Months ago, the Angels exercised their 2016 option on GM Jerry Dipoto’s contract, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. That news had not been reported until now. The option is the last one on Dipoto’s original contract, a three-year deal that included two options. That the organization has not extended Dipoto to this point might or might not be notable. The Angels have not always quite lived up to lofty expectations in the last few seasons, and Dipoto’s tenure has been shaped in part by an unfortunate contract and ugly dispute with Josh Hamilton (which, to be fair, were both at least partially the fault of owner Arte Moreno), but the team is coming off a 98-win 2014 campaign. Here are more notes from the West Coast.
- Outfielder Andre Ethier has reestablished himself this year after a winter in which the Dodgers couldn’t trade him, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register writes. “I don’t think anybody wanted me either,” says Ethier. “It takes two to tango like in a lot of things. … At the same time, maybe they knew what they were doing. Maybe the reason it didn’t happen was because they were asking more than other teams were willing to give.” Now, Ethier is in the midst of a resurgent .287/.369/.506 season, and Plunkett points out that, as the dollars remaining on Ethier’s contract continue to shrink (he’s currently owed about $49MM more through 2017, including a buyout for 2018), it might become a lot easier for the Dodgers to trade him than it was last winter.
- Giants executives Brian Sabean and Lee Elder were on hand to watch today’s Reds/Cubs game in Chicago, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal writes (all Twitter links). As Rosenthal points out, the natural conclusion is that Sabean and Elder were in town to watch Reds starter Johnny Cueto — Cueto will be a sought-after trade target this summer, and the Giants need rotation help. It could be, though, that the pair were at Wrigley for other reasons.
- Giants outfielder Hunter Pence is headed to the disabled list with wrist tendinitis, as Rosenthal tweets. Pence has not played since June 2, so he should be able to return within a week if he’s ready. To take Pence’s place on the active roster, the Giants selected the contract of righty Mike Broadway today after promoting an outfielder, Jarrett Parker, earlier this week.
Might or might not be notable.
The suspense is killing me, this is almost as good as the famous Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “Maybe.”
Dipoto had nothing to do with Hamilton’s contract. That’s all on Moreno. Now Dipoto’s comments after the arbitrator ruled that MLB couldn’t suspend him, yes you can criticize him for that, but not the contract. That’s 100% on the owner.
You’re right — I’ll add a note about that.
What would the dodgers ask for either, or how much will they take of his salary?
Did Ethier say, “I don’t think anybody wanted me either,” or “I don’t think anybody wanted me, Ethier”.
It will go back to that in a month too, when you come back down to reality !
Works Ethier way.
Dipoto has done decent in my book.
Of course the Pujols/Wilson contracts will always be looked at but you can’t ignore how good the moves of signing Iannetta, trading for Skaggs and Santiago, extending Mike Trout, and getting good return of Heaney for the departure of Kendrick. All of this while keeping the club under the luxury tax threshold.
Don’t even remind me about the Angels bullpen from 2010-2013. *Shudders*
Remember, Dipoto is the guy that had to come in after all of those Tony Reagins’ debacles… especially Vernon Wells…
I find it hard to judge DiPoto given how much Moreno is involved in the operation of the franchise. Moreno brings in the big ticket free agents and that naturally hamstrings DiPoto and the scouting dept in the draft. Tough when they don’t pick until the 3rd round some years. 98 wins last season…not much more a team can do. It was the Royals season in retrospect.
imo they should of never signed hamilton, that money should of been used for pitching, fixing the bullpen and possibly giving another contract to hunter, but no Arte had to get his way and go after hamilton, they did not need any offense at the moment, they had pujols trout trumbo kendrick and aybar with Calhoun emerging. No need for Hamilton’s bat.
Hamilton was bound to be a bad signing regardless of off field issues….same with Pujols…the value really needed to come up front
pujols I think will pan out ok, he’s not putting up the numbers he was when he was with the cards but if he can put up an avg between .270-.295 30+hr’s and drive in over 100 I think the angels can live with that, As long as he stays healthy along with trout
Since he arrived…Pence only leads his team in Average..Rbi..Homeruns..Stolen bags..yea likely every offensive category..wow..very important piece…..
Leads in Average (if you don’t count Posey, Panik, Pagan or Belt), RBI (if you don’t count Posey), HR (if you don’t count Posey), and Stolen Bases (if you don’t count Blanco or Pagan). Other than that though…
This year , I think he is the healthiest he has ever been since being in an angels uniform, I just hope Weaver can finish the year strong, I was watching the MLB network the other night and pedro martinez brought up something saying maybe Weaver is pitching hurt.
I generally don’t like the big post 30 contracts because it forces a teams hand in other places. Maybe one wasn’t bad in Pujols…but adding Hamilton was suicide..and it also set them back in the draft.
Yea it did set them back because the pick that the cards got in return is when they drafted Wacha right? I kinda go back to when Morales hit the walk of grand slam in 2010 and broke his leg, do you think the angels sign Pujols if morales never got hurt? At the time he was their best player and then Trumbo came up in 2011.
I think Moreno was going shopping because it was his nature. Those signings didn’t help the stability of their system. It cost them a more than 20 year relationship with Low A Cedar Rapids…a top flight facility… And pushed them into system facility limbo. I know that doesn’t sound like a major deal…but its exactly where the downfall of the Yankees was…and Angels went there in a hurry
Moreno was looking for a big splash! Something to stimulate ticket sales and keep the Angels on the front page with the Dodgers in the LA Market. Paying Pujols $30m at the age of 41 doesn’t make a lot of sense but that’s what it took to get him out of STL. While the power numbers have been pretty good these last four years, his average in LA is almost 50 points lower than it was when he was with the Redbirds and a triple crown threat every year.