free agent signings if the minor league system is in shambles. No GM is going to avoid all mistakes when playing on the free agent market. Friedman has been the best (by far) but even he signed Pat Burrell.

 

Is Dipoto's methodology bad? Maybe. Blanton had a career high K rate last season while still having a very low walk rate. Was it bad reasoning that adding him to a pitcher's park (in a pitcher's division) and surrounding him with an excellent defense would suppress his hits allowed? If those trends had continued, Blanton would be a valuable #5 with acceptable production. Instead, Blanton and the defense took 3 steps back. Why did Blanton and the defense take 3 steps back?

 

The Marmol attempted trade is harder to defend. That appeared to be wishful thinking at its worst, particularly with the track record of our pitching coach. I doubt even a competent coach could do anything with Marmol.

 

The health of the minor league system is far more important than any "Shouldn't have signed..." or "Should have traded..." scenarios. I've argued against almost every free agent for a long time (yes, even the ones that worked like Hunter or would have worked like Beltre). You don't try to build your team via free agency. The exception is if you can get a star player in their 20's (damned rare) or you use free agency to add a complimentary piece to an already contending team. 

 

Too many times I've read about how Dipoto failed to fix the bullpen as if that is some easy task. I've posted the list of available free agent relief pitchers the last few years and it's been full of expensive, usually injured non-performers with a few rare exceptions.

A good pen comes from an abundance of pitching talent in your minor league system and good instruction. We have neither. Failed starters work well. You won't fix this pen by signing a couple more broken down nags coming off of good years. If this team continues to emphasize pitching in the draft (as was the case in 2013) and improves instruction then the pen will no longer be a problem. An instant solution is not going to happen.

 

One of the best posts I've read in a while, and an excellent summary of things as they are. I have already gone on record as not calling for Dipoto's head. In many ways what has happened has been the perfect storm. Players who were brought in suddenly failed to produce anything approaching their recent norms, a number of players spent significant time on the DL and apparently the team has stopped responding to the manager. How any of this is directly the GM's fault totally escapes me.

 

IMO this organization top to bottom is far worse off than many people realize, and it didn't just happen in the past two years. Whether people want to accept it or not, this is a rebuilding project. The place to start, and the place that Dipoto is starting, is rebuilding the minor league system. Without a solid talent pool in the minors, over the long haul a team is doomed. If you fill holes with expensive free agents because you have nothing suitable in the minors, you wind up with Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Joe Blanton. IMO Dipoto is trying to buy time at the major league level until we can get the talent flowing in from the farm system. I haven't seen obvious horrible moves like the Wells trade under his watch. To be certain there have been several acquisitions that have turned out badly and some chances taken that didn't pan out, but there was no reason to anticipate that all of them would turn out this badly. I am willing to be patient and see what this new approach yields. Two years simply isn't enough time to fix an organization with this many things broken.

[Inside Pitch]

 

Is Dipoto's methodology bad? Maybe. Blanton had a career high K rate last season while still having a very low walk rate. Was it bad reasoning that adding him to a pitcher's park (in a pitcher's division) and surrounding him with an excellent defense would suppress his hits allowed? If those trends had continued, Blanton would be a valuable #5 with acceptable production. Instead, Blanton and the defense took 3 steps back. Why did Blanton and the defense take 3 steps back?

 

The Marmol attempted trade is harder to defend. That appeared to be wishful thinking at its worst, particularly with the track record of our pitching coach. I doubt even a competent coach could do anything with Marmol.

 

The health of the minor league system is far more important than any "Shouldn't have signed..." or "Should have traded..." scenarios. I've argued against almost every free agent for a long time (yes, even the ones that worked like Hunter or would have worked like Beltre). You don't try to build your team via free agency. The exception is if you can get a star player in their 20's (damned rare) or you use free agency to add a complimentary piece to an already contending team. 

 

Too many times I've read about how Dipoto failed to fix the bullpen as if that is some easy task. I've posted the list of available free agent relief pitchers the last few years and it's been full of expensive, usually injured non-performers with a few rare exceptions.

 

A good pen comes from an abundance of pitching talent in your minor league system and good instruction. We have neither. Failed starters work well. You won't fix this pen by signing a couple more broken down nags coming off of good years. If this team continues to emphasize pitching in the draft (as was the case in 2013) and improves instruction then the pen will no longer be a problem. An instant solution is not going to happen.

 

Good post EE.

 

I agree with you completely on Blanton and the defense -- you just can't put that on the GM.

 

I disagree on the pen situation.  Taking a weak pen and making it weaker by trading Walden was the first questionable move but it was early and the conventional wisdom is that anytime you can get a SP for a RP .... you do it,  There was still a lot of time to add more pitching so it didn't stick out so bad at the time.  The non-trade for Marmol screamed red flag and the signing of two guys who were unable to even throw and calling it is mission complete was IMO a complete failure on his part -- particularly when you consider there were questions regarding the SP.   The signing of Mark Lowe was a clear sign he knew the pen was soft and in need of help, it also looked like a desperation move.  A person could argue he tried to add to the pen by trading for Sisk and that his injury was unfortunate as was the loss of Coello, but that's being kind to Dipoto.  Villanueva, Koji U, and Mike Adams were all available and guys I mentioned as being available, Villanueva had the added benefit of being able to start and fit into the whole, FB pitcher mold he seemed to be chasing.  I'm willing to give him props for looking at 6th year guys like Sisk, and failed starters like Coello, but I have a hard time moving beyond the two guys who were hurt and were seemingly being counted on.   That was Bill Bavas redux

 

I again agree completely -- the lack of failed starters is the biggest in house obstacle when it comes to fixing this pen.  The Angels long run of RP success was built on the arms of failed starters.   K-Rod and Shields being two of the better examples.

 

All my whining means nothing, time to move beyond casting blame and trying to fix this mess.  The one thing I want to hear from either Arte or Dipoto is who made Hamilton the focal point of the offseason.   Whoever made that decision made fixing the things that WERE wrong, all the more difficult.

[YouthofToday]

Blame the owner for his fetish of collecting aging former stars to $100,000,000.00 or $200,000,000.00 + deals.

[YouthofToday]

I don't think anybody would be successful as a GM as long as the owner plays the outsized role in player personnel decisions that he currently does.