We’re tracking all of the managerial hiring situations around the league with team-specific posts, and it’s time to introduce one for the Angels. Mike Scioscia just wrapped up a 19-year tenure with the organization that included a whopping ten-year, $50MM contract — a managerial pact that’s still without compare.
As of late last week, the Halos were wrapping up their first round of chats with potential candidates, as Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group reported. At least ten candidates were slated for an early look, with the remainder of the process — and the identities of most names under consideration — largely unknown.
There still aren’t a ton of names available, but we learned more about the club’s approach from MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link). Beyond reviewing resumes and speaking with candidates, the Angels front office is said to be “administering [a] 2-hour written test to managerial candidates” that poses “questions spanning analytical, interpersonal and game-management aspects of the job.” Needless to say, that’s an interesting process.
Here’s the latest on individual candidates:
Latest Update – 10/20
- The Angels have interviewed Rays major league field coordinator Rocco Baldelli, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports and Fletcher confirms. Baldelli’s among 10 candidates who interviewed during the first round of the process, per Fletcher, though he reports there are only six confirmed names (Baldelli, Vizquel, Chavez, Ausmus, Espada and Hyde). While it’s unknown which candidates have stood out to the Angels thus far, Fletcher writes that they could name their next manager by Monday.
Earlier Update — 10/18
- Longtime big league infielder Omar Vizquel interviewed for the position but is no longer in consideration to be hired, per Venezuelan journalist Efrain Zavece on his podcast (Twitter link; hat tip to MLB.com’s Maria Guardado). The 51-year-old Vizquel previously served as the Tigers’ first base coach (under fellow Halos managerial candidate Brad Ausmus) and has spent the past two seasons managing in the White Sox’ minor league ranks.
Previous updates below…
Have Interviewed/Will Interview
- Eric Chavez, who finished the season as the Angels’ Triple-A manager, has interviewed for the position, per Morosi. The same is true of former Tigers skipper Brad Ausmus, who is currently a special assistant to Angels GM Billy Eppler. Chavez, in particular, was reported as a favorite for the job early in the process — in some cases, before Scioscia even formally stepped down.
- Astros bench coach Joe Espada is among the initial candidates, as ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera reports. He’ll get an interview, if he hasn’t already, per Fletcher, who notes that the timing was not yet clear given the Houston ballclub’s ongoing postseason commitments. Espada, who is in his first year in his role, is also drawing interest from multiple other teams.
- Cubs bench coach Brandon Hyde received an interview from the Halos, according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter). He has ample experience in the Chicago dugout, including a pair of campaigns as bench coach and three prior years as first base coach. Hyde also spent five years as a minor-league manager within the Marlins organization. Like Espada, he’s chatting with other clubs as well.
Potential Candidates
- It isn’t yet certain who else the Halos have sat down with, but it seems there are some strong hunches. Fletcher tabs four internal possibilities: special assistants Brad Ausmus and Eric Chavez along with field personnel Dino Ebel (third-base coach) and Josh Paul (bench coach). Those looking for more reading on the topic may also want to check out this recent post from MLB.com’s Maria Guardado. She recently ran through some possible names to contemplate, included many of those covered above. While it’s not clear whether or not they’re considered candidates by the L.A. organization, Omar Vizquel (White Sox minor-league manager) and Joe McEwing (White Sox bench coach) are tabbed by Guardado as conceivable possibilities.
I think espada would be a nice fit, finally glad to move on to someone else.
x2. As I said in Rangers’ thread, he’s into analytics, young, and worked as special assistant to Cashman before he was Yanks third base coach 2015-2017. Espada interviewed for Rangers’, Angels’ jobs, and Yankees’ managerial job last year. He’s also bilingual.
Most GM’s seem to be looking for younger, analytically minded managers who they can keep under their thumb. As long as they communicate well with the players and have a good layout for how they will run practices etc, I’m sure they’ll be hired. I doubt the Angels go with another “old timer” or veteran manager because they don’t want somebody who is still stuck in the old school ways of baseball. They should just have a statistician become an MLB manager because that’s what it’s coming to.
and that is a tragedy. sabermetrics should stay as a tool for baseball but now it became the ultimate goal in itself.
Amen
Awe, come on, Brad Ausmus had such a great four-year run with the Tigers,
“Joe Torre wasn’t a great manager first time as Cardinals’ manager. Brad Ausmus is Joe Torre.”
“Terry Francona wasn’t a great manager first time as Phillies’ manager. Brad Ausmus is Terry Francona.”
Many people think Brad learned from his rookie mistakes, first time around, draw these two parallels.
Torre had zero talent in STL when he managed there, Casey Stengel couldn’t have won with that team
Is that from multiple sources as well?
yes sir
Official sources?
That’s not true. All had winning records and the 93 team went 87-75.
I think “zero talent” is a stretch.
Tom Pagnozzi
Ozzie Smith
Todd Zeile
Bernard Gilkey
Ray Lankford
Brian Jordan
Their biggest problem was the lack of quality pitching during his time.
In comparison to the teams he would manage with NY, cards lacked talent, and you are correct the pitching was suspect
Look at 94 and 95
Tom Pagnozzi? Huh
You forgot Rex Hudler
And the flip side to this is the level of talent Torre had purchased for him by the Yankees was insanely good and would have made many failed managers look great and successful. Heck even Matheny could have looked great with those teams! LOL I always thought Torre was overrated and received way too much credit for the Yankees success during his time there.
“Heck even Matheny could have looked great with those teams.”
Let’s not get carried away.
Except Torre had already managed the Mets & Braves before managing the Cardinals.
Exactly. Surprised anyone thought the Cards was his first.
His Cardinals’ stint was a failure. 351-354 record, Though he had a winning record each those full seasons, miss playoffs every yr.
Torre’s an example of a manager, who learned from his previous mistakes. BTW… this may come as a shocker, but wasn’t born when he managed Mets and Braves…. That was 34 years ago. That doesn’t stop people from throwing out the Torre parallel. (For any manager, think will learn from previous failures) Torre had 3 failure stints, before lasted 12 with NY, won 4. Like hearing different perspectives on this, cuz heard thrown around, many times before on here, for Ausmus
When Ausmus was managing the Tigers, his pitching rotation was Verlander, Scherzer, Price, and Porcello. Not too shabby. But the team failed to reach the goal.
Every tiger fan I know hated Ausmus
Wasn’t a fan of Ausmus either, just saying pple often bring up first-time manager failures, saying there’s reason for hope. Personally, think Ausmus would be an uninspiring hire, but he (still) has fans.
Apparently he has one fan.
Hah. Nope. Just telling you what I’ve been told by Brad Ausmus fans.
Can they bring back the player/manager role for Puljos?
Can we take away the “player” aspect of that role?
Just think of Puljos as an expensive Rule 5 pick.
This is actually one of the best ideas. They would get some money’s worth and by all accounts is a good guy. But it won’t happen
Dude is probably like 47 years old, anyway.
He managed part of the last game of the season. It would make a ton of sense. It would probably be a strain on him, though, which is why I don’t see him taking the job.
MLBTR has obtained copies of the Written Test…
(1) How does Mike Trout drink his coffee?
(2) What kind of Ice Cream does Mike Trout like?
(3) How does Mike Trout like his steaks cooked?
etc,., etc., etc……..
As I’ve said, in the real world, Giradi’s a perfect fit here….
How is he a perfect fit ?
If he doesn’t eat his steak medium rare, I don’t want anything to do with him.
I hope Artie is enjoying the playoffs from his lazy boy and I hope he remembers clearly how it feels to be in that lazy boy while watching the playoffs when he opens his wallet in free agency.
former angels world champions like erstad, bengie or eckstein should be definately considered. in erstad’s case he took an underperming team and shaped it up into a championship team.
i have a feeling most g.m.’s are just choosing their lapdogs for managers.
I agree everyone should be considered and on a short none of this 50 million or ten years crap…like i said they n the past I don’t care if scioscia wins the next World Series as long as it’s not with the Angels. Get a 2 year third baseman trade Simmons in a multi player deal and get pitching and go hard after Corbin or Keyshawn
Trade Simmons? Yeah… no. That would be awful
Keyshawn Johnson?
Can you please trade Simmons back to the Braves? We’d like a do-over
trade Simmons? oh my effn crap N-O !
Simmons for Arenado.
Trade Simmons if you want guality in return and kershaw or Corbin from fre agency. Don’t we have a ss playing 3rd and 2 more ss in the minors, Simmons value is high it could land a quality pitcher or two
Yes, trade the second best SS in the league. Great idea.
The Halos should interview Demarlo Hale.
Perfect fit based off of the name.
You know Mike Matheny was bad when you haven’t seen his name mentioned once
I’m blanking on who it was but i saw a report that he was considered for an interview. I laughed hard.
He really doesn’t fit into an analytics-first manager position.
Bobby V!
Dusty Baker!
Do you have to bring a scantron sheet to the Angels test or do they supply the scan tron and a no. 2 pencil? Does anyone know?!?!
And no cheating
You’ve gotta love the unorthodox concept of the written exam. It’s a neat way to (somewhat) remove the objectiveness from the process. I have zero issue with any of the names mentioned thus far (though I do have a preference) and am excited to have new direction at the helm of the USS Halo
You left out the hottest managerial man on the planet. The one and only Wayne” Terwilliger .Twig went to Western Michigan University and knows the ups and downs of baseball life. He can help the pitchers, catchers, outfielders and even the ticket sellers. Just look at what he did with the Fort Worth Cats. The man is what the angels need. He knows what day of the week it is. I hope they can sign him before the Yankees or Dodgers do
Is he even alive? Serious question.
Hmm nevermind. He is alive!
Erstad, Eckstein or maybe a long shot like Gary DiScarcina would bring some needed “no frills” attitude this team lacks
I think fans really shouldn’t favor any managerial candidate because we just simply don’t have enough info on these guys to have an informed opinion. Gotta have more info than just the resume and where they’ve been, which is why interviews are so important. I’m just really excited to see who Billy hires and I trust his choice will be a good one.
Also: I absolutely love the idea of a 2 hour written test that was reported the angels are doing. Love love love it. So wish i could get my hands on a copy
They were also asked to bring a calculator and a protractor to measure launch angle.
There’s also a section on Tommy John surgery.
Wonder if any manager had a dream where there was 5 minutes left and they hadn’t answered a question followed by fantasies of a young Rebecca DeMornay.
Josh Paul really? I got hit autograph at a mall in Illinois when he was a “prospect” for the white Sox lol. He played 8 years for like 4 teams. How did he ever get a job that had anything to do with baseball? He’ll never be manager for Anaheim.
Given the fact that Eppler moved Dino Ebel from bench coach to third base coach so he could hire Josh Paul as the bench coach, I think you might be wrong about that.
“he wasn’t a good player so he won’t be a good manager” is possibly the dumbest argument you can give for not wanting someone as manager. Most of the best managers of all time were average to below average players.
Wunderball exam – classic
As a Tigers fan, why they would interview Ausmus is beyond me.
I hope Eppler isn’t putting on a smoke and mirrors just to hire Chavez and not take this serious……..if you had Chavez in mind why put this pretend freak show and put all these other people through a big waste of time. Don’t start with the b.s. like scioscia would…….be a man
MLB has requirements for the hiring process.
That sucks that Vizquel bombed his interview and is no longer under consideration. He probably started singing his cover of “Broadway” by Goo Goo Dolls, which he also bombed.
Cmon… Bobby V…perfect for Arte Moreno
Can we interview for a new owner???
If the Angels are serious about escaping their plain vanilla finishes over the past few years,, one way would be to trade Mike Trout for a ship load of prospects. Absent that, by the time the Angels gets get good again (If they get good again!, Trout will be on the wrong side of 30 and a possible FA. JMHO, but if the Angels are still in the dog house when FA comes up for Trout, he’s leaving. Better to stock up on prospects now while the market for Trout is still at an all-time high. One team who would back up the truck to get Trout is the Phillies. They have about a dozen sure fire future MLB players in their farm system. The Angels would do well to call them.. Plus Philly is only about 50 miles from where Trout grew up.
No. Go away.
Why no automatically? Angels need to consider trading Trout and rebuilding. The idea is to win and have not been able to build around Trout and I do not see how that will change.
Because every fan of one of the other 29 teams that makes comments like this here end up saying, “oh but Nola and Hoskins and Kingery and our top 3 prospects are off limits.”
You wishful thinkers always think it’s fair to say your team can have 5 or 6 or 7 untouchable players, yet the Angels are idiots for saying one player (Trout) is untouchable on their side.
It’s unserious magical thinking…this belief that your team will be the one to sucker the Angels into making a terrible deal with your team.
For Trout, you can have Hoskins and Kingery and perhaps one or two more prospects (JP Crawford- SS, Sixto Sanchez -SP). Tough to trade Nola. He’s the only solid SP we have.. Whatever, seems like the smartest way to go for the Angels. Try to get relevant again. Another season of barely missing or barely exceeding 80 wins is totally boring.
But you find rebuilding and losing exciting? Go root for the Orioles then.
Well, whatever the Angels have been doing since 2004 isn’t exactly sending fans’ hearts aflutter. So if the new GM listens to you, next year will be same-old-same-old. The bar you set for excitement must be pretty low. Remember, you can’t have a resurrection without a crucifixion. be like the Astros, Royals and Cubs. Bite the bullet for a few years and get to a WS.
Rebuilding is more exciting than spinning your wheels and being medicore evert year.
Baldelli is an interesting candidate. He was a pretty damn good player but it was probably his perseverance that made his playing career notable. IIRC he had some muscular abnormality that he struggled with (ala David Wright) ultimately making it back for a brief period. Feel like hes well respected in baseball circles due to that as well as his playing style but that only goes do far IMO. The complete lack of managing experience is concerning, and I’d expect the Halos to go internal (Chavez) if they choose someone whos never been skipper, but it’s clearly not make or break. Anyone coming from that organization in St. Pete seems to have a bit more shine than your average bear.
How about Torii Hunter? But I think they should just go with Chavez. They need somebody with energy and a good voice in the clubhouse.