It is all over but for the crying. Jerry Dipoto is no longer the general manager of the Angels according to multiple sources, the team just hasn’t gotten around to announcing it yet. Dipoto has packed up his office and left the building, taking whatever shreds of credibility the Angels franchise had left with him. There are some reports that the team is trying to reconsider leaving the club, but even if he comes back, that damage is done.
Say what you want about Dipoto’s tenure with the Angels, but the way in which his exit went down is a damning indictment on Arte Moreno’s ballclub. We exist in an era where GMs are seldom fired anymore. Even more rare is seeing a GM get kicked to the curb during the season, not to mention one month before the all-important trade deadline. To put it lightly, pushing Dipoto out the door amidst this power struggle isn’t a good look, even if Jerry forced the issue by way of conflict with the coaching staff and rumblings of an ultimatum given to ownership.
Let us not forget that when Jerry was hired, the Angels general manager gig was widely reported as being undesirable. There were concerns that Arte Moreno might be too meddlesome and that Mike Scioscia might wield too much power in the organization. A lot of times it feels like the media is just searching for the most tantalizing and scandalous narrative, but in this case, they might have actually undersold the story.
At this point, calling Moreno meddlesome would be a compliment. He infamously undercut Dipoto early on by having him sign Albert Pujols and then ordering him to sign Josh Hamilton and punting on pursuit Zack Greinke. Those moves spent the Angels into a corner where Dipoto had to build out the roster this winter without signing a single free agent for fear of going into the luxury tax because Moreno suddenly decided he didn’t feel like spending anymore.
Then, of course, there was all the ugliness with Josh Hamilton’s departure from the club. All of that embarrassing vitriol came straight from Moreno at the top, leaving an indelible black eye on the organization for years to come, regardless of who is sitting in the general manager’s office.
Still, Arte’s biggest offense might prove to be siding, once again, with Mike Scioscia in the recent power struggle. In so doing, Moreno has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt where his allegiances will forever lie and given Scioscia more organizational power than he’s ever had. With Dipoto departing in the wake of this dispute, it is now painfully clear that whoever serves as the next GM of the Halos does so at the pleasure of Mike Scioscia.
The next GM will not be telling Scioscia to ease up on the sac bunts. The next GM will not be critiquing Scioscia’s lineup construction. The next GM will not be advising Scioscia on bullpen management. The next GM will not be firing any of Scioscia’s coaches.
Ironically, when Moreno fired the previous GM, Tony Reagins, and hired Dipoto, he did so with the idea of actually reducing Scioscia’s sway with the club. To say that backfired would be a massive understatement.
Now the Angels are (probably) back in the market for a general manager but will be doing so as a team with one of the most undesirable openings in the league. Reports are a;ready popping up from all over the media of executives and prospective GMs saying how they wouldn’t go near the Angels with a ten-foot pole. Moreno had previously been looking for a young, energetic GM with a strong analytical background. This time around the only hiring criteria will be whether or not Scioscia’s hand fits up the candidate’s butt. The shame of it is that there are numerous wonderful young candidates out there, including the Angels’ own Matt Klentak, but who is going to want the job knowing that they are nothing more than Scioscia’s puppet?
This is all a very long way of saying that the Angels are a mess, a joke and a messy joke. This season has been one tone deaf PR blunder or short-sighted personnel move after another and they only have themselves to blame. They better hope that, as the saying goes, “winning cures everything” because winning is the only way that this franchise is going to save even a little bit of face after this farce.
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