Former Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols could be once step closer to a potential job as the club’s next manager.
Pujols met with Angels general manager Perry Minasian on Thursday for “preliminary discussions” on a potential managerial deal, The Athletic’s Sam Blum and Katie Woo reported Friday.
Blum and Woo wrote that the meeting with Minasian “is believed to have gone very well” and that “at this point, sources say, it is essentially Pujols’ choice of whether he wants the job.”
According to Blum and Woo, “an announcement is not expected to be imminent.”
Pujols spent parts of 10 seasons with the Angels as a player from 2012 to 2021. He rejoined the club as a special assistant ahead of the 2023 season.
The Angels announced earlier this month that neither manager Ron Washington nor interim manager Ray Montgomery would retain their roles in 2026.
Los Angeles declined a 2026 option for Washington, who spent the end of the 2025 season away from the team after undergoing heart surgery. Montgomery, who finished out the campaign in Washington’s place, was offered a different role in the organization.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman originally reported on Oct. 1 that Pujols would “be among those interviewed” for the Angels’ vacancy.
Blum, Woo and Ken Rosenthal reported at the time for The Athletic that Angels owner Arte Moreno, who is ultimately responsible for making the hire, “holds Pujols in high regard” and saw him as “the leading choice for the job.”
According to Woo and Blum, former Angels outfielder Torii Hunter is seen as another top option for the managerial vacancy if Pujols isn’t hired.
The 10-year, $240 million deal Pujols inked with the Angels ahead of the 2012 season included a 10-year, $10 million “personal services contract” under which he has been working in his role as special assistant.
Woo and Blum noted that the Angels will have to negotiate how the remainder of that contract would factor into a potential managerial contract for Pujols.
Pujols earned three league MVP awards with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004, 2008 and 2009. He retired from his playing career in 2022 with more than 700 career home runs and 3,300 hits in 22 MLB seasons. Should he accept a job in Los Angeles, the Angels will hope he can eventually help his former club snap an MLB-leading 11-season postseason drought.
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