ANAHEIM — While the Angels still aren’t sure what they’re doing with their general manager position, the shakeup in other parts of baseball operations continued on Monday.
The Angels made two promotions, giving them four assistant GMs, and they let go of three amateur scouts, three national cross checkers and special assistant Ray Montgomery.
“The reason for all of this is to really get an alignment of how we think about our player acquisitions,” said interim GM John Mozeliak, who took over when Perry Minasian was fired in June.
Matt Swanson was promoted to assistant GM in charge of player acquisitions. He’ll oversee amateur and pro scouting, which had been largely separate previously. Swanson was the Angels’ scouting director before Tim McIlvaine, and he has since remained in the organization as a senior advisor.
The Angels also promoted Michael Lord to assistant GM in charge of research and development. Mozeliak said Lord, who had been a senior director, will spend the next few weeks deciding to what degree that department needs to be revamped.
The Angels currently have 12 people working in R&D.
“Just based on a quick look they are probably smaller in size for their shop, but they’re a very effective shop, so it’s really going to be if we feel we need to (increase the head count), we’ll consider it, but time will tell,” Mozeliak said.
Swanson and Lord join current assistant GMs David Haynes and Joey Prebynski. Haynes focuses on the major league roster while Prebynski is in charge of player development.
Above all of that, of course, is the question of who will be running the entire baseball operations department. Mozeliak’s contract as the interim GM expires at the end of the year. When he was hired in June, he said it was the plan to hire a new GM, preferably by the end of the season.
As of now, that process seems to have taken a back seat to the internal changes.
“We haven’t pushed forward with that,” Mozeliak said. “Obviously I get asked that a lot, but right now the focus has been all internal and at some point I’ll get some guidance from (owner Arte Moreno and president Molly Jolly) on that next step, but right now I’ve been just focused really on just the baseball ops side for the Angels.”
In the meantime, the Angels are sinking toward what might be the first 100-loss season in franchise history. They entered play on Monday on a seven-game losing streak, with a 52-85 record, tied for the worst in the majors.
Most of their recent losses have been in one- or two-run games, which encouraged Mozeliak.
“We’re playing better baseball,” Mozeliak said. “We’re in games, but you know in the major leagues it’s a simple proxy, either you win or you lose and right now we’re on the wrong end of those. But I do like some of the things you’re starting to see. From a pitching standpoint, I think some of the adjustments that have been made over the last three to four weeks have been positive. Obviously we’re struggling scoring runs on a consistent level and and I think that’s really reflective in our wins and losses. But overall I see a lot of encouraging things, but you know, it’s a big boy game. You either win or lose, and we keep score, so that part’s a little frustrating.”
The Angels made some improvements with the performance of their pitchers by changing the organizational processes, starting with the dismissal of three pitching coaches. Mozeliak said he doesn’t think the offensive problems call for the same change.
“Obviously when you look at our club, we just got a lot of younger guys that have been a little bit more inconsistent,” Mozeliak said. “If I thought it was as simple as making some coaching changes, obviously I would consider that, but I don’t see that as a quick solution.”
ROSTER ADDITIONS COMING
With the start of September, teams will be able to add one pitcher and one position player to their rosters on Tuesday.
It seems likely the Angels will activate left-hander Samy Natera Jr. for the pitching spot. Natera has been on the injured list because of back stiffness. He pitched twice over the weekend at Rancho Cucamonga, working two scoreless innings.
“Really good reports,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “He’s feeling really good, and we’re looking forward to having him back.”
As for the position player, one possibility would be Kyren Paris, who has hit .307 with a .981 OPS at Triple-A. He’s also struck out in 28% of his plate appearances.
The Angels also could promote outfielder Cade Marlowe, who they recently re-signed to a minor league deal. Marlowe, who has been in the majors with the Seattle Mariners, has hit .314 with an .897 OPS this season at Triple-A.
NOTES
First baseman Nolan Schanuel (strained intercostal) still has not swung a bat since he’s been on the IL. He’s been working in the gym and doing on-field agility drills. …
Two Angels prospects were named Pitcher of the Week in their respective leagues. Right-hander Austin Gordon, who pitched the first seven innings of a no-hitter, was honored in the Double-A Southern League. Right-hander Trey Gregory-Alford took the honor in the Class-A California League, allowing one hit in six scoreless innings.
UP NEXT
Yankees (RHP Gerrit Cole, 7-7, 3.19 ERA) at Angels (RHP Grayson Rodriguez, 4-5, 6.03 ERA), Tuesday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM