These are the Angels prospects to keep an eye on in 2026. So says Rhett Bollinger.
Ho hum. The Dodgers are back in the World Series again. Game 7 of the ALCS is this evening.
This is your overview of the impending free agent class at center field. Here are the shortstops.
Vance Wilson, the Kansas City third base coach, got an interview for the Giants manager position.
Surgery is becoming quite fashionable among the Cardinals players. (Nootbar, Donovan, Herrera).
The Astros signed a one year deal with right-hander Nate Pearson.
Former big league catcher Jesus Montero died as a result of a car crash at the age of 35.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Even better news is Grandpa AND Torii are out of contention for the Manager position.
Torii would have been a good choice. Not necessarily for next year, but assuming he was given a few years to start to change the culture. If Arte happened to kick the bucket in that time frame then you’ve got something…
Ohhhhhhh Canada
Go Blue Jays
Arte wanted Pujols to finish out the 7 years on his contract as manager and not pay him a dime more.
I don’t think Pujols is the hot commodity that he thinks he is.
Padres and Orioles has expressed some degree of interest. I would think that qualifies as a candidate wanting to extract some benefits.
Is there a Rooney rule in MLB?
I said at the beginning that Arte probably wanted the manager salary for Pujols to be his 1 million “personal services” pay plus a little extra, like maybe 200k, putting his salary at 1.2 million.
Bo knows what the Angels need in 2026?
Porter possible skipper, thoughts?
Bo Belinsky?
I want him nowhere near the team ever again.
If the choice is between Pujols, Torii and Suzuki, I vote Suzuki.
Yup. Don’t hate Torii, but think Kurt may be better.
yeah, if we have to choose someone with no managerial experience, I’d much prefer to go with a former catcher.
Agreed. Many former catchers have turned into good managers. Bochy, Torre, Sosh, Matheny, Yost, Melvin.
Cleveland is doing well under Vogt.
Catcher is the most involved position on the field.
Sosh
Yeah, you pay for your view of the entire play and field.
Brad Ausmus was tagged as a future manager while he was still catching live games…
Its not going to work out every time, but given the options we’ve been told so far, I’d go with the catcher over a HOF 1B/DH who lied about his age and an OF with a nice smile.
Go Jays!!!!
No Jerry’s kids in the WS!!
I want Toronto to win, first of all. After that I’m wondering which would be more fun. A blowout with the Jays scoring a lot early so Mariners fans have to spend inning after inning knowing it’s hopeless. Or Seattle leading into the 9th and Toronto walking it off.
Should Foster Griffin be a flyer candidate for the Halos?
#MADDON2026?
Only if he comes with a Mohawk!
LOL
“Pre-mohawked”?
Angels Make Huge Albert Pujols Decision: Reports
Sports illustrated story
I dunno how to feel, can a manager really make a difference for the Halos!?
I doubt the manager can make a big positive difference but a bad manager could be hugely negative. Ted Williams was an epic disaster trying to manage the Rangers. He simply couldn’t fathom anybody that didn’t play the game his way.
Magic Johnson coaching the lakers? Umm, his late night show train wreck too….LMAO!!
From the centerfield list noted in this article, it looks like in-house or other cheap options may be required barring a trade. From a cost-benefit standpoint, I don’t see any of the free agent targets being worth it.
What’s surprising to me is that Pujols was even a serious candidate given he had to know that Arte would be involved in the decision making, and Perry is a lame duck and would be protecting his ass at every turn.
The clown show continues…..
I’ll still say that I wouldn’t mind seeing Langston as the pitching coach, Salmon as the hitting coach and Hunter as the manager.
It never made any sense. I agree about the clown show.
At least clowns are usually consistent…
And entertaining
Perry would not cover his ass, he cut him previously and would be giddy to have a second chance for a repeat
Arte is the same guy who believed Albert’s stated age and gave him a quarter billion dollars.
I can’t believe Albert met with anybody other than Arte about this gig.
Little pre IIWPM take. I’d hire T Hunter as my manager and have Bud Black there as Bench/Assistant coach. I think having an estabilshed man next to Torii would be beneficial and Bud has massive ties to us. We then need to work on a hitting coach and a new catchers coach as Sal Fasano needs to go!
Not a bad approach. I like Buddy Black as a baseball guy. As a manager, Bud has mixed results.
Selfish question for Jeff: submitted a cannot on the 3rd base outlook. Did I submit it correctly?
Side note: I had a dream that Kurt Suzuki was throwing BP to Angels hitters, then woke up and saw the Pujols news
I don’t see it in the queue.
Gosh darn it. Lol. Thanks
Does anyone around here have an FA in mind that was given a QA that they think is worth signing for tons of money AND losing our #2 pick in the draft AND losing 500K of Intl Bonus Pool money?
Tucker to a degree (but I don’t think so at the $$ he will ultimately get).
Bichette also to a degree just would depend on the $
Bichette is a DH, a hitter with poor defense. We already have too many of those.
At SS, yes
At 3rd, he would be above average.
Concur
Can they pitch?
A QA being issued should be a determining factor to NOT sign. You listening Perry or at least feeling your past mistakes?
If Moreno turned Albert down then Albert was probably the right person for the job
Interesting observation
I think it might actually show some personal growth tbh
On whose part? 😂
If true, I would hope there would be an attempt to buy out the rest of Albert’s contract and see if a few dollars can be saved. Going to turn down Albert and continue to pay him?
Stay in school kids.
Once he interviewed in Baltimore, I was pretty sure Arte would not hire him.
You mean he failed Arte’s “I’m at Del Taco and you have 15 minutes to sign the contract” test?
If he wanted to be an Angel, he’d be an Angel ha ha.
I’m completely indifferent to the Blue Jays but pulling for them all the way. Basically they are not the mariners or doyers. I made the mistake of going onto lookout landing too much a long time ago and they soiled the M’s for me forever. I never posted but their comments were insane. I wish them no luck. I know there are plenty of quality M’s fans that deserve a win but that LL crew deserves failure forever in my book. I’m sure they say the same about us haha
Yay!
sammy say bert is no longer considered a candidate for Angels manager, a team source told The Athletic Monday. There had been mutual interest in hiring the former great, but the two sides could not get close on dollars and years, the source said.
While nothing is ever 100 percent with Angels owner Arte Moreno, and circumstances could evolve once again, it is believed to be very unlikely that the two sides would find common ground.
The Angels will now turn their attention toward other candidates. Another former Angel, Torii Hunter, remains a candidate, though he is not considered a slam dunk.
The team has also wanted to speak with ex-managers like Brandon Hyde and Rocco Baldelli, though it is unclear if there is any mutual interest. Another former Angels player, Kurt Suzuki, is also in the mix. Suzuki, like Hunter, currently works as a special assistant to Angels GM Perry Minasian.
It was just 11 days ago that Pujols met with Minasian in St. Louis to discuss the job. The conversation went well, sources said, and strong momentum had been building toward a contract. At the time, he was the only candidate receiving serious consideration.
It’s unclear exactly what both sides’ expectations were to get a deal done. The Angels are still on the hook to pay Pujols $7 million over the next seven years as part of the personal services contract he signed with the club.
Pujols signed that post-retirement contract as an add-on to the 10-year, $240 million contract with the Angels in 2012. Pujols played 10 seasons for the Angels before being released in May of 2021.
I can dig it. It’s not like ANY manager is gonna make us a winner in 2026, but I’d like to have something happen that interests me. Hiring Pujols doesn’t interest me.
They are likely to get the cheapest guy for the least amount of years so whatever they may not interest either of us.
Bingo
That would be Kurt Suzuki. In house, unqualified, and cheap.
If that happens, Kurt Suzuki is at least a good guy. I don’t know about him being ready to be a major league manager but maybe they’ll get lucky. I’m sure we could do worse.
He knows how to call a game and should really know when to pull or not pull a pitcher or reliever.
The Pujols saga is interesting. He’s also interviewing with the Padres now.
I’ve read the two sides had wide ranging disagreements including coaches.
It smells of Arturo meddling to me and it’s likely that he was trying to dictate coaching choices. I wasn’t excited about him as a manager in any case. I still recall the dust up that he and Torii had that revolved around Albert being surly after team wins because he personally had a bad game at the plate. Not the right guy to be a leader of men even if it’s only partially true.
Unless this leadership group suddenly develops an acumen for baseball that they have never demonstrated it’s all window dressing anyway.
Torii is the good vibes guy. I always preferred him over Pujols.
Likewise. I never believed that Albert understood how to read the room relationally with any sense of humility. He talked about himself in the third person as if he was still the player that he was ten years prior. He obviously lied about his age and was also likely to have been substance aided.
Not a Pujols fan but I do agree with him that he should be selecting his own coaching staff. They’re going to hire someone who is willing to take the job for less than market and who is also willing to give up picking their coaches. Arte and Perry are about as unprofessional as it gets.
So depressing but true.
That hurts a little. Because it’s true.
Washington picked most of his coaches….
…which means the person getting the job will have sold his soul to Arte and Perry. Might as well promote the AA or AAA manager to the job and hope for the best.
For once cheap Arte’s cheapness saved us the spectacle of Pujols as manager? Well, okay then!
…and bitch fighting with Perry
Remind me who we’re going for in the ALCS and why? Jerry’s kid’s vs Vlad’s kid?
If two west coast teams are in the World Series it will probably drive the east coast sports writers crazy, so there is that.
The Jays tonight definitely. Why?
I don’t want to root for the Dodgers in the World Series
Agree. Mariners pitching has not been what I thought so they will have little chance. Jays are a better rounded team.
I’d prefer to see Seattle make their first WS, largely for a good friend from Seattle.
Really, this game will determine who I pray upsets the Dodgers in the Fall Classic.
Yep. I’m in the don’t care/don’t like stage of not giving a shit about this WS. But I have to live with Doyer fans, so fk them. I think Seattle has a better chance of getting their pitchers super hot and snuffing the Dodgers purchase of another title while it’s still in the shopping bag. But if I just get to choose I’d like the Blue Jays to win.
Then the speculation can begin. Who will buy Kyle Tucker? CAN the Doyers buy three more aces this off season and guarantee another well earned WS purchase? So exciting.
I’m rooting for a salary cap.
I could never root for the Mariners. Even against the Dodgers!
Seattle is the team that I would least want to see win the World Series. The one significant thing we have on them is that they have never won a WS. I hope it stays that way !!
I like the Mariners, they are 15th in Payroll compared to 5 or 6 for Toronto.
Random thought. Should we consider moving Zach Neto to an OF position? Would that mitigate the injury risk a bit? I’m thinking about Fernando Tatis Jr. in SD.
My first reaction is that you basically neuter his impact by doing that. Much of his value is in his defense and he wouldn’t be a great offensive performer when compared with elite outfielders.
Agreed, as well as the fact that his hitting plays much better as a SS.
Which/what injury are you thinking of mitigating?
I understand this, and if it happened I wouldn’t be super pissed. But I do, just in my squirrelly little head, think he drives a lot of the team’s momentum from SS. Maybe move him to 3B if we end up with a better SS. I know that, for some reason, we believe he’s an elite SS, but he isn’t. He’s far from bad, but he’s also not anywhere close to a guy we just can’t move.
I think if Guzman can hit decently, moving Neto to second base would form a great tandem up the middle. Similar to Texas having Seager and Semien
I’d take that. Move Moore to the OF. Let his bat develop with less mental strain on defense.
I’d be good with that. I’m still in wait and see mode with Moore. Could develop but I do not like how swing and miss he has.
If Guzman is better defensively at SS than Neto, That would be a good move for us regarding up the middle defense especially with Rada in CF.
Right this minute, the team is lacking IF depth more than outfield depth, so nope. we don’t have an extra SS, but we already have an extra DH/OF
Who are the depth pieces? It should not be Soler or a Trout, I think the Angels need one more quality piece. Regarding Neto, I see him moving to 2nd before the end of the decade. He can make the play coming at him but does not possess the cat-like quickness of a Aybar or Simba.
Tatis in OF would be great. Better there than at short.
He would fit in, he’ll be 27 next year and could replace Rendon’s contract with someone who could actually hit. His luxury tax hit would only be 24K and his actual salary the next 3 years would only be 20, 25, and 25, then 36K every year after that. He’s signed thru age 35. I would consider it.
He would have the best arm in the OF, by a wide margin. Someone who could limit the extra base.
He need’s to play RF and we already have 3 of those, but we could put Trout in LF with Soler DHing and that allows us to trade both Adell and Ward.
HOW WAS THAT GUY EVER A CATCHER? Every time I see Ward throw.