New Angels GM Has Ambitious Plans, But That’s Because He Hasn’t Met Arte Moreno Yet

The Angels do things in mysterious way, and they don’t always make a lot of sense. That’s definitely the case with new GM John Mozeliak, who has plenty of plans up his sleeve even though he claims he hasn’t met Angels owner Arte Moreno, according to a piece written by Sam Blum of The Athletic. 

Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be out of character for the Angels given how secretive and insulated Moreno has become. It’s hard to get a feel for what the Angels are up to going forward beyond having Mozeliak lead the search for the new GM, but issues like that aren’t exactly unusual.

“Obviously, they lacked consistency in terms of winning,” Mozeliak said of his new team. “That’s the proxy. A lot of things can be used to determine if an organization is healthy or not. I think for me, where (Angels president) Molly (Jolly) and I are connecting is that we understand wins and losses matter.

“How do you get to a place where that becomes consistent?”

It’s an uphill climb, but Mozeliak made it clear he’s not interested in taking on the job on a full-time basis. That’s a smart move on his part, and it will be interesting to see what his role eventually becomes. 

“I really don’t want to have to be in the seat of a general manager for five years,” Mozeliak said. “I’m not necessarily, when my contract ends, [going to] just completely walk away. Depending on who ends up getting hired, what that team looks like, there could be a position or a role that makes sense for me to stay around.”

Jolly, meanwhile, failed to mention Moreno’s name, as Blum noted. It’s an interesting way of doing business, and she kept her comments as generic and meaningless as possible. 

“Change always starts with that first decision,” Jolly said. “And reflecting on where we were and what I wanted to accomplish, I felt like starting that process right away was in the best interest of our organization right now and in the future.”

This is a job where the level of communication ranges from bizarre to non-existent, and the Angels new GM addressed that issue as well, sort of, including the fact that he hasn’t met his new temporary boss. 

“I think the short-term focus for me is, what does that communication line look like?” Mozeliak said. “Making sure he understands what our direction is. I’m looking forward to that.

“I have not met him. But I can tell you this. He does care; he does want to win. He probably is a little too much of a fan than not. That’s a hard thing. Because sometimes on the business side of this game, we have to make decisions that aren’t fun to make.”

Those decisions will include whatever the Angels decide to do at the trade deadline, which is of great interest to contenders around the league who would love to strip the Angels’ carcass of the talent that remains. Mozeliak did note the manager Kurt Suzuki’s job is safe through the end of the season, but he also added that changes are coming after that. 

“My answer now is that I don’t know the answer to that,” Mozeliak said when he was asked about the short-term plans and the long-term future. “In time, I think we will come up with a trade deadline strategy that we are all comfortable with.”