Angels have a golden AL West opportunity but no leadership to seize it

It only took 81 wins to the American League West in 2026, and that’s all the argument you need for any team in the division having a chance to take hold of the division. Nobody in the division was actually good in 2026. The rest were just not as bad as the Los Angeles Angels, which isn’t a great spot to be. 

Pretty much everyone ahead of the Angels is changing things out. Houston has a new general manager and will have a new manager. Seattle just hired a new manager. Texas looks like it’s about to sell off some of its larger contracts. The A’s have hired a new general manager and are killing time until they move to Las Vegas. And while the Angels might be the team changing the most and are coming off a 100-loss season, the division being so unsettled means they have a chance to make a move. The problem is there’s nobody in the organization who can get it started.

The AL West is reshuffling while the Angels sit in neutral

In Houston, Jim Crane hired longtime Cardinals executive Randy Flores as their new general manager. He replaced Dana Brown, who was let go in August. Joe Espada is out of a job after he got swept as one of the weakest playoff teams in, well, history. Flores needs to find a manager and answer a ton of roster questions. Even though Crane says they’re not tearing anything down, a new general manager and manager means there are some changes. 

Flores, though, was one of the names connected to the Angels’ general manager search, largely because of his history with John Mozeliak. The Astros were ready to hire. The Angels weren’t. Houston got him. 

Seattle made a ton of changes in the dugout. They moved on from Dan Wilson, fired four coaches, and brought in a new hitting coach for an offense that was one of the worst in baseball. They just hired Jason Kanzler as their new manager, but don’t confuse a reset with a rebuild. They still have Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh and a deep starting rotation. But a new voice in the dugout can take some time to work, and a roster that underachieved as much as theirs did isn’t a slam dunk to be good the next year.

The Rangers have a bit of a different issue. They feel like they have their manager, and their front office is secure…for now. But they have expensive veterans in Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Corey Seager, and Brandon Nimmo, and the word is that they’d like to move at least some of that money. deGrom and Eovaldi are both heading into the last year of their deals, and neither are guarantees to be good at their age either. It just feels like they could contend, but they’re in a weird middle ground. 

The A’s are the A’s. They were barely better than the Angels last year, dealing with a ton of injuries to their offensive talent, but even healthy, they’re still a year away from playing in a park with a second deck. They are definitely building for that in 2028 and hoping to tread water in 2027. 

To sum it up, the division leader is breaking in a new front office, the runner-up wants to cut payroll, and the third-place team has a new manager. If there was ever a time for a last place team to go from rags to riches, this is the time. 

But the Angels aren’t really in a great spot to do that. Perry Manasian was fired in June, and Mozeliak has been running the show since then, but his deal expires in December. He’s said he won’t be the full-time GM. Kurt Suzuki’s option was declined after the season, and Mozeliak has said that the new GM will come first, then the manager. That does make sense. But is the search even going?

How can it go? The Angels are technically still owned by Arte Moreno. Kroenke Sports & Entertainment Group agreed to buy the club in September, but the sale won’t close until the first quarter of next year. And it apparently isn’t even on the docket for a vote this month, and the Angels haven’t interviewed a single GM candidate. 

This is crazy. There’s no GM, no manager, no coaching staff, and an outgoing owner who has no reason to spend money before he leaves. The interim executive only has a few weeks left on his contract, and the CBA is going to expire in less than a month with a lockout to follow. November is the one time that business can get done, and the Angels are spending it sitting out everything. 

The pieces are there, which is what makes it so frustrating. Mozeliak did some good work at the deadline to give the system a jolt. They still have great trade chips or building blocks in Zach Neto and Reid Detmers. They theoretically have the richest owner in the sport with a track record of hiring the right people and getting out of their way. With nobody looking like they’re even capable of running away with the division, the Angels should be able to make some moves. 

But someone has to be in the room, and nobody is. The AL West door is wide open, but the Angels have nobody authorized to walk through it, and it sure looks like they might miss their chance.

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