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“ANGELS–GOING TO HELL”
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Explain this one to me, the Halos hiring of Ron Washington as their new manager.

Ron Washington, once upon a time, a trusted bench boss-coach in the early 2000-winning years with Billy Beane’s Oakland Athletics.  Long time ago.

Washington, the manager who took the Texas Rangers to 2-World Series, but was just a shade over .500 in his entire tenure.  Long time ago.

The former manager who has not been a manager since 2004-nearly 20-years ago, long before the world of analytics took over the game.  Long time ago.

A guy who left his managerial job under the cloud of a terrible substance abuse issue and a series of relationship issues.  Long time ago.

A coach who has interviewed for manager’s jobs the last 3-years and was never hired.

A guy who agreed to only a 2-year contract with the Angels, when 24-hours prior, the Cubs gave a record (5Y-80M) contract to hot managerial hire Craig Counsell.

Do we read into it, Washington was willing to take any type of contract, or Arte Moreno intends to unload the team in the next year or so, ending his horribly disappointing run as owner of a franchise that is on skid row?  Cheap hire-next owner can solve the issue?

Or maybe Washington was hired to ‘groom’ the manager of the future from a young coach he might bring with him?  Can you say Torii Hunter or Erstad?

He has been praised for teaching skills, motivating talents, and his ability to communicate, though he also is profane in a tough-love type of conversation.

Even AJ Preller, who hires everyone with ties from his time with the Rangers, didn’t move on hiring Washington, despite making 3-managerial changes…in the last nine years.

So what do we make of this Arte Moreno hire?  Why Ron Washington and not someone else?

They bypassed Buck Showalter, who had all that success with the Mets, Texas, Arizona and even the rebuilding Orioles.  That may well have been a money-length of contract term situation.

They did not meet with Don Mattingly, who had success at Dodgers Stadium. among other places.

Smart guy Bryan Price, with a good reputation having worked in bad situations in Cincinnati and Seattle, and a guy who has a history of dealing with young pitchers, whom the Halos have plenty of.

Young guys like Andy Green-Cubs, proven veteran David Ross-Cubs, or fast riser Clayton McCullough-Dodgers did not even merit a sit down meeting.

Didn’t want to promote from within, their own coach Benji Gil, who has worked under some good people in baseball?

Bypassed a popular experience Darin Erstad, who knows MLB baseball, and who ran a very good college program at Nebraska, and is beloved in-around Angels Stadium.

This is as strange as it gets.

The ousting of Phil Nevin was because he was a victim of circumstances, all those bad injuries in Anaheim.  Did as good as he could in a bad situation.

They failed with the creative hiring of Joe Maddon prior to that, when most people thought that was a steal, based on his run with the Cubs.  But that blew up mainly because Maddon was so obstinate about analytics.

And now the new manager, with alot of old-school traits, has to convince Shohei  Ohtani to stay, eventhough it has been a decade since ‘Wash’ was making all the dugout decisions as someone’s bench boss.

Not sure GM-Perry Manasian’s inner thoughts why this was the right hire. Maybe it does not matter, since the GM has one year left on his deal, and might be ‘dead man walking’ when-if Moreno sells the club.  Manasian crossed paths with Washington while working in both Texan and Atlanta.  Maybe there is a ‘trust factor’ that comes into this.

Anaheim-Orange County is a baseball market unto itself.  Sorry Arte, you are not LA-never have been-never will be.  The Bill Rigney-led Los Angeles Angels, was a long time ago.

Halos fans should be furious with the decision making of a once popular owner who has lost his fastball and his credibility.

What a shame for Mike Trout.  What a disappointment for the fans who cheered so long-so hard in the eras of Ryan-Tanana and Langston-Finley-Salmon-Erstad.

I said last week that Moreno, who has contacts everywhere, needed to find a sounding board to give him insight and opinions, how to fix this franchise.  I said a veteran exec, who rebuilt teams and stadiums with the right hires, like Larry Lucchino was just a phone call away.

Looking for a modern day young exec with unique insight, why not call the Commissioner’s office and talk to Theo Epstien as a sounding board?  Last I checked what he did at Wrigley Field-Fenway park with the Cubs and Bosox was pretty impressive.

The Angels are going to hell as a franchise.  The only ones who don’t see it are the owner and the aging manager he just hired.  Out of touch they are.

Turn out the ‘Big A’ stadium light on the 55-freeway.  Don’t see a successful season coming.

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