Scioscia’s retirement response
Angels manager calls chatter ‘poppycock’
It was the secret Angels manager Mike Scioscia hoped to keep all season.
He made up his mind before spring training this would be his final season, not only as Angels’ manager but with no intention to manage again.
Scioscia, the longest-tenured manager in the majors and third-highest-paid manager in baseball, is retiring after this season, three persons directly involved with his decision told USA TODAY over the past two weeks.
No one would speak publicly out of respect for Scioscia, but they were directly told by him that he simply had enough of this rat race.
He told his family and friends he wanted no publicity. No fanfare. Please, no farewell ceremonies.
Just privacy, hopeful that after the Angels’ final game ended Sept. 30 against the Athletics, he could quietly step away.
Yet in this day and age, it’s so tough to keep a secret, and when word leaked Saturday night in a report by “The Athletic” that Scioscia would likely step down after the season, Scioscia was left scrambling, saying he would address his situation after the season.
“Nothing has changed since we talked last October,” Scioscia told reporters in his office Sunday morning. “That’s the best way I can put it. There’s always chatter out there. The only word I have is poppycock. That’s all it is.”
Too late now. He’ll be thrust into the spotlight these last six weeks, subjected to questions wherever he goes, listening uncomfortably to accolades and will have folks debating on the airwaves whether he’ll be in the Hall of Fame while others predict his successor.
Scioscia, 59, and general manager Billy Eppler still have to have a single conversation about his future, and it’s unknown whether Scioscia would be invited back if he wanted to return. Yet Scioscia will make the decision easy by stepping down without the need to even talk.
There’s already a short list of in-house candidates, among them former Detroit manager Brad Ausmus, bench coach Josh Paul and special assistant Eric Chavez, but there will soon be hundreds of resumes landing on Eppler’s desk. Eppler declined to comment last week when USA TODAY asked about Scioscia’s retirement plans.
Scioscia, who likely would be on the short list of St. Louis, Cincinnati and other teams seeking a permanent manager this offseason, has no interest in managing again. He also has no current plans to stay in baseball in any capacity, at least for the next few years, hoping to spend his next few summers traveling.
Simply, after 19 years as manager, you get burned out. He has had the longest run of any manager since Hall of Famer Bobby Cox spent 21 years with Atlanta and the sixth longest all time. The only active coach in American sports with a longer tenure is Gregg Popovich of the NBA’s Spurs.
Maybe it would be different if the Angels were winning, but that stopped years ago. They have reached the postseason once since 2009 and haven’t won a postseason game in nine years. There were hopes this year would be different, but after being ravaged with injuries, the Angels’ season ended in June, sitting 11 games out of a wild-card spot entering Sunday.
This has nothing to do with owner Arte Moreno or Eppler, with whom Scioscia has enjoyed a strong relationship since he was hired after the
2015 season. The depleted farm system and woefully thin pitching staff over the years made it nearly impossible to compete in the powerful American League West. Still, Scioscia never made excuses, publicly or privately.
Whether Scioscia winds up in the Hall of Fame or not, this has been a glorious run, and his hiring might be the greatest decision the Angels made in franchise history.
He provided instant credibility, stability and leadership and changed the culture of an entire organization, becoming the most powerful manager in the game at one time, with the Angels reaching the playoffs six times in nine years.
Scioscia led the Angels to their lone World Series title in
2002, winning six division titles and a wild-card berth, earning two Manager of the Year awards and ranking 18th among managers with 1,625 victories, eclipsing his mentor, Hall of Famer Tom Lasorda in May. He has won the secondmost games (1,625) with one franchise in baseball history, trailing only Walter Alston
(2,040) of the Dodgers.
“I think he’s a Hall of Famer; just look at the huge difference Mike has made,” said Boston bench coach Ron Roenicke, who spent 13 years on Scioscia’s staff. “If not for Mike man- aging that team in 2002, we don’t win the World Series.
“We had good players when we got there (in 2000), but Mike created a different culture. He came in with an aggressive style. We created runs, we hit home runs, we did all of the little things that today’s analytics probably would not agree with, but they were important.”
The Angels were a National League-style team playing in the American League, taking the extra base, stealing bases and making life uncomfortable on every opposing manager. Yet despite attracting the biggest free agent stars in Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton and developing the game’s greatest player today in Mike Trout, the winning stopped. It became a battle for survival rather than contending for World Series titles.
“I’ve always admired Scioscia from the other side,” says San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy, who coached Scioscia for one year in the San Diego organization. “He’s a very aggressive manager, not afraid to take risks, and his teams always play hard. Just a very good fundamental team that played the game right.
“He’s had quite the career as manager.”
It’s doubtful Scioscia will relent and permit the Angels to have a farewell ceremony for him during their final homestand. He might steadfastly refuse to even address his future until the season ends.
No matter. He’ll forever be remembered in Angels folklore, and once he takes off his uniform, No. 14, it likely will never be worn again.
It has been quite the ride playing in the shadows of Disneyland, but it’s finally time, Scioscia says, to turn off the lights.
Shh, just don’t tell anybody.