With the Angel season off to an all too familiar and disappointing start, there was little doubt that the finger-pointing would soon follow. What we didn't expect was that the opening salvo in the Blame Game would come from a former Angel via Twitter.
Feel really bad for the old squad, I'll tell ya what, it's not the guys on the field. Better check the big (catorce)
— Trevor Bell (@TrevBe22) April 11, 2013
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That tweet comes from Trevor Bell, who was released by the Angels last season after receiving spurts of playing time with the franchise from 2009 throyugh 2011. And his declaration that we check "the big (catorce)" is a not very cleverly veiled allusion to Mike Scioscia as catorce, for those of you that don't hable the espanol, is Spanish for the number fourteen, which is, of course Scioscia's number.
The immediate impulse here is to read too much into Bell's tweet. He obviously spent a fair amount of time under Scioscia's tutelage and is undoubtedly friends with many current Angels, especially the younger ones. Perhaps he is just giving us his opinion on Scioscia's managerial skill which has definitely come into question this week. But perhaps he is pulling back the curtain and giving us some real insight to what his former teammates have passed along to him as what they feel like is behind their early struggles.
Or maybe Bell is just a disgruntled former employee who wants to throw some shade on a former boss he didn't like. Let's face it, Bell was with the team for a few years but was used sporadically and sparingly. He might hold a grudge against Scioscia for never giving him a fair shake. It is worth noting that Bell was released at the end of spring by the Tigers, so it would seem that he is currently unemployed, so maybe there is something to the "disgruntled former employee with an ax to grind" angle.
Nonetheless, that this is even out there goes to show the state of the team and Scioscia's job security. If things don't turn around fast, this certainly won't be the last or the most high profile person to point the finger at The Big Catorce.
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