Is Los Angeles Ready For Girardi?

With another regular season in Major League Baseball almost in the books, the Los Angeles Angels are preparing to once again watch the postseason from home. After a solid start to the season, the Angels have hovered around .500, and for the eighth time in the last nine years, they will not be participating in the playoffs. This is in spite of the fact that the Angels have the game’s best player in outfielder Mike Trout in the middle of their lineup as his Herculean efforts have not been enough to carry this team. The Angels are not a complete team as aside from their team earned run average of 4.03 which is seventh in the American League, they have lacked a front line starter for several years. And this along with an aging designated hitter in Albert Pujols has made the Angels second-class citizens in an American League West Division that is now one of the toughest in MLB.

Mike Scoiscia is wrapping up his 19th year as the manager of the Angels, and for the first time in a long time, there are rumblings that his tenure in Orange County could be coming to an end. Early last month multiple media outlets which includes USA Today and the Los Angeles Times reported that Scioscia is set to step down at season’s end. Scioscia went on to refute those reports, but he is a skipper who is living off of past accomplishments.

In Scioscia’s first ten years with the Angels, the team made the playoffs six times which included winning the franchise’s only World Series Title in 2002. But since 2010, the Halos have only produced one trip to the playoffs, while they’ve failed to produce any wins in October over this stretch as well.

Scioscia is an old-school manager who has refused to embrace sabermetrics, while Angels owner Arte Moreno continues to hire general managers that do. The end result has been Scioscia not being on the same page with the team’s general managers which has trickled down to the team. But if Scioscia’s time with the Angels is coming to an end, there is one man who would be perfect to replace him.

Like Scioscia, Joe Girardi spent time as a Major League Baseball catcher which included him winning three World Series Championships as a member of the New York Yankees. Girardi got his first managerial gig with the Florida Marlins in 2006 as he inherited a team that was expected to lose 100 games. But with Girardi leading the way, the Marlins would go 78-84 as he would be named as the National League’s Manager of the Year. Girardi would abruptly leave the Marlins after just one season, but he would not be out of work for long as he became the manager of the Yankees in 2008. And in 2009, Girardi would lead the Yankees to the World Series Title.

Girardi would maintain his post as manager of the Yankees through 2017 until a rift between him and team general manager Brian Cashman led to his departure. In ten years with the Yankees, Girardi never posted a losing record, while his overall record was 910-710. Girardi was asked to be the manager an aging team before he eventually would lead a turnaround with young stars in the Bronx. And after Girardi was unceremoniously shown the door in the Bronx, Girardi could be ready to get back into the dugout.

Girardi has spent this year as a part-time studio analyst on the MLB Network. But watching Girardi break down the game while wearing a sport coat doesn’t seem right as his place is on the field, and in the dugout.

If the time is now for the Angels and Scioscia to go their separate ways, Girardi is truly the perfect guy to replace him. Prior to becoming the Angels general manager, Billy Eppler worked in the Yankees organization; first as a scout, and then as an assistant general manager. Eppler knows Girardi, but would he bring him to Orange County?

Eppler learned about being a Major League Baseball general manager from the same Cashman who let Girardi go last year, and you have to wonder if his thought process is the same as Cashman’s.

But the elephant in the room could be Moreno as he has never been one to shy away from making a splash. Moreno knows what the arrival of Girardi could do for ticket sales, and he could be the guy to make sure that Girardi and Eppler would have a good working relationship. There are those who will see Girardi’s way of managing as archaic, but his old-school approach can still be effective.

Girardi is known for getting the most out of his teams as he’s always gotten his teams to overachieve. Girardi would make the Angels a contender, while also finding a way to make Trout a better player. But more importantly Girardi would infuse life into the organization as well as the fan base.

Moreno has never backed away from spending money on his Angels, but it always has not worked out. We’ve seen Pujols physically break down before out very eyes, while nobody who is affiliated with the Angels will ever forget the regrettable signing of outfielder Josh Hamilton. And something has to be down to make the Angels improve as all that they are doing is to waste the talents of Trout.

In attempting to navigate their way through the American League West, the Angels have to deal with the Houston Astros who are expected to be a contender for the next few years. You never know what you are going to get from the Oakland Athletics which is evident by their playoff run this run. The Seattle Mariners will more than likely fall short of making the playoffs this year, but they will finish with a winning record, while it is only a matter of time before the Texas Rangers get things turned around. And if you’re the Angels, you cannot rest on your laurels this off-season to get things turned around. This is a different era of baseball as these are no longer the days where teams went directly to the World Series following the conclusion of the regular season, or when just two teams from each league played in October. In the current era there are five slots open in each league, and the Angels cannot get in on the party as they are wasting the exploits of Mr. Trout. And if the Angels don’t want 2019 to end in the same fashion that 2018 will conclude for them, Eppler and Moreno must think hard about giving Girardi a call as he could be just what the doctor ordered to get this thing turned around in Orange County.