Despite a disappointing season–remember when World Series tickets were being printed up after the Angels landed Albert Pujols?–Anaheim skipper Mike Scioscia was recently lavished with job security comments from general manager Jerry Dipoto and owner Arte Moreno.
So why is a MLB Network expert convinced Scioscia will be managing the Boston Red Sox next season?
]
“Don't be shocked to see Mike Scioscia managing the Red Sox to start next season,” former big league pitcher-turned-MLB Network studio analyst Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams told the host of the nationally syndicated Dan Patrick Show this morning.
As also shown on DirecTV's Audience Channel simulcast of the program, Williams explained that Scioscia would bring “stability” to a Red Sox team that has been dumping contracts as manager Bobby Valentine continues to lose the confidence of his players.
“What Scioscia brings is stability,” Williams said. “I mean, Terry Francona, he won two World Series and the
players who played underneath him there felt they had the run of the place. He
just basically lost control. And Scioscia is someone who is just going to immediately
bring stability to that role as manager.”
The analyst believes Scioscia has lingering distaste for his bosses over the firing of his pal
and former Dodger teammate Mickey Hatcher as the Angels hitting coach. “He was not happy about that at all,” Williams said of “Scios.”
He could have also mentioned the Halos' recent three-game sweep of
the Sox as a solid Scioscia audition for Boston's bean
counters. But Wild Thing believes the one to really watch is Moreno, despite the very public votes of confidence for his manager. Williams contends Moreno will be looking for something other than his roster to shake up if the Angels don't make the playoffs.
“Arte Moreno will not blow up his team,” Williams predicted. “He believes they have
the people there to win. They have probably the best player in the last 15-20 years in [Mike] Trout. [Albert] Pujols
is going to be Pujols at least for the next five years. . . . They have [Mark] Trumbo. . . . They've got some talent out there, they really do.”
Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.