Angels bring baseball legend Tony La Russa in as a senior advisor for baseball operations

His legend proceeds him. This is definitely true of Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa.  La Russa won 3 World Series titles & 6 pennants, &12 division titles.  He finished with 2,728 victories in 33 years of managing.

Since retiring from managing in 2011 Tony La Russa has worked in the front office of the Arizona Diamondbacks and then doing the same thing for the Boston Red Sox in 2018 and 2019 and was part of the 2018 World Champion Red Sox squad.

This hiring caught many people by surprise, but it definitely strengthens the Angels front office and gives Billy Eppler another great baseball mind to bounce ideas off of.  It can only help the Angels to have La Russa advising people in their minor league system has to be a good thing.

Fans and sports writers alike should not read anything more into La Russa’s hiring.  You’re not going to see him replace Billy Eppler or Joe Maddon.  The Angels just hired Maddon to be their new manager and he is the man they wanted for the job,

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Eppler on the other hand is in a much more tenuous situation having only a one year contract that expires after this season.  I doubt that La Russa would assume the general manager role even if Eppler were let go. We will see how active La Russa will be.  He will be mostly working from his home in Arizona which is convenient since the Angels hub for their minor league system in Phoenix.

The Angels minor league system used to be the laughing stock of the MLB, but over the past three years it has moved up into the top 10 in baseball with prospects such as Griffin Canning, David Fletcher, Jo Adell, Brandon Marsh, Jahmai Jones, and Patrick Sandoval to name a few. With these players starting to funnel up to the major league team the Angels have an influx of young talent that will help them be competitive for years to come.

Canning and Fletcher have already become mainstays for the Angels.  Patrick Sandoval got a chance to show his stuff in the last part of the 2018 season and Adell will almost assuredly get his baptism into the  majors during this season with Marsh not far behind him.  La Russa’s influence could be beneficial to the Angels young talent.  La Russa has been known to be especially good with young talent especially pitchers.

For now it definitely a move that has turned some heads in the baseball world. With great minds like Joe Maddon and Tony La Russa on our side you have to like the Angels chances in 2020.