What are the 5 biggest priorities for the LA Angels in the off-season.

Finding the right leader

Brad Ausmus was not the right answer for the LA Angels as a manager.  He is a kind and decent man who is very intellectually gifted with an Ivy League education backing him up.  However, managerial wise his skills are not as strong as his intellectual prowess.

With that being said Ausmus was dismissed by the Angels after only one year as a manager.  Many people are equating the firing of Ausmus to the fact that Joe Maddon is now available, but I only think that played a small part in the Angels thinking.  I believed they realized that while Ausmus was a good person and had some good leadership skills, he was not the man for the job long-term.

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It is not Joe Maddon or bust though.  As much as I like many Angel fans would like to see Joe Maddon as the new Angels manager, there are other good choices that would be a major upgrade from Brad Ausmus.  Joe Girardi, Buck Showalter, and John Farrell could be targets for the Angels as they all have plenty of big league managing experience and have had a lot of success with teams that were trying to get over the hump.  This may be the biggest move the Angels make in the off-season is finding the right person to lead them.