New Los Angeles Angels interim GM John Mozeliak said that he has not yet met team owner Arte Moreno, but hopes to meet him soon.
Mozeliak, the former long-time St. Louis Cardinals GM from 2007 to 2025, was hired by the Angels as the team’s new interim GM in a surprising move over the weekend, with former Angels GM Perry Minasian getting the boot after five failed seasons of building a bad Angels roster.
Unusually, however, Moreno — one of the more hands-on owners in the MLB — apparently did not have any input into Mozeliak’s hiring.
John Mozeliak Has Not Met Arte Moreno Yet
Speaking to reporters after officially being announced as the new Angels interim GM, Mozeliak admitted that he has not yet met Moreno, which is surprising, since you would think the team’s owner would meet the new GM, especially one who typically takes a hands-on approach like Moreno, before introducing them to the media. Not in this case, however.
“Mozeliak said the process started several weeks ago after connecting with (Angels president Molly Jolly) through a mutual friend in agent Steve Hilliard. He said owner Arte Moreno was not involved in the process, but that he’ll meet with him soon. The plan is to keep manager Kurt Suzuki, the front office, training staff and coaching staff on through the rest of the season, but they’ll be evaluated by Mozeliak,” wrote Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com.
It’s certainly surprising news, since Moreno is often involved in all decisions that the Angels’ front office makes. Perhaps Moreno is turning a corner as an owner and finally letting his staff do the work, but it is still quite surprising that Mozeliak was brought in without any input from Moreno at all, since changing the team’s GM is a pretty significant move.
John Mozeliak’s MLB History
Although the Cardinals faltered near the end of Mozeliak’s tenure with the team, he did build a World Series winner in 2011, and overall, the Cardinals were a highly successful team under his watch, making the playoffs 10 times during his time as the team’s GM.
With Mozeliak being the Cardinals’ GM, the team had 15 straight winning seasons from 2008 to 2022, and the 1,521 regular-season wins were the most in MLB during that time. In addition to the team’s success at the major-league level, the Cardinals were also known for having one of the top minor-league systems in the business, too.
However, as the Cardinals started to get stale at the end of Mozeliak’s tenure — they had losing seasons in two of his last three years with the team — the team decided to make a transition to Chaim Bloom as the team’s new lead decision maker, leading to Mozeliak’s exit.
But after stepping down from the Angels’ GM role at the end of last season, it did not take long for Mozeliak to find a new job. He is only the interim GM as of right now, but he may get the full-time title later on if the Angels improve under his watch.
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