Breaking: Eppard and Picciolo let go - Scioscia and Dipoto staying

[Angel Oracle]

How does Eppard get canned when the offense was .003 away from having the 3rd best OPS in the AL after having a solid 2012, but Butcher stays despite the team having the 5th worst ERA in 2013 and not being all that good on the mound in 2012????

Angry Arte has no clue!

[jshep]

there it is!

[Sully151]

And now this thread should take off.

[AngelsFaninGA]

wow.  quite a few folks around here seem to know a lot about what was going on behind the scenes in the clubhouse and front office.  It would have been interesting to hear the specifics of what actually happened as it was happening. 

 

 

No one here thought the offense massively underachieved this year?  Just because they were good doesn't mean they were as good as they should have been.  I think it's pretty clear that eppard has taken the fall for Hamilton being a wreck, Trumbo taking a step back etc. 

 

All here thought the pitching staff should have performed better than they did?  I didn't see a bunch of guys underachieving, I saw a bunch of guys that lacked talent. 

 

Also, do we even know the responsibilities of the bench coach?  Maybe it was his job to give the manager information about matchups, or to process info regarding potential defensive alignments or to recommend an approach relative to info provided by advanced scouts.   It's funny how Maddon was a god and MS is worthless without him by his side yet Piccolo provided nothing.

 

Don't get me wrong, I have no freaking clue if these are the right moves, but neither does anyone else.   

 

That's a very biased analysis. It can easily be said that Blanton and Hanson underachieved, since they both had ERA's significantly higher than the year before. 

[stevestevens]

Frankly, I was disappointed with AO's post.

Edited October 9, 2013 by TylerP

[Mark68]

 you guys seem to believe that a good pitching coach can turn a pig's ear into a silk purse.

No, but I believe that a good pitching coach can turn a pig's ear into something useful...say...a pork rind.

[Stradling]

Well, I was hoping there would be a change, but I guess it is what it is.  I don't mind them letting those two go and we really have no idea what ground rules were put into place.  For all we know it could be a very short leash for both Butcher and Scioscia.  I totally get that very few of you are happy with this, but lets get through the offseason and see what kind of team Dipoto puts together for Mike before we decide whether or not the front office is incompetent. 

[Halos of Anaheim]

Time for Lifetime to come in here and act like Rodney hasn't been one of the best relievers in baseball for the past two seasons without Butcher.

[jshep]

Really looking forward to seeing Butcher work his magic with the arms that get brought in this offseason.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Good post doc

[Stradling]

I am in favor of replacing Butcher.  How many pitching coaches, besides Duncan, really make a difference?  I don't think you can get Dave Duncan, I don't think you are getting Leo Mazzone.  Hell, I don't even know of any others that have a history of being really impactful. 

[Brandon]

If my company is failing I'm not firing a secretary and a customer service rep.

What a joke.

[Angel Oracle]

@Alden_Gonzalez: Several coaching candidates will be thrown around over the next few weeks. Two names to keep in mind: Wally Joyner and Tim Bogar.

@Alden_Gonzalez: Unlikely that Omar Vizquel gets consideration, simply because you need to have experience as a 3B coach to do that job. Need that feel.

It seems that this could set up a Joyner return as hitting coach after gaining experience most recently with the Phillies, and a Bogar promotion to bench coach as he is highly regarded.

[Brandon]

I am in favor of replacing Butcher. How many pitching coaches, besides Duncan, really make a difference? I don't think you can get Dave Duncan, I don't think you are getting Leo Mazzone. Hell, I don't even know of any others that have a history of being really impactful.

Anyone would.look good with Glavine, Smoltz, Maddux or Halladay, Lee, and Hamels

[Stradling]

Time for Lifetime to come in here and act like Rodney hasn't been one of the best relievers in baseball for the past two seasons without Butcher.

What don't you understand about Rodney sucking before he was an Angel and while he was an Angel?  Were you on here saying that Rodney should be given more innings when he was pitching for the Angels?  Of course not, because he sucked.  He hasn't been great this year, he has basically been Frieri.  Last year he had a dream season, those things happen?  Should we now say that the pitching coach for Tampa now sucks because Rodney isn't doing what he did last year?  Oh and I am in favor of replacing Butcher, but using Rodney as an example is complete bullshit, as is Santana as an example. 

[Brandon]

I laughed about the Santana and Rodney posts.

Rodney is average to garbage....I'll never understand when people say he killed it when he left like all the years before don't count.

If Santana has three consecutive solid years I'll give the failos that, but not one year after leaving like that's his career.

[Stradling]

No, I still woudn't give them credit even if for some act of god he has three good years in a row. Just because he can pitch three good years somewhere else doesn't mean he could do it here.

[stevestevens]

What is wrong with AO? He seems pretty level headed about this announcement. I thought we would get multiple "symbols" in each sentence.

Turning a new leaf AO?

[jshep]

No, I still woudn't give them credit even if for some act of god he has three good years in a row. Just because he can pitch three good years somewhere else doesn't mean he could do it here.

 

And what would your reasoning be behind thinking he couldn't do here?

 

Because one of the possible answers to that would be: Because the pitching coach here wasn't able to figure something out that another one did.

Edited October 9, 2013 by jshep

[Lhalo]

What is wrong with AO? He seems pretty level headed about this announcement. I thought we would get multiple "symbols" in each sentence.

Turning a new leaf AO?

Ya what gives?

[markb]

Time for Lifetime to come in here and act like Rodney hasn't been one of the best relievers in baseball for the past two seasons without Butcher.

 

Rodney had a 1.335 WHIP this year.  He wasn't very good.

[stevestevens]

I doubt any pitching coach would have done anything with Blanton, hanson, and our bullpen this year.

The Blanton signing was terrible. No one liked it when it happened. Some on here were trying to explain how a fly ball pitcher with our fast outfield would flourish in our park. Hell, i even put the blinders on a couple times and thought that it just might work. Who were we kidding? He is awful.

It is no coincidence that one blanton and hanson were given the boot, we instantly became a good team

[Brandon]

And what would your reasoning be behind thinking he couldn't do here?

 

Because one of the possible answers to that would be: Because the pitching coach here wasn't able to figure something out that another one did.

Having met the dude a few times, the pitching coach is the least of it. He's just a weird dude that has a few bolts loose. Same with Walden , that dude is on another planet as well.

[Stradling]

And what would your reasoning be behind thinking he couldn't do here?

Because one of the possible answers to that would be: Because the pitching coach here wasn't able to figure something out that another one did.

Well I guess it depends on where he has success. If he has success for a team that is in the playoff hunt then I would be impressed, like he did this year. But he was one of those guys that always had the stuff but never had the head to go along with the stuff. He was up and down from year to year. Blaming his inconsistencies on Butcher would be silly because it would mean that Butcher was only good at his job every other year. Dude is a headcase and always has been. It hurts me to say that because I always want our home grown players to do well.

[Glen]

Boy, the annual spring training meeting with Tim Mead is gonna be a hoot next year.