Inside Pitch

Not being snarky .. Dont buy what? My take on Erstad or whether or not Scioscia is a good guy for a team full of FA types? Not sure the current batch of FA's are really the Scioscia type of FAs. He's done well with the nose to the grindstone humble sorts like Vlad but I think this batch is more prima-donnaish Don't mean play style, I mean personality.

Well, technically they are still reeling from having completely neglected the international market after Clay Daniels was fired. Again, this is an area where Stoneman was very active in and when MLB went to remove the Draft and Follow process the Angels loaded up on those guys.. Did you see them making ANY effort at all to sign guys before the money rules changed last year? NOPE.

We should embark on a ten year run of last place finishes. Because after a decade of picking in the top 5 every year -- we should be sitting pretty. Worked for the Rays, and the Rangers seem to be doing better after their run in the gutter. Blarg, you check to see if the name RaysMania32 was taken?

I don't. I don't know if Scioscia can really lead a team filled with a lot of FAs.. He's not a cuddly type and a lot of those sorts need someone to come in, kiss their ass, and tell them they will be okay.. None of which Scioscia has ever shown himself really adept at doing. People always bagged on Torre, but the one thing he did well was soothe those egos.

That 13-16 record the Huskers were sporting may be an improvement over what we are seeing but still sucks. I can see an Erstad run MLB team now -- they will peak in May, be hurt by June and be out of contention by July but at least their uniforms will be dirty and they will look like they are trying really hard as they run to first base as they hit a weak roller to 2B. Erstad, unless he's actually grown a brain would be slightly less blowhard Terry Collins with MLB service time.

What if they are the two people most responsible for what's going on? Not saying they are, but there is NO DENYING, that Dipoto chased some saber principles and right now -- it's not working out. As ugly as this is right now, it's got to play out for a bit before they can start casting real blame.

Stoney seemed to struggle with CFers.. GMJ, the Dinosaur he signed before him was awful too. Ironically, Reagins brightest moment was the Hunter signing, which most felt was also a massive overpay when it went down.

Are we talking about the same Coco Crisp that was leading the AL in Offensive WAR? Yep, it's stupid walking a really hot hitter.

If they listen to the fans again. It will be Bill Bavasi part two.

So you agree with Langston? Cause, he's pointing the finger at the player, not the usual target of scorn. I wish Langston would be the everyday guy. He's always been nails.

Bill Stoneman. Never took crap from ownership, never worried about scoring points with the fan base. Got criticized for not making the big signing or the big splash.. Team just won and defied the odds. Dude knew how to pick up players off the scrap heap, knew how to build a farm, knew how to build a bullpen.. Knew how to build a winner. Fans hated him. BTW, the off-season Pujols was signed... Sciocia, the fat idiot was concerned about the pitching. He was mocked for it, and JD was celebrated for completely leaving him out of the equation when he signed AP. The SP imploded, the pen was awful. Sometimes people are so full of themselves they can't see when someone else has a clue, This team has some huge holes... It needs time to right itself but, if the pitching doesn't improve.. there isn't a manager in MLB that can win with this staff.

The SP and its not close. They aren't giving the team ANY chance at all to win. None.

Honestly, I'm probably more obsessively watching how this works out than I typically would be in large part because I tend to be a big believer in some of the things Dipoto is investing in. I just worry he went too far in one direction, like Jack Z did in Seattle a few years back when he ditched offense for defense at every position. I think it's fair to keep track of the situation, I think it's silly to come to any conclusions after two weeks (not that you did that), but ...there were questions coming into the season, and it's fair to criticize the early returns as a result of those questions.

Well, if Dipoto is going to cower and cave to the owner, he's the wrong guy for the job. Everyone and their brother had an issue with how Bill Stoneman operated, he didn't talk, he was hugely secretive but he acted on his own beliefs after the Disney ordered Edmonds debacle. The year he came in, Tony the Tiger Tavares, had just asked publicly why the team couldn't fire the entire team. The farm system was easily in worse shape than it is now and the team was as fractured in the clubhouse as it could get. Stoneman stepped into a terrible situation and was promptly criticized by everyone when he chose to go with the guys in the system over guys like Steve Traschel. I remember Traschel because it was Steve Bisheff's over the top ranting about it that drove me to stop reading the OCR. Fans still jumped on the bandwagon and called him a Disney, Yes man who's only concern was to save them money. Chuck, I'm assuming you have grown close with Tim Mead over the years. Ask him about the real story behind the Edmonds trade if you haven't already. That one situation may have been the springboard for Stoneman having been able to act on his own advice, But with an owner like Arte, the GM can't be a chickenshit.

The Angels had an entire season to decide what to do with those guys. Looking at Haren in ST, it seems they chose wisely there. With Santana, it may just be the case of a team finally getting sick of a guy who caved mentally. But, there is no denying his arm was sound and that he finished the season on a good note. Even with his horrendous showing, he was pretty good Vs RHBs. The argument that he gave up too many HRs is hard to defend when you consider the team traded for two guys that give up a ton of HRs and signed another.

Meh... The franchise Dipo, took over is nowhere near the mess it was when Stoneman took over. He doesn't get a free pass in my book and I'm not sure why people are willing to gloss over his involvement. My guess is that because he is a likable guy people are willing to give him more rope -- but make no bones, this team is his baby. I'm a Dipoto fan, and I think over the long haul the things he is trying to implement will end up serving the franchise well, but there is no denying he was taking some risk when he chose to pursue fly ball pitchers to couple with our defensive OF. Going all the way back to Branch Rickey, GM's have argued you build your team to the park you play in and try to maximize your advantages, so people can argue they were calculated risks, but Joe Blanton is a risk.... Tommy Hanson's health is a risk, and they make up 40% of our rotation. Pitcher volatility tends to be much more common early in the year and we may being seeing some of it. But, IMO the question of whether or not Blanton and Hanson were the right fly ball pitchers to target is valid. All that being said.. two weeks into a season with 60% of the rotation being brand new and it's ace on his ass, the only grade that can really be given IMO is an incomplete. My biggest concern is that the knee-jerk reactions both from fans and the media will end up costing people their jobs. Dipoto's plan isn't one that will show up overnight. A team full of hacks doesn't magically become patient over the course of one season -- the impact there will likely be seen in the minors and filter up to the big league club. The lack of pitching depth is real, and not something that can't be ignored or given it's proper credence when looking at this club. Yes, Dipoto traded some of that depth away recently, but outside of Roach, I don't believe he gave away anything we will miss and to be perfectly frank, the 6 year type guys he's brought in all likely had a better chance of helping this club than anyone he traded away. This team isn't anywhere near as bad as it's played. I do think they are pressing, they seem to be playing tight, and I think that has everything to do with what happened last April. Sorry, but adding a guy like Erstad wouldn't change anything IMO. Guys being more aggressive wouldn't help the team get on base anymore than it did Erstad, a player who gradually got worse as his career went on and he played more to his style than what was actually productive. One thing I don't like about the Dipoto era has been the team's willingness to put run prevention behind run production. In the case of AP, I got it, once in a generation hitter and face of the franchise potential... but Hamilton had his warts despite his upside and he was exactly the sort of hitter that could only slow the team's transition away from it's hacker ways. Ultimately, I think Hamilton's performance will be the focal point of how JD is viewed, even more so than Joe Blanton, Tommy Hanson, or Jason Vargas. Torri Hunter was already an Angel so he wasn't going to cost the team a pick, would have taken fewer years, and fewer dollars, and there were questions in the rotation. Of all of Dipoto's moves, the JH one seems the most unnecessary.

Out of curiousity -- how often IYO, should a manager have a pitcher warming up and what impact do you think that has on the pitchers?

Ill worry about Weaver when his control leaves him.

Stadium remodel -- a lot of the seats werent available. 94, 95 -- strikes...

Are you serious? Other than during the stadium remodel when a large portion of the cheap seats where blocked off and unavailable the Angels last failed to hit 2 mil in attendance in 1978. That's full seasons, not the strike shortened seasons.

Do you realize that the Angels led the AL in total combined attendance in the 80s?

Since you're trying to pass yourself off as someone with some sort of insight others lack,. Please detail the things he has done to bring people to the ballpark that wouldn't otherwise attend ballgames. Also any comment on that tidbit in Baseball America a few months ago that stated there are almost more people who play in baseball leagues in CA, than the rest of the country combined? No doubt, none of them are baseball fans.

Neither.... Your blind homerism....

Garret Anderson dropped a pallet of bricks on my new car at Home Depot... Just cause he was bored.

Unless its Jason Dickson's shoulder that was described by Yocum as looking as if a hand grenade had gone off inside. F-you Terry Collins.