While possibly gearing themselves up for a Gerrit Cole signing, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are stabilizing things from an organizational standpoint.
Now, legendary former manager Tony La Russa is joining the organization as a senior advisor a number of sources report on Wednesday. Remember, La Russa had long stints as a manager in Oakland as well as St. Louis. The Angels PR also released a statement on twitter, which is below.
Today, the #Angels announced the hiring of @TonyLaRussa as Senior Advisor, Baseball Operations pic.twitter.com/qLWpalvXRL
— Angels PR (@LAAngelsPR) November 12, 2019
Recently, La Russa was with the Boston Red Sox for two seasons in a similar role. Remember, he oversaw one World Series title there when they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 World Series. It seems that Angels’ general manager Billy Eppler has wanted to add La Russa to his cabinet for a long time, saying in a statement that he has long admired him and wanted to work with the former manager.
Equally important, this is a guy who simply knows about winning; and how a winning organization does things. For instance, La Russa was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014. He is third in Major League Baseball history with 2,728 wins, and won World Series Titles in 1989 and 2006 as a manager.
Currently, the Angels have newly-hired Joe Maddon as their manager. Then quietly, they made a good hire in Mickey Callaway to serve as their pitching coach. Already, they have the best player in the sport in Mike Trout; and now La Russa in the front office.
If the Angels can make a big move or two – like adding a Gerrit Cole – this could be a franchise that does one of those quick turnarounds that seemingly happens overnight. Truly, it’s due to the fact that the Angels are stabilizing their key coaching and front office spots with successful people.
