Insider reveals real reason Albert Pujols passed on Angels job (and it's not just the money)

When the Los Angeles Angels were looking for a manager this past offseason, it felt like a lock that Albert Pujols was going to get the job. Beyond the playing days he spent in LA, in his retirement, Pujols has kept close tabs on the Angels' organization. His contract was also still on the Halos' books. It made sense until it didn't, and the Angels handed out a laughable one-year deal to Kurt Suzuki.

Pujols has been a rising managerial candidate in recent years, and the impression was that the Angels may not have been willing to pony up the cash it would take to hire him. It would fit with how owner Arte Moreno has operated the Angels in recent years.

To no surprise, a recent report from USA Today's Bob Nightengale confirms that contract demands were among the reasons why talks broke down between the Angels and Pujols this past winter. Apparently, that wasn't the only snag in talks. Nightengale added that Pujols was also seeking personnel changes that the Angels weren't ready to make.

There remains a path for Albert Pujols to manage the Angels

It wouldn't take a large leap to suggest that one of the personnel changes that Pujols may have been looking to make was with general manager Perry Minasian. A change that would have given the Angels a much-needed regime overhaul from top to bottom. Instead, Minasian is working through the final year of his deal with the Angels, and it would seem that both he and Suzuki will be out of a job come the end of the season.

Suzuki, for his part, has been fine. There have been worse first-year managers on the job, but Suzuki has done nothing to suggest he will be with the Angels past the 2026 season. Not to mention, if Minasian is gone at the end of the season, the new general manager almost certainly will want to bring their handpicked manager.

The contract demands are the contract demands. If Pujols wants top dollar, it's hard to imagine a scenario where that contract is offered by the Angels. But if money isn't the issue and Minasian is gone, perhaps that is what opens the door for Pujols' return to the Angels as the team's manager.

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