Control of the Angels is likely to pass to Stan Kroenke’s group later month, which would be sooner than originally expected, but in the meantime the search for a new leader of the baseball operations department remains in a holding pattern, interim GM John Mozeliak said on Wednesday.
Mozeliak said he’s expecting Major League Baseball owners to vote on the transfer from Arte Moreno to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, “somewhere in the week of the 16th (of November).” MLB owners meetings are scheduled for Nov. 17-19 in New York.
In the meantime, Mozeliak and KSE have simply been putting together lists of names they’d like to consider to be the next head of baseball operations.
“We’re going to wait on the vote, and once the vote happens there will be an aggressive pursuit,” Mozeliak said.
When KSE announced the deal to purchase the Angels from Arte Moreno in September, the deal was expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2027.
However, approval from the other 29 MLB owners is a different process than the closing of the financial aspects of the deal. Once the approval is done, KSE will be in charge, Mozeliak said.
“I think that’s when the majority of the decision-making will be theirs,” Mozeliak said.
The Angels fired GM Perry Minasian in June, and hired Mozeliak as an interim GM. He was tasked with handling the draft, the trade deadline and overseeing the search for a new leader of baseball operations. Mozeliak is still under contract through December.
“I don’t think we’ve exactly determined my role in (the search) process yet,” Mozeliak said. “But I am under contract and will help in any way I can. But ultimately they (KSE) will be the lead on this.”
The Angels job is now considered one of the most coveted in the industry, because Kroenke has deep pockets and his reputation is to allow autonomy for the people he hires. That’s led to speculation that the Angels could go big and try to lure away someone who is currently at the top of another team’s baseball operation.
So far, the Angels haven’t asked permission to interview anyone who is currently leading another team’s baseball operation, according to Mozeliak.
Whoever ends up getting the job to lead the baseball operations would then select the new manager. The Angels declined the option on Kurt Suzuki’s deal last month.
In the meantime, there is less than a month of time to rework the roster before the expected lockout on Dec. 1 freezes most movement.
Mozeliak is planning to attend next week’s GM Meetings in Las Vegas, but he said he’ll mostly be there to collect information.
“We are actively engaged in the six-year free agent market,” Mozeliak said. “I’m going to take the next week at the GM Meetings to sort of understand the landscape of the free agent market and also use that to understand some of the trade market. In terms of the direction of where we’re going, that’s still TBD. My responsibility will be to understand, from a big picture standpoint, what the options are and what makes the most sense, depending on what direction we want to go.”
Mozeliak added that it was unlikely any significant moves would be made until after KSE takes control.
“I doubt we’ll be pulling the trigger, but you never know,” he said. “Things happen.”