12:29pm: Ausmus received a three-year contract, according to Maria Guardado of MLB.com.
12:02pm: The Angels announced that they’ve named Brad Ausmus their new manager. Ausmus spent the 2018 season working as a special assistant to Angels general manager Billy Eppler.
“Over the past few weeks, our baseball operations personnel sat down with numerous highly-qualified and impressive candidates for our managerial role. We are thankful to all of them for their time and effort throughout the process,” Eppler stated. “Ultimately, Brad’s balance of connectivity, communication and leadership skills as well as his understanding of evolving strategies and probabilistic approach to decision making led us to him. We believe his knowledge, drive and growth-mindset will allow him to integrate seamlessly with our players and staff and will be pivotal in advancing our culture and moving us toward our goals as an organization.”
The 49-year-old Ausmus – a former major league catcher – is taking over for another ex-MLB backstop, Mike Scioscia. Now an Angels icon, Scioscia took the helm in 2000 and finally ended his reign when he stepped down less than a month ago.
In the wake of Scioscia’s exit, the Angels reportedly interviewed 10 managerial candidates; at one point in the process, it appeared the job would go to their Triple-A skipper, Eric Chavez. In the end, though, the Angels opted for someone with major league managerial experience in Ausmus, who oversaw Detroit’s dugout from 2014-17. The Tigers went 314-332 with one playoff berth and two seasons of at least 86 wins during that period.
In shifting from the Angels’ front office to their dugout, Ausmus will hope to turn around a disappointing situation in Anaheim. Even though the Angels have the game’s best player, center fielder Mike Trout, they’ve finished under .500 three years in a row and haven’t gone to the playoffs since 2014. The club hasn’t even won a postseason game since Trout’s remarkable career began in 2011. A rash of injuries helped undermine the Angels’ efforts in 2018, of course, though it still would’ve been a tall task for a healthy LA team to make the postseason in the AL West – a division which included two playoff teams (the Astros and the Athletics) and the 89-win Mariners.
At 80-82, the Angels ultimately finished 23 games behind the Astros and 17 back of the A’s, giving them plenty of ground to make up during the offseason. With Trout, Andrelton Simmons, Shohei Ohtani and Justin Upton leading their offense, it seems the Angels will mostly focus on improving their pitching staff over the winter. The starting staff is in desperate need of help, especially considering Ohtani underwent Tommy John surgery on Oct. 1 and probably won’t pitch next season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
head scratcher. Based on tigers fans reviews he seems to be the opposite of what eppler said he wanted.
LOL what a joke! Didn’t you see him in Detroit? He absolutely blew it even with great players on their team. Didn’t you see the Baltimore series? Come on, Anaheim.
He didn’t blow anything, the Tigers had a terrible bullpen and didn’t show up for the playoffs. If they think he is their guy then so be it
WHO usually gets the blame, suffer the consequences when pitching/hitting doesn’t “show up”? Can’t have it both ways.
Part of the reason the bullpen was “terrible” was because of…yup, you guessed it, Ausmus. He has no clue how to manage a pitching staff. He’d be better off pulling names out of a hat. Or maybe that’s what he was doing.
Benoit.
Kept running Joba Chamberlain and Phil Coke out there time and time again. Even when he had younger relievers that had done well, he kept using Coke and Chamberlain…. and Nathan.
Maybe he learned something? He did that for his 4 years in Detroit and couldn’t figure it out…
@kenleyfornia
I will never forget the Orioles fans giving Joba Chamberlain a standing ovation, when Brad summoned him from the bullpen in the playoffs. Joba had already been hammered in two games of the series, and here was Brad going to him again, to the delight of everyone in Camden Yard. And Brad never made the playoffs again.
stymeedone
in game 1 Joba replaced Max who had allowed 4 runs. He came in with a runner on 2nd and Romine committed an error allowing a run to score. Jones stole second and Cruz hit a single. JC was pulled and Soria and Coke got pounded.
Game 2 he came in to pitch the 8th…ground out…HBP…single to LF…single to LF and he was gone. Soria then gave up a 3 run double (runs charged to JC)
He didn’t pitch the 3rd game so I am not sure what you are remembering
Owner Moreno loved Auamus because he looked good in an Angels Uniform.
Ummm
Garbage, should have hired Eric Chavez
Based on?
Not being Brad Ausmus would have been qualification enough. Ausmus was bad with the Tigers
Ausmus was also good with the Tigers…
When? They always failed to meet expectations. He inherited a good team, and the n just watched it spiral down the drain…
Ausmus was good with the Tigers? I hope you’re kidding
Ausmus was good? I hope you’re kidding
I’m not Brad Ausmus. Should I be the manager?
Do you have a documented history of poor bullpen usage, questionable roster management,boneheaded base running and failure to win in the playoffs?
If not, you would be a better candidate, yes…
@angels BaSeD oN?
Sounds like “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” there petrie
there’s a quote about the definition of insanity somebody really should bring up….
They won 90 games and the AL Central in 2014. Explain how that’s not good…
they were loaded with talent that year and went nowhere in the playoffs?
all that year Ausmus made bad managing decisions, which is a lot more telling about his abilities as a manager. Also, winning only 90 games with that roster is kind of in-and-of itself a little disappointing…
i get that you want to like this hire because you’re stuck with him, but you need to try harder to justify that sentiment than with just win totals from 1 year.
or you can try adopting the track of “well, if he’s really a smart guy, hopefully he’s learned from his past failures’… that’s far more defensible, in all honesty.
Ausmus out performed his Pythagorean win expectation 3 out of 4 years. +4 wins in ’14, +5 in ’15, +3 in ’16, and -3 in ’17. So a net of +9 wins
I have no idea if Ausmus is going to win in Anaheim but to say he was terrible throughout his Detroit tenure is not accurate.
lol. ouch
I am confusion
I’m sorry, Angels’ fans. See my post in Angels interview thread for any positives on Ausmus. Actually, I’ll say it here: Ausmus’ lovers say: like Francona, Torre (failed w/ 3 teams) could learn from his rookie mistakes; be top-notch manager
I disagree! Just giving you the only Ausmus positive.
xabial…….Forgot AJ Hinch…89-123 with the D-Backs before the Astros.
a few comments from when AJ was hired 9/29/14
“Don’t get or like this move. He wasn’t very good with a decent team in AZ.”
“Hope Hinch has learned from past failures. Hard to believe he got another chance.”
“This guy got Josh Byrnes fired in Arizona. How do jokers like this guy and John Gibbons keep getting managing jobs when there are more qualified possibilities available?”
“WOW total fail on astros part. AJ hinch is a horrible manager and makes some really bad/scary deicisions. HIs Dback manging experience doesnt count. He let Edwin Jackson pitch that no hitter with an extermely high pitch count case closed *drops mic*”
mlbtraderumors.com/2014/09/astros-to-hire-a-j-hinc…
amazing
Well unless the angles figure out how to cheat like the Astros do, id doubt ausmus has the same success as hinch.
As I wrote above –
Old saying for professional sports managers and coaches…..
Have to be fired one or twice to begin to understand the job.
–
Like saying 3 years ago that Andrelton Simmons is a terrific SS, but he’ll never hit.
Or Frank White and Ozzie Smith are great defenders, but they’re automatic outs. Or Wade Boggs can hit, but he’ll never be able to play 3B (Craig Nettles as well).
The only time he’s ever been good was in the WBC. Other than that, what else did they see in him?
Pretty much all the “experts” had predicted Chavez would be their new Manager.. Just goes to show how much or how little they knew.
I thought he was going to be the guy for sure. They looked like they were grooming him in the minors and opened up a spot for him at AAA
Bye bye Mike Trout!
Horrible!!!!! Lol this guy is a bum!!
I think he’s Ausm
Kapow
Us fans disagree.
Welp this is not ideal…
So much for those Girardi rumors!
No one wants girardi!
you’d rather have Ausmus?
Yes
To paraphrase Joe Girardi: Girardi is not what the Angels wanted.
Never want to be the guy after THE guy.
Sooooo disappointing.
Garbage. Should have hired Eric Chavez.
Based on?
@angels BaSeD oN?
This is what rewarding failure looks like.
Shocking that a pair of eyes in the Angels organization feel Ausmus is the best man for the job. Unless their starting 5 is Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana, Don Sutton, Mike Witt and Chuck Finley all in their prime they are in trouble.
mike witt…lol
i wanna see chuck finley’s wife out there.. or ex .. too lazy to google it.
They had to have another ex-catcher as manager, didn’t they? Well, Ausmus worked out really well for the Tigers, so…
Im still in disbelief that of all option you hire this moron. What has he shown that made them make this choice, that he knows how to bs? Turned detroit from championship caliber to complete rebuild in 4 years! Probably giving eppler free lap dances when he was hired as “special” assistant. Trout gone!
Yeah the 2017 Tigers would have competed with a good manager…… Its a miracle they were playoff contenders in 2016
Ausmus took over a ’14 DET team that included 4 Cy Young winners: Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello, David Price (traded for during the year), while also having Miggy, V-Mart (when he could hit everything), Torii Hunter, Ian Kinsler, Anibal Sanchez and young talent: Nick Castellanos and Eugenio Suarez (traded to CIN the next year). They were swept 3-0 by BAL in the ALDS. The next season they finished in last place and started the beginning of the end for DET.
That’s an embarrassment of riches that in some cases, all he had to do was get out of the way and not make boneheaded pitching changes.
And what bonehead pitching changes was that?
Ahh, let them enjoy their “genius” skipper who consistently got out-managed. The new car smell will wear off quickly without four Cy Youngs holding down the rotation.
I remember reading in ESPN comment section (before erased) Scherzer was in a contract year 2014, and always asked to be removed early, (not risk injury?) tying Ausmus’ hands.
Scherzer is as bonafide Hall of Famer, as can be, in my opinion, really wanna debunk it; Scherzer’s one of my favorite pitchers, even if true. (Post was made by an Ausmus apologist)
Except V-Mart only hit in ’14 and ’16 (his 90 & 86 win seasons). Scherzer and Porcello were gone by 15′, Cespedes and Price were gone by ’16, Anibal was junk after ’14, Suarez was never great in that time span nor was Castellanos, and the bullpen was a hot mess. He didn’t have an embarrassment of riches, he had an up and down team with up and down results
Sanchez just had a 3.0 WAR season in ATL – same year they dismissed pitching coach Chuck Hernandez. The reason I put those names together is because managers success is often dictated on the talent given to them, and regardless of the outcome, it’s clear that those players are clearly talented, regardless of if they were during their prime, had injuries, were just starting out, etc. — the talent was there.
I was not implying that Ausmus made boneheaded bullpen moves, but often that is the first mistake a young manager like Ausmus makes (i.e. Gabe Kapler).
Cespedes and Price were added to the stable during Ausmus’ tenure, along with Justin Upton. Maybe if he had done something with the team while he was here, they would not have been traded or lost to FA, to start a rebuild.
Many boneheaded pitching decisions. Just in a 3-game series in Toronto alone. Couldn’t believe how bad Ausmus was, and wasn’t surprised by his ineptitude in the 2014 playoffs against Baltimore or the fall thereafter.
Ausmus is well respected in baseball. An overrated player and now an undeserving MLB manager.
That’s Poppycock.
Obviously in the minority but I’m optimistic about Ausmus. If you remove the name (preconceptions) from his resume it checks alot of boxes for what you’d want in a new manager. Relative youth and hence a greater ability to connect with this generation of players. Previous big league experience enhancing said ability to connect. Previous experience in the position with some degree of success. Ivy league education with an sound understanding of, but not reliance upon, analytics and data…
I get that alot of people have a negative opinion on him based off of the latter yrs of his DET run but I don’t think it’s fair to highlight the struggles without acknowledging the success as well.
Well said. For whatever reasons, MLB “insiders” still have a lot of respect for Asmus. I figure they know more about it than I do. Angels just need pitching (all shapes and sizes), and that’s tough to get.
It’s not that preconceptions you have to remove, it’s his actual managerial career to date you have to overlook to like this hire
It’s fine to be optimistic when,as an Angels fans you have basically no choice… But the rest of us can be objective about it
He was terrible with the Tigers.
He won 90 and 86 games in 2 of the 4 years he managed. Not great, not terrible.
To be fair, the Tigers payroll was the 4th, 6th, 3rd and 3rd highest payroll in the game in the 4 seasons he managed there.
Over that time he went 314-332
Payroll doesn’t tell the entire story though. SF/WAS/TOR were in the top 10 this year (2nd/5th/9th) and I don’t feel like their struggles were the managers fault in any case
WAS was manager’s fault. Shouldve kept Dusty Baker. Least he took you to the playoffs
Some teams take making playoffs for granted (Nats) Dusty won first back-to-back division titles in Nats’ franchise history. Sadly, he lost in the last game, round 1 playoffs.
Seeing as youre an Angels fan, I’m not that surprised to hear you say that.
Afterall, the Angels have had a top 8 salary every year starting in 2004. Over that time they have all of 2 seasons where they managed to win a postseason game, and in 5 of them they finished below .500 overall. Despite that level of failure, it’s not uncommon to see Angels fans still praising Scioscia.
Regardless, those Tiger teams were not without talent at all. The results were not there, with the team underperforming each season he was manager
That’s fair. But talent is sometimes injured/underperforming ect. and its hard to always pin that on the manager. Those Tigers teams had varying levels of talent so Ausmus’ varying levels of success/failure are expected
Just look at the 2014 Tigers roster (with ops+/FIP)
C Avila (94)
1B Cabrera (150)
2B Kinsler (103)
SS Romine (58)/Suarez (85)
3B Castellanos (96)
LF JD Martinez (154)
CF Austin Jackson (106)
RF Hunter (114)
DH V. Martinez (172)
4OF R. David (103)
With the exception of Jackson (100g) each of those guys(/tandum) played at minimum 123 games
Scherzer (2.85)
Verlander (3.74)
Porcello (3.67)
A. Sanchez (2.71)
Smyly (4.08)/Price (2.44)
That group started 146 games
That team was 2nd in runs/game scored and 4th best FIP in AL. Despite that they merely won 90 and got swept (outscored 21-10) by the Oriole’s, a team who had just 1 regular with an OPS+ over 115 and merely 1/6 of their starters with an FIP under 3.90 (even 5th highest team FIP in AL)
That is not acceptable. At all
He went to a team that was considered a legit ws contender, and achieved nothing but early playoff exits
If your expectations are mediocre win totals and quick playoff exits, sure, you got the man for the job…
Two of those 4 years he managed were destroyed because Verlander and Cabrera had core muscle surgery. They weren’t going to win the World Series Tigers fans demanded when that happened.
Mr Pike,
Cabrera played in 566 of the 646 possible games, or an average of 141 a season. He hit .305/.383/.509/.892 for a 142 ops+ over that time, finishing in the top 11 in MVP voting 3 times.
Verlander started 114 games for the Tigers and 119 overall over that time, an average of 30 per season. He had a 3.65 FIP, 3.59 ERA, and finished in the top 5 in CY Young award voting twice.
Stop making pitiful excuses for Brad that dont hold up to reality
So Buck Showalter is the superior manager? He’s better than Joe Girardi as well seeing as how the O’s finished better than the Yanks in 14 and 16 ? This logic is flawed.
You really are reaching in your desperate attempt to make yourself feel better now
Ausmus took a team you almost couldn’t lose with, didn’t win more than 90 in the season and then got embarrassed in 3 straight games in the playoffs to an inferior team. It was a very Scioscia like performance, honestly
All the exact reason the Tigers hired him. Sometimes you just need a Snitker.
When I’m hungry, Snitker really satisfies.
can’t blame them. epp just wanted a lapdog and got it.
Should of brought in Chavez , Let’s hope Ausmus was the right choice.
Never really cared for the name Brad.
Now I’m not a Angels fan, but you’d think the owners would want to try something new, but Ausmus looks like a younger version of Scioscia. I would have thought they would have gone harder at Girardi, but maybe they did and Girardi spurned them too.
I hope they bring in pitching and bullpen in the offseason, It’s what they need to have a good season, I really wonder if Trout will sign a lifetime extension.
Disappointing, but at least he has experience. I was disappointed when Scioscia was hired as I preferred Don Baylor or Joe Maddon, but that turned out well at least during the first decade of his managerial stint. I get disappointed though when minorities who put in their time as coaches or minor league managers get passed up for non-minorities who did not put in that same time or were just broadcasters for ESPN. Hiring Eric Chavez would’ve broken that trend though he still had to manage a month in the minors (more than Aaron Boone did before the Yankees hired him). Yeah, I get it; it should just be the best person for the job. It just seems like one group of managerial candidates is subject to easier thresholds than others.
Boone is cheap and does whatever Cashman tells him. Thats why he got the job
I am in New Jersey and you are 100% right. Gone are the days of the managers making big bucks.
Seems like a step down
Honestly, probably more running in place. But yes, either way, not a step in the right direction at all.
Good move
Angel’s bad team no matter who manages them or who they sign for 2019
Larry
I love this guy. Great guy and I think he deserves a second shot at managing so I’m happy he’s getting that chance with the Angels. I have some good memories of this guy coming up clutch for my Dodgers with timely hits and I always remember everyone in the Dodgers dugout saying Ausmus was like having another manager in the clubhouse and on the field with them. Good luck to him!
I personally would have prefered Chavez but I guess it could have been worse.And gee the Angels finally discovered they needed pitching? Only been saying that for the last 5 years..Finally figured out all these injury prone pitchers dont cut it..Not that they have been great at all but they have been trading away pitching for years from the minors..
congrats brad
As a Tigers fan he is a terrible manager. I wouldn’t wish him being my teams manager upon my worst enemy
Yea because your mediocre team had nothing to do with him being able to win huh? Lol. Love when people blame bad teams on managing. Blame the front office!
How about when a manager takes an amazing team and watches them underperform and get embarrassed in the playoffs?
darkstar61….amazing? Lol
2nd most runs scored, 4th best FIP in 2014. Multiple MVP/CY winners on club (in fact, 4 CY winners in 2014 rotation)
Just 90 wins, and 0 in the playoff
Got a chance to look it up. 2014 Playoff lineup has 29 AS appearances and 2 MVP awards. The Pitching also has 29 AS appearances, with 1 MVP and 6 CY awards
They were heavy favorites to make the WS in the AL, including the 2nd best Vegas odds to win it all.
They made the playoffs by just 3 games (difference between them and non-PO club Sea) and were humiliated in 3 straight postseason games to see their season end.
What do you mean “just” 90 wins. The won the division with strong KC and CLE teams
Yes, they only won 90 and that’s a negative – they had a vastly superior team and yet nearly identical records
And we know exactly why the records were near identical as well
9-10 – vs Minnesota (70-92)
10-9 – vs ChicagoWS (73-89)
3-4 – vs Tampa Bay (77-85)
4-3 – vs Texas (67-95)
3-4 – vs Houston (70-92)
All year long when Detroit faced a really bad club no one cared about, they barely even showed up
So just like in the playoffs against Baltimore, when they were expected to win they just winged it with seemingly no preparation or motivation to be found – usually resulting in heavy loses.
That is a really, really bad Manager when he can take a dominating team and have them consistently struggling against inferior clubs.
And just so you can see the statistics on how out of whack Detroit’s play was against bad teams:
.554 W% against lt500 – Det
.616 W% against lt500 – KC
.620 W% against lt500 – CLE
That is exactly how two inferior clubs end up with the same record as a WS favorite and how a guaranteed winner becomes a loser. Detroit should have won at minimum 95 and likely over 100
Ausmus was a dag on the club
How have the Tigers done since they fired Ausmus? Not too good. Is that his fault too.
Or maybe Dombrowski is to blame. How has he done since he was fired by the Tigers? Oh wait …. pretty good!
Tigers decided to rebuild… I for one was opposed. I wanted them to resign Scherzer and Price. Add some mid level free agents and we’d be challenging the Indians for division titles every year.
The definition of a puppet hire. lol
Seriously the success of the Angels will depend on the current core players on the roster and some additional pitching acquisitions. It will be a tough hill to climb in the AL West with Houston, Oakland and Seattle and even with the those teams in WC contention and with the AL bEast. Good luck Anaheim Angels. You’ll need it!
AL beast? Lol
From a personality standpoint, Ausmus is Smoke without Fire.
This is just a stupid hire
Playing it safe, which is a bad choice for a team that should have gone outside the box.
But either way, upper management needs to finally address their pitching.
It looks like educational background made a difference as well. Chavez only has his high-school diploma, while Ausmus is an Ivy League graduate.
That’s unfortunate if true. Formal education has nothing to do with baseball sense. I was hoping for Chavez.
Typical for a team that is lost and has zero direction.
Hahahaha…..Hahahaha…..Hahahaha…..hehehehe.
Terrible hire. Couldn’t lead an all star team that the Tigers had to one victory in playoffs. Trout will leave Angels for smarter pastures.
Tigers started Scherzer (13, 16 & 17 CY) Verlander (11 CY) and Price (12 Cy) with Sanchez (13 ERA title) out of the pen in the 2014 playoff series. That group has 18 AS appearances
The O’s started Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Morris and Chris Tillman with Kevin Gausman out of the pen. That group has 1 AS appearance
The Orioles outscored the Tigers 21-10 in the 3 game sweep
And for the those wondering, Price went 8 innings and gave up just 2 runs, so it wasn’t his fault the Tigers lost his start
“And for the those wondering, Price went 8 innings and gave up just 2 runs, so it wasn’t his fault the Tigers lost his start”
You are right but was it BA’s fault that the tigers lineup managed 4 hits? The same players who won all year failed in the post season. It happens all of the time.
baseball-reference.com/postseason/2014_ALDS2.shtml
The team didn’t win all year though. Despite heavy favorites to make the WS, with one of the most explosive offenses and better rotations you’ll find, the team won just 90 and barely topped the division
The team with the highest BA and OBP in the majors (and by far the highest in the AL) in 2014 then can only manage 2 hits off Bud Norris, and a .218 BA/.269 OBP overall in the series against a club with a 1.241 WHIP and 3.96 FIP?
Yes, obviously no one bothered to do any homework and had no motivation going on.
Fits fight in with the season long refusal to change up BP usage despite disastrous results as well, something he continued into the postseason with comical results.
And the Price game (& teams season) ended with RISP and one out when Pinch Hitting Hernan Perez grounded into a DP – a guy who was only there because Ausmus wanted him on the roster, despite the measly 6 regular season PA and to that point complete inability to hit the ball shown.
Brad Ausmus quotes…
“Sometimes you get dealt a bad hand.”
“The water always seeks it’s own level.”
“He was really good 5 years ago.”
“You know… they just beat us today.”
“Ty Collins is the next Mike Trout”
“Alex Gonzalez is the man at short.”
“I need a pinch hitter… let me choose the guy that’s hitting under .200 and hasn’t played in 3 weeks.”
The next time a team is seeking a manager, they should forgo a formal interview process and base the decision solely on posts in comments at the bottom of articles.
Subpar manager in Detriot. Shocked he’s getting another shot.
I can say with confidence that the Angels will be 90+ game losers next season!
I was initially not excited about this signing, but hiring Ausmus makes more sense to me now that I read that he sat with Billy Eppler at Angels games throughout the season. No doubt Eppler got to know Ausmus’ character, thinking, mindset, decision-making, personality, leadership ability, etc., pretty well over the course of several months, as opposed to the guys who interviewed over just a few hours. The comfort and familiarity Eppler probably feels with Ausmus may have factored significantly in this decision. At the very least, it’s not hard to see how it would give Ausmus at least a leg up on others in the interview process.
I ultimately don’t know if any manager or GM could overcome the gaps and holes on this Angers roster and turn in a contender, at least in the short term. With Trout, Ohtani, and Simmons, the Angels will at least be interesting to watch for now, in my opinion.
Ausmus is good at only one thing. sucking up to owners and GMs and fooling them on how SMART he is.. He’ll make millions and have a long career fooling people, and never win squat. I sat in the stands and watched many tiger games and BP and you could see players hardly ever talked to him.. Just him and his big brain and a couple coaches standing around. . Deep down , i don’t think players like this guy. good luck halo’s. In a year and a half you’ll be looking for a new manager. (and Brad walks away with your millions) lol.
This is a total head scratcher…. this guy sucked back in Detroit….wouldn’t you want a manager who knows how to win …maybe someone with a ws championship!
Billy Eppler should be fired for this pick,,,horrible!
Does Brad speak Spanish? I can’t believe they let a winning experienced manager walk so the front office can say they got someone who understands analytics. All Mike S. needed to win was a decent pitching staff without glass arms. and a limit on trading for head-cases. Why would Mike Trout stay with Jr. in the driver’s seat? Eppler blew this one.
Almost none of the Angels pitchers had “glass arms” before getting here. Some had prior surgeries, sure; but having TJ once generally means you will not have problems with it again in the future.
Scioscia broke everyones arms though. Prior injured guys aquired, never injured aquired guys, guys who never knew another organization – almost no pitcher was safe in the Scioscia led Angels organization. Guy even broke the unbreakable Bartolo Colon, ffs
And I just seriously don’t get where this “experienced winner” tag come from with regards to Scioscia at all. He had a 15 year span from 2004-2018 where he had a top 3-8 payroll in the game. Over those 15 years he won playoff games all of 2 times. The team did okay in spite of him a couple times, underperformed a ton, and the last 15 years have been an absolute failure of epic proportions overall for the Angels.
Or let’s put it this way;
2004-2018 Angels
2 ALCS appearances, 10 Postseason wins, 5 sub-500 Seasons
2004-2018 Blue Jays
2 ALCS appearances, 10 Postseason wins, 6 sub-500 Seasons
Toronto spent way less money, play in a dramatically more difficult division, and yet in the end have about the same outcome as the Scioscia led Angels.
Year after year Scioscia was given a contender, and being the most powerful manager in the game was allowed to add (or remove) about any player he asked for to the organization despite the objections of the GMs. End result is a 15 year run of straight failure, and yet some Angels fans wallow in the fact he was axed.
Ausmus is likely about as bad, but thank god Mike is finally gone!
After 2009 the Angels only had two teams that legitimately capable of contending for a World Series. 2012 and 2014. None of the teams the Angels have had after 2014 were good enough. Especially in 2015-2017, they had absolutely no offense. Scioscia has a lot of power as a manager, but enough to completely dictate all the moves his GM’s made. By 2013, the front office completely disconnected from the approach that get them to the playoffs 6 times in 8 years and a championship. They were giving Scioscia teams that didn’t fit his style. That’s on them for giving him a 10 year contract. What made it even worse was Tony Reagins during Eddie Bane, as well as he and Jerry Dipoto trading away almost all of the youth they still had coming up through what was already a depleted farm system. What is the common denominator with those playoff teams a decade ago? One of the best farm systems in the game. Comparing those rosters with the rosters during this decade, it’s a stark contrast, with older washed up players. You gotta have a good farm system no matter what. And the Angels did not have that for a long time until the past couple of years. And it still needs work. You’re also misinformed about those broken arms. Those arms are about half and half being either from the Angels or another organization. And Tommy John Surgery is an epidemic throughout MLB. Over 1,400 TJS’s performed with most happening in the last decade, and the majority happening at age 15-19. Torn UCL’s are the product of years of wear and tear from being taught poor mechanics during youth for the sake of throwing 95 MPH in order to get drafted. There is no 15 year period of failure. They had a good run until 9 years ago. Every organization goes through its ups and downs. Fault their front office for giving Scioscia a 10 year contract while going in different directions.
Funny the two WS contenders you mention missed the playoffs one season and were swept out of the ALDS in the other (by an inferior Royals club that hit just .198/.275/.340/.615 against the 4th best AL rotation and 2nd best hitting team …yet still somehow outscored the Angels 15-6 in the series)
Also ironic you say that the only WS capable teams came during the Dipoto years, yet then claim it is Dipoto’s fault for trading away all the prospects
Since it is a common place to see Angels fans lazily try to place blame there, let’s take a look at the prospects/younger players traded away from the system during Dipoto’s 5 seasons as GM (starting with his first player dealt, who he only traded because Sciosia demanded it;)
Mike Napoli, Tyler Chatwood, Jeff Mathis, Alexi Amarista, Donn Roach, Frazier Hall, Johnny Hellweg, Ariel Pena, Jean Segura, Jordan Walden, Steve Geltz, Kyle Johnson, Peter Bourjos, Randal Grichuk, AJ Schugel, Andrew Romine, Zach Borenstein, Joey Krehbiel, Taylor Lindsey, Elliot Morris, RJ Alvarez, Jose Rondon, Mike Clevinger, Yency Almonte, Hank Conger, Mark Sappington, Matt Long, Jairo Diaz, Nate Hyatt, Ricardo Sanchez
Okay, so that’s it – that’s the complete list. Now please tell me all the guys you really, really wish the Angels had back?
– Clevinger? Sure, but who knew Cleveland could make him what he is today, and the Angels needed the BP arm.
– Segura? Fine, but that was to give that 2012 team you praised as WS capable a Cy Young winner (Greinke) at the top of the rotation (the team finished 3rd and out of the Playoffs completely)
– Grichuk? I guess, but getting David Freese and Fernando Salas for those 2014-2015 seasons was well worth that rather minor cost
5 years, all those trades, and only 3 guys you would likely really want back at all
Dipoto created the teams you feel were great and traded away really nothing of that much importance (outside a pair of good trades, and a 3rd that backfired) yet Scioscia very publicly forced Dipoto out of the organization so Mike could continue to accomplish nothing at all while fans yell and scream Dipoto is the worst thing that ever happened to the team. That is nuts (but that’s also the bff relationship between Moreno/Scioscia that led to him being the most powerful Manager in the game, and a fanbase not paying attention at all)
Then maybe you didn’t read my comment, but I actually said that the Angels pitching injury issues affected both internal and external players alike – Scioscia destroyed everyone, regardless where they came from or their histories. And yes, there are a ton of TJ surgeries now, but not repeat TJ surgeries. Once you have it you generally “have it out of the way,” which is why so many younger kids are getting it before reaching the pros now.
And TJ is a strength and conditioning injury that does not need years to develop, that’s insane – a person randomly off the street asked to throw 50 max effort pitches will quite likely need it without ever throwing a ball prior. Throwing a ball, even a ton, does not create the issue; which is why endless innings was not an issue in decades past. Throwing a ball under a babying situation creates the problem
The absolute worst thing for any arm is exactly what Scioscia was doing; having poor strength and conditioning practices and overall babying players/their arms, then expecting them to perform at max effort in high leverage bursts. That is why every pitcher he seemed to get his hands on has elbow/shoulder issues, regardless of their background. (also an issue is the teams refusal to recognize and properly address the injuries when they do start to show themselves, but that is almost certainly something he is involved in as well in most cases)
Lastly, 15 straight years of top 3-8 payrolls and 2.2 Billion spent in a pretty easy division to win in most seasons, yet the Angels have no more real success than the Blue Jays over the past 15 seasons. Sure, they have 4 more winless postseason appearances than Toronto, and averaged +7.5 more wins per season, but that is the extent of it. Otherwise as many ALCS appearances, as many Playoff wins and nearly the same amount of sub-500 finishes.
That is 15 years of epic failure for the recourses poured into the club and for supposedly having a manager that knows what he is doing at the helm. Even if one if were to ignore the last couple seasons of him sleeping through the year, you have years and years of well constructed teams and only 2 that managed to win a post season game under Scioscia. It is comically bad
Could have been worse. Could have Gabe Kapler.
Angelscamp….Brad don’t speak spanish. He speaks Dartmouthsian. As in “I’m smarter than you” This guy is not a big league manager. He needs to be behind the desk like Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption. Kiss the warden/owners ass then take his money. Brad “The Brain” Ausmus is playing an ANDY on you angels fans now. He’ll be whittling “BRAD WAS HERE” in your dugout soon. lol.
This is the last guy I wanted coaching the angels. He’s just a puppet for Eppler.
Detroit Says HAHAHAHHAHA. You poor Angel fans. The baseball Gods sent you Ausmus. The guy couldn’t win even if Jesus batted clean-up.
Give Ausmus a chance, you will be giving Eppler the same chance as both will be gone and take the blame if Trout leaves. As for Sosh being told he will not return, I think that a change was was long over do, although I fail to understand the relevance to the TJS that have taken place. Richards should of had his a year earlier as Sosh had no say in that. Jedi was still a bad mix to the team with all the changes he made, but the way he quit was spineless no matter the frustration involved. Ausmus might work out or not, but however it plays out Eppler will be the guy to be responsible. The amount of disabled days the roster has expierenced over the coarse of three seasons does seem excessive and exhausting on the surface and it is unreasonable.
Sosh was a claim demeanor at game time and had the drive to win, with that said he would get stuck to often with tunnel thinking. He did not see the relievance in winning in the spring or going on a roll in September in order to rest the vets. Then come playoff time and they were flat. He did not no when to pull a pitcher which is difficult at best but Mike just did not get it.
Good luck in’19 Angel fans, we will surely need it.