What’s Not To Like?
I have a funny relationship with the team the Yankees are presently playing – the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels. On one hand, I have some beefs with them…because they beat the Yankees in the 2002 and 2005 American League Division Series…and because they beat the Yankees in the first game that my kids ever attended at Yankee Stadium. But, on the other hand, I have a ton of respect for them as well.
You have to admire what the Angels have done over the last seven years. In fact, if they could have been four games better in 2006, they would be looking at five straight years (now) of finishing in first place. Bill Stoneman and Mike Scioscia did a great job buliding what the Angels have at the moment. It’s much like what Gene Michael and Buck Showalter did in New York during the early ’90′s.
Another great GM/MGR duo of recent times is noted in the Tacoma News Tribune today:
The base of the Twins’ success was built on the leadership of general manager Terry Ryan and manager Tom Kelly that helped pull them through the lean times before the recent run of success.
How respected was Ryan, who resigned as GM in 2007?“Terry wrote the textbook on how to run an organization,” then-Reds GM Wayne Krivsky, a former Twins employee, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “That’s why so many people use them as a model.”
It’s not exactly a complicated textbook. It’s pretty simple, actually – have good scouting, find players that fit your system, make sure your minor league teams develop them into contributors for your team, and once they’re ready, give them a chance to play every day.
More than finding, selecting and signing talent, Ryan and Kelly had a plan.
They believed pitching and defense won games, but they knew that a player’s makeup was also vital.
“I guess the big thing is that we’re unselfish,” Ryan told ESPN. “Everyone from the manager, the coaching staff, the players, the front office, the scouts, the minor-league people – we don’t have much interest in that ‘me’ attitude. We’re more interested in the final result. We’re more interested in being unselfish.”
It was the type of player Kelly, an old-school baseball man who believed in fundamentals first, made into All-Stars. It was the type of player that brought him two World Series titles. And it was the only type of player he wanted to manage.
The Angels of today are very much like the Twins of Ryan and Kelly. And, the Yankees from 1994 through 2003 were a lot like that as well: Teams based on pitching, defense, good fundamental play and unselfish players.
As a baseball fan, how can you not like teams such as these?
I was watching the FSN West broadcast of the Yanks-Angels game Friday night on MLB EXtra Innings and the broadcast team spent a half-inning interviewing Tony Reagins, the Angels current GM.
Talk about impressive. Reagins, an african-american, joined the team 17 years ago as a marketing intern out of college. He talked about how everybody in the organization works as a team–right up to the owner. He spoke about how hard it was to trade Casey Kotchman, whose father is the manager of one the Angels minor league teams. “I’ve known Casey since he’s 9 years old,” Reagins said.
If you follow the NBA, Reagins strikes you as baseball’s version of Joe Dumars.
In other words, the Angels are going to be good for a while.
Yeah, what I like about Tony is that he spent 5 years in player development before he became the GM. I think it’s important for a GM to have some sort of development and/or scouting background.
But, but, but… They haven’t made it out the first round the last 3 times they were in the playoffs. We’ll have to see what Tony’s made of, because Bill Stoneman clearly built teams that could function during the regular season, but fail in the playoffs
Then again, if the Angels win a ring this season, they’ll have the most rings of any team in baseball since 2002. And, that will all be off the core that Stoneman put together.
Then again, if they don’t, they’ll be worse than the Yankees since 2002, and you’ll have to have more respect for Cashman than for Stoneman, based on playoff performance, no?
~~Then again, if they don’t, they’ll be worse than the Yankees since 2002~~
How so?
Then again, if the Angels win a ring this season, they’ll have the most rings of any team in baseball since 2002.
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Wouldn’t they just be tied with the Boston Red Sox at two each?
“~~Then again, if they don’t, they’ll be worse than the Yankees since 2002~~
How so?”
I meant after 2002, not stopping the reference point at the perfect time for the Angels.
From 2003-2007, the Angels have made the postseason three times (including a terrible under-.500 year in 2003), making it past the first round only once.
From 2003-2007, the Yankees have made the postseason five times, making it past the first round two times, including a World Series appearance in 2003.
It’s not really comparable to what Gene Michael and Buck Showalter did because, well, the team’s success wasn’t really consistently sustained at a high level.
Yeah, but, when you factor in the results of the 2004 ALCS, the 2005 Angels-Yanks ALDS and both 2007 ALDS match-ups (where the Yankees got waxed by the Indians and the Angels lost to the eventual champs)…it looks like the Angels did a lot more in the post season that the Yankees…from 2003 through 2007.
~~Wouldn’t they just be tied with the Boston Red Sox at two each?~~
Yes, tied for the most rings.
Yeah, but, when you factor in the results of the 2004 ALCS, the 2005 Angels-Yanks ALDS and both 2007 ALDS match-ups (where the Yankees got waxed by the Indians and the Angels lost to the eventual champs)…it looks like the Angels did a lot more in the post season that the Yankees…from 2003 through 2007.
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Eh?
2003: Yanks make it to WS, Angels miss playoffs
2004: Yanks lose ALCS, Angels lose ALDS
2005: Yanks lose ALDS, Angels lose ALCS
2006: Yanks lose ALDS, Angels miss playoffs
2007: Yanks lose ALDS, Angels lose ALDS
WS
Yanks 1, Angels 0
ALCS
Yanks 1, Angels 1
ALDS
Yanks 3, Angels 2
Losing to eventual World Champs
Yanks 2 (2003-4), Angels 1 (2005)
Losing to eventual World Champs
Yanks 2 (2003-4), Angels 1 (2005)
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Angels in 2007 as well
So, it’s tied, 2-2, in terms of losing to the eventual champs. And, LA gets the tie-breaker for winning the HTH 2005 ALDS.
Joel — Why was it necessary to mention that the man is *african-american*? What is the point?
Tony is only the fourth African-American GM of a major league team in the history of the game – joining Bill Lucas of the Braves, Bob Watson of the Astros and Yankees, and Kenny Williams of the White Sox, FYI.
Joel — Why was it necessary to mention that the man is *african-american*? What is the point?
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“So’s we don’t confuse him with regular americans.”