Albert Pujols could be returning to Anaheim, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Angels are planning to interview the future Hall-of-Famer for their managerial opening. Beyond just being a candidate for the job, Pujols already looks like a favorite, as The Athletic’s Sam Blum, Katie Woo, and Ken Rosenthal write that “Pujols is believed to be the leading choice” for Angels owner Arte Moreno. A source close to Pujols says “the decision may be Pujols’ to make” in regards to whether or not he’ll take the job.
Reports emerged yesterday that the Halos were making a change in the dugout, as neither Ron Washington nor Ray Montgomery would be managing the team in 2026. Washington took a leave of absence in June after undergoing a quadruple bypass, and Montgomery (previously the team’s bench coach) took over as interim manager for the remainder of the 2025 campaign.
Montgomery told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he is deciding whether or not to accept an offer to remain in the Angels organization in another role. As for Washington, the Angels held a club option on his services for next season, but chose to decline that option in favor of a new face as skipper.
Or, perhaps not an entirely new face if Pujols ends up as the hire. Pujols spent parts of 10 seasons playing with Los Angeles, hitting .256/.311/.447 with 222 home runs after signing a 10-year, $240MM free agent contract in the 2011-12 offseason. Much more was expected from Pujols given the size of the deal and his past superstar-level production with the Cardinals, but between injuries and age (Pujols was entering his age-32 season at the time of the signing), the slugger hit the decline phase that most players experience during their 30s.
In theory, the tandem of Pujols and the emerging Mike Trout (and by 2018, Shohei Ohtani) would’ve promised a glorious era of Angels baseball. Los Angeles did post winning records in four of Pujols’ first five years with the team, though only the 98-win 2014 squad made the playoffs, and the Angels were swept out of the ALDS by the Royals. That remains the Halos’ last postseason appearance, and the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2015.
With Pujols’ numbers falling off and Ohtani’s presence covering the DH position, the Angels decided to designate Pujols for assignment in May 2021 and then released him soon after. Pujols moved across town to sign with the Dodgers for the rest of the 2021 campaign, and then played one final season in St. Louis, turning back to the clock to hit .270/345/.550 with 24 homers in 351 plate appearances during his farewell.
Since retiring, Pujols has still been an Angels employee, due to the 10-year personal services contract that was attached to his free agent deal for his post-playing days. He been open about eventually wanting to return to baseball as a coach or manager, and he has been a special instructor during the Halos’ spring camps, and a skipper in the Dominican Winter League. Pujols’ most high-profile managerial gig is slated for this coming spring at the World Baseball Classic when he is slated to helm the Dominican Republic’s team, though those plans will naturally change if he is hired to manage the Angels.
Pujols’ lack of direct MLB managing or coaching experience doesn’t make him all that different from some other recent managers who were hired to run teams shortly after their careers were over. It is increasingly rare to see a true superstar-level talent move into a managerial role, though naturally plenty of Hall-of-Famers have also become skippers (or, back in the day, even served as player-managers).
The idea of Pujols returning as manager to try and restore the Halos to prominence carries some natural intrigue. If the ball is truly in Pujols’ court about whether he wants the job or not, he may view his past history in Anaheim as part of the challenge, and beginning his managerial career in a familiar environment undoubtedly holds some appeal. In a sense, there is nowhere to go but up, given how the Angels are on a decade-long run of losing seasons. Since seven other teams besides the Angels are also looking for managers this offseason, it is possible Pujols could emerge as a candidate for one of those positions as well.
Big name with no relevant experience in the job. Sounds like an Arte Moreno hire.
He’s familiar with his boss, knows Mike trout, and understands losing as an Angel.
Is there another box to check?
He learned from the best first hand, Dave Roberts
He managed a Dominican team to a championship last year and will be managing the DR’s team next year for the World Clasic. But he has no experience..
I bet you I could coach team Canada hockey team at the Olympics and still the team would probably win. Would that make me a good coach?
Angels are so cheap. They are thinking Pujols becuase he’s still on the payroll lol.
Better than him doing it in STL but this certainly won’t work out well.
As a fan of watching other teams do dumb things, I fully endorse this hire.
Is this the big signing of the offseason?
He should manage the Giants. Then they can have a manager and general manager/POBO who are former stars with minimal experience for their current job.
okay.
This seems like a dumb idea, even by the Arte Moreno standards of being dumb.
I wonder if he gets Gary Thorne’s stamp of approval?
I say erstad atleast he was a manager before. I’m not against pujols, but atleast start him out as the bench coach, so he’s ready in two years.
Angels never put up a 500 record with pujols,trout,ohtani together
That is extraordinary incompetence
They had no pitching. Ohtani was fine when he wasn’t needing TJs, but outside of that it was like me standing on the mound every night.
This is an adorable defense of wasting three generational talents, one of which is the greatest player to ever play. Don’t hurt your back carrying water for one of the worst owners in sports.
Uh, Pujols was no good by the time Ohtani got there.
Pujols best year in LAA was a name brand Michael Busch performance.
Ohtani and Trout never good ant the same time. And Pujols was never a great player with the Angels.
Bless Arte 🙏
To take him back to Him before ruining His Angels even more than he has.
This is a great idea. He is respected by players and knows what motivates players. That is what a manager is really for. Arte finally making a smart decision if hires him.
Does anyone know what if anything he actually does for the personal services contract?
I’ve seen him on the back fields at Spring Training talking to players and read he’s a recruiter in the DR.
We could have Connie Mack and Sparky Anderson’s DNA put into a centrifuge to create the greatest manager in baseball history and it won’t make this team a winner.
When are the Angels going to interview for a new team president and fire the other executives?
The problem is the owner. Until that changes, nothing will turn this franchise around. It’s the same issue the Pirates have.
Agreed.
The owner hired his college and billboard buddies to be executives.
The owner and those unqualified buddies have hired a string of ineffective GMs and managers and hamstrung them by cutting staff at every level.
The owner and his buddies gutted funding for scouting and development for years, including ignoring the DR.
That same owner and his buddies will now lead the search for a new manager. Expecting them to suddenly start making good decisions now is foolish.
They need to fire everyone in the front office, everyone!
Theres a reason most all time greats aren’t managers…. They dont understand how others just can’t do what they did… For those Angels fans complaining of the potential hire, I’m sure most Cards fans would trade ya Oli Marmol for Pujols. Also the no experience shtick is lame. How does anyone gain any experience if no one will hire based on none? Bet yall started with no experience in your fields. At least Albert has four+ decades of living the game.
The best course of action is Pujols looking for a year or two as a bench coach for an MLB team.
Cut it any way you want, just like Marmol when he first started, Pujols has no managing/coaching experience yet especially this being the Angels.
I think it’s going to be Pujols. It’s good press and Arte loves good press.
Which means Minasian will still be the GM and Moreno will still own the team in 2026.
The best we can hope for is the for the rebuild to start in 2027.
Superstar players rarely make for superstar managers.
Wow, very surprised.
Cool, another experiment.
Looks like an odd move. More for show etc. But Pujols takes things seriously and he’s not about a circus. I feel he’ll voice up what he wants and respect for Trout to put a winning team together. I feel Wash was promised something like that based on his comments when hired, and I think it’ll come out the that they didnt add enough as promised. With Pujols hes high profile so he could make demands, not get jersey around and hold more accountability which is desperately needed in Anaheim. We’ll see
I never saw Pujols as a managerial type as a player. Seems like this might be a case of “we’re paying you anyway, might as well do something”