Los Angeles Angels front office gets a facelift

At the rate that new Los Angeles Angels General Manager Billy Eppler is going, we’re all going to need Wikipedia and Google images to figure out who is who and what their role is this season.

It seems like the entire organization is getting a facelift, but maybe its one that the club needs to rebuild itself into a contender. In the flurry of announcements earlier this week, there were a few smaller moves to go along with the big names such as Bud Black and Ron Roenicke returning.

The Angels promoted 27-year-old Jonathan Strangio to assistant general manager. Strangio, a Harvard graduate, was the team’s baseball operations coordinator the past three seasons and will join fellow assistant GM Steve Martone as Eppler’s right hand men. Former Angels GM Jerry Dipoto was quoted last year by the Orange County Register saying that Stangio is “one of the smartest people he has ever worked with.”

The team hired a new director of baseball development, 55-year-old Mike Gallego. Gallego, a former major league infielder, was the Oakland Athletics’ third base coach the past seven seasons. Prior to that, Gallego was the third base coach and infield coach of the Colorado Rockies from 2004-2008. It will be a homecoming for Gallego, as the Whittier native and UCLA graduate returns to Southern California.

Another in-house promotion went to 37-year-old Justin Hollander. He will be the new player personnel director after serving as baseball operations director for the last four years.

Bobby Scales also received a promotion to special assistant to the GM. The 38-year-old former Chicago Cubs second baseman was the Angels’ farm director the past three seasons.

The final promotion went to 29-year-old Mike LaCassa. He was promoted to minor league operations director after spending 2015 as assistant player development director. Though young, LaCassa has experience with a few different teams. He started his baseball career as an intern with the Milwaukee Brewers, then became the player-development assistant for the Texas Rangers before former assistant GM Scott Servais brought him to the Angels.

The Eppler bus is in full swing, but fear not because we are here to keep you updated on all the changes in the organization and who will be the new (and promoted) faces of the team fighting for the World Series title.