The Angels announced that they have agreed to a one-year contract with Phil Nevin to manage the club in 2023. Nevin had taken over on an interim basis this year when Joe Maddon was fired but will stick around for another season in the dugout.
Nevin, 51, will get his first proper stint as a manager next year. After playing in 12 seasons from 1995 to 2006, he transitioned into coaching. He began in independent ball before getting some work in the minors. He got up to the major league level in 2017, joining the Giants as a third base coach before taking on the same job with the Yankees and then the Angels.
2022 got off to a roaring start for the Angels, with the club going 14-8 in April. For a moment, there was hope that the club could finally put it all together after years of not being able to capitalize on all the talent on their roster. However, the club slumped after that, eventually undergoing a 12-game losing streak across the end of May and early June, leading to Maddon getting fired as bench boss.
Nevin was promoted to interim manager at that point, losing his first two games to extend that losing streak to a 14-gamer. Overall, since the switch, the club has gone 46-59. Those aren’t exactly inspiring numbers, but it’s hard to know how much of that to pin on Nevin given the deficiencies of the roster.
Despite Nevin’s lack of experience and tepid results so far, there’s some logic to maintaining the continuity of the staff by keeping him around. There’s a great deal of uncertainty hovering over the club right now for a few reasons, one of which is that owner Arte Moreno is exploring selling the team. It’s possible that the club has a new owner in place or at least lined up by this time next year. At that time, they may have their own plans about how they want to run the club, whether they want to try to compete immediately or embark on a rebuild. Given that uncertain future, it makes sense to keep Nevin in there as a sort of placeholder until the future becomes clearer. The alternative would be conducting a lengthy search to find a new manager, but candidates might not be enthused about stepping into a situation that is still very much in flux.
There’s also the uncertainty around the on-field product. Despite having tremendously talented players like Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon on the roster, the team has continued to disappoint. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2014 and haven’t had a winning record since 2015. Ohtani is currently slated to reach free agency after the 2023 campaign, at which point Trout will be 32 and Rendon will be 33. It’s entirely possible that next season is the one that they finally put it all together, but it’s also possible that they disappoint yet again. The roster has obvious holes right now and it’s hard to guess how much Moreno would be interested in spending on a team he’s actively trying to sell.
There’s a wide variety of potential outcomes for the next year with a vast number of unknowns beyond that. The club will eventually have to decide what kind of manager they want, depending on which path they go down. However, today’s decision to keep Nevin around effectively kicks that can down the road for another year.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
L organization
Here’s a club trying to jumpstart a rebuild by aiming for better draft picks. Trout and Ohtani getting traded this off-season?
No.
Next question?
To me this is more of why hire someone when the team is for sale and the new ownership can come in and hire whoever they want.
@lang2424 They signed him to a one year deal and probably not for a boat load of money. This is better than committing to a new manager on a 3 or 5 year commitment. A new owner can still fire Nevin once he buys the team and put whoever he wants in place or can see what happens next year.
That’s exactly my point. Plus no outside manager would consider the job with that uncertainty.
Exactly. Nevin has the gig until the new crew arrives.
It’s a win, win. Nevin gaines experience and, to your point, it doesn’t interfere with new ownership plans. The key, I believe, to it all is that the current roster likes playing for him.
Good deal by both sides. Give him a shot but make him earn a longer commitment. Interesting tell that they’re looking to compete in 2023 and chose him to lead it.
Nah. as someone already pointed out, its a sign the team will be sold, so there’s no reason to sign a manager to a long term deal.. especially when nobody of real strength as a manager would sign such a contract in the middle of a team being sold
Maybe but owners don’t normally hire/fire the manager and it doesn’t affect the sale. They do the President/GM, which in this case, if true, takes away Minasian’s authority. This seems more of a baseball decision than anything dealing with the sale. But yeah, we don’t know.
There are idiots on Angels facebook page upset about this signing. I’d be surprised if anyone on this site is one of those people. While there are a few tools and trolls here, mostly everyone seems to be fairly level-headed and understand the game and business
Great!
If it’s not popular with most of the posters here as it’s missing pizazz, then it’s going to work out fine.
A baseball lifer – same as Thompson in Philly and Snitker in Atlanta.
Perry knows what he’s doing. Got 3 starters worked out this year, a couple of bullpen guys, an OF and 2 infielders. Got to develop your own. That’s how winning teams are built over a few years. MLB is not rotisserie league.
I still would have thought a two year deal makes more sense. Creating a lame duck manager situation on a team in need of leadership during an impending transition doesn’t make sense to me. If a new owner wants to make a change, he can buyout Nevin and consider it part of the cost of acquisition.
Don, good point. Makes sense.
It’s a one year stopgap deal until the team is sold, so it’s an OK move. But please don’t compare Nevin to Snitker or even Thomson. Snitker’s record speaks for itself and as for Thomson, he took over a team that was 22-29 and went 65-45 the rest of the way and made the playoffs. Nevin took over a near .500 team (27-29) and went 46-59 the rest of the way.
Nevin has been pretty bad. He’s not a good or smart manager. But, it’s one year and cheap and new ownership will likely fire him or not bring him back.
He’s been pretty bad? He wasn’t even given a fair shot. He took over a team riddled with injuries and dumped one of their best SP’s and closer at the trade deadline. Let’s see how he does in 2023 before passing judgement on his managerial skills.
Setzer, nice and concise. Agreed.
Sam The Man,
Was looking/waiting for your post on this…How can it hurt right? I don’t have any qualms with this…Halo fans shouldn’t either. Nevin isn’t the reason we haven’t been to the postseason in almost a decade fellas.
Good for Phil!!
Phil?? Like the groundhog Phil…??!
Haha very nice
He’s not being brought back to lead them to a WS, just to hold down the fort while they find a buyer/direction for the future.
Will be yet another losing season in Anaheim
Not real excited but I get it. Makes sense for both sides…should be an interesting off season for my Halos starting tomorrow. Like I say every year…”we will get em next year.”
Great news! That eliminates the Halos for 2023.
No Manager says “I can turn this team around in 1 year” in their interview, and his record proves that. They could have been respectful and just left the Intrim tag on, instead if firing another guy next year.
Its one year, they won’t have to fire him if it doesn’t work out, they can just choose to not sign him to another contract.
They won’t fire him as his contract expires at the end of next season and a good chance new ownership will take over about the same time .
Someone check in on Halo11
I do not support this move at all. The Angers just sent a sign to baseball that they no longer are even trying.. I will be cutting up my Rob Wilfong jersey and using it as toilet paper in protest
Makes sense. They won’t hire a new manager until the ownership situation is handled. This will also give Nevin a chance to continue on as the manager of the Angels can have a better 2023.
” The roster has obvious holes right now and it’s hard to guess how much Moreno would be interested in spending on a team he’s actively trying to sell.”
–
This is the mentality here of most of the writers as well as most of the posters regarding all teams. How come every time a team has “holes” they’re supposed to sign free agents and trade their prospects for so-so veteran that everyone gets excited about each offseason…..and most of them are duds before the following July?
People here point out Arte’s failed history of buying players each offseason, and now are saying the Angels appear not to be doing that last offseason and this one (i.e “They’re not trying to win!!!!”)
No one knows who the new owner(s) is/are going to be. It could be a hand’s-on person like Stephan Cohen with the Mets, or an investor(s) that will let the Baseball Ops people run Baseball Ops – as we see with the Dodgers, Rangers, Guardians, Orioles, and even Disney with the Angels (where they won a championship) before they sold to Arte.
The Angels are finally stabilizing. The bad contracts are almost all gone. Young players are playing better at the ML level this year – with more about to come up next year. The new owner(s) may see this and let it run it’s course before turning over the FO – which if they do could well result in yet another upheaval…..and THAT is where they lose Mike Trout (gee, notice how he’s quietly sneaking up on 40 HR’s even with all the injuries this year) and Shohei Ohtani.
I agree with you for the most part. We really need an owner or group who trust their baseball staff to make to correct decisions.
As for the team I would hope they increase budget to $220 million as new owners likely will want to win and should not effect the sell of the team.
Spend on a SS, #3 SP, LF, and 2 BP. Increase the depth of the bench. Once injuries hit the team about 2 weeks later our lack of depth showed. I’m not talking about signing superstars but mid level players, except for the bullpen.
Either make Rengifo or Fletcher our new Figgins.
Samuel and urnuts: great takes.
This move, to me, is a strong indication that Arte is sincere in his intentions to move on.
And Samuel, to your point, truly hope for the fans sake that new ownership style is hands off. Since late 2018, Owner John Angelos of the Orioles is doing just that. No oppressive ownership involvement here. Refreshing. Grateful. I’m sold.
Not a Halos fanatic. Thanks urnuts for insight on team needs.
Cheers fellas!
@samuel
They can’t lose Mike Trout anymore than Detroit can lose Miguel Cabrera. He signed the contract. Even if he was to waive his no trade, his contract would limit the return, making it more of a salary dump than trade. Trout is there for the long run.
Because the ownership group is in flux, I get it. You can’t hire a manager to a mult-year deal.
But he’s a bad manager who doesn’t know how to use the pen. Case in point, Four times in the last two games he has let RPs pitch more than one inning, every single time they have failed in the second inning.
That’s putting pitchers in position to fail.
He also took the bat out of Trout’s hands. He’s not a good manager.
Halo11Fan;
You have absolutely no understanding at all why a manager does what does based on situations – such as it’s the last games of the season.
Phil Nevin forgot more about the game of baseball 10 years ago then you will figure out in your lifetime.
His moves were unorthodox and led to losses.
So basically, are you are saying that we can’t first guess a manager moves?
I talked about using Weiss in a big spot the other day and wrote I’m glad it worked out… but really? This is he move you want to make?
Halo, the Weiss thing is not a move you make in a pennant race in September. It might be a move you make in September when you’re out of it and want to see how a guy handles a big spot to give you some idea of whether he might be useful next season. Whether Weiss is a guy you should be thinking about for next season is another issue, I guess, but I assume the Angels called him up because they wanted to take a look at him.
socalbball
All good, but can I be afraid? They were not sound moves. You can make excuses, but they were not sound moves.
By the way, my friend coached Zack and his son played with him. They are both (not Zack) in my fantasy league. I’ve known about Zack for years. I want him to be successful, but I wouldn’t bet a game on him. Let alone three games in four days.
socal, another thing, If Nevin thinks RPs are going to be effective pitching more than one inning, then we, Angel fans, are in trouble.
Most RPs are not trained that way, or use to working that way. It’s no coincidence that all four RPs who were used that way in the Oakland series failed.
They were good in the inning they were called in and bad in the inning where they sat on the bench and only had their eight warm up pitches.
Every Angel fan should be a little concerned. And also, he’s been manager for how long? Whose the close? Whose the setup man? Be afraid… be very afraid?
Well F*** me!
If I was the Angels parents, they would be grounded for a month.
Show em who’s boss Brent
Manager of the Year!
Angels already punting on next season?.
Considering they paid Brad Ausmus while Joe Maddon was manager, they will pay Joe Maddon while Phil Nevin is manager, this allows them to break the cycle and not have to pay Nevin when the next manager takes over
Maddon signed a three year deal. After today’s game, the contract is over.
Just fire the hitting coach and we’ll call it a day.
Marsh goes to the Phillies and immediate becomes a viable hitter.
Halo11Fan;
Kevin Long may well be the best hitting coach in MLB. Am sure you never heard of him. The day the Phillies got Marsh I wrote that Long would square away his hitting (and also wrote that it would be a great trade for both teams as the Angels got what is gong to be a superior Catcher……and good MLB catchers are hard to find).
Edmundo Sosa is hitting .315 / .345 / .593 /.937 since the Phillies got him from the Cardinals…..and the Cardinals hitting coach seems to be doing fine with most of their other hitters.
People like you see Dave Dombrowski spending money on players. I see that too. But I also see him bringing in top-flite coaches which is why, for instance, he inherited one of the worst bullpens in MLB, turned much of it over going into 2022, was criticized for it here by posters like you that look at the pitchers past stats, and by July had one of the best bullpens in MLB. Some of those guys he was patient with, some he got rid of and brought in other guys. MLB is all about making the players a team has under contract better. The Angles under Minasian and Nevin are getting there. No one in the complicated, sophisticated, and competitive environment that is today’s MLB turns an organization and it’s team around in 2 years. What a smart fan looks for is if they’re making progress or not. The Angels are – 3 starting pitchers improved this year, a couple of bullwn guys, 2 OF’s, 2 infielders, and got a great major-league ready 2-way Catcher.
Most things in MLB are about failure. A .400 OPB means the batter is failing to get on base 6 out of 10 times. Pitchers don’t pitch shutouts. Any cheap shot artist that never played the game can pass judgment on those that do, and never comprehend how difficult it is.
You’re going on mute. You and nothing to add to any conversation other than to complaining that your team isn’t perfect.
Sam, Halos need FO people and I already put in a good word for you.
@Halo11fan
Which one? They basically have three with Jeremy Reed listed as “Hitting Coach”, John Mallee as “Assistant Hitting Coach”, and Paul Sorrento as “Hitting Instructor”. I’d say fire all three as i think part of the reason hitting is so bad around the league is “too many cooks in the kitchen” as it were. Maybe streamline that down to one Hitting Coach and get everyone back on the same page. With all these different coaches it sometimes looks like they aren’t even in the same book
Hitters don’t get better here. Adell and Marsh didn’t develop here, Ward took a long time.
I don’t know who i# the blame, but something is wrong.
Their pitching staff, top to bottom, looks to be in excellent shape. But there are only 4 players who hit higher than .260. The next highest average was Brandon Marsh’s .226. They are in an identical spot that the Phillies were up until this year – a top heavy roster that inevitably collapses because of a lack of depth. The Angels need to hire a stud GM that can rework the bottom half of the roster.
The Angels have the right GM.
He’s doing a great job.
I’m not sure anyone would consider Bill Stoneman a “stud GM” but he consistently spent money while having a steady stream of talent coming through the pipeline. It’s why the Angels were postseason regulars for several years. Maybe Minasian will turn out the same, hard to judge after only one season
Samuel, of course I’ve heard of him.
You are an arrogant arse.
People like you see Dave Dombrowski spending money on players.
Wow, another strawman showing once again that you can’t argue using facts and are an arrogant arse.
Is qualified! But looks like a cheap placeholder until the Team is sold. Might be great or bad, but CHEAP CHEAP!
Zack Weiss was on the mound for two of the biggest innings of this series.
That’s really all I need to say about Nevin.
Yeah, I generally cant watch games, but I wondered why Nevin pulled Ohtani early. I thought maybe injury, but I see he’s still in the game as a hitter.. what was that all about?
Perhaps it was an innings limit. Ohtani passed 160 innings and threw 31 more innings than last season. Meaningless game on the last day of the season, maybe they didn’t want to risk their $30 million dollar investment ahead of next season
Weiss has a 2.19 ERA this season. Why wouldn’t he be on the mound? Honest question, because he has been really good the few times I have seen him.
Have you located that link about Ohtani’s arbitration estimate yet, I’d love to read it.
Because he’s not very good. And no one looks at ERA by an RP. It’s too small a sample size. His FIP will likely be above 4 and his lifetime FIP will be above 6, and hopefully he’ll be at AAA next year.
He’s protected on lead in his entire big league career.
Not surprised by the signing. He is a placeholder until the new ownership brings in their guys. Will be surprised if he is around come opening day if the team is sold.
Nevin is a great guy and was a decent ballplayer. He just doesn’t seem to be a good coach or manager.
No one is surprised by the signing.
I’m just in shock by how awful ownership and baseball front office management this has been this year. Nevin is awful. Coupled with some of the asinine contracts handed out these last few years….just awful.
OcAngels
The Results have not been there. There is no disputing that. People can only give excuses.
Nevin makes some unorthodox moves that have cost the Angels several games.
Minasian, has not brought in a single player that has helped the Angels big league roster. He had the highest Angel draft pick this century and it looks like a wasted move. I’m not ready to throw him under the bus, but the results are not there.
Reed, the batting coach, doesn’t seem to have that much success either. Players come in here, they get worse and Adell and Marsh didn’t develop. But there is also Walsh and Ward. There is some data to support him, but the overall numbers have been horrid.
*LaRussa glumly crosses one team off the list*
What his salary going to be
Gonna be the new owners problem
Nevin has guided the team to a winning record since the all star break. He’s also got a winning record inter-division. Given that Sydergaard and Iglesias were traded away, Rendon was on the shelf and a lot of playing time was given to the callups, that is an accomplishment. He is a players’ manager in a time of uncertainty, which is a plus under the circumstances. Im my view the one-year extension that doesn’t lock in anything past 2023 was a no-brainer.
The Angels are one game under 500 since the all start break. That’s not such an endorsement.
And he has made unorthodox moves that would have cost the Angels four games in a row except Soto bailed him out with a double after blowing the sacrifice.
We’ve only talked about this for four games, and he’s messed up four games in a row. We can’t take much of Nevin.
One game under .500 since ASB and how many of those games did Trout, Rendon and Fletcher play in? How long did he have Thor and Iglesias before they were traded off?
Actually, with the loss today it’s two. We can disagree. But he makes unorthodox moves and those moves led to getting swept by the A’s. I don’t see how that is remotely debatable. It’s like he wanted to lose, and if he makes similar moves next year it’s going to be a long season.
Next year he can be voted ‘Manager ofl the Weak’
So we went 46-59 with Nevin at the helm and that lands him a contract. If you set expectations low you minimize disappointment I guess. This was probably a safe move pending the sale of the team, especially if the players like him. Let the new owner clean house.
Just a shame for baseball that the one team that has 2 global superstars just can’t go all the way. It stinks for baseball
It’s laughable, as big as Brett Phillips laugh
One can wonder how the spectre of Ken Caminiti affects Phil Nevin daily.
Can you elaborate on this context
I can guess. Caminiti is a known cheater and Nevin’s career arch suggest he has a lot of explaining to do.
Nevin is a bad choice as a manager (better than TLR but not by much. ) They need bullpen help badly and a new catcher.