The Angels’ managerial search is over, as the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that former big league catcher and current Halos special assistant Kurt Suzuki has been hired as the team’s new bench boss.
Suzuki was one of multiple former Angels players who was linked to the managerial vacancy. Albert Pujols emerged as the initial candidate for the job and was seen as the favorite, before news broke yesterday that Pujols wouldn’t be the hire. As per reports from both Heyman and The Athletic’s Sam Blum, Pujols and the Angels couldn’t line up on a contract, as well as on “coaches and resources,” in Heyman’s words. Longtime Angels outfielder Torii Hunter was another candidate for the job but he also fell out of race yesterday.
Other names linked to the search included candidates with past experience managing at the big league level, including Rocco Baldelli, Brandon Hyde, and Los Angeles’ own third base coach (and former Astros skipper) Bo Porter. It isn’t known if the Halos actually spoke with any of these speculative candidates, or if the team was impressed enough by what they heard from Suzuki that they went ahead and made the hire.
More to come….
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