Angelsjunky

There you got, Mikey.

Moment of truth: bases loaded, no outs. If they don't score three runs here I don't know what to say.

One of my hopes this year is that Hank Conger has a good enough year to re-establish himself as the catcher of the future.

1) The Angels have gotten off to a disappointing start (4-9) with some serious red flags raised, in particular with regards to the starting pitching. 2) Regardless of that, it IS still early - there is plenty of time to turn this ship around. 3) We all love the Angels and simply have no choice but to sit back and hope for the best. Plenty of 90-win teams start off slow. While I'm tempted to back down from my preseason prediction of 93-69, I'll stick with it - at least for now. I just see too much talent on this team and, wWhen it comes down to it, the only aspect of the team that I'm really worried about is the rotation. Despite a rather anemic start, I think the lineup will gel and start scoring runs - a lot of them. I also think the bullpen already looks better than last year and will settle down, especially once Jepsen and Madson come back. But I am worried about the rotation - and not just one or two starters, but from top to bottom. But there's time. So while I'm worried, I'm not throwing in the towel or calling for any heads. Perhaps Butcher should go and I'm starting to join the ranks of those that think it might be time for a new manager, but even then I don't think you remove Scioscia unless the Angels are well below .500 come June 1 or out of contention by the All-Star Break. Its been 13 games. And yes, this also means not finalizing any judgments about Jerry Dipoto. But I think the tarnish is quite evident in the armor; there's been a funny "Angels meme" that Dipoto is the savior for excesses of the Reagins Era, "In Dipoto We Trust." But the thing is, we still haven't seen it. He's made some bold moves, some savvy trades, but very little seems to have turned out well. But he deserves the year, at least, to see how his plan unfolds. So let's keep the big picture in mind. The baseball seasons is 162 games, not 13. Let's be worried but let's not write the season off yet. I mean think about it - if the Angels had won 3 more games they'd be 7-6 and none of us would be sweating. Even two, at 6-7, would be like "Not a great start but we'll be fine." The hour is young.

In most contexts I'm a big supporter of "process" over "results" and feel that Western/American society is too focused on the end results. But baseball, as a sport, is largely about results - and while I liked a lot of the moves Dipoto made at the time he made them, the results (so far) haven't been all that good. Another way to look at his tenure is that he inherited a formerly very successful franchise that was reeling due to a depleted farm system and some bad free agent signings, and needing new direction. He was effectively given a blank check by owner Arte Moreno, who was obviously willing to pay whatever it took to return the team to greatness. Dipoto made two "big splashes" by signing the best pitcher and hitter of the 2011-12 offseason. He retooled the team and the Angels headed into 2012 with a terrific pitching staff and a potentially excellent lineup. The team, however, ended up finishing 3rd and missing the playoffs for the third straight year, largely due to disappointing results from the two big free agents and the pitching staff as a whole. After 2012 the pitching staff was in shambles and the offense needed a boost. Dipoto shored up the bullpen with generally under-the-radar moves, and patched together what looked like a league average starting rotation while, instead of going seriously hard after Greinke, for the second year in a row signed the best hitter on the market - although, like the former year, a player on the wrong side of 30. So far, not good. While it is only two weeks into the season the team looks terrible. The offense, which was viewed as the strength of the team, hasn't gelled. The rotation is a mess and the bullpen is mediocre. Worst of all there are rumors of unrest in the clubhouse. Meanwhile most of the departed former-Angels are thriving in their new environments. What's the problem? Is it Dipoto? Scioscia? The players? All of the above? I don't know. But, in the end, the results suck. This team is a joke and whatever Dipoto's moves were, they haven't led to good results. In other words, while we can ooh and ahh various moves Dipoto has made and be impressed with his overall strategy, the results aren't impressive. I think he's due the rest of the year, that we need to give the "Dipoto Plan" at least the rest of the year to take effect, but I for one am starting to get worried. My biggest fear during the offseason is that Dipoto's gamble with the rotation would back-fire, that he should have kept one of Haren or Santana and gone after Greinke instead of Hamilton, or at least gone after a Sanchez or Peavy or Jackson. His strategy assumed that Weaver would be Weaver and Wilson would return to Wilson; it also assumed that Blanton and Vargas would be at least league average and the Braves were somehow wrong about Hanson. The scary thing is that it isn't that some of these things aren't turning out well, but NONE of them are. When you get results like that you have to start questioning the front office's judgment. Again, let's see how things turn out. Maybe Blanton, Vargas, and Hanson are nervous and will settle down. Maybe Wilson will grow a pair and rediscover how to throw strikes. Maybe Weaver is strengthening his arm with a kettleball as we speak and will come back throwing 90+ again. And maybe Ryan Madson will come back healthy and lead the bullpen to a renaissance of the glory days of Shields and K-Rod. Let us hope, but I for one have my doubts.

For me Field of Dreams is overrated, but I've only seen it once about 20 years ago so maybe should give it another shot. The Natural and Bull Durham are head and shoulders above everything else, in my opinion. I like them both equally for different reasons and would rate them "1a" and "1b" sort of like Trout and Harper. After that you have a large group of good-but-not-great films like Eight Men Out, Moneyball, A League of Their Own, For Love of the Game, Field of Dreams, Talent for the Game, Trouble with the Curve, Major League, and The Rookie in some order. There's also a recent movie about a Dominican pitcher trying to make it, that's name I can't remember - really good and very realistic. Its been too long since I've seen Bad News Bears and Pride of the Yankees, so I don't feel like I can rank them. Never saw Angels in the Outfield, probably never will. Same goes for Fever Pitch. I did see Mr. 3000 and Mr. Baseball, both of which were rather poor imo. I still haven't seen 42 but have high hopes for it, from what I've heard.

Even the worst case scenario and this team doesn't finish below .500.

I think I figured it out. Jerry Dipoto, knowing that Vernon Wells would be gone, needed a new goat. He figured that he has to overpay for someone but not too much to cripple the team. Voila: Joe Blanton, the New Angels Goat.

Man, this guy sucks. Three starts so far: Start 1: 5 IP, 7 Hits, 3 HR, 4 ER (7.20 ERA) Start 2: 5 IP, 10 Hits, 1 HR, 6 ER (10.80 ERA) Start 3: 4.2 IP, 9 Hits, 2 HR, 4 ER (7.71 ERA) Let's see...that's 14.2 IP, 26 Hits (!), 6 HR, and 14 ER for a lovely 8.59 ERA Nice signing, Jerry.

This is just ugly.

The good news: overall the bullpen numbers are solid, if not great - 3.76 ERA and a .683 OPS against. But here's the problem: Save situations: 8.53 ERA in 6.1 IP Non-save situations: 2.88 ERA in 34.1 IP Now obviously the sample size is small, but the above split has accounted for a 50% save rate (2 saves, 2 blown saves). The starting pitching, on the other hand, has just been bad: a 5.59 ERA and .871 OPS. To put that in context, here's a lineup of players with a career OPS of .865-.875: C Joe Mauer 1B Ryan Klesko 2B Chase Utley SS Troy Tulowitzki 3B Kevin Youkilis OF Magglio Ordonez OF Bobby Abreu OF JD Drew DH Adam Dunn In other words, its as if the starts have been facing a career average season by each of those players. Ouch.

Right, Inside Pitch. The bottom line is that, for whatever reason, Dipoto decided to the route of Hamilton/Blanton instead of Hunter/Greinke; I think the latter would have been a better combination, but we'll just have to see. I'll do another update in a couple weeks and will name it something different, like "Transaction Progress Report - April Edition" because I think a lot of folks have been hung up on the whole grade report thing. The whole point of this thread was not to judge Dipoto in a final way but keep track of the performances of the players Dipoto got rid of vs. the ones he brought in.

Is that a gay thing they're doing up in Seattle?

I maintain that you give Scioscia a couple months - through May - and Dipoto the whole year. If the Angels aren't above .500 by the end of May then you show Scioscia the door. If the the Angels don't at least compete for the postseason, Dipoto gets canned. But I also still think that the Angels are going to figure this out and be above .500 in early May and get really hot in June.

Yes, it is. Bank on it.

Sure, we can do an April progress report.

I thought it was pretty good. It reinforces my growing fear that the Angels aren't run by a combination of head and heart, but all head. I'm worried that this is a team that won't be able to develop the chemistry needed to win it all.

I don't know, Ocho - I hear and agree with you but think it is more like Arte says to Jerry: "Do what it takes to win - you have X money to play with." I guess the question that Jerry is going to be second-guessing is whether he should have spent the money on Greinke or Hamilton, or perhaps saved some money and gone after Anibal Sanchez and Edwin Jackson. There's no way to make only good moves, but the key is how it all combines. And we'll just have to see how it all turns out.

Chuck, don't blame me for the Angels sucking. As for the question, who knows. It will be fun to watch both. I'd guess that Harper will be a better pure hitter, with a higher OBP and SLG, but that Trout will be a better defensive player and baserunner and perhaps overall similar in value.

Chuck, teachers give progress reports. Maybe "Grade Report" sounds too final. Consider this a progress report. And yes, you can give progress reports.

Thanks mtangelsfan and HaloMagic! Kind words in unkind times (for Angels fans, at least). mt, interesting thought about this team being unexciting. It feels like an all-head, no-heart team. Dipoto seems to get the numbers but might not get the importance of chemistry and the "X-Factor" - which is what Torii brought. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how it plays out. If the Angels get it together and start winning games then our concern was all for naught and we'll all be happy. But if not, it will be interesting to see what happens on the management level.

Look, we're all upset about how the season has gone so far. And we must remember that two things are true at once: 1) It IS still early; there are 152 games to be played. 2) There are some serious red flags to be concerned about, both in terms of individual players and management. I'm not making any final conclusions and have been careful about expressing both of the points above. The point of this thread is not to give Dipoto a final grade, but more as a progress report. Let's revisit in 10 more games, then after 40, etc.

Jeff, you're such a tease. But thanks for letting us know.

You guys are missing the point or simply not reading what I actually write. The point is to compare results thus far, and then over the course of the year - to see how Dipoto's transactions actually turn out. It is not to make a conclusion now, 10 games into the year, which I've said multiple times in this thread. In other words, how do Dipoto's moves look after 10, 20, 40, 80, 120, 160 games? A running tally, if you will. And this includes direct comparisons between the players he got rid of and those he brought in.

I've noticed that a lot of folks had mild expectations for this year - .500 or so. But the thing is, once the Angels signed Hamilton they said "We're trying to win it all now." Or, at least, in the next year or two. This team wasn't built to get by until the farm builds up around Trout. It was built to win now. The problem, though, is that Dipoto might have made bad gambles on the starters. And of course he also seemed to assume that Jered Weaver would continue as a #1 and CJ Wilson would at least find his #2 fom. After only ten games the jury is still out, but things aren't looking good so far. I honestly think that if the Angels haven't turned things around by the All-Star break, Mike Scioscia should be fired. If they don't make the playoffs--or at least come close--I think Dipoto needs to go too. Two years in a row of bad, and very expensive, gambles that fail and you have to lose your job. But that's all conjecture at this point. I'm still hopeful the Angels will turn this around and have a good year.