Los Angeles Angels scapegoat manager Brad Ausmus

Sometimes, organizations act prematurely when things don’t go quite as expected. On Monday, Los Angeles Angels manager Brad Ausmus learned that the hard way.

Entering the 2019 MLB season, the Los Angeles Angels locked up their star player Mike Trout to an astonishing 12-year, $426.5M deal. They figured that if Shohei Ohtani can get healthy and Andrelton Simmons can continue to develop as a player, the Angels might actually have a good team on their hands.

For a little while, the Angels actually showed some promise this season, playing their way into second place in the AL West close to two months into the year. Players like Tommy La Stella shocked the baseball world by hitting more home runs (16) than he did in his previous five seasons combined (10).

Even youngsters, like David Fletcher, showed some promise, hitting .290 with a .350 OBP in his sophomore campaign.

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As all teams do, there were also down moments this season for the Angels. Most notably the passing of veteran starter Tyler Skaggs halfway through the year.

Simmons didn’t quite live up to his talents this season either, slashing just .264 / .309 / .364 while playing just 103 games in a season riddled with injuries. Also, La Stella only managed to play 80 games this year, finishing the season on the IL with a right tibia fracture.

What’s more, Albert Pujols became more expensive and a year older. Which can also be said about the player for the next two seasons; he will continue to get older and more expensive.

Finally, there’s the elephant in the room: pitching.

Angels brass did nothing to improve the team’s pitching staff, and it showed. This year, Angels pitchers had a 5.12 ERA. That’s the highest ERA recorded by the team since 2000 and is the fourth-worst team ERA in the organization’s history.

In the end, it resulted in Brad Ausmus losing his job as the team’s manager after just one season. This, after the Los Angeles Angels held on to Mike Scioscia for close to two decades.

Is Ausmus really responsible for the team’s woes? In part, every member of an organization plays a role in their team’s success or lack thereof.

I would argue that president of baseball operations John Caprino and GM Billy Eppler are just as responsible for the construction of an inept roster. So, why are they still hanging around?

The truth is, one of two things are happening here:

1. Either Ausmus is being scapegoated for the team’s lack of success or
2. Another, more attractive option at the manager just became available.

Which is the right? Only time will tell.