Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia (14) speaks to media before the Angels play against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

ANAHEIM – We’ve heard the talk.  All season long fans have predicted that Angels’ Skipper Mike Scioscia is destined for the unemployment line. What began as a whisper (after a disappointing 2012 season) has developed into a thunderous cry.  A cry that has called for one thing and one thing only – Mike Scioscia’s resignation.

But we are all fans – mere observers that are rarely privy to the macro view.  We don’t always see the entire picture. There is an old saying, “You can’t see the forest through the trees.”  And today fans were reminded that it doesn’t matter what we think.  We can cry as loud as we want.  Arte Moreno doesn’t just see the trees – he’s the owner who sees the entire forest.

In an interview with Fox Sports during an MLB owners meeting in New York, Moreno maintained his loyalty to Scioscia. When asked about the chances of a mid-season managerial change, Moreno told Jon Morosi:

Right now, zero.

Pretty unequivocal, right? Moreno went on to sing Scioscia’s praises:

Look at the 14 years worth of productivity.  Look at his record.  He has two World Series rings with the dodgers.  He has one with the Angels.  We’ve been to the playoffs.

Clearly Arte has no issues with Scioscia’s performance.  Point taken.  But rest assured, that alone won’t quiet the “Fire Scioscia” cry that has reached new heights with Halo fans. Sure, the Angels have been to the playoffs six times during the first 10 years of Scioscia’s tenure. But that’s just not good enough for the fans.  After all – baseball is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately-kinda sport.  Fans expect a lot.  And let’s be honest – the last three seasons have left a lot to be desired.  And this is coming from a Scioscia fan.

I believe Arte when he says that he’s committed to Scioscia.  But it’s much more than that, Arte is a smart man – a business man.  And money is always a giant deterrent to any business man – Scioscia is under contract until 2018 so a large buy-out would be required if Scioscia were to be dismissed.  Let’s just say that if Arte Moreno was Donald Trump, he wouldn’t be inclined to fire the project manager.

So now we know that Scioscia is (probably) staying put for the time being.  Yet the question remains – if not Scioscia then who’s it going to be?  Clearly if the Angels continue to play sub-500 baseball something has to change.

Feb. 21, 2113; Tempe, AZ, USA: Los Angeles Angels players (from left), infielder Mark Trumbo , outfielder Mike Trout , first baseman Albert Pujols and outfielder Josh Hamilton pose for a portrait during photo day at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles sports teams have a lot in common these days.  Their bloated payrolls and lack of performance appear downright contagious.  Anyone remember when the Los Angeles Lakers were crowned NBA Champions before starting their 2012 – 2013 season?  Yup.  Even before stepping foot inside the Staples Center, the Lakers were a virtual “lock” to challenge the Miami Heat for the NBA title.  By signing Dwight Howard and Steve Nash – two stars that would compliment an aging Kobe Bryant – the team (according to local media) was destined to win their 17th Championship.

And we all know how that turned out – the Lakers were bounced from the playoffs after losing four straight games against the San Antonio Spurs.  The Lakers literally limped into the seventh seed in the Western Conference and didn’t look healthy enough (or young enough) to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs.

Seeing any similarities here?  The Angels experienced a similar fate last season.  After signing Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson to huge contracts in the off-season, a number of media outlets (including Sports Illustrated) picked the Halos to win the World Series.  Not the American League West.  The WORLD SERIES.  And when you looked at the lineup no one in their right mind would disagree.  After all, owner Arte Moreno and GM Jerry DiPoto succedded in adding arguably the best hitter in the game to a potent offense led by 2012 golden boy Mike Trout.  Throw in a solid number two LHP to compliment ace Jared Weaver and a World Series appearance seemed like a no-brainer.

Or so we thought….

The Angels finished a disappointing 89-73 last season.  After a slow start in April, the club managed to dig a hole in the AL west that they simply couldn’t climb out of.  I remember watching the final game of the season pondering what had gone wrong.  And I wasn’t alone – Halo fans were shocked as the Angels watched the World Series from the comfort of their cushy southern California (aka: Newport Coast) homes.  Forget about the World Series. After the dust settled, there wasn’t even a wild card available for a club that was THE team to beat in 2012.  A third place finish in their division was a disappointment to say the least.

And the worst part?  History has a way of repeating itself.

Owner Arte Moreno – who appears obsessed with marquee players – went out and signed Josh Hamilton to the tune of $133 million for 5 years.  Good move, right? Maybe not.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was ecstatic about this signing for two reasons:  1. The Angels managed to steal an incredibly talented franchise player away from their division rivals, and 2. Hamilton can be the hottest player in baseball when he’s locked on.

“When” is the key word there.

You would think that a lineup littered with offensive talent (i.e. Trout, Trumbo, Hamilton and Pujols) would be able to put up enough runs to offset the deficiencies of a thin pitching staff.  At least that’s what DiPoto thought – and I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t think his strategy might actually work.  Granted, 34 games may not be a large enough sample size, but it’s safe to say that we don’t like what we’ve seen thus far.  The pitching has been mediocre at best and the offensive production has been incredibly anemic at times.

The Angels are currently 12-22 after dropping two of three games in their series against the Houston Astros this week.  12 wins for a roster that reported a 2013 opening day payroll of $139,914,107.00 is an ugly stat.

That astronomical number puts the Angels just under the MLB luxury tax of $178mm for 2013 (the luxury tax will increase to $189mm in 2014).  Fans around greater Los Angeles began referring to the Angels as the “Yankees West” last season.  The only difference – the New York Yankees actually win after spending that kind of money.

As if we needed more bad news, the club managed to clean out their farm system in the process (sending Jean Segura for a Zack Greinke Netflix rental is the most recent example of this).  Don’t believe me?  According the Baseball America and ESPN, the Angels farm system now ranks 30th out of 30 Major League teams.  A minor league system that was once boiling over with talent now has top prospects 3B Kaleb Cowart, LHP Nick Maronde, and 1B C.J. Cron - all three started the season in AA and are working their way up to the bigs.

So yeah, Los Angeles sports teams definitely have a lot in common these days.  And that’s not a good thing.  At least the Angels aren’t alone.  Both the Dodgers and Lakers have taken the same path with little success – using Monopoly money to lure big name players that often don’t produce immediate success.  Maybe Billy Beane is on to something here?

This season presents new questions: Is manager Mike Scioscia on his way out? Will they dismiss Mike Butcher? Is Arte planning a fire sale in the near future? Fans are merely speculating when they attempt to answer these questions.  My only hope is that the Angels can turn this thing around before it’s too late.

For years the Los Angeles Angels played one brand of baseball.  They played small ball.  In fact, ever since Mike Scioscia took over as the Angels manager in 2000, the Angels would hit ‘n run and bunt their way around the baseball diamond better than anyone in the league.

Scioscia always had one objective  - and that objective was to go from first-to-third.

With Scioscia at the helm, the Angels would steal, drag bunt, and advance runners into scoring position.  It wasn’t always pretty or flashy – it just worked.  This offensive strategy proved to be effective for the Halos – in particular in 2002 when the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 to win the World Series.

According to Wikipedia, the term “small ball” can be defined as the following:

In the sport of baseball, small ball is an informal term for an offensive strategy in which the batting team emphasizes placing runners on base and then advancing them into scoring position for a run in a deliberate, methodical way. This strategy places a high value on individual runs and attempts to score them without requiring extra base hits, or sometimes without base hits at all, instead using bases on balls, stolen bases, sacrifice bunt or sacrifice fly balls, the hit-and-run play, and aggressive base running with such plays as the contact play. A commonly used term for a run produced playing small ball is a “manufactured run”.  This style of play is more often found in National League game situations than in the American League due in large part to the absence of the designated hitter in the National League. 

During his playing career, Mike Scioscia was a catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Scioscia was exposed to small ball within the Dodgers organization, a team that would manufacture runs and allow their pitching staff to do the heavy lifting.  Even to this day, this type of offensive strategy is more commonly found in the National League.  Scioscia once told ESPN Los Angeles:

Even when I could run, I could never really run. … But I think [the Angels'] philosophy really is a product of what we learned coming up in the Dodger organization when we were younger.  We were taught by guys like Maury Wills and Lou Johnson who played during a time I know influenced them — they had [Sandy] Koufax and [Don] Drysdale, [Claude] Osteen, all those great pitchers — so they knew if they could score two or three runs, they could win. That was their objective really: ‘Let’s just do what we can do offensively and let our pitching and defense take over.

Not surprisingly, Scioscia emphasized small ball as an American League manager.  And why not?  Scioscia was determined to utilize a style of baseball that he was comfortable with.  Fortunately for Scioscia, his small ball style of play turned out to be perfectly suited to his personnel – players like David Eckstein, Chone Figgins, and Orlando Palmeiro.  Smaller, faster, and scrappier players that excelled at this style of play (Figgins led the league in stolen bases with 62 in 2005).  These were guys that used a well-placed bunt down the third base line followed by a stolen bag to go from first-to-third in the blink of an eye.  They weren’t just good at it, they were exceptional at it.  And truthfully, Scioscia really didn’t have a choice.  When you don’t have “big bats” in the lineup you’re forced to rely on small ball.

It’s now May 4, 2013, and the Angels have a total of 10 stolen bases.  This statistic ranks the Angels 14th in the American League and 26th in all of baseball.  By contrast, Coco Crisp of the Oakland A’s has 8 SB’s – 2 less than the entire Angels’ roster.  The A’s have a total of 25 – they are now ranked 2nd in the bigs for stolen bases.  Now this stat wouldn’t be surprising if all you had were big bats like Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton.  But Scioscia has far more than that.  In addition to the proverbial power hitters like Hamilton and Trumbo, he has two of the fastest guys in The Show – outfielders Mike Trout and Peter Bourjos.  The majority of Halo fans agree that Scioscia is not running as often as he used to.  It’s clear that the hitters are receiving fewer bunt signs from third base coach Dino Ebel.  In fact, I’ve noted that in the past three seasons Angel batters don’t hit and run as often – Scioscia may be reluctant to run hoping that a big bat will come up and knock in a few runs.  And I get that, I really do.  We can all agree that no manager wants to make the final out at third.  I think fans would accept this new philosophy if it was working.  However, the Angels are now 11-18 and 7 games back in the AL West.  Clearly something is not working.

The past three seasons have provided little consolation to the Halo faithful.  The Angels made the playoffs in 2004 and 2005.  They returned to the playoffs again in 2007, 2008, and 2009 (ALCS).  Here we are in 2013, a time when marquee names have been brought in and the Angels payroll has ballooned.  Yet there is still one question on everyone’s mind:  Has Scioscia changed his style of play in order to accommodate Arte’s newest offensive weapons?  Some argue that he has.  Either way, fans are left only to reminisce about 2002 – when guys like Figgins and Eckstein were going from first-to-third and winning a championship while doing it.

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