You realize that DiPoto was trying to give scouting data reports to Sosh to give to the players for each and every game. And Sosh doesn't care about the reports.
Arte wanted Pujols and Hamilton. I'm okay with Pujols as it helped land a tv deal. But Arte chose Hamilton (a bat) over keeping Greinke (a pitcher). The team traded good assets for Greinke at the trade deadline. It would be prudent to keep Greinke. Instead, we go out and get Hamilton. In getting Hamilton, we wasted those assets for Greinke AND LOST A FIRST ROUND PICK in the process.
Our previous GM has done nothing to replenish our farm system. With the signing of Pujols, the team lost a first round pick that year. The following year, it signed Hamilton and lost another first round pick. When Arte Moreno imposed a budget to himself, that's when he let Dipoto go to work.
P Chatwood traded for C Iannetta
Trumbo for LHP Skaggs and LHP Santiago. (Both are starters - Skaggs is recovering from Tommy John Surgery)
Borjous and Grchk for 3B Freese and middle relief P Salas.
Signed relief P Joe Smith. (Our 8th inning pitcher.)
Romine for relief LHP Jose Alvarez
2B Lindsey, Closer RJ Alvarez, SS Rondon, and P Morris for Closer Street and relief P Gott. (Street is our closer, 9th inning guy, and Gott has seen relief time this year at the MLB level)
P Clevinger for relief P Pestano
C Conger traded for P Tropeano and C Perez
2B Kendrick traded for P Heaney (Has started 2 games this year)
So, let's recap...
Possible staring pitchers under DiPoto: Santiago, Skaggs, Heaney, and Tropeano. That's six innings plus right there available right now (Except for Skaggs). We also have two pitchers in the recent drafts that look promising in Newcomb and Green for the far future. This is great for the future of the organization! Imagine if we would have had Greinke and a first round pick instead of Hamilton?!!!
Middle relief pitchers under DiPoto (there could be more, but this is what I can recall): Salas, Gott, and Alvarez
8th: Smith (signed as a FA)
9th: Street (traded for)
We're going to be very good on the mound. But our offense needs help. So we need all the help we can get if we're going to be in a lot of close games because of good pitching. What else can we do? Use scouting statistics to help make better decisions.
Sosh is still living off his single world series win back in 2002. Has Sosh's mastermind guided this org to another World Series win or to the World Series? Nope. With the roster Sosh had last year, the team had the best record in baseball. And yet ousted in the first round of the playoffs. We're already into 2015. The team is geared toward a low scoring game affair. Maybe using stats to improve your winning percentage might be that much more advantageous.
Sosh goes off of feel. You know... like the feeling of the need to put Hamilton on the roster for the playoffs. That feeling netted a ZERO stat line across the board.
In the last three games, the average Runners Left In Scoring Position for the team is 4.67 runs per game. The past three games the team has won 3-2, 4-1, 2-1. The last game vs the Yanks, the Angels were 0 - 11 with RISP. It left 9 men on base. Yankees had 0 RISP.
As of today, we have the fewest AB's as a team in the league. We have played 78 games. There nine teams that have played 76 games or less that have more hits than the Angels! (I used ESPN.com stats.)
Rank... Team... Games... AB's
28.........LAD........78...... 565
29.........Mil.........78...... 554
30.........LAA........78...... 528
That gap is 26 batters faced. The least batters faced in one game is 27 batters. That's almost
one game's worth of batters difference!!! Not only that, but the Angels are in the AL, which means we have a DH, not a pitcher batting. Wow!!! That's very bad.
And Sosh still thinks "feeling" is better than scouting stat info to help the team hit better? I knew our offense was bad, but I didn't realize it was THIS BAD. cray, cray.
Almost half the season is over. 78 games is a large sample. And the lingering thought is to continue doing the same thing.
Anyhow, it sucks that Dipoto put down an ultimatum. At least he's passionate about his job and wants the best for the organization. He isn't a Yes Man like the previous GM Tony Reagins. But Moreno makes a lot of his basis on feeling as well. Here's a link about Moreno and his mistakes:
The Three Sins of Arturo Moreno. And a quote from that article:
So... Moreno makes decisions based on feel (hope is not a strategy). Sosh makes decisions based on feel. Dipoto uses stats to make a strategy. Dipoto is the odd man out in this picture. He's trying to play chess while Moreno and Sosh are still stuck on checkers.
