Former Minnesota Twins manager might be the perfect solution to lead the LA Angels

As the Los Angeles Angels embark on a more comprehensive search for the team's next manager, a long list of candidates has appeared. First on the list is Albert Pujols, who is also drawing interest from other teams. Then there is Torii Hunter, who has to be on the short list for the Minnesota Twins' vacant managerial job. Kurt Suzuki will thankfully be granted an interview, which will come after he met with the San Francisco Giants for their managerial opening. After Hunter and Suzuki on the depth chart, more names have appeared out of the woodwork in Nick Hundley, Ryan Flaherty, Brandon Hyde and, perhaps the best man for the job out of anybody, Rocco Baldelli (Ramón Vázquez is also a name to keep an eye on).

Former Minnesota Twins manager might be the perfect solution to lead the LA Angels

Baldelli was unjustly removed as the Twins' manager after a season in which the front office traded virtually every player on the roster at the MLB trade deadline (more on this later). In 2023 Rocco Baldelli helped lead the Minnesota Twins franchise, which is somehow run worse than the Los Angeles Angels, to their first win in the postseason since 2004! They had a 19-year postseason losing streak! Not only did Baldelli lead them to a single playoff win, he led them to a Wild Card sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays before dropping in the ALDS to the Houston Astros 3-1.

The Minnesota Twins are incredibly similar to the Angels as a franchise. The LA Angels are obviously embattled by their cheap, bad ownership, much like the Twins. What the Twins did this year by selling everyone resembled the 2023 Angels when they waived a multitude of players after completely imploding post trade deadline. The Twins sold off virtually every competent player on the roster likely to clear salary before an impending ownership change.

For good measure, here are the players the Twins sold at the deadline: Jhoan Duran, Carlos Correa, Griffin Jax, Harrison Bader, Chris Paddack, Danny Coulombe, Louis Varland, Willi Castro, Ty France, Randy Dobnak and Brock Stewart. Then they fired Baldelli. Wild stuff. The Twins franchise player in Byron Buxton is similar to Mike Trout in that he is electric when he is healthy and on the field, but he has rarely been posting with consistency the last few years (Royce Lewis is like this too).

Baldelli, who is 44-years-old, is a younger manager but is also incredibly proven as a big league skipper. What the Angels need more than anybody is a manager who is independently good in that they can withstand meddling from the ownership group. Baldelli can be Arte Moreno-proof, he has shown that. He is an analytically minded former player with a great resume, one that's far better than anybody else the Angels are considering save for maybe Brandon Hyde, and could absolutely do an amazing job with the core group of players the Angels have.