What ails the Angels? Call it a staff infection Remember those pitching-rich but offensively impaired Angels teams from last decade that were presumably "one big bat" away from being World Series-caliber? Look pretty good now, don't they? Those teams made the playoffs five times from 2004 to 2009. This year's club is loaded with big bats, including four - Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo - who hit 30 homers or more in 2012. Yet, they appear farther away from playoff contention than any of those limp-lumbered lineups of yore. The post-steroid-era game is more about run prevention than run production - just look at the championship lineups of the 2010 and 2012 San Francisco Giants. The Angels, with a $148-million payroll, have an offense that will surely hit better than it has during another sluggish April. But they are a fundamentally - perhaps fatally? - flawed team that does not appear to have the pitching to contend for a championship, a truth that has become evident in a month that could put the jobs of General Manager Jerry Dipoto, Manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Mike Butcher in jeopardy. The rotation, which includes the underwhelming Joe Blanton, Jason Vargas and Tommy Hanson and the underachieving C.J. Wilson, has a 2-7 record and major league-worst 6.07 earned-run average. The bullpen lost one of its best pitchers when Garrett Richards replaced injured Jered Weaver in the rotation, leaving Ernesto Frieri and Sean Burnett as the only relievers Scioscia can rely on. Pink slips have been known to fly when Arte Moreno gets angry, but before the Angels owner lines up scapegoats, he should consider his role in the team's shortcomings. It was Moreno's infatuation with marquee names that led to the signings of Pujols to a 10-year, $240-million deal and Hamilton to a five-year, $125-million deal, questionable commitments that will put a drag on team payroll in coming years and signaled a philosophical shift away from pitching and toward offense. It was Moreno who flew to Texas to close the deal with Hamilton, using resources many felt should have gone to retain pitcher Zack Greinke, whom the Angels acquired last July from Milwaukee for three prospects, including shortstop Jean Segura, who was batting .367 for the Brewers entering the weekend. It was Moreno who signed Scioscia to a 10-year, $50-million extension in 2009, ignoring the possibility that, at some point over the next decade, the Angels might want a new field boss. Wouldn't a five-year deal have sufficed? And it was Moreno, with Dipoto's blessing, who made virtually no effort to retain right fielder and team leader Torii Hunter, who was batting an American League-leading .413 for Detroit before Friday's games while Hamilton was hitting .200 with 18 strikeouts. Dipoto is no front-runner for executive of the year, either. He rebuilt the rotation on the cheap, and Blanton, Vargas and Hanson are 1-6 with a 7.36 ERA so far. Surely, there were better free-agent options than Blanton, and Dipoto traded a promising reliever in Jordan Walden for a questionable starter in Hanson. Ryan Madson, still trying to return from Tommy John surgery, was no sure bet when he was signed to close. And it was Dipoto who drove negotiations on the five-year, $77.5-million deal the erratic Wilson signed before the 2012 season. But Dipoto also made a smart trade for closer Frieri, and he landed Greinke for last season's stretch run without giving up center fielder Peter Bourjos or Richards. He is proactive and, unlike his predecessors, understands the art of the deal, that you have to give up something to get something. Though Dipoto could be handcuffed by a minor league system that, because of trades and free-agent signings, has been reduced to the worst in the game, according to Baseball America, the bet here is he pulls off a move to address the pitching woes. Plus, Dipoto spent a year and half rebuilding the front office, scouting and player development staffs, hiring more than 35 people. Does Moreno want to bring in a new GM to start over? Firing Scioscia, baseball's longest-tenured manager, would be costly. Would Moreno eat another $25 million or so on Scioscia's deal after paying the New York Yankees $28.1 million to take outfielder Vernon Wells off his hands? Not likely. Butcher, whose staff has a major league-worst 5.43 ERA, is the most vulnerable. The dismissal last May of hitting coach Mickey Hatcher, the first coach fired from Scioscia's staff in 13 years, sparked the offense, so there is precedent for a move with Butcher. What the Angels need most is for Weaver to make a full recovery from a broken left elbow, setup man Kevin Jepsen to bounce back from a shoulder strain and Madson to return and regain his 2011 form, when he closed for Philadelphia. Madson and Jepsen would bolster the bullpen, and the Angels could use Richards to start or relieve. Most important, the starters need to pitch better and deeper to alleviate pressure on the bullpen. If not, all those big bats will go to waste.