Inside Pitch

That's more of a condemnation of Dipoto than a validation isn't it? If it's true he wanted more shifts, and the team was already outperforming the team leading MLB in shifts -- what was the point of the hissy fit? Everyone talks up his saber inclinations, but looking a little deeper at the things he said and the thought processes behind them you can see why what Doc is saying has merit. Dipoto talked up acquiring batters that control the count and hit for power -- that's station to station baseball kiddies, aka -- old player skills.. Not a bad combination but one that when it goes in the tank -- tanks hard. He also talked up the need to have players within a certain age range to try to maximize their effective performances.. Hard to argue with that -- it's a sound premise. As a stats guy Jerry knows what happens to old player skills.... as a stats guy, he knows when those players on the fringes of the the preferred age range are entering their tank phase.. He gambled the current group of hitters had one more season left in them.... based on recent performances it was a good bet... This is not at all a criticism of him, it was an educated guess. Unfortunately they tanked a year ahead of where anyone would have expected... it happens. He saw what was happening, the slump wasn't a slump, it was a decline... He got out before the stink stuck to him but not before setting a few fires to make others look like the bad guys. Smart move by a smart guy. This station to station team is Dipoto's creation and the antithesis of what the Angels were famous for and successful doing. KC is grabbing headlines left and right for running the bases, forcing other teams to make plays -- their offense was predicted to be mediocre and has massively surpassed expectations just like those old scrappy MS teams of yesteryear... But yeah -- Mike Scioscia is a dinosaur and Jerry Dipoto and his new age ideas are the heat... Nobody wants to blame the guy that tried to build a three run HR team in a pitchers park... because, Teflon... The answer is simple -- fire Mike Scioscia and sign more HR hitters. It's what people always wanted back in the day...

Teflon doesn't get any blame when things go bad, he only gets the credit when things go right. -- Dipotians 3:16.

I've watched a shit ton of Ben Revere games, going all the way back to when he played alongside Denard Span. One of my closest friends out here is a massive Phillies fan so I'm forced to watch Phillies games quite a bit, both live and on TV. Have you watched him outside of the recent series .Vs Toronto??? Ben Revere isn't bad defensively because the stats say so, he's bad defensively because the eye tests say as much. Also, NONE of the numbers I used are the defensive stats that typically get written off -- those are the old school numbers that people devoid of the concept of park effects hold dear.. Range factor is hardly a new fangled stat -- I avoided those to keep people from making the arguments you two are trying to make. Ben Revere looks good defensively because he's fast. His speed allows him to overcome the bad reads and poor jumps but that doesn't take away from the reality he's been a poor defender. And it says a great deal about Ben Revere's offense when his "playing out of his mind" amounts to a OPS+ of 93. The abortion that is the Angels offense has combined for an OPS+ of 97. FTR, Revere for Gott wouldn't have been a bad get. A middle reliever for a Eric Aybar-ish type bat at the bottom of the order would have been pretty solid. But I agree with your general sentiment .... we are talking about a LFer that struggles to match a middle IFer's production. I understand the concept of being better than Matt Joyce, but a sub league average offensive performer wouldn't transform the Angels offense.

Then you're using the wrong baseline to determine his ability. Last season was a complete outlier for him, he was out of his mind awesome in some areas... He's basically been the same pitcher he always had been this season. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithjo05.shtml All that being said -- he just had a bad game.

They know because he pitched for them for five years before signing with the Angels...

Well at least Z had Seager...

This link actually gives people a look at what youre talking about.. you can click on the individual categories to see what they have done well and done poorly and to get an idea of how much their aggressive baserunning helps or hurts them.. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2015-baserunning-batting.shtml Most would be surprised to find they are in the bottom half in the AL for being picked off/pick off CS, or how they are among the leaders in going 1st to 3rd, and in scoring when a double is hit. Conversely, they don't steal bases well and they have struggled to score on singles when batter has been on second. The amazing thing is that we have all seen more outs at home than ever before this year thanks to Disar, and yet their 16 outs at home are only 1 more than the league average. An even semi competent 3B coach and the Angels base running might have actually been a strength instead of an eyesore.

So, a 93 OPS+ guy in Toronto would have been the difference in Anaheim? I just looked at his excellence in LF.. I guess a range factor of 1.63 .vs a league range factor of 2.21 is excellence in opposite land. His negative 11 BIS defensive runs saved in Toronto is also very impressive. Matt Joyce, a person not known for his glove posted a negative 10.... Guess we should at least be happy he was "excellent" in LF despite having had no bat all season.

Right -- thats what we have been saying. But that was his track record. Dude may have basically lived off the work of others.

He had a good track record of finding talent while with the Brewers -- albeit they were mostly bat first types. I've always wondered if Blengino wasn't the mad scientist behind those drafts -- anyone that read his Diamond Mind Future Stars books knows was well ahead of the curve when it came to melding statistical analysis with scouting. All I know is you're right -- it hasn't happened while he's been with the Mariners. That noise about him having been a good talker seems to ring more and more true. The interesting thing about Seager is that he wasn't really that highly touted as he moved up the minors depite putting up really good numbers. Instead... Dustin Ackley was the golden boy. They have IMO done some really questionable stuff developing players too. Guys like Mike Zunino stand out as someone that was totally rushed to the majors and then allowed to fail, an argument could possibly be made they made the same mistake with Ackley.. They've also been on the wrong side of some trades involving prospects -- Pineda for Montero turned ugly fast, even with Pineda missing a year due to injury. Capps, Maurer (sp) in the SD trade last winter. Not sure it's not something they are having them do but their three headed monster of projected awesome that was Paxton, Hultzen, and Walker have all found it hard to stay healthy and/or be productive. I get that pitchers are thought to be a one pitch away from injury but -- they seem to have had trouble keeping guys healthy for eons... The list of Mariner SP prospects to break down over the years is pretty long .... all the way back to Ryan Anderson. But as you made reference to.... having two number two overall picks and a number three overall pick come up snake eyes the way Ackley, Hultzen, and Zunino have can be franchise breaking. A lot of people are already punting on their number one from last year too, Alex Johnson.

Seems you have your answer then.

He threw 70 in just over 3 innings in his last start. Couple that with the innings load and it's not really a bad call. Keep in mind his career high IP was 166 last year....

Dammit I just said the same thing -- its even funnier when you consider that Mauch managed for what -- 5 seasons over two different stints? A lot of those guys had very short tenures.

Here's the kicker.. 25 of the Angels 55 seasons were managed by two men.... Rigney and MS.. So it was 14 managers in 30 years in between those two guys....

Tony Blengino... I think that's the guy you're talking about. Eric Wedge also ripped Z

He always struck me as a guy who was best suited to be a minor league guy. That's not really a slam on him, some guys are just better at spotting/projecting talent than they are at team building. I've never thought the two things were synonymous.

Mean girl logic at it's best...

Nationals -- if they get rid of Williams they strike me as a team that might want to get Scioscia...

This kinda sounds familiar. Kiley McDaniel ‏@kileymcd 3m3 minutes ago M's want former GM that can't pick his manager, can't rebuild & can't come from a playoff team. If all true, they won't get good candidates. I imagine there will be a piling on of stories talking how bad the situation in Seattle is over the next few days...

I felt it was less coasting and more running on fumes... They basically blew their wad overcoming the loss of Skaggs and Richards... they just sort of limped along the final two weeks.

Also -- welcome back AO....

Lets be real -- if all the next guy is capable of doing is creating a vibrant farm system while ignoring the pressure from ownership and reestablishing the standard of winning that Stoneman brought the Angels..... you'd call that a huge success. The not trading prospects thing rings hollow when you consider the mileage they did get out of home-grown talent they did keep. Some guys flamed out -- that's the prospect biz. I don't really understand this mindset that trades NEED to happen. Build a winning team, I don't care how they use their resources, just build a winning team. That's really all anyone should want.

You realize Stoneman isn't the long term guy right? All your ranting and foot stomping is just noise. Until we know who will actually be the GM, that's all it will be.. noise.

That's become the new norm -- someone that sits above on field and front office types and is a direct buffer to ownership. A person could argue that due to Moreno's strong tendency to meddle -- the Angels need that more than anyone else.

At least he didn't pull up like he is prone to do... I've never seen a middle IF pull up on more batted balls than Grant Green has in his abbreviated playing time.