An otherwise sleepy week of Angels baseball just got a whole lot more interesting. Earlier this afternoon, Jon Morosi of Fox Sports dropped this bomb on Twitter:
Angels are expected to replace either general manager Jerry Dipoto or manager Mike Scioscia before start of next season, sources say. (more)
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 23, 2013
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I can only assume that Morosi's source is common sense. This is a big story, but it really isn't news as the general sentiment for the last several weeks is that one or both of Dipoto and Scioscia are going to be fired if only to have a scapegoat for this terrible season.
But wait! There's more:
Philosophical differences exist between the men, and it has become increasingly apparent to organization that status quo is not tenable.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 23, 2013
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Again, this is not new. Reports of tension between the front office and dugout have been around since last season and confirmed multiple times throughout this season. The fact that "status quo is not tenable" is painfully obvious based solely on the team record. Scioscia and Dipoto could spend the next month holding hands and wearing friendship bracelets and it isn't going to change the fact that someone is going to be blamed for this disaster.
But who will it be? Let's have Morosi speculate:
Relevant point: Scioscia is signed for more years and greater dollars than Dipoto. Scioscia is unlikely to resign and forgo huge payday.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 23, 2013
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Oh, did I say speculate? I meant cloud the issue. His point on Scioscia's contract probably isn't all that relevant. The money owed to Scioscia is a factor, but a minor one at best. Arte Moreno isn't going to spend half a billion dollars on free agents in two years only to suddenly cheap out when it comes to firing a manager. He certainly isn't going to keep Scioscia around only to save money if he truly believes Scioscia is the problem.
That is the relevant point. The guy who gets fired is the guy that Moreno, and only Moreno, believes to be the real problem. Based on the fact that part of the reason Dipoto was fired to replace Reagins and lessen Scioscia's influence certainly suggests that it is Scioscia who should be getting nervous, not Jerry. But you never really know with these things because we assume everyone is behaving rationally. As we've seen with the Hamilton and Pujols signing that Moreno allegedly engineered, we can't guarantee he will make this decision rationally.
There are A LOT of factors to consider, too many to get into right now. We will have plenty more actual analysis and insight (and less snarky mockery of Morosi) next week once we've had time to fully process this. To be honest, I knew this was going to be a topic eventually, I just hadn't anticipated it coming so soon. Until then, I'm off to Safeco for what might be the last time live and in person I see Scioscia managing the Angels.
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