The Angels are "expected to have a new general manager or manager by next Opening Day because of ongoing philosophical differences between" GM Jerry Dipoto and manager Mike Scioscia, according to sources cited by Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSPORTS.com. Scioscia's 10-year, $50M contract "doesn't expire until after" the '18 season, so Angels Owner Arte Moreno "could decide to fire the employee who is due less money" in Dipoto, whose contract ends in '14 (FOXSPORTS.com, 8/24). In Boston, Nick Cafardo wrote Moreno "usually is conservative with his actions, so you'll always feel he'll give the employee the benefit of the doubt, but someone's head will likely roll" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/25). But ESPN's Mark Mulder said Moreno "needs to look in the mirror also. I know he had a lot to do with some of these signings and some of the decisions. It doesn't just fall on the two of them" ("Baseball Tonight," ESPN, 8/24).
ARTE FOR ARTE'S SAKE: CBSSPORTS.com's Scott Miller wrote Angels 1B Albert Pujols' 10-year, $240M contract is the "most expensive example of the organization-wide dysfunction that Moreno has both created and fueled with his temperamental and impulsive decisions." Moreno since his first full year as owner in '04 has "fired close to 40 members of the front office, baseball operations department and scouting and medical staffs." The Angels "maintain a skeletal front-office staff in many areas, and one of the leanest game-day staffs in all of baseball." Many people "both inside and outside of the Angels organization agree that Moreno's reign of terror has created obstacles not only impossible for the club to overcome, but ones that have shifted the Angels into reverse." The Angels under Moreno are an organization "that no longer even knows who it is" (CBSSPORTS.com, 8/23).
