The Los Angeles Angels decided they were not going to bring Phil Nevin back for the 2024 season and for good reason. The team finished 73-89 for the second year in a row, showing no improvement under Nevin despite much more talent at his disposal.
The team collapsed almost immediately after trading several prospects for rentals to try an dhelp them win now. The Angels have now gone through eight straight losing seasons and nine straight seasons with no playoffs.
The Angels are not the only team with an opening, and their position is not nearly as enticing for prospective managers to walk into when compared to other teams out there. That's a problem. Here are two reasons why and another arguing that the opening isn't the worst.
1) The LA Angels manager job isn't appealing because working for Arte Moreno means you have no margin for error
Phil Nevin was the fourth Angels manager in the last five years. Mike Scioscia's tenure was done after 18 years, and since then, the Angels have failed to find any sort of stability. Brad Ausmus failed in 2019, Joe Maddon wasn't much better from 2020-2022, and Phil Nevin obviously was a step down after Maddon.
Managers are often used as a scapegoat in baseball, but the turnover in the Angels organization is pretty unmatched. That's because of one man, Arte Moreno. The Angels owner wants to be very involved despite no experience working in baseball whatsoever, and that's a huge reason why the Angers are where they are.
The decision to let Nevin go wasn't one made by just Minasian. Moreno played a key role, which could scare some managers away. Having an owner who knows nothing about baseball involved in personnel and roster decisions is simply not enticing.
The manager turnover is one thing, another is whether Moreno will even hold onto the team. Moreno teased selling the club last offseason before pulling them off the market unexpectedly. It doesn't look like he'll sell this offseason, but Arte's. been so erratic he could easily change his mind again unexpectedly.
A manager could walk in with a four-year contract and be fired almost immediately if Moreno sells the team because the new owner could want his own people in place. Moreno meddles, you have no job security, and you have no idea who will even own the team the next day. Nobody will want to work under him.