Last month, the Angels fired General Manager Perry Minasian and replaced him with interim GM John Mozeliak, who will oversee the upcoming draft (July 11-12) and trade deadline (Aug. 3), and then lead the search for a new full-time GM.
Read more A ban won’t stop abortion pill access, telehealth providers say
All of that created plenty of fodder for your questions. Much is still unknown, but here’s our best shot at answering.
Q: Whatever stamp the interim GM puts on the organization, will that be trashed when the permanent GM arrives? And is there any chance they will share their plan with the ticket-buying public? — @brokos
A: I think it’s unlikely that Mozeliak and the permanent GM are going to have vastly different ideas because they’re both going to be working under the same person: owner Arte Moreno.
Whatever ideas Mozeliak has are going to need to be approved by Moreno. If Moreno actually takes more of a hands-off approach – which would be a departure – then that would likely mean Mozeliak would have the freedom to pick a successor who aligns with his philosophies.
As for “the plan,” I would not expect to hear much in terms of specifics. I don’t think it benefits any front office to say too much about what their plan is.
If they say they’re going to spend a lot, that hurts their leverage with agents. If they say they’re not going to spend, that hurts their image with fans. If they say they’re going to trade players, that hurts their leverage with other GMs.
The best way to get other GMs to offer you the best packages for your players is if they believe you don’t really want to trade them.
Q: Your thoughts on the Halos trading one of (Reid) Detmers or (José) Soriano — @philkrik
A: This picks up on the end of the previous answer. Both of those players could be incredibly attractive pieces. They each have shown flashes of being able to be top-of-the-rotation starters, and they are each under control for two seasons after this.
If the Angels have the chance to get a franchise-altering package of prospects for either one of them, they should probably do it.
However, you can’t blow it with assets like those. This won’t be the Angels’ only chance to move either player, so they have to judge all the offers not only against each other, but against what they think they could get over the winter or at any point over the next two years. If the offers are not what they expect – which is possible, considering that both Soriano and Detmers have somewhat spotty histories and some recent struggles – then they shouldn’t just trade them for the sake of setting a narrative.
Q: As much as the GM position is 1/30, what exactly is enticing about the job here? It’s clear the (front office) is not allowed to function normally. That dysfunction seems to create a cycle of candidates who are either under qualified or re-treads of GM’s whose orgs are better after the split. — @ir0driguez
A: Experienced GMs would definitely steer clear of this job unless they can be convinced that they won’t be handcuffed the way Minasian and his predecessors were.
Read more NATO chief demands allies present credible plans to reach defense spending targets
Others looking for their first try at the job are not able to be as picky. It’s why the Angels hired inexperienced GMs over the past decade-plus. An executive who wants to get in that seat isn’t in position to dictate to Moreno the way they want to do it.
The only hope for breaking out of the cycle is that now Molly Jolly is the team president, which could offer a glimmer of hope that having a new person between Moreno and baseball operations might create a better environment. It’s too early to say if that’s actually happening, but it’s possible.
One encouraging fact is the mere presence of Mozeliak in the process. He has far more experience to know what makes a good GM than Moreno, Jolly or former president John Carpino.
Q: Why do the Angels get a bad rap for their farm system when all six of their minor league affiliates currently maintain winning records above .500? — @hawaiiwriter
A: The purpose of a minor league system isn’t to win minor league games. It’s to produce major league players. Those two objectives aren’t always met the same way.
Generally speaking, a farm system is evaluated based on the number of top prospects it has, not on the depth of middling prospects.
Winning in the minors means something, though. Players need to learn how to win games, and not just show their tools like exit velocity or break on their pitches. One of Minasian’s directives was putting more of an emphasis on winning, compared with the Billy Eppler years when it was virtually ignored.
Q: Has Grayson Rodriguez shown any glimpses of a top-of-rotation starter that we traded him for? Or he has lost the zip on his fastball, maybe forever?
A: First, the Angels traded for the possibility of a top-of-the-rotation starter. If he was definitely going to be at that level, they wouldn’t have gotten four years of Rodriguez for one year of Taylor Ward.
Second, Rodriguez hit 98 mph during a walk-free Triple-A start on Saturday night. He has also definitely shown “glimpses” of what he can do in the small sample of games he’s pitched.
To me, it looks like the Angels decided in spring training that they were going to use this year to slowly build him back up to being a starter after all the time he missed, with an eye toward having him be 100% and unlimited over the next three years. He’s still just 26.
UP NEXT
Angels (RHP José Soriano, 8-5, 3.42 ERA) at Rangers (RHP Jacob deGrom, 7-5, 3.48 ERA), Tuesday, 5:05 p.m. PT, ABTV, 830 AM
Read more Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs, including many at Xbox in a ‘reset’ of its gaming division