Angels mum on reported tension
ANAHEIM -- Tensions mounted between the Angels' front office and coaching staff over the weekend, according to a FOXSports.com report that said the sides were at odds over how to convey scouting information to the players.
Per the report, Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto expressed frustration with the coaches relying too heavily on "feel" rather than the statistical data presented to them. At least one coach "responded heatedly" to Dipoto in a meeting on Friday and Albert Pujols "challenged" the fourth-year GM in a separate meeting on Sunday, the report said.
Dipoto declined comment through a team spokesman.
"I really have nothing to say about anything that might or might not have happened," Scioscia said when approached after the Angels' 4-1 win over the Yankees. "Jerry and I work together the same way that we've worked the last couple years, and that's where we are."
Scioscia, baseball's longest-tenured manager, was at odds with Dipoto when he was first hired after the 2011 season. Scioscia was upset at the dismissal of hitting coach and good friend Mickey Hatcher in May 2012 and the two disagreed on several subjects over the course of the first two years of Dipoto's tenure, from the implementation of analytics to in-game strategies to the roles players would fill.
It got so bad that the prevailing sentiment was that one of them would be let go after the 2013 season, but Angels owner Arte Moreno brought them both back.
The two were said to be communicating better after that 2013 season, then helped steer the Angels to a Major League-leading 98 wins and American League West title in 2014. But frustration over the team's mediocre start -- they've had a .500 record 18 separate times this season -- seemingly boiled over recently.
On Sunday, the Angels closed the clubhouse for most of pregame to meet with players about "scouting information," Scioscia said. The report said that the meeting was for Dipoto to inform players that they would now be given scouting information directly from the front office, and they could then decide whether to use it.
Dipoto had his club option for 2016 picked up at the beginning of the season, but Scioscia can opt out of his 10-year contract -- which runs until 2018 -- at the end of this season.
"I would never comment on anything regarding the details of my contract," Scioscia said when approached about the subject by MLB.com in May, later adding: "I love what I do, I love where I am. That's it."