The October 1st, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Scioscia wants a more diverse lineup, Trout voted MVP by internet writers and much more…
The Story: Mike Scioscia wants to build more versatility into the offense.
The Monkey Says: This is an interesting comment from Scioscia who bemoans being too reliant on "batter's box" offense early in the year. I think it gives some real insight into the disconnect between him and Dipoto. Jerry crafted a lineup full of sluggers and has also put an onus on better OBP. Scioscia though always seemed to thrive with a lineup with a lot of baserunning ability that made a lot of contact. I imagine if Scioscia "wins" the power struggle (which we still don't have an answer on), expect guys like Trumbo to be made expendable. Whereas if Dipoto wins, it could Bourjos who gets the boot.
The Story: Baseball Prospectus voted Mike Trout as the AL MVP in a landslide.
The Monkey Says: The statheads have spoken. It should also be noted that J.B. Shuck got exactly zero votes in their ROY voting. I'm not saying, but I'm just saying.
The Story: The 2013 All-Disappointment Team.
The Monkey Says: Blanton obviously is the starting pitcher for the team, but Hamilton is not on the team. That seems like a shock given how far he fell, but he ended up having a not completely awful season. He is still a big disappointment, but not to the same level as it would have been had we done this exercise at the All-Star break.
The Story: The Angels had high expectations but underachieved.
The Monkey Says: I link to this otherwise trite piece because of this quote, "Next year, we can't come out tight. We have to play loose. I think maybe you can say we were thinking about trying to do too much early, and trying not to get in that hole again." That quote came from Mike Trout and it isn't the first time he has said how much pressure the players were putting on themselves early in the year. That, my friends, is all on Scioscia. We can speculate all we want on what a manager does and does not control, but one thing he is at least expected to control is the mood of the team. If Scioscia can't dispel that pressure, then they need someone else who can. Heck, just replacing Scioscia might make that pressure dissipate all by itself.
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