Over at The Athletic, former MLB general manager Jim Bowden put together a list of 25 offseason predictions, some of which are serious, some silly, and some in between, although he doesn’t clarify which predictions fall into which categories. A few of his predictions involved the Angels, and one didn’t but should have — he predicted Tyler Anderson would accept the qualifying offer from the Dodgers, when in fact he signed with the Angels.
But one Angels prediction was extremely intriguing as Arte Moreno prepares to sell the team.
The Angels are sold. Theo Epstein is named president and CEO of the team with Perry Minasian remaining as general manager.
Epstein, of course, was the general manager of the Red Sox when they won the World Series for the first time in 86 years in 2004, and later he ran the Cubs when they broke their 108-year World Series drought in 2016. He stepped down as president of the Cubs after the 2020 season and has most recently worked with Major League Baseball’s front office.
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The Angels don’t have a Red Sox/Cubs kind of drought, of course, but it’s been 20 years since they won their one and only World Series. They’ve had Mike Trout for 12 seasons and have played a total of three playoff games in that time. Shohei Ohtani hasn’t made the postseason in his five seasons.
There’s no way to know if Epstein would be able to turn the Angels around like he did Chicago and Boston, and we don’t even know if this was one of Bowden’s serious predictions or his silly ones. But it sure is fun to think about, isn’t it?
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