In a savvy move by the Angels' front office, they let a few months get between the suicide squeeze debacle and signing manager Mike Scioscia to a contract extension. By now, I'm sure enough Angels' fans have forgotten about the incident -- they of the laid-back Cali lifestyle -- and will be happy with the move. Anyway, the Angels cruised to the AL West division title last year due to much superior talent -- when compared to their pathetic division-mates -- so I guess you have to reward the manager. Who cares if you could have grabbed any Joe off the street (Joe the Manager?!?) and gotten similar results? Arte Moreno and the rest of the Angel's braintrust likes him enough that they have now locked him up through the 2012 season.
On a serious note, I really respect Scioscia as a manager and a man, just as I did as a player growing up. He's a good baseball guy, and commands a serious amount of respect in the locker room. He was at the helm for the Angels only championship, and they have won four of the last five division titles. There aren't many managers I'd rather have.
Still, if you are the Angels, there was already a club option for 2010 and there have been zero rumors as to his departure. After the postseason blunder -- which he defended -- what's the hurry in re-upping? Was he ready to storm out the door? Was he planning on unseating Joe Torre across town so he could manage where he played?
Why not just see how things go this season and decide afterward what's going to happen? Or at least during the season.
It seems to me the Angels could make better use of their time and resources. What about a bat to replace the production of Mark Teixeira, or finding a way to get back into the World Series instead of simply dominating a bad division. Priorities, fellas, priorities.
