6:22pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes that the Angels have not yet made Pujols an official offer, though he confirms that the interview went well.
6:00pm: It seems the Angels have made up their mind about their next manager, though he still has to agree. According to a report from Sam Blum and Katie Woo of The Athletic, the job is going to go to Albert Pujols as long as he wants it. Per the report, Pujols met with general manager Perry Minasian last night and the meeting went well. Discussions on a deal are in the works but there’s not yet an agreement in place.
It was reported just over a week ago that Pujols would interview for the job and would be a frontrunner. That was just a few days after it was reported that neither Ron Washington nor Ray Montgomery would be back in the job. Washington opened the 2025 season as the skipper but was away for most of the year due to quadruple bypass surgery, with Montgomery covering for him on an interim basis. Torii Hunter has also been reported as a candidate but today’s reporting indicates that Hunter would only be a real consideration if things fall through with Pujols.
Per Blum and Woo, the Angels hope to make an official announcement before the World Series, though there are still some contractual things to work out. The report suggests that Pujols’s personal services contract could be a factor.
The ten-year, $240MM contract he signed with the Angels in 2011 included a ten-year, $10MM personal services contract for after his retirement as a player. He finished his playing career after the 2022 season. He had been released by the Angels and then spent some time with the Dodgers and Cardinals. In February of 2023, he rejoined the Angels as a special assistant to honor that personal services pact. Since he’s only three seasons into that deal, there are seven years left. It’s not clear how the existing contract would impact whatever is being negotiated for him to take the skipper job.
Pujols has previously expressed an interest in becoming a manager but has no experience in affiliated ball, either as a manager or as a coach. He managed Leones del Escogido, a Dominican winter ball team, last offseason. The Leones won the Serie Final over Tigres del Licey in seven games. Pujols is slated to manage the Dominican Republic national team in the upcoming World Baseball Classic but would presumably have to bow out of that gig if he signs with the Angels.
Assuming the sides are able to cross the T’s and dot the I’s, then Pujols will be in the Angels dugout yet again. It feels like a fait accompli at this point, as Blum and Woo report that the coaching staff negotiations are also already in motion. The report notes that former big leaguer Ramón Martínez, brother of Pedro Martínez, is Pujols’s top choice for pitching coach. Barry Enright has been the Halos’ pitching coach for the past two years but it’s fairly common for new managers to make some coaching changes.
The Halos haven’t had a winning season since 2015. Mike Scioscia had a long run as the club’s skipper, from 2000 to 2018. Since then, as the club has struggled, there has been a lot more turnover. Brad Ausmus, Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin, Washington and Montgomery have been at the helm in recent years. It seems Pujols will likely be the next guy to get a chance to turn the ship around.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images
This is outrageous behavior. Go to the corner Arte.
It’s better than Brad Ausmus
Based on what?
In the immortal words of Monty Python Albert” Run Away, Run Away!
Why is it outrageous?
If there was any doubt of who’s running things, this is your answer. Highly doubt this is Perry’s first choice. It’s Arte’s. And this feels like Arte trying to save money because of Pujols special assistant contract.
I like Pujols, but this just feels awkward. Very awkward.
The last 10-15 years have been awkward in Anaheim. Interestingly enough, the same offseason they signed Pujols to his original deal.
He should sign for free since he never gave the Angels what they paid him for as a player.
Arte is the general manager?
Darragh is probably still feeling the effects of celebrating the Jays victory in the ALDS, cut him some slack.
De facto GM.
He’s Mark Davis of the NFL
Or the Jerry Jones
Moreno is the owner of, not the GM.
To be fair, we all know that Arte is doing the GM job.
And calling the shots on the field, filling out the line up card, he might even be selling cotton candy in the stands too!
Seems that fans haven’t moved on from that old narrative. If Arte was still meddling so much, we wouldn’t see all the young players they have now. They haven’t even signed a mega contract since Anthony Rendon. That was six years ago. He’s taken a step back, likely because of his age and since he often bases hiring and his management on trust, he probably put a lot of trust into PM to rebuild. PM probably also pitched that to Arte successfully. Angels just need to keep doing what they’re doing. If fans were still expecting something out of this team the last two seasons, well, they’re not really paying attention. But that’s also because Angels fans haven’t experienced an actual rebuild since the 90s. They’ve only seen other teams build from afar.
Is there a precedent to a player this great being a successful manager? I guess Frank Robinson but a little before my time.
I know he wants to manage, but the way the Angels treat their managers, why would someone with options want that job?
he owes Artie money
Pete Rose of the Reds and Eddie Matthews of the Braves come to mind as great players whose careers as managers did not go so well. The latter was the manager when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s HR record. He was also fired that year.
No really great players were also great managers if playoff appearances and pennants are the criteria for management results.
Joe Torre was a 9x All-Star catcher he was the most successful. Some others include Red Schoendienst who was a 10x All-Star pitcher before managing in 1967 the Cardinals to a world title. Bob Lemon 7x All-Star managed the Yankees to a 1978 World title. Yogi Berra managed both the Yankees and Mets to pennants. Ted Williams tried but he wasn’t that successful as a manager.
Thanks for the information. I always underrate how good of a player Torre actually was
Yeah people forget Torre was the real deal until his knees gave out.
MVP in 1973 as well.
Oops 1971 meant to say.
Was a legitimate HOF candidate as a player.
Torre was an OK manager until he came to the Yankees. The Cards and Mets were lousy. He walked into a good situation in Atlanta and still couldn’t maintain it. The NYY front office and scouting staff was terrific and he was well suited for a situation that didn’t require a lot of hands-on management.
And he’s a great person, to be sure, but it took a couple of decades for him to have continued success.
Dealing with Steinbrenner should have gotten Torre the Nobel Peace Prize
Yogi Berra
Arte Moreno is the owner, not the GM.
He is both.
Arte constantly interferes with player decisions.
This is the most “Angels Thing” ever.
Horrible organization!
reports suggest pujols is considering multiple job offers including captain of the titanic, captain of the hindenberg, captain of the exxon valdez and director of the madame web sequel
Madame web 😂😂😂 got me dyin over here
Funny you say that—at least those disasters had a clear ending. Arte Moreno’s Angels are like a slow-motion train wreck that just keeps looping.
If Pujols takes the job, he’s not just managing a team he’s signing up to babysit bad contracts, dodge ownership meddling, and pray that the bullpen doesn’t implode by June.
But hey, maybe he sees it as a legacy challenge: if he can steer this ship, he deserves a statue next to the Big A.
Rendon approves
Rendon is already hurt and ready to go on the IL to start the season.
Rendon this morning, pulled his hamstring getting out of bed
Pujols with the angels as a batter worked out so well, they just wanna continue the good vibes
Great idea. Now make Rendon the GM, and Josh Hamilton the bench coach. This is the recipe for success. Arte, pay them whatever the want.
Pujols was so depressing as an angel I have no idea why they want him back there
That would be like Adrian beltre managing the mariners or Derek jeter managing the marlins
Jeter was like in the Marlins ownership group and was GM for awhile lol.
This silly idea surely originated in the backrooms of ESPN.com. This idea is stupid, even by Arte Moreno standards.
I don’t know, this is right up Arte’s alley. Mike Scoscia was their last legitimate manager. Wash too, but he was there for such a short period of time.
Maddon was legit. He gave Maddon a crappy roster and fired him when the team lost a bunch of games in a row.
Maddon wasn’t a yes-man. That’s why he got fired.
On his way out Maddon said that Arte has to stop buying shiny things. Guess he didn’t heed the advice
Exactly. Maddon didn’t get fired for losing he got fired for thinking.
He challenged Arte Moreno from top to bottom micromanagement and refused to be another yes-man. This is a guy who broke the Cubs’ curse and built a winner in Tampa on a shoestring budget. But in Anaheim? He was handed a roster with no depth, a bullpen held together with duct tape, and a front office that treats analytics like a buzzword instead of a tool.
Let’s be honest until ownership changes or steps aside, we’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Angels fans, we deserve better.
We’ve had generational talent in Trout and Ohtani and still couldn’t build a contender. If we want real change, we need to stop settling for PR stunts and start demanding accountability from the top down.
Maddon got fired because he couldn’t take Minasian and his analytics staff constantly meddling with on- field decisions.
Now with Pujols, it’ll fit with Arte’s desire to be connected with marquee names – plus he thinks a Pujols hiring will help the balance sheet even without a winning club (as it did when Pujols was a player for the Angels).
Perry initiated and, with Arte’s approval, completed the ungraceful act of releasing Albert. In no world does Perry want Albert as his manager. Nor would Albert want anything to do with Perry. Only Arte could conceive of such a reunion.
I think the whole Pujols release thing was known and worked out with Pujols ahead of time. He likely already had the Dodgers deal worked out too.
Jack Clark , bench coach….wink wink
Milton Bradley Mental Health Coach.
My three favorite board games are Chutes and Ladders, Monopoly, and Milton Bradley’s Mental Health Coach.
Let’s be honest
How much managing does a person actually do?
This is where analytics comes in to play Dave Robert is the poster child for it
The thing that manages major league baseball teams now is a piece of paper with a bunch of numbers on it and some MIT geek punching information into a computer
Analytics has ruined baseball
I believe there’s managers out there who still actually manage.
Some younger, “yes-man” type managers however are the ones who let the MIT geek manage.
That is one of the reasons Bochy went to the Rangers and would not manage the Padres again.
Analytics have greatly enhanced baseball. But the Angels don’t seem like one of the more analytically-inclined teams, so Albert might get to manage by the seat of his pants.
Until 2025 the Angels had no pitching lab. They were the 2nd last in MLB to implement one. I believe only the Rockies don’t have one now. Until 2025 the spring training workout facility for the Angels MLB players had been in a tent in the parking lot for 5 or 6 years.
Until Minasian the Angels had little analytics staff. Eppler added a few guys that watched video and did basic stat analysis, but they had no data scientists on staff. They have been the opposite of the Rays.
The Angels also have one of the smallest scouting and baseball development staffs in MLB.
If its not putting behinds in seats in Anaheim, Arte is not spending money on it. That is part of the reason that Minasian has had to focus on drafting players that could make it to MLB almost immediately. Players do not develop well in the Angels system. The longer they stay in the minors, the more bad habits they seem to learn.
Ref, agree 100%.
A-rod needs to become a manager somewhere. He’s a baseball savant
“Baseball savant”..Did you say “lifetime cheater” or “baseball savant?”
Please let him become Yankees GM. It would be hilarious.
I would tune into every press conference with popcorn ready.
How can A-Rod do that when he’s part of the ownership group who bought the Timberwolves and Lynx in Minneapolis? He’s doing big boy things now lol.
Do you think being part of an ownership group is busy work?
If ya actually running things instead of others
There’s usually only one managing partner in the group. Answering an email from the managing partner isn’t busy work.
But of course arod would want to be the face, because that’s his thing.
Yankees and Red Sox have been at it longer and are smart enough not to get caught and blamed.
Arte is allergic to success. The Angels only succeeded early in his tenure due to holdovers from the end of the Disney era.
Why Albert? The managerial job with the Angels never ends well.
Because he has 7 years left on a Angels personnel services contract?!
Such an Arte move
At least if Pujols is lousy, nobody will notice. The team is garbage.
lol solid point but unfortunately for Pujols this will be his second poor ending to a tenure in Los Angelheim. We all know how this is going to go and he will be blamed for it
Nah, they’ll just kick him upstairs to the POBO role.
Go, Arte, go!
….back to AZ!
Will Yadier Molina leave the Cardinals organization to be on Albert’s coaching staff?
Nightingale also reported that Pujols had the Cobb salad for lunch with a water with a lemon twist…
What could possibly go wrong? (Gets out the popcorn)
Minimum 3 more years of the same terrible baseball with no improvemont in scouting, drafting or development.
Just Arturo Morono feeding his dumbest ego. Take all the gold with you when the judgement time comes to you!
Pull hose will be good. Get some starting pitching and a good relief pitcher.
Just a PR move. Anyway, it’s irrelevant.
rendon will be his bench coach
He can teach them to see the game not with their ojos, but with their corazons.
Yup, he can teach batters how to swing with eyes closed. His BA in the last season with the angels was .198, you know.
Yeah Pujols will certainly shake things up. Nothing says organizational seriousness like basing your managerial hiring decision on a one time “nighttime meeting” with the candidate. Sounds like they got drunk at bar. I feel bad for the other eager legitimate prospective managers that want a job and have to go through the mock press conferences, multiple interviews, and all the other hoops.
How’s the Tyler Skaggs trial going?
Buttermaker is a hater.
Redstich is Pollyannish.
Doesn’t matter if it’s Albert Pujols, Fat Albert, or Winnie the Pooh as long as Arte calls the shots…
… although Tigger would be a fun third base coach…
Does this actually matter for the angels it’s not like arte will own the team more than a few more seasons. Pujols would be smart to take the job because the ownership will take the fall if there isn’t success. If he was offered another manager job if he’s an average manager he would get way more heat.
No Angels manager since Collins has ever managed in the MLB ever again so sounds about right. The Angels are the swan or siren song of managers.
Can we just hire Dino ebel , maybe mark Derosa did good in his first time as a manager. Or even bring back bud black
Can you imagine ANY front office – on the heels of a mostly bad season – saying something to the effect of “We’re sticking with our manager for next year because, quite frankly, h’s not the problem.” In essence that what COL did for years with Bud Black. I just hope Pujols knows what he’s getting himself into.
Black was not the problem in Colorado. That problem is the same one we have in Anaheim. The owner and their meddling.
I wonder if this was a 2nd interview for Pujols. We know that this is the 3rd person interviewed for the job. Rather not see Pujols in the job, but I think that Arte thinks Pujols the manager will put butts in seats and that would be the reason to hire him. Also, since Pujols is already being paid on a personal services contract, Arte may save money by hiring him.
The Angels are reportedly in talks with Albert Pujols to become their next manager. As a fan, I have to ask: why would one of the greatest hitters of all time want to step into the chaos that Arte Moreno has created?
Let’s be real—Moreno has turned this franchise into a revolving door of bad contracts, unstable leadership, and wasted talent. From the Rendon deal to the constant front office shakeups, the Angels have become a masterclass in mismanagement. The team hasn’t sniffed the postseason in over a decade, and Moreno’s refusal to invest wisely or relinquish control has made him arguably the worst owner in baseball.
Pujols deserves better. He’s a legend with managerial experience in the Dominican Winter League and the World Baseball Classic. But unless Moreno steps back and lets baseball people run the show, even Albert won’t be able to save this sinking ship.
He’s an adult. Every aspiring manager needs to start somewhere.
Arte will undoubtedly save money here. I figure Pujols has 2 years tops at the helm. 9 years remain on that $1 mil/yr personal service contract. So Arte says to Pujols you can be manager and I’ll pay you $2 mil per year, but that 10 year personal service contract goes away. So Pujols manages for 2 seasons and gets canned when the new GM hires HIS guy. Moreno saves $5 million bucks.
Get Molina as bench coach. He’ll whoop em into shape and show those losers what it takes to win.
Moreno has made so many bad decisions, bad contracts, bad personnel moves:
To give credit where credit is due, Arte Moreno loves the Angels and wants to win.
As with many unsuccessful sports team owners, he does not know what he does not know and appears to be unwilling to learn from his mistakes.
For some Old Dogs, there is no teaching them “new tricks”.
Dear Arte Moreno:
Find and Hire the best POB with a successful track record.
Let him build a modern MLB Front office loaded with talent from MLB to all the minor league teams, scouting and player development,
Give him/her a competitive yearly budget and delegate authority to them.
Stay out of their way and let the POB and GM make the major decisions.
Angels team should have been “selling” at the 2 last trade deadlines to infuse more young, hungry talent onto the team and into the system decided to stay the course and complete with an Angels team with only and snowballs chance in hell of securing a playoffs spot?!
(That reads like an Arte Moreno micro managing decision to sell tickets and sacrifice any chance at seriously contending for Division titles and championships).
Trading Ohtani in his “walk year” when the Angels could have landed 4-5 young players andn prospects with big upsides for the Angels future?! Missed opportunity./
The hot dog vendor could have told you Ohtani was never signing a long term extension with the Angels with that roster and farm system.
Hanging onto to Trout for many years too long when Trout was a very valuable player who could have landed the Angels a truck load of young talent with big upside?!
Trout decisions were aslo very counterproductive.
Trout should have been moved off CF years ago and installed @ 1B/DH to prevent all the injuries from playing CF fulltime.
That was a terrible counter productive decision that hurt the Angels competitiveness and ticket sales.
Making terrible draft picks and under utilizing the international markets,
A “crackerjack” POB and his handpicked Scouts, Asst GMs, Directors of Player development, Scouting and minor league development coaches and managers
could have turned the Angels into a long term serious contender in 5-6 years max.
Arte, make major changes in how the Angels are run as suggested above or spin your wheels going nowhere fast until you or your Estate sells the team.
SportfFan0000: “Arte Moreno loves the Angels and wants to win.”
Really? Because he has said over and over that “it’s a business” and he always prioritizes marketing while cutting corners everywhere else. His net worth has skyrocketed while he’s turned a big market team with a rabid fanbase into a top-to-bottom non-competitive mess. The team hasn’t made the playoffs or even had a winning season in a decade. I think it is much more accurate to say Arte Moreno loves building his net worth and could care less about building a winning organization.
Albert Pujols wants to manage.
This might not be the best move for him based on the depleted roster and farm system and micromanaging Arte Moreno.
These are the top winning managers in MLB history.
With the Ownership situation, the Front Office, Scouting Department, player roster, farm system and substandard player development and lack of competitive international signings
None of these guys could make the currently run Angels
into a playoffs team.
Connie Mack: 3,731 wins
Tony La Russa: 2,884 wins
John McGraw: 2,763 wins
Bobby Cox: 2,504 wins
Joe Torre: 2,326 wins
Sparky Anderson: 2,194 wins
Dusty Baker: 2,183 wins
Bruce Bochy: 2,171 wins
Angels weren’t just clinging to hope they were clinging to optics. Two straight deadlines with clear signs the core wasn’t playoff-caliber, and instead of retooling, they doubled down 2023 on a roster that couldn’t deliver.
Selling wouldn’t have been waving the white flag it would’ve been investing in the future. Imagine the return on guys like Ohtani before free agency, or even flipping mid-tier vets for controllable arms and bats. The system’s been starving for years, and those missed windows only deepened the drought. Missed opportunities.
Johnny Bravo: “Imagine the return on guys like Ohtani before free agency”
Sport Illustrated reported that the Padres were willing to give the Angels MORE than what they ended up giving the Nationals for Juan Soto….which as a “generational haul.” But, also according to SI, Arte shut down the deal.
This wasn’t just a missed opportunity it was a franchise-altering decision. The Angels could’ve reset their entire future with elite prospects and controllable talent the deal was on the table and Arte Moreno shut it down instead they held on, got nothing when he walked, and now we’re watching him dominate in Dodger blue.
As Groucho said, “I wouldn’t want to belong to a club that would have me as a member.”
If true, this is pathetic on behalf of both parties…
The baseball world is praising this all around. Albert is highly respected and managed his Dominican Winter League to a championship, and was slated to manage DM in the WBC. This isn’t some geek off the street move. It’s probably going to be a major coup for the Angels. And then we’ll likely see Albert pick an elite coaching staff with Yadier Molina and I’m hearing Ramon Martinez as pitching coach. That’s what the Angels’ young core needs, just like when they brought in Scioscia.
I’m guessing this will play out more like Ted Williams than Mike Scioscia.
The Last Time the Angels Got It Right
When the Walt Disney Company owned the Angels, they made a rare, smart move: they hired Bill Stoneman, a former MLB pitcher and seasoned executive with front office experience from the Expos. Stoneman wasn’t learning on the job—he knew how to build a roster, manage a budget, and navigate the long game of team development
His first major hire? Mike Scioscia, fresh off coaching stints with the Dodgers. Scioscia brought discipline, fundamentals, and a clubhouse culture that clicked. That duo—Stoneman and Scioscia—led the Angels to their first and only World Series title in 2002, defeating the Giants in a seven-game thriller
Since then? A carousel of GMs with little or no prior GM experience:
• Tony Reagins (player development director)
• Jerry Dipoto (scouting background)
• Billy Eppler (assistant GM, not the top dog)
• Perry Minasian (no resume)
Which team has the worst most incompetent owner ?
The ANGELS OR THE COWBOYS ?
Yusei Kikuchi’s rumored $63 million deal with the Angels has already sparked debate A. If his performance falters like past signings think of it as the hall of shame Josh Hamilton, Anthony Rendon, Vernon Wells, or Julio Teheran, could Yusei Kikucki be another name on the carousel of regret.
Angel fans are living in Helter skelter
Only place he will really be considered as a valid candidate. Not going to happen in STL, nor should it in STL Nor should Molina ever be a valid candidate in STL or anywhere else for that matter. Angels, must more forgiving environment than most other cities. Already being paid by the Angels on a personal service contract.
The Angels: Big Market, Small-Time Mentality
The Los Angeles Angels continue to handicap themselves—not just on the field, but off it. Reports of no air conditioning in player facilities aren’t just embarrassing, they’re emblematic of a franchise that refuses to act its size. This isn’t Tampa Bay. This is a major market team masquerading as a budget operation.
From mismanaged rosters to barebones infrastructure, the Angels keep proving that they’re unwilling to invest in winning culture. If the AC story is true, it’s not just uncomfortable it’s disgraceful.
Sell the team, Arte.
Anyone miss Sosh?
How many HOFers have successfully jumped (almost) straight from playing to managing?
Name them ______________
Prosecution rests!