ANAHEIM – The reason Jerry Dipoto submitted his resignation as the Angels’ general manager Wednesday is not as simple as an inexorable conflict between baseball’s old and new schools.

It cannot be. Because, in the terms of that analogy, Dipoto and Manager Mike Scioscia received similar educations, albeit not at similar times. They do not occupy opposite sides of the sabermetric spectrum.

Saying Scioscia is an old-school manager is an overly simplified characterization, one that neglects the adaptations he’s made as his role has changed over 151/2 seasons in charge. He’s not wholly new or old.

Describing Dipoto as a new-school decision-maker is similarly simplistic. The man played almost a decade of major league baseball. He has consistently demonstrated a belief in data’s limitations as it applies to the athletes themselves.

Would an old-school manager say that analytics “made us better?” Scioscia said that Wednesday. Would a new-school GM say that, “There is always gonna be an element of the team that says, ‘Aw, I’m just going to go out and play?’” Dipoto once said that.

The two disagreed at times about the level of influence data should have on day-to-day operations. But there is no way it is the only cause of what led to the re-installation of the hands-off Bill Stoneman as interim GM.

At the heart of this must be much more. Dipoto is a smart, well-reasoned executive. He considered alternate theories. He relied on the people he hired heavily, trusted them not to do his bidding but to do their own, even believed in certain cases they might know more than him.

Dipoto has not provided specifics on this week’s developments, not directly, not publicly. And so we must make assumptions if we seek the truth.

Why would a well-respected executive choose to leave at a time when the team he helped build had a better-than-not chance of making the playoffs?

The hint seems to come in the choice of replacement. It will not be either of the capable assistant general managers Dipoto hired. It will be Stoneman, the man who hired Scioscia 16 years ago.

Stoneman, the man who told The New York Times in 2002, that, “To me, the general manager is the guy who doesn’t necessarily have to be in the forefront. Put a team together as good as possible, as good a manager and coaching staff as possible, and let everyone do their job.”

In other words, since it’s already midseason, he’s going to do nothing the rest of the way.

Dipoto was trying to do something when he held a meeting Sunday and told players his staff would begin to send scouting reports and suggestions directly to them. He believed, we can surmise, that removing the middleman was worth trying.

The Angels are an analytically inclined organization, or at least they were. Their coordinator of advance scouting studies video in the clubhouse, among all the players, after many games. They’ve saved more runs on defensive shifts than the average MLB team this season.

To say a standoff such as this week’s was always bound to happen is to ignore 2014. When the Angels clinched their first playoff trip in five years last September, Dipoto piled praise on Scioscia’s managing, saying he absorbed “so much more information” to great effect.

That same day, Scioscia said he’s “always loved” Angels owner Arte Moreno’s ownership style: “He has high expectations, but he backs up those expectations for our club by giving us the tools to reach those expectations.”

Perhaps the problem is that the 2015 team does not have the tools to reach them again. Asked Wednesday if they do, Scioscia said, “Yes, with a couple question marks.”

Two weeks ago, when he discussed moving Albert Pujols and Mike Trout in the lineup, his answer was different. “We’ve got five holes in our wall and enough spackle for three holes,” he said then. “Which ones do you want to fill?”

Moreno wanted them all filled. Does he know how? Surely, he believes so, but it seems to me he’s unaware it takes multiple men working together to do it. That’s where the pressure was sourced.

The most obvious source of tension between Dipoto and Scioscia came so long ago, in May 2012. Thirty-seven games into his tenure, Dipoto made the unilateral decision to remove hitting coach and Scioscia confidant Mickey Hatcher from his post.

“Sometimes, shift is good for a team and an organization,” Dipoto said that day. “I believe that it, in some ways, relieves tension and creates a new direction.”

It could have helped, sure. Arguably, it did help. But the thought that removing one of the manager’s most trusted friends could relieve tension was misguided at best and ludicrous at worst.

As is the thought that losing a good baseball executive could be beneficial. The Angels are worse today than they were last week.

Contact the writer: pmoura@ocregister.com