The Los Angeles Angels are closing in on announcing their next general manager and have reduced their candidate pool down to five candidates, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Those five individuals are Diamondbacks assistant general managers Jared Porter and Amiel Sawdaye, Cubs senior vice president Jason McLeod, Mariners assistant general manager Justin Hollander, and Braves assistant general manager Perry Minasian.
It's unclear who the favorite is at this point. If the decision comes down to familiarity, then it's worth knowing that both Porter and McLeod worked alongside manager Joe Maddon during their shared time with the Cubs. Hollander, meanwhile, used to work within the Angels organization, giving him familiarity with owner Arte Moreno and other high-ranking officials.
We here at CBS Sports named three and featured two of those five individuals as part of our October look at future GM candidates.
While it's anyone's guess as to who will succeed Billy Eppler, one previously unreported candidate revealed themselves on Wednesday after it became clear they hadn't made the cut.
Victor Rojas, best known for being the Angels' play-by-play announcer, tweeted a note thanking Moreno (among others) for taking him seriously and for allowing him to interview for the job as a means of inspiring people to "step out of their comfort zones." Rojas shared that he had texted Moreno after the Angels' final regular-season game, informing the owner that he was interested.
Now that I've officially been eliminated from consideration, I want to thank the @Angels organization for including me as a candidate for their GM position. There are a couple of attachments that explain how process played out for me over the last couple of weeks. #angelsfamily pic.twitter.com/70IPhgvvft
— Victor Rojas (@VictorRojas) November 11, 2020
The Angels fired Eppler after five disappointing seasons at the helm. Eppler's teams failed to record a winning record despite employing the best player in the game, Mike Trout, and a number of other high-grade and well-compensated veterans. Whichever of the five finalists takes over, the Angels will do their best to not waste what remains of Trout's prime.
