To say that the Angel season hasn’t started quite as well as expected would be the biggest understatement of the year. Things are going south for LAA and it sure seems like things are going to get even worse before they get better. With such high expectations coming into the season, it is only natural to ask where it all started going wrong and who’s to blame for this mess. You know, because blaming someone always makes everyone feel better even though it usually accomplishes nothing at all.
You Make the Call! Who is most to blame for the Angels bad start to the season?
A) The rotation. Remember before the season when there was real debate that the Angels might just have the best rotation in all of baseball? Yeah, good time. That is just a distant memory now. Jered Weaver has been excellent, but Ervin Santana has been all over the map, Scott Kazmir has still not found his old form and may never actually find it and Joe Saunders, well, let’s not go there.
B) The line-up. Last season, the Angel offense carried the team for a change but they have reverted to their old ways of being mediocre at best. The position players are hitting neither for much average or power right now and their new found 2009 patience has gone out the window and taken the old Angel speed game with it. Last season’s Angel team could have slugged their way to a few more wins, but this season they can barely even score enough runs to win on the rare occasion that the pitching staff doesn’t implode.
C) The bullpen. Originally touted as the strongest Angel bullpen of the Scioscia era, a truly epic proclamation, what the team instead got is one of the worst relief corps to ever set foot in Anaheim, regularly blowing leads or turning small opponent margins into insurmountable gaps that no Rally Monkey can help overcome.
D) Mike Scioscia. This may sound like blasphemy, but this is his team and it is his job to get the best performance out of each and every player and he isn’t coming anywhere near doing so. One could argue that every single Angel has actually taken a step (or more) back thus far this season and at some point it is Sosh who is going to have to take the blame for the multitude of failings.
SECRET OPTION E) The front office. The minds of Tony Reagins and Arte Moreno made the decisions to let so many players that were once part of their core go and to construct this roster in the way that they did. They’ve changed out so many players in recent seasons but never faced the reality that sooner or later all that roster tinkering would eventually misfire. Now their frugality and lack of philosophical stability is hamstringing the Angels.
Don’t ask me. It could be your fault or it could be a the fault of a lot of other people.
Let us know what you think the right call is or submit an answer of your own by leaving a comment below.
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