The Angels have “let go” Brian Butterfield, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
Butterfield came over to the Angels from the Cubs prior to the 2020 season, which coincided with Joe Maddon’s move from being the Cubs’ manager to being the Angels’ manager. Butterfield was a part of Maddon’s staff in Chicago for the 2018 and 2019 seasons, meaning this will conclude a four-year run as squad mates for the two. Maddon still has one year remaining on the three-year deal he signed with the Angels prior to the 2020 season.
The 63-year-old Butterfield has a coaching career that goes all the way back to 1994. Over the span, he has spent time with the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays and Red Sox, before his most recent jobs with the Cubs and Angels.
Probably because of a lack of work…
I lol’d
haaaa! noice.
Love Butterfield!!
Isn’t he one of Francona’s close friends? Maybe to Cleveland?
they never been in an organization together. There is a chance they know each other out of baseball, but Butterfield has never been in Cleveland,
Not Boston?
Butterfield was brought-in during John Farrell’s time as manager in Boston. They spent time together in Toronto, I believe. Sveum, Hale, & Bogar manned the third base coaching box under Tito.
Butter is one of Farrell’s close friends, that’s why he left Toronto for Boston.
Wouldn’t surprise me if he finds a position on the Marlins. Jeter credited him with helping him at the start of his career and he’d often reach out to him for guidance.
Good baseball man. No wonder the Angels don’t want Butterfield.
Not sure if helping Jeter’s defense is exactly an endorsement.
Butterfield and Molina out. Now that the deck chairs are looked after, about this sinking ship …
Or, Perry is bringing in his people. Ya’ll want it both ways. If the kids gonna execute on his own vision, give him a chance to change things.
I think he’ll end up in Miami due to his connection with Jeter
He may end up back with the Yankees, they do need some coaches now. I met him many years ago in a fan festival and I hit in a batting cage. Brian gave me
A few hitting tips. He was a really good guy.
So, we have 6 consecutive losing seasons and only one playoff appearance in a decade because our pitching staff is patched together with youngsters who are not ready, mid-career mediocre arms, and veteran reclamation projects. Let’s fire the third base coach.
Fire the third base coach and sign another bat. The Angel way.
And get starting pitchers that are nothing special if not complete garbage.
Starting pitching will not do the Angels a bit of good without relief pitching. The Angels absolutely need starting pitchers too keep them in the game.
Anyone watching the playoffs? Starting pitchers keep you in the game, bullpens win and lose the games.
This has been baseball for the last 20 years.
Dog and pony show
I don’t think this is about that anymore than getting rid of Molina was. This is Minnasian’s second season and he inherited Maddon and his staff.. I think he wants to put his stamp on this team and I don’t think he is happy about the public comments Maddon made about what has to be done to this team to compete.. Minnassian is already under tremendous pressure and inherited bad contracts, limited personnel and a horrible farm system. Maddon has one year left. Unless Maddon wins big, he’s gone.
I don’t think Maddon will be gone after this season unless 2022 season is a total flop. If the Halos have a losing record again, especially after signing 2-3 good free agents in the rotation and at SS, then yeah he might be gone. But he may yet get this team to the playoffs. Rangers are still down, A’s won’t be as good in 2022. Astros losing some Big names and Seattle, well is just Seattle. (I have no idea how they won so much in 2021). I think it is a good time for the Halos to make their move to the top of the division.
It’s two different discussions. I agree with you that if the Angels make the right moves they could jump to first place and have a very strong team. And I have confidence in Minnassian and his team. But we’re talking about Maddon who was not selected by Minnassian. And Joe undercut him by saying what he did publicly– it’s a no no. So I’m saying if Maddon wins big you’re right, they’ll resign him. But if they spend big and I think they will, and if Maddon finishes in third and out of the playoffs– he’s gone. Minnassian will have the excuse he needs to bring in his guy– whoever that is. This is Maddon’s last year on a very expensive deal.
Lol love it when the Mariners get underestimated.
Your team has not made the playoffs in 20 years. They have the longest streak of not making the playoffs of any major sport franchise. How does one underestimate that record of achievement? Three truths remain… death, taxes, and the Mariners not making the playoffs.
The way I see it, there are 2 aces available, Scherzer and Verlander. There are 3 good #2s available, Ray, Stroman, and Gausman.. ‘In a perfect world, the Angels would sign one of each category.
I would like to resign Cobb and he has shown a need to want to return, but I am not sure what his asking price is. I am in a $10M/yr, but would not be in at $15M/yr or more.
My guess is that Scherzer goes back to the Dodgers at $40M/yr.
Clearly, Minasian understands the Angel’s needs, spending all 20 draft picks on pitchers. He has the track record of building a solid pitching staff. The Angels have the money to spend and the FA market has available options to fill the needs so heres hoping something goes right for a change.
1. Scherzer/Verlander
2. Ohtani
3. Stroman / Gausman / Ray
4. Cobb
5. Sandoval
6. Suarez
I’m 100% on board with your plan and thought process and I think that’s where Minassian is going as well.. Don’t be so sure Scherzer is going back to the Dodgers== they have a lot of free agents that are high end already and they have to pay Bauer. I can see Scherzer to the Angels for 2-years $35MM per. I don’t think the Dodgers can match that. And if the Angels don’t get Scherzer they’ll go after Verlander provided he’s recovered. If the Angels get Scherzer and any from your secondary group they’d suddenly have a stout rotation and just as important a lot of depth. And I wonder if the Dodgers would be willing to trade Bellinger and injured Dustin May for Adell and Canning?
He couldn’t pitch, that’s why he’s gone.
Mrs Butterfield is gonna be pissed.
His time was syr-up!
Sticky situation.
Probably fired for the poor infield defense. He was also the infield instructor. Wouldn’t mind seeing DiSarcina returning with the Mets letting go of their staff.
This has to be the reason. Only logical reason really.
DiSarcina is clueless. He said dumb things and did dumb things and wasn’t a good coach when he was last here.
Now Go Get Darin Erstad!
Miami bound baby! It’s all about who you know!
Harsh. The goal was a pitch to contact starting staff backed by a plus defense but it’s hard to blame Iglesias suddenly sucking and Rendon’s injury on Butterfield.
True, but it probably didn’t help his case that Iglesias went to Boston and played like Ozzie Guillen for the remainder of September.
I have no idea how well he played defensively in Boston, but baseball reference has a negative defensive war.
He hit a ton though.
I hope the Blue Jays can find a spot for him again. I always liked Butterfield.
I used to watch every Angel game, then I watched many, then few…now none.
Trade Trout for prospects (because he deserves better), dump all of the expensive players for prospects, and prepare for 2025.
Teams will be lining up to trade they’d prospects for Justin Upton.
Doubt the Angels would get a big return for Rendon after an injury-prone season and that monster contract.
Ah the Trade Trout posts never get old…
1move – How do they trade Trout?
That’s a good question. There are very few teams that could afford to take on Trout’s contract.. Also, if he didn’t want to stay in Anaheim, why did he take that monster contract?
It’s a good question that no “Trade Trouter” has ever answered. They just like trolling about trading Trout with nothing to back it up.
I don’t think your a Baseball fan. And that’s ok.
Next one to go will be Joe! Any manager allowed to go into his final year as a lame duck usually knows their tone is growing short…
…and their *time*…
Agreed. Joe is the next one shown the door. They will let him finish out 2022 unless it’s an embarrassment where they end up sending him home early. Perry is trying to surround him with people that have a voice as Joe is a terrible decision maker during the game. I would believe the new coaches being brought in will have a stronger say in their own respective departments. Unless 2022 is a strong season for the Halos I see Joe booted towards retirement. Doubt if he gets picked up by another team.
The only real decision a manager makes in the game anymore is who to bring in. Since the Angels have NO ONE they can bring in, how does anyone know he makes bad in game decisions.
Give him a bullpen, and I bet he turns into a genius and Perry is the guy who thought Claudio and Guerra would help this pen.
Joe will get booted to the TV studio.
Cubs fan here. Looks like a repeat of Maddon going into his final
Year (2019) with the Cubs. His coaching guys started getting canned in 2018, little-by-little. I like Joe, but yea, the writing is on the wall. Wish it would’ve worked out better for him in Orange County.
The Angels infield defense was horrible. He has to take some of the blame for that. As a 3rd base coach, I don’t think he did a bad job.
Butterfield and Ron Washington are considered the two best infield instructors in the game. I don’t think it’s his fault.
If he was the infield coach, he has to take some responsibility. Fletcher has many bad habits but it’s likely too late for a complete overhaul, but Iglesias went from good to horrible. Mayfield was a good defender, but wasn’t good last year.
If you are the infield coach and players get worse, you are not faultless.
They should hire me for the position. I can mathematically plan in my head distances in which speed of runner and ball traveling to get 100% success rate on sending runners. I deserve the position
If you understand why the contact play is a good play, then you make it past the first question. .
Most fans don’t get past that first question.
Butterfield has a great reputation through out the MLB and will have no problem getting another job.Once again he will not go to the Mutts because he is a respectable man.The Mets will only get the bottom feeders do to bad ownership.
Now that Perry has a year under his belt, is he looking to bring in guys more to his liking? Maybe younger, more analytical, better communicators, better instructors, etc? I’m not sure how Butterfield and Molina stack up in these areas, but it feels like Joe will have fewer of his guys around and more of Perry’s going forward.
As long as he doesn’t sleep on the pen I think this team will be fine. But if last year is any indication, I have grave doubts.
You can’t polish a TERD but Perry will try.
Bob – In your opinion, what moves should the angels make for you to consider them not a terd anymore? Specific moves, not generalities like “Moreno should sell the team”.
I’m anxious to see what Perry does in his first full off-season. And with a year under his belt to learn the players in the Angels system. I’m also interested to see if he makes his big moves early in the off-season like AA seems to do in Atlanta.
Same. I was good with him not making any major trades last year. Better to let his guys come in and see what we actually have than to trade away a guy and later regret it.
And thanks to the lost season we got enough looks at Sandoval, Suarez, Marsh, Adell, Warren, and others for him to make good decisions.
I’m not sure how anyone could be happy with how he handled the pen.
Other than that, I’m glad he didn’t break a team that I believe has a future. Except for Shortstop, I’m very happy with the positions players.
And I’m thrilled he didn’t trade Adell or Marsh. Their value is higher than it was a year ago, and a year from now it will be higher than it is today.
People want to trade Trout, so there will always be “crazy” people who want to trade them.
What exactly would you have liked for him to do with the pen? He got rid of the entire previous pen except for Mayer. I’ve never seen that before– that’s how bad they were. He picked up Watson and Cishek for nothing. He took a flyer on a low end lefty that didn’t pay off.– but that was only a $1MM one-year deal. He knew the team wasn’t going anywhere and so he didn’t tie up money with big contracts– that’s smart. He also had huge payroll restraints. This year he knows all the personnel throughout the minors and majors, and he has payroll flexibility.. It’s baseball– not every move can work out, and in this case he was trying to roll a boulder uphill.
I was very vocal last year what he should have done with the pen. Reserving two spots early with pitchers that had almost no chance to help was pure stupidity.
How does anyone not understand that?
I think Joe Maddon will be shown the door
Moreno likes Maddon. I’d be shocked if he’s shown the door.
It’s not Maddon’s fault anymore than it was Scioscia’s, or any of the other managers who failed, but you’re right– Maddon was way out of line making such strong public comments about what the team needs to compete. He undercut Minnassian– it wasn’t necessary. Maddon should have made those comments to Perry and Arte privately. If Maddon doesn’t win big this coming year he is gone and they will replace with someone much younger and a lot cheaper.
Scioscia became a bad manager around the same time Scot Shields stoped pitching well.
It’s amazing how smart managers get when the have RPs they can give the ball to, and it’s amazing how dumb they get when they don’t.
I blame him for the angels not making the playoffs
You blame Maddon who kept this crappy team at .500 for most of the year? They lost their entire starting outfield to injury. Lost their third baseman to injury. Released their shortstop. Lost their starting first baseman for month. Lost their catcher for a month. Lost their entire starting pitching staff to injury, and maybe two staffs. They lost relievers to injury. They used the most players in a season in the franchises history. They were playing with players as starters who will not be on the team next year. they released Pujols on top of all of that… yes, you’re right… It’s Maddon’s fault!!!
Put down the drink Joe.. You’re giving away your identity on here