I put out the all-call. Many of you rapidly answered.
I asked who should be the Angels' next general manager (if it should be Jerry Dipoto who gets fired) and next manager (if Mike Scioscia should get the boot). Regardless of whether the players are responsible (i.e. Albert Pujols' stubbornness and injury; Josh Hamilton and his royal flop; Peter Bourjos' injury magnetism), it is not necessarily they who will take the fall.
Here, we're talking staff.
I received 16 managerial suggestions, which we'll tend to after the GMs since it will be a much longer tournament. I also received 5 suggestions for general manager, so I set up an according bracket.
To be fair, the winner of each bracket will be pitted against the current holder of their aspired position, to see if that option is preferrable to our current leader(s). Consider it a tournament to face a reigning champion, with the final battle being for the belt.
The general manager's bracket looks like so.
WILD CARD ROUND: (5) Andrew Friedman vs. (6) Thad Levine
QUARTERFINALS: (5/6) Friedman or Levine vs. (2) Scott Servais, (3) Billy Beane vs. (4) Kim Ng
SEMIFINALS: (2/5/6) Friedman, Levine or Servais vs. (3/4)Beane or Ng
FINALS: (2/3/4/5/6) Winner of Semifinals vs. (1) Jerry Dipoto
So technically, there are 6 candidates, only to be fair to both Scioscia and Dipoto. But anyway, ONWARD!
I gave Servais, Beane and Ng the advantage of byes because (a) Servais is within the organization and will, in a real-life situation, get the first look as an in-house candidate, (b) Beane is the longest-tenured member of this group, and (c) Ng works for the league. which is kind of a step ahead of working for a team.
Today we will start and finish the wild card round. Voting will take place in the poll at the bottom of this article. COMMENTS WILL NOT COUNT AS VOTES. However, you are more than free to discuss the matchup in the comments; just don't be misled to thinking that your comments are votes.
Andrew Friedman is the current general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, and has been quite strongly connected to the Angels in recent years. He was on the team's wish list in 2011 to become the President of Baseball Operations, just as Theo Epstein did for the Cubs that same offseason. Friedman was said to have been intrigued by the offer, but declined. He's done wonders with Tampa Bay, turning them from bottom-dwellers to perennial contenders, having won the AL East in 2008 and 2010, and the AL Wild Card in 2011. This revival included a trip to the World Series in 2008, where they fell to Philadelphia in five games.
Thad Levine is an assistant general manager to Jon Daniels of the Texas Rangers. The Rangers, like the Rays, have undergone a very favorable turnaround in recent years. Winning the AL West in 2010 and 2011 and one of the AL Wild Card spots in 2012 have been part of Levine's doing, as well as much of the Texas front office. Levine was a candidate for the Angels' GM spot in 2011, interviewing for it but reportedly was not on the short list of candidates offered the job (as Dipoto, Billy Eppler and Damon Oppenheimer all reportedly were).
Cast your vote in the poll! Polls close at 12:00 PM PDT.