The Angels announced Tuesday that Hall of Famer Tony La Russa has joined the organization as a senior advisor to the baseball operations department.
“I’ve admired Tony for a very long time,” general manager Billy Eppler said in a press release announcing the move. “As our paths have crossed over the years, Tony and I discussed the potential of working together and we’re excited to finally get that opportunity. Adding his knowledge and experience will be an invaluable piece to the success and continued development of our baseball operations efforts both on and off the field.”
La Russa, 75, has spent nearly six decades working in professional baseball as a player, manager and front-office executive. He played parts of six seasons in the Majors from 1963-73 and, in 1979, embarked on a legendary managerial career that would eventually lead to his enshrinement in Cooperstown. A four-time Manager of the Year winner who has six League Championships and three World Series rings on his resume, La Russa managed the White Sox, Athletics and Cardinals to a combined 2728-2365 record across an incredible 33 seasons in the dugout.
He more recently had a less successful run as the Diamondbacks’ chief baseball officer, working alongside since-fired general player-turned-agent-turned-manager Dave Stewart in Arizona from 2014-17. La Russa resigned from that post after the D-backs dismissed Stewart and brought in current general manager Mike Hazen. He subsequently joined the Red Sox as a special assistant to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski prior to the 2018 season. He’d reportedly been expected to remain in the Boston organization but will instead now tackle a new opportunity with the Angels organization.
In his new role with the Angels, La Russa will “assist in all areas of baseball operations including Major League player evaluations and minor league development,” per the Angels’ announcement.
Shelby Miller to the Angels…
Someone’s gotta throw BP.
It’s sad that he would be an Upgrade. Epp will probably give him 1/10.
Lol!! Such a dumb trade.
Yes!!! He’s outta Boston!
Angels stacking the FO with seasoned and respected baseball minds. Let’s see if it translates into productivity on the field.
Last success LaRussa had was with the Cardinals. Every other employer has put him out the door. His worst fling was when he and his buddy Dave Stewart were pulling the strings together. Until they got the rug pulled out from under themselves.
I like what the Angels are doing so far this year, noe let’s go and sign Cole or all this is for nothing…
Welcome to The Show, Mr. La Russa!
P.S. I hope this isn’t Epplers idea of a big name HOF signing. :P
Eppler has 2 HOF players on the field every game.
With nothing to show for.
After the system was devastated by that idiot DiPoto it’s a miracle that Eppler has been able to accomplish what he has so far.
I wish the White Sox would have grabbed him
Sox will miss him. He always brought a bag of Wethers Originals to owners box and his gentlemanly snoring during his naps put the sometimes tense front office at ease.
What are you talking about?
… what are YOU talking about?
I asked you first!
I wanna know what you’re both talking about. Explain yourselves to me!!
okay, this made me laugh. OMG Werthers Originals. Dying.
Yes, you are almost dead if you like Werther’s.
Beware angels haters inbound.
“We’re moving on up!”
He think Harold Baines is a Hall of Famer, that’s a bad sign.
Lol so true!
Because Baines should be in the HoF. Wouldn’t a hall of fame manager know that? He’s clearly not the only one who thinks that
Perfect opportunity to bring Johnny Narron back to Anaheim, this time as Tony La Russa’s accountability partner.
huge loss for red Sox. he should have been interim manager when Cora imploded in 19.
oh know he wrecked the d- backs when they signed Greinke
Angels already went down that road thank goodness.. Zack wasn’t a good fit
That d-bag wrecked the d-backs. That’s a lotta d.
fml. This definitely stinks like Arte Moreno being like “I wanna get some old school baseball guys in the room to watch the nerds.” He loved the old-schoolness of Scossia. This is a non-story that could actually be pretty telling.
La Russa is the first stat nerd that was ever a manager, not old school at all.
Is that true? I was under the impression the dude was so old school that he thought the internet was a trend.
It’s been widely known and publicized for a very long time.
La Russa is a proven jerk. Too bad they didn’t hire Scoscia instead.
Really don’t see the point of this. La Russa wasn’t too valuable for the Diamondbacks, and the Sox didn’t seem to care too much if he was there or not.
Tony in town to burn the Angels completely to the ground. Great hire.
HALO hallelujah! Such a brilliant baseball mind. Whatever he can add will be beyond appropriated!!! Welcome to the Halos Tony!
Should have brought in Nolan Ryan and his son
If only Robin Ventura were the manager, Nolan can give Robin noogies when they lose.
There are some great bars in Orange County and he can Uber now.
Lol. Great post.
Seems like Sox owner John Henry is thinning out his endless supply of “advisors”; Eckersley once said you couldn’t walk through the executive suite without tripping over 10 of them.
Bill James is gone (retired); now Larussa; I can see a few more of these “200K a year for hanging around” guys hitting the road. Maybe Jason Variteck (who probably knows more than most of them) can get a real voice now.
Let’s hope
I’m reading this as a move for Arte to have another, similar minded representative in the Gerritt Cole negotiations. Arte infamously doesnt like Scott Boras and LaRussa and Boras know each other well.
I can see Cole going to the Doyers rather than Angels.. if he wants to win that is. He can’t carry that pedestrian and injury ridden rotation by himself.
Nothing pedestrian about their rotation whatsoever with Cole and another back end guy next year. They get Ohtani back next year too. Something like Cole, Ohtani, Odorizzi, Heaney, and Canning, Barria/all those other guys fighting for 5th/6th spot is a potential top 3 rotation and definitely well above average. And if they sign two big ticket pitchers… look out, all you need is three dominant starters in the post season
I’m not convinced the Angels land Cole, but I think something like Wheeler and either Kyle Gibson or Julio Teheran, combined with the return of Ohtani, makes the rotation pretty solid. Top 3? No. But good enough to compete.
Heaney and Canning round out the 5 (and Canning should be even better in his sophomore year), and keep Peña stretched out so he can spot start when needed. Barria, Suarez, Sandoval (who I’m actually high on) and Peters are all ready to fill in when guys get hurt.
Hah! What exactly have the Dodgers won?
The head of Hall of Mediocrity votes
This is perfect. LaRussa oversaw the Steroid Era in Baseball starting in Oakland with McGuire and Conseco, then with the Cardinals. NOw, maybe he can do what he does with the Opioids Scandal which is plaguing the Angels.
Shut up.
*McGwire and Canseco
If you could spell their names we might pay attention to what you are saying instead its a sure sign to ignore you.
Hope he only advises on when to clean toilets and not personnel moves. He is a HOF Mgr and a Hall of Shame Front Office Consultant
How many teams is Larussa going to pay off to have a made up job?
I used to love Tony Larussa baseball on Sega Genesis.
Yes! The Sox have freed themselves of this dinosaur
1 “special advisor” down, 50 or so to go.
Thus begins the “Tim Salmon for HOF” backroom armtwisting…
I’m an Angels fan. What’s Eppler doing with this soft and useless POS.
$ could have been spent better with more bathroom attendants. We’d get more from them than “Crying Tony LaBoozea”.
I dont think this move came from Billy.
Not sure why Arte did this. La Russa doesn’t add much to the organization other than a recognizable face. Eppler would not make a hire like this on his own. Well “senior advisors” don’t make any decisions and what he is making in salary won’t keep Eppler from signing any players.
we will ‘ miss him’ in boston, that 4 seconds he got of face time mattered during the games sleeping next to the 3 guys that sat behind Dombrowski , i hope him and mike trout have fun playing dominos after the season ends, its not like he’ll ever have to worry about making a playoff decision
Good to see Tony and Albert together again
Like he “helped” the Diamondbacks?
Every move their making points to eppler being gone next year, and it’s gonna be extremely hard to believe in arte and this organization when that happens
I agree Eppler is under the gun. However I think these moves help Eppler. First the Maddon hire gives him a real good manager whether he was Epplers choice or not. Next I am sure Arte is going to pony up for Cole or other quality FA’s. I am sure Maddon discussed that already before taking the job.
So he has a good manager with a veteran coaching staff and money to play with. He needs to make the right decision on FA’s but the decision will not be his alone.
So they are putting him in a position to succeed which is all he can ask for and since Maddon was most likely ownerships call and FA signings will not be all up to Eppler he also may get a pass if expectations are not met IF some prospects take nice steps.
Overall I agree his job is on the line but at the same time at least he is being put in a position to succeed which is not always the case in these situations.
Go Angels!
Angels should trade Simba and Canning to Cleveland for Lindor, Fletcher and Brandon Marsh to Cubs for Javi Baez, sign Moustakas, Sign Gerrit Cole, Zach Wheeler or Julio Tehran and Felix Hernandez and Yasmani Grandal and Martin Maldonado.
Lineup would be deadly:
1. Lindor
2. Baez
3. Trout
4. Upton
5. Pujols
6. Moustakas
7. Ohtani
8. Grandal
9. Adell
Rotation:
1. Cole
2. Ohtani
3. Heaney
4. King Felix
5. Tehran/Wheeler
6. Jaime Barria
7. Felix Pena