John Mozeliak's candid remarks hint at even bigger Angels' coaching changes

“There’s no reason for massive change right away.” That’s what John Mozeliak told his staff in June when he took over the Los Angeles Angels’ front office. Less than two months later, pitching coach Mike Maddux, bullpen coach Dom Chiti, and assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott were all let go. Tim Leveque and Michael Wuertz were tabbed to take over the pitching staff for the rest of the season. So, there’s that.

Mozeliak didn’t sugarcoat it. He had planned to hold off until after the season, but in talking with Kurt Suzuki, the staff, and some players, he felt that the pitching coaches weren’t using the technology available to them. So it was viewed as an opportunity to make a difference with what little time is left of the 2026 season to get a strong start toward 2027 and beyond. What he said about the hitting side was telling.

John Mozeliak’s Angels hitting coach comments were hidden but not ignored

Yes, firing an entire portion of a coaching staff is the headline, but it was interesting to note Mozeliak’s thoughts when he mentioned the other side. Brady Anderson and John Mabry aren’t going anywhere before the end of the season. Their jobs are safe because they’ve been using the technology given to them and they’ve been using them properly. Great, good for them. 

It’s one thing to be safe because they’re doing what’s asked of them by a new boss. But it’s also fair to wonder if that means they’re going to be safe once major evaluation is done following the season. Reading into Mozeliak’s comments and his description of the offensive coaching staff makes it easy to realize that “safe” is really “safe for now.” 

“Hitting is hard in this game,” he said. “When you’re looking at successful teams, they tend to have a real identity of what they are offensively. We’re not really clear yet on what we should look like, adn I think that’s one of the next steps.”

That’s not exactly a glowing endorsement. It is someone brought in from the outside who is working on identifying the problem and saying that a fix is coming. It just won’t come in the middle of August because Mabry and Anderson (and others) are doing the job as they’ve been asked to do it.

Everything abou this Angels season has pointed in the same direction. The pitching staff is a mess by basically any measure you can look at for pitchers. Mozeliak’s comments were pointed heavily toward process. He’s mentioned players using their own sources for coaching and development while not trusting the organization. He mentioned the organization being a “state-of-the-art place for player growth.” That’s the language you use when you’re laying out the groundwork for big changes that go well beyond three pitching coaches.

This isn’t a quick process. Mozeliak already replaced a fired general manager who built this roster, traded veterans (and some young players), and doesn’t seem to be planning to be just a short-term consultant with the team. If he’s sticking around in whatever capacity he sticks around in, he clearly has been given the runway to reshape way more than just the pitching room.

It’s hard to look at what they’ve already done and see a first-year manager on a one-year deal and think that his job is safe. Kurt Suzuki’s job, along with Mabry and Anderson, and really anyone else who is a part of the organization currently, has to think that their seat has gotten considerably warmer in the last couple of days.

You don’t have to be a fortune teller to figure this one out. Mozeliak isn’t going to blow up the hitting side because there’s no upside to that at this point. He felt there was upside in moving on from coaches who weren’t embracing the modern technology of the game. But keeping someone in mid-August and them having a job come 2027 are not the same thing. And when the GM starts talking about an offense needing to find identity while talking about three recently fired coaches, well, it’s pretty clear what’s likely next. 

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