ANAHEIM, Calif. — There are a multitude of reasons why the Angels are in the midst of the longest current playoff drought in baseball and are on their way to their 11th consecutive losing season that can take thousands of words to summarize. But the simplest way to put it is a lack of stability.
A perennial bottom-feeding farm system, seven different managers, poor contracts and two general managers have at times been assigned blame over the last 11 years. The latest victim to catch the blame is general manager Perry Minasian, whom the Angels fired Friday night just before their game.
The Angels announced the hiring of John Mozeliak as the club’s baseball operations consultant and he will act as the interim general manager.
“Change always starts with that first decision, and after spending some time reflecting where we were and what I wanted to accomplish, I felt like starting that process right away was in the best interest of the organization right now as well as in the future,” Angels president Molly Jolly said.
The change comes after the Angels started the season 34-48 and never came close to a winning season under Minasian’s tenure that began with the 2021 season.
The Angels held a press conference on Saturday afternoon to introduce Mozeliak, and he fielded questions alongside Jolly to discuss what this means for the Angels moving forward. One of the more interesting takeaways from the conference was the fact that this seems to be a decision that Jolly made without heavy influence from owner Arte Moreno.
Moreno has a reputation for being too hands-on in baseball-related decisions, which has hampered the Angels at times over the last decade plus.
“When I took the opportunity to become the president in this role, I sat down with Arte, and we talked about the organization and the responsibilities I had that included baseball operations,” Jolly said. “And he's given me the autonomy to do that in my role. He gave me the autonomy to go through a process to assess the baseball operations department, to talk to different parties, to learn. I put forth a proposal to him to consider and resulted in him empowering me to bring on John Mozeliak. So I am confident in my authority and scope within the organization, and that is what I will work forward on.”
This wasn’t a spontaneous decision. Mozeliak said he and Jolly had conversations about this possibility in the weeks leading up to the decision to let go of Minasian.
Jolly said that ever since taking the job of team president in April, she’s been talking to people in the organization to listen and learn before making decisions on her vision and strategy for the club.
As for Mozeliak, he comes from a successful run in the Cardinals organization as the team’s general manager from 2008 to 2025 that resulted in 10 postseason appearances and the 2011 World Series championship.
Mozeliak’s contract ends in December, and he will assist in the Angels’ search for their next general manager as well as help improve the infrastructure of the organization.
He built a winning product in St. Louis on stability, and his goal is to help the Angels get on that same path.
“Obviously, they lacked consistency in terms of when you think about winning,” Mozeliak said on his thoughts on the Angels from the outside. “Because that's the proxy. There's a lot of things we can use to determine if an organization is healthy or not. But I think for me, where Molly and I are connecting on this is we understand wins and losses matter, but how do you get to a place where that becomes consistent?
“Look at the best clubs in baseball, the ones you admire. Whether they're a large market or a small market, they have a philosophy, they have direction, and they stick to it. They have the discipline to do that. That's ultimately what we need to do here, and that's hopefully something I can help bring to them.”
Having a philosophy and a direction starts with player development, which the Angels have struggled with.
Although left-hander Reid Detmers is now finding his footing again in the rotation, Zach Neto is the only player drafted by the Angels in the first round to have sustained success in the big leagues in the last decade.
Some prospects have been rushed to the big leagues and skipped out on valuable development in the minors, and others simply haven’t panned out.
“I always think about player development as it's just not a one-stop shop,” Mozeliak said. “It's the teams that are best at it that understand how to build a curriculum that meets the needs of certain players or different players. And that's what we have to accomplish. And I think we have really smart people over here that understand that. Now it's the can we be innovative, creative and make that happen.”
Finding consistency takes time. It’ll take longer than the six months that Mozeliak is scheduled to be on the job, but there are important steps that Mozeliak plans to take to try to right the ship.
“Over the course of the next couple of months, I'm going to spend a lot of energy just trying to understand what's happening down below and work our way up,” Mozeliak said. “Obviously winning still matters, we still care about that, and that's going to be something that we'll never lose focus on, but when you think about this, there's a short view and a long view, and our short view is going to be coming through the draft, addressing the trading deadline, finding a new general manager, and then ultimately, hopefully we lead to that foundation and structure that provides perpetual winning for the Angels.
“Finally, as I think through this challenge, I knew coming in, this isn't going to be something where Molly and I hit a light switch and everything just starts working perfectly. It's not going to work that way. It's going to be where I would ask for some patience, we need a little time to sort of work through this, but in the end, when we come out on the other end of this tunnel, we hope to be in a very successful place.”
Asking a fan base that hasn’t made the playoffs in 12 years and hasn’t even seen winning baseball in 11 years to be patient is certainly a tall ask. But in the Angels’ case, the severe lack of direction over the past decade can give Angels fans relief that there is at least a plan now.
It’s clear that the fanbase is fed up with the constant losing. There have been fan protests outside the stadium this year, and for every game at Angel Stadium over the last month, large groups of fans come together in the upper deck and wave their shirts in the air while chanting “Sell the team,” among other things, not meant to be repeated.
“I know it's happening,” Jolly said of the fans’ voicing their frustrations. “I see it. I hear it. Fans have a right to have their voices be heard. It didn't influence the decision that I wanted to make. But we all want to win. Our owner wants to win. I do. The fans deserve that. And that's what we're going to work toward.”
Mozeliak’s first test is coming up quickly, as he was hired just two weeks before the MLB Draft on July 11.
Under Minasian, the Angels used their first round picks on players who were most ready for professional baseball instead of taking the best overall prospect. It remains to be seen how the draft will shake out under Mozeliak, but he made it clear he will not be making picks himself.
“My philosophy on the draft is let the scouting director and his team do their jobs,” Mozeliak said. “Even when I sat in that seat for 18 years as a general manager, I never scouted amateur players. I felt that was their responsibility. So they're going to have a lot of autonomy to do it. The only real input I'm going to have is, first off, understanding their process.”
The trade deadline will be the biggest test, though.
The Angels have had opportunities in previous deadlines to cash in on players not on expiring contracts to maximize the returns to replenish the barren farm system, but Moreno hasn’t been willing to allow that to happen.
Right-hander José Soriano and Detmers each have two more years of club control after this season, and both could command hefty prospect packages in return if dealt at the deadline.
Mozeliak said he will meet with Moreno and Jolly to discuss trade deadline plans in the upcoming days. What the Angels do at the deadline can be a sign if there will actually be a change in how the Angels operate.
Although there may be a difference in philosophy, the personnel will remain the same. Mozeliak said there will be no changes to the coaching staff or members in player development.
The only personnel change he is concerned with is finding the next general manager to lead the Angels.
Mozeliak said he already has a shortlist of candidates for the job, but he will not begin the process until after the trade deadline. There is a clock ticking for the Angels, though, as the goal is to hire the next general manager before the league likely enters a lockout in December.
“Just with it being a likely very unique offseason,” Mozeliak said. “I never like to speak in absolutes. But I absolutely hope we have someone in place by then.”
When he was asked if he had any interest in being the long-term general manager, Mozeliak didn’t fully close the door.
Mozeliak enjoyed his time away from being a general manager, noting a well-improved sleep schedule. But he still has an interest in working in some capacity.
If the next six months go according to plan, there’s a very real possibility Mozeliak sticks around in whatever role he and the Angels see fit. But since he’s only scheduled to be here for the short-term, Mozeliak is at peace with whatever is in store for him.
“I don't know what the future holds,” Mozeliak said. “But what I do know is what the goal of the future is, is to get the Angels right, and that's why I'm here.”