Mike Scioscia Blames Moreno And Reagins For Trading Napoli And The Wednesday Links

After Mike Napoli crushed two home runs in Tuesday’s 10 -3 Texas rout over the Angels the main stream media finally decided to get real and ask Mike Scioscia about the decision to move the slugging former Angels catcher. In an Article by the LA Times Angels managers deflects any involvement in the decision to trade Napoli and instead points the finger at General Manager Tony Reagins and Owner Arte Moreno saying:

"The issue was Morales was expected back, and we needed to get better in the outfield, so some decisions were made by Tony and Arte Moreno, the Angels’ owner] as to what the team would look like,” Scioscia said.“Give this some time. Vernon hasn’t put up numbers you’d expect, but at the time of the decision, Mike couldn’t catch. He was hurt. And to get a player of Vernon’s caliber, you have to give up some talent.”"

I find it hard to believe this is true. There is not a manager in the league who would not be consulted about a move of this magnitude. Scioscia may have as much organizational influence and power than any skipper in the game so for him to place all the blame on Moreno and Reagins is flat wrong. In fact I’d argue that his refusal to give Napoli the lion share of at bats at catcher led to the belief of management that he was expendable in the first place. This is classic what came first – the chicken or the egg.

Onto The Tuesday Links