Angels coaching change may have revealed more about their future than they intended

The Los Angeles Angels shook up their coaching staff recently as they fired pitching coach Mike Maddux, assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott, and bullpen coach Dom Chiti. The interim pitching coach just so happens to have some connections to interim general manager John Mozeliak.

Tim Levesque was with the Cardinals organization for nearly 20 years so he and Mozeliak certainly have familiarity. Mozeliak made sure to say that others in the organization recommended him but that connection has to help.

It also leads one to believe that Levesque may end up being more than just an interim hire. If the Angels are making this move now it may be a signal of moves that Mozeliak plans to make in the future once the season ends and he likely takes on a president of baseball operations role.

Manager Kurt Suzuki’s days with the Angels were numbered basically ever since he signed a one-year contract with the club, but it’s interesting to think about who may succeed him in the role.

One’s mind goes to managers Mozeliak had with the Cardinals, but Mike Matheny and Mike Shildt were both let go due to poor performance and philosophical differences respectively, so a reunion with Mozeliak probably isn’t in the cards for either of those guys.

Albert Pujols is the obvious choice since he knows Mozeliak from his days with the Cardinals and also played with the Angels for a number of years, so it seems like a perfect marriage. Yet, Pujols has never managed a big league club before and there’s a risk in hiring such a high-profile name for a job like that.

John Mozeliak may try to hire more ex-Cardinals coaches for the Angels

Maybe there are other assistant coaches from the Cardinals who Mozeliak has an eye on for hitting coach or other key roles on the coaching staff. It’s going to be interesting to see how much say Mozeliak has over the coaching staff and how collaborative he wants to be with whoever the new manager ends up being.

It would probably be smart to let the next manager at least pick one or two people, probably at least the bench coach, who they are comfortable with. That way it doesn’t feel like Mozeliak is pulling all the strings and the manager is nothing more than a puppet.

This pitching coach shakeup is noteworthy though and may very well signal how the Angels will fill their coaching vacancies in the offseason.

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