What Torii Hunter can do to beat out Albert Pujols for the Angels' managerial job

The Los Angeles Angels, who appeared to have their minds made up that they were going to hire Albert Pujols as their next manager, are at least doing their due diligence in the hiring process. While Pujols is seen as the favorite, and might even have a standing offer to become the manager, there is still time for another candidate to come out of the woodwork and win the job.

The Angels are vetting other candidates as well, including current special assistants to Perry Minasian in Kurt Suzuki and Torii Hunter. Suzuki has reportedly interviewed for the San Francisco Giants' vacant managerial job, and both Suzuki and Hunter are likely options for the Minnesota Twins' job. Both Suzuki and Hunter played for Minnesota, and Hunter is obviously a Twins franchise icon and has to be considered a front runner for the role. Hunter is viewed as first man out/runner-up to Pujols right now for the Angels job, but he might have Arte Moreno and Perry Minasian second guessing themselves if he hits home these points.

What Torii Hunter can do to beat out Albert Pujols for the Angels' managerial job

First and foremost, Pujols is Arte Moreno's top choice. Moreno has a long, long history of making just horrible decisions in baseball operations, so it's not exactly helping Pujols' case with fans that Moreno is gung-ho about hiring Pujols.

The monkey wrench with the Angels and Pujols is his personal services clause, in which the future first ballot Hall of Famer needs to remain with the organization for another seven years as an instructor. What remains unclear with the clause in his contract is whether the Angels would void the clause if he lands another role in whatever capacity. So, if the Angels do hire Hunter as their next manager than they could theoretically keep Pujols in the organization due to this clause. Whereas if the Angels hire Pujols as their manager, they could lose Hunter if he lands the Twins job. Keeping both former superstar players with the Angels seems like it would be a priority for a team that desperately needs smart, accomplished people around its players.

Another thing Hunter has on Pujols is that he has more of a finger on the pulse of the Angels. While Pujols has been with the organization, his duties are far more relegated to the minor league/DSL side of baseball operations/player development. Hunter spent a not insignificant amount of time in the Angels dugout the past two seasons, especially in 2025, and advises Perry Minasian on the happenings at the major league level. So, while Pujols can flaunt his managerial resume over Hunter, Hunter could at least convince Moreno and Minasian that he has better working relationships with the members of the Angels roster, coaching staff, trainers, front office, etc.

What about who Hunter would bring onto his staff vs. Pujols? It was reported that Pujols would bring on Ramón Martínez as his pitching coach to replace Barry Enright. Maybe the Angels would not want that switch? Perhaps hiring Hunter would mean more continuity on the coaching staff, as it seems like Pujols would want more full-scale changes in Player Development than Hunter given that Hunter's at least spent time around the current coaches. Now, it seems that firing the members of the coaching staff is a positive since the Angels have been atrocious the past couple of years. However, not enough can be said about how important continuity of a coaching staff can be on players...and especially young players. If Hunter wants to keep coaches like Johnny Washington, Eric Young Sr., Enright, Sal Fasano, Jayson Nix, etc., then that could go a long way with Zach Neto, Jo Adell, Mike Trout, Nolan Schanuel and Logan O'Hoppe's development.

For Angels fans, either Pujols or Hunter would be a satisfactory hire. Both have strong cases for the job, and fans will enjoy the subsequent stories that come out about their relationship with the franchise. It's hard to say which man will do a better job, but there are definitely signs that Hunter could be the guy.