Angels suddenly face tougher managerial search after Alex Cora declines Phillies offer

While most assumed that former Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora would become the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2027 due to his relationship with Phillies GM Dave Dombrowski, it seems that’s not going to happen as Cora has said he will be taking 2027 off from managing as well.

This is an obvious blow to the Phillies, but it’s also a bit of a blow to the Los Angeles Angels because it means there is one less candidate out there for the Halos to bring into the fold.

The Angels don’t have an easy choice to make when it comes to the manager role. Most assumed that Kurt Suzuki would be one-and-done when he signed his one-year contract to be manager given how bad the team was projected to be and the fact that GM Perry Minasian was entering the final year of his deal.

Things are now completely different, as Stan Kroenke is expected to be the new principal owner of the team after Arte Moreno sold his majority stake and John Mozeliak came in to be LA’s interim GM after Minasian was fired.

It would be the irony of all ironies if Suzuki remained the manager with all of that turnover, but if one looks around at prospective candidates, there really aren’t that many attractive names out there.

Albert Pujols is the X-factor in Angels manager search

Cora was the big fish and now that he’s out of the picture, the other names aren’t especially exciting outside of Albert Pujols. He remains the big X-factor for the Angels because on the one hand, he’d make perfect sense given the fact that he knows Mozeliak from his time with the St. Louis Cardinals and has remained involved with the Angels even after his time with the team ended.

Still, there are reports that he wants a sizable contract and a lot of control, which may not be the ideal candidate for a rebuilding team like the Angels especially if Mozeliak has a strong vision for how to get the team back to relevance.

Outside of him, maybe the Angels could try to get a big name like Bob Melvin out of quasi-retirement. He was fired by the Giants after the 2025 season and has coached every MLB team in California except for the Angels and Dodgers, so maybe he’d be interested. 

But more realistically, sticking with Suzuki might just be the safest choice. He didn’t show a ton of managerial promise in 2026, but he wasn’t a disaster and most importantly, he went along with Mozeliak’s changes to the coaching staff.

There was never a high likelihood that Cora would go to the Angels, but the fact that he won’t be managing in 2027 hammers home the fact that there aren’t a lot of great candidates out there so maybe another year or two of Suzuki wouldn’t be that bad. 

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