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Angels, Scioscia agree on contract extension
January 5th, 2009, 1:39 pm · 5 Comments · posted by Sam Miller, The Orange County Register
Angels GM Tony Reagins confirmed that the team has signed manager Mike Scioscia to a contract extension. The multi-year deal will keep Scioscia running the Angels through the 2014 season with options that could extend his tenure beyond that.
Only two managers have been in their current positions longer than Scioscia with the Angels — Bobby Cox in Atlanta and Tony LaRussa in St. Louis.
“Mike is going to be around for awhile longer,” Reagins said. “We made a significant committment to him as he has to this organization. What he’s done in the past nine seasons is evident. We think it’s been a great partnership.”
Scioscia’s previous deal ran through 2009 with an option for 2010 at about $2 million per year. In nine seasons, Scioscia has a .551 winning percentage, four first-place finishes and, of course, a World Series ring.
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5 Comments
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Sam, you must be reading in the wrong places. Try the Angels fan board on MLB.com. There are a lot of cranks who routinely demand that Scioscia be fired. They don’t know what they’re talking about, of course …
Ah, thank you, Stephen. I’ve been lucky in my life to generally be surrounded by only the wisest, more moderate and informed persons :)
I think Mike Scoscia is a fine manager, it’s the hitting coach that needs to go. Angel hitters are far too aggressive, cannot work counts and that recipe is a recipe for disaster in the post season as we’ve seen every year since 02. There needs to be a hard look taken at the approach to the plate this year. With no protection for Vlad, we can look forward to another year of toes to nose swings from him because he’ll feel he has too.
The hitting coach doesn’t tell them what pitches to swing at. Mickey Hatcher has been quoted many times in the papers as telling the hitters they need to be more patient with their pitch selection.
The issue is that the Angels have an aggressive style of play that eschews walks in favor of advancing/scoring runners. That comes from Mike Scioscia, not Mickey Hatcher.
A major league hitting coach’s job is to know his hitters’ mechanics and keep them in synch. He’s a sounding board when they need one. Hatcher spends most of his time watching video of the hitters when they were productive so he knows what to look for when they’re out of synch.
For the young players out of the minors, the Angels have been shooting video for a few years now and it’s all archived in one central place so Hatcher, the players themselves, and their coaches can study them.
For some reason people think Hatcher is like their Little League coach. He doesn’t tell them when to swing. You could replace Hatcher with any other hitting coach and it wouldn’t make a difference. The issue is the philosophy; if you have a problem with that, then your complaint is with Scioscia, not Hatcher.
Hatcher begged his hitters to watch Mark Teixeira and his patience at the plate. This, they say, even made Vladdy a better hitter………something that Hatcher can’t do. Time for Scioscia to stop protecting the hitting coach and get someone who can get the respect of the players and teach some discipline.