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Things escalated out in Los Angeles of Anaheim quickly, as we went from word that general manager Jerry Dipoto and manager Mike Scioscia were at odds late Monday night to Dipoto throwing down an ultimatum on Tuesday evening. That ultimatum, whatever it was, has reportedly failed, and Dipoto is out as GM of the Angels. It hasn’t been officially confirmed by the Angels themselves, but ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick heard about the ultimatum backfiring, while Yahoo!’s Jeff Passan reported that Angels’ players believed Dipoto was out even before their game on Tuesday night.
There are still some outlets reporting that Dipoto might resign, and that’s probably true — when he leaves, it’ll be via resignation. That’s how ultimatums work! It might seem a bit incredible that their feud would come down to this, whether it was Dipoto going with the “It’s either him or me!” angle or something simpler like “Wow it sure would be nice to work in an environment where my authority over the manager was actually recognized, amirite?” However, Scioscia has been the manager of the Angels since 2000, and Dipoto hasn’t exactly built a juggernaut in his time as GM. Sure, there was ownership pressure to bring in Josh Hamilton and all that, but the owner probably isn’t why the farm system is in tatters post-Trout.
Angels’ owner Arte Moreno purchased the team in 2003, after Scioscia had already been around for three years, and after the Angels’ lone World Series championship. Scioscia essentially has a lifetime deal, as he’s in the midst of a 10-year contract that ends after 2018, and is the franchise’s all-time leader in games won and managed: Dipoto is the guy who gave a lot of money to Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson and was around to reap the benefits of Mike Trout’s promotion. It’s not that Dipoto is a bad GM — his resume is more impressive than he’s getting credit for here — but he had to know going in to this ultimatum where Moreno’s loyalties would lie. If so, can you blame him for wanting out, considering the circumstances?
- Speaking of GMs who could be out of work soon, this is a reminder that Ruben Amaro was often his own worst enemy, as his greatest triumph and worst failure with the Phillies occurred on the same day.
- The man who could oust Amaro, Andy MacPhail, does need to rebuild the Phils off the field before he can rebuild them on it.
- Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh tucked a Tigers jersey into his khakis to deliver the first pitch in Tuesday’s game, which we’re pretty sure gives him the dad equivalent of Super Saiyan powers.
- Senator John McCain is one of the only people who can honestly answer the question, “Is it more difficult to run for president, or to catch a foul ball?”
- On the other hand, Mookie Betts has been incredible at every sport he’s ever played, so maybe he should run for President and see if he’s great at that, too. For real, though, the 5’9 Mookie could dunk in high school, and there are videos to prove it.
- There is nothing strange about the Astros’ mascot riding an ostrich around. Nope. Not a single, phallic thing.
- Billy Hamilton has more steals in 2015 than half of the teams in baseball.
- The Cardinals are burying Peter Bourjos again, even though their outfield is either hurt or bad.
- The Braves are in a position to add to their future talent before July’s trade deadline, and without selling big on what they have around now.
- The Royals could deal Brandon Finnegan, who if you remember starred in both the College World Series and the actual World Series just last year.
SB Nation presents: A-Rod’s 3,000 hits taught us to love ourselves
