In spring training the Angels were dealing with the loss of bench coach Ron Roenicke who was to start his career as the new manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. He was following Joe Maddon (became manager of Tampa Bay Rays following the 2004 season) and Bud Black (became manager of San Diego Padres following the 2006 the season), who had left the Angels as their bench coach and pitching coach respectively in previous years. This brain drain has had impacts with the most important being the loss of Bud Black as the pitching coach. The bullpen has not been the same since Bud Black left for San Diego. In many ways the Tampa Bay Rays have played the Mike Scioscia style better than the Angels recently. They steal more bases and have developed great talent in their farm system that plays Angel baseball successfully, just as Tampa Bay hoped when they hired Maddon away from Scioscia.
The Angels were greatly anticipating the return of Kendrys Morales. His loss was considered by many to be the biggest blow to the 2010 season. The acquisition of Dan Haren, a legitimate number one pitcher to be joining Jared Weaver for a full season at the head of the rotation placed the Angels firmly in contention with the Texas Rangers who had failed to sign Cliff Lee at the end of their fine season in 2010. The door was open and the Angels had the horses to put Texas back in its place - 2nd.
Part of that optimism was the young talent coming up that was spearheaded in late 2010 by the placement of Peter Bourjos in center field, displacing Torii Hunter who was moved to right field. Other rookies were anticipated to play roles in the bullpen and at catcher. This is what the Angels do best, develop talent and balance young players with strong veterans. The addition of Vernon Wells, via trade with Toronto, was expected to provide dependable power in upgrading left field over the inconsistent Juan Rivera.
The optimism was short lived. It didn't take long to see that this edition of the Angels was going to struggle to score. At no time was the team’s performances strong enough to have fans envision the team outperforming the Texas Rangers, who added Adrian Beltre and fielded a strong starting rotation to go along with their competent bullpen. With the Angels falling short of reaching the playoffs for the second year in a row, much less a World Series victory, it is fair to ask, "Was the season a failure?
I say yes. My brother and fellow Angel Fan of many years Jim says no. We will be posting reasons for and against the proposition that the Angel Season was a failure. This should be an easy win for me, but Jim is quite adept at making his case, so we will see how it comes out.
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