re: Should Mike Scioscia be fired?

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A's are overrated

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Not necessarily. They tend to have two, sometimes three, good years in their runs before they run out of money and have to firesale the team. Last year was only the first year.

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SEA and HOU are garbage

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For the Astros that may be an insult to garbage. I thought Seattle would be better but they are settling in the middle of the pack.

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And its not like the Rangers are that great.

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They aren't. Yu is having to carry the load for the rotation, and his last two starts are showing that it's negatively affecting him (he should have a no-decision and a loss; fortunately the offense pulled it out so he got a win and a no-decision). Holland is still inconsistent but he may be turning things around.

But with Harrison and Lewis out (and Perez, though he was an unknown quantity this year) now we have problems. Tepesch is showing he was a one-start wonder. Grimm showed nothing last year and nothing this year. And then we have Ogando (or OH GOD NO) who should be in the bullpen.

The offense has several holes. Every outfielder not named Cruz or Baker is poor. Berkman is showing decline in power numbers (but his patience at the plate is a vast improvement over the prior #3 hitter--who was that again?--giving Beltre a hitter's chance every time).

But on the bright side, the rest of the offense is strong (Kinsler is way improved--not babysitting the prior #3 hitter--who was that again?--helps) and the bullpen is very strong, rarely blowing leads.

When Texas and Oakland match up we'll see who the alpha male of the division really is.

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no input on Napoli for Wells trade that occurred.

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i don't know about the rest of it, but that's clearly BS. Napoli was in Scioscia's doghouse big time, and his refusal to play Napoli is what caused the need to trade him in the first place. I'm always skeptical when guys after the fact start trying to get their story out there to blame someone else for the failures of a team, but Scioscia was clearly the #1 reason Napoli was traded. That makes me think this is a friendly journalist trying to spin facts in favor of a guy he likes.

Right. It's a jornalist friendly to Scioscia trying to create a narrative that absolves him from blame of a move he clearly was the guiding force behind as it happened. I don't trust the post hoc rationalization at all. Scioscia wanted Napoli gone, and the GM obliged.

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I think Trumbo is/will be much better than Dunn

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Both were/are albatrosses in the field. They are raw power guys, with a major advantage to Dunn in the fact that he can actually draw a walk.

Dunn's career BA is 30 points lower than Trumbo's yet his OBP is is 60 points higher.

He struck out more, but he also walked way, way more.

They are pretty similar players and Dunn's numbers at Trumbo's age were nearly identical.

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Aybar is not a utility player.

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Fair enough. I may be discrediting him, but the bulk of his value comes from his defense. He's a capable starter, but he's nothing special.

Are you comparing Mike Trout to Geovanny Soto and Neftali Feliz?

Are you really giving the Angels credit for not overpaying Mike Trout after one good season? Do you understand how Major League Baseball works?

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It's been well documented that MS no longer has much or any input on player personnel.

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Pretty similar thing happened with Reid...

I'm just saying he's a solid to good manager who may need to move on. Very, very few managers can hang at one spot for their whole career and be successful.

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Uh, Trumbo is actually pretty solid at 1B and is far from a liability in the OF. Now you just talking out your arse.

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When you are looking to dump a guy in LF or on 1B, that pretty much says it all.

I'm not talking out of my arse so much as I was one of the few people who realized early that this Angels team was a pile of hot garbage.

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Yeah, I don't think it's this at all. It's been well documented that MS no longer has much or any input on player personnel. I don't understand how not spending any money on the bullpen or an innings eater in the rotation is the fault of scioscia.

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I don't think it's "well-documented". I think its a post hoc rationalization to distance him from blame. And some of it was clearly a lie. So I don't believe him when he says he has no input.

And you should be able to build a good pen without spending money (closer, excepted). That is absolutely on the manager. Good managers can piece together a decent pen with organizational soldiers. Big money free agents to staff a bullpen is A) an indictment of the manager and B) not effective anyway.

He is messing up the pen. The only two AL teams with a worse bullpen ERA are Tampa and Houston. And great, he can fill out a lineup card. That's wonderful, but that's a pretty low bar. A manager needs to squeeze as much production out of the talent on hand... and at this, he is failing. There is enough talent on hand to at least be a 500 squad, and he's 10 games under. He's absolutely on the hook for that. And I like Scioscia, but this is two straight years now.

Well, regarding the bullpen, there have been a ton of injuries. I am sure he didn't think Michael Roth would have to be called up from AA to be in the bullpen, much less have to make an emergency start.