Monday morning obersvations about John Mozeliak to the Angels

I don’t know if I have a point to my post. I just want to say that upfront. I saw something interesting happening online, and while online isn’t representative of everyone, I see no reason to see a much different response from the offline folks. Ideally, I would have some sort of intention with writing this article. But I don’t. I merely want to point something out.

Let’s talk about John Mozeliak getting hired by the Los Angeles Angels as the interim general manager. I honestly didn’t expect him to continue being involved with baseball, but as I and everyone reading this are huge baseball fans, I think we can all understand why he’s back in the game so soon. If I could work in baseball, I would absolutely work in baseball for as long as I could.

I also think we can all agree that it was time for John Mozeliak to leave. The Cardinals were stuck in a middle ground and couldn’t seemingly get out of it. I probably have a different opinion than most about this. I think Mozeliak is a very good scapegoat, or public punching bag, or whatever you want to label it, but that ultimately Bill Dewitt cut payroll and certainly strongly approved of the cuts going from the unseen parts of the organization. Should Mozeliak have pushed back on this? Certainly. May have been that he just knew Dewitt too long and too well, and implicitly understood what he wanted. And it was just more comfortable to not push back.

In regards to Chaim Bloom, I think he had very good timing. I think the evidence was mounting that things needed to change and he had the right kind of leverage and message to change the direction of the franchise. I just personally believe the three seasons of missing the playoffs were to some extent needed to make Dewitt go “yeah okay, something different needs to happen.” Again perhaps a hot take, but luckily we all benefit.

But my comparison to Bloom and Mozeliak, and the reason I chose to write about this is because, when Bloom was hired, it was a near universal positive response to what he had to say. He was a breath of fresh air. He was saying different things than his predecessor. He did back it up, at least so far, with what appear to be the right kind of moves.

I got deja vu reading the responses to John Mozeliak from Angels fans. I’m not even kidding, they are very similar to how Cardinals fans responded to Bloom. I think Cardinals fans trust Dewitt a hell of a lot more than Angels fans trust Arte Moreno, and understandably so, so there was some hedging and mistrust still. But it had nothing to do with Mozeliak. The Mozeliak start to the Angels has been a 100 percent success.

To make a direct comparison, now you know what it feels like to be a Boston Red Sox fan when they hear any of us talk about Chaim Bloom. And weirdly, I think everyone might be right. Sometimes, you just need a change of scenery.

If Bloom did what he did in Boston in St. Louis, we would not be Chaim Bloom fans. The general ‘we,’ there are exceptions of course. I would probably defend him like I am defending John Mozeliak. Cardinals fans are also right to be optimistic about Bloom as POBO. He learned from his experience at Boston, made sure to set demands before he was hired, and well free agent signings go sideways a lot, so let’s hope that goes better this time around.

In a similar fashion, Cardinals fans are right to think Mozeliak needed to leave. I think fans go too far when talking about his tenure of course. I think this is a good move for the Angels. Fans talk about Mozeliak like he was Dave Littlefield, leaving five prospects unprotected in the Rule 5 draft.

No, he can build a team. Hell, he built most of this current team. And yes I’m aware improved development is helping this team. I’m just pointing out he was in charge when most of this team was acquired. He also presumably had a hand in Bloom coming here and was involved partially with the increased emphasis on development and coaches, something he will probably take with him in his new role with the Angels.

And I don’t know if he’s staying past December. I’m guessing it has a lot to do with Moreno. If he feels like he’ll have the freedom to do things the way they need to be done, he might be the new POBO then. If he starts seeing why it’s hard to be general manager for the Angels, he’ll pick his replacement and leave.

Anyway, I don’t really have a point to my article so much as it’s just kind of funny how a new face can seem refreshing given the right circumstance. I listened to Mozeliak’s interview with the broadcast booth during the game. To me, he sounded the same as he sounded here, but I didn’t also fly into a blinding rage when I heard that man talk, which I understand happens to some fans.

I’ve never heard Perry Minasian, so it’s possible Mozeliak only sounds good because that guy sounded like he was going to steal my lunch money whenever he talked, I don’t know. But I’m guessing Minasian didn’t sound THAT bad to an outside ear if you’ve never heard him talk, and I’m guessing if you’re tired of a guy, there’s almost nothing they can say that you will like.

At the very least, the Angels haven’t had a winning record since 2015 and haven’t made the playoffs since 2014, and Mozeliak can at least set that organization up for better than that. Not a high bar, but also not as easy as it sounds either.

Blaze Jordan

I missed Saturday and most of yesterday’s game, but I feel like I blinked and suddenly Jordan has an 80 wRC+. He’ll get more run obviously, and his defense has been a pleasant surprise, so if you would have told me he had an 80 wRC+, I’d have expected him to be below replacement level a month ago.

Nonetheless, I honestly think his bat will have a bit of a learning curve. He reminds me so much of Alec Burleson, for better or worse, and if he follows Burleson’s trajectory, it’s going to be a while. Now, if he’s actually good on defense, that makes it easier. I am skeptical he’s actually good. He has been upgraded to playable, which is actually a big upgrade from what I thought before, but if you think I’m buying his numbers because of 101 innings at 3B, you don’t know me at all.

Anyway, it got me thinking… Nolan Gorman might rise from the dead. The opportunity might be there. Yesterday, Gorman went 1 for 3 with a HR and a BB. And no strikeouts. It’s already his second homer in 5 games in Memphis. And yes he has struck out a ton so far, but not striking out yesterday lowered his K rate 10 percentage points. He’s also walked four times in 5 games. It’s really not hard to imagine him quickly having good, promotable numbers in Memphis.

To be clear, this is Nolan Gorman’s last chance, but when I say it’s his last chance, the entire year is his last chance. And also Gorman does have to actually start mashing in Memphis. Like this is a hypothetical right now. But it’s hard to give up on a player who has quite literally hit 27 homers per 600 PAs in his career. Yeah like it’s easy to say he only hit 27 homers once, but his career average is actually 27 homers per 600 PAs. Even with not hitting many homers this year. He’s also 26 right now.

I’m merely presenting the fact that Blaze Jordan may head back down to Memphis, probably after 100 PAs or so – clearly Gorman is a good week or more away from this even being a possibility. To take it back to my Burleson comparison, Burly was a bad hitter in his first 400 PAs – even if they do make the swap and Gorman is still bad, that’s fine, because we got to get 100 Blaze Jordan development plate appearances out of the process. We try this again later this year, and we know Gorman is burnt toast with the Cardinals.

And yes, I know Jordan is still hitting better than Gorman was. I totally get that. I’m not giving up on Jordan. But he wouldn’t be the first player who struggled in his first MLB season and he won’t be the last and considering the goals of the season, I truly think they want to exhaust Nolan Gorman as a possibility. Hell, part of the reason Gorman might come back is because he’s out of time. Jordan has plenty of time.

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