The Los Angeles Angels Managerial Opening Might Be The Most Unappealing Job Of Recent Memory
It was announced yesterday that Phil Nevin will not return as manager of the Los Angeles Angels. This is not surprising. Nevin was a placeholder manager, to begin with. Outside of seemingly being liked by his constituents, he was not qualified for the job to begin with. Once again, the Los Angeles Angels, find themselves without a manager. That void will need to be filled this off-season. Except for bizarre scenarios like what happened with Dusty Baker and the Houston Astros several years back, most managers are brought in to manage bad teams. You rarely inherit a good situation. With that said, I can’t think of a managerial opening in recent history as unappealing as the Los Angeles Angels managerial job.
Look, this job is going to go to somebody. Somebody’s going to interview for it and accept it. But it’s one of those instances in which I would argue whatever bench coach or former manager takes this job with the Angels would be better suited staying in their current role for another season. The Los Angeles Angels are so far away from competing. Shohei Ohtani is about to walk in free agency. There are rumors about a potential Mike Trout trade. We’ll see what happens there. Even if he comes back, he has a chronic back problem and can’t stay healthy. I’ve written about this 1 million times. I don’t need to rehash it, but I think any manager should avoid taking this job because I think it’s almost inevitable that they’ll get fired in a few years.
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This reminds me very much of where the Detroit Tigers were after 2017. Brad Ausmus, one of the worst managers ever seen, was let go by the Tigers, who were about to enter a rebuild that some would say is still going on. They interviewed Alex Cora and a few other managers, but nobody wanted the job. The roster was unappealing, and they ended up handing the reins over to Ron Gardenhire, who was very well-liked and did the best with what he could but ultimately retired after three seasons of having to manage awful rosters. I know that the Oakland A’s managerial job several years back was unappealing, but at least they promised to move to a new city soon.
The only advantage that the Angels have is that they plan in a big market. But I would argue that they're the smallest big market team of all time. They won't be spending any money this offseason because there's nothing they can do to improve this roster. They're stuck with bloated contracts in a division featuring three teams showing no signs of slowing down. Suppose you want a proper explanation about how unappealing this job is. In that case, the Oakland A's are closer to being competitive in the American League West than the Angels are. If I was offered this job, I would not take it.