One month after Los Angeles Angels fired Billy Eppler, who spent five seasons as the club’s general manager, the team reportedly has a list of candidates to fill the position.
Sources told ESPN on Thursday that the Angels’ target group includes:
–Oakland Athletics assistant GM/director of player personnel Billy Owens
–San Diego Padres senior adviser/director of player personnel Logan White
–Washington Nationals special assistant to the GM Dan Jennings
–Chicago Cubs senior vice president for player personnel Jason McLeod
–Ex-Miami Marlins GM and president of baseball operations Michael Hill
–Arizona Diamondbacks senior vice president/assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye
–Arizona Diamondbacks senior vice president/assistant GM Jared Porter
The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that four of those seven candidates have already been interviewed: Owens, White, Sawdaye and Porter. Among the seven reported targets, only Hill and Jennings have held a GM role in the majors. Hill had that job with the Marlins from 2008-13 and 2006, with Jennings guiding Miami from 2013-15.
Other media reports stated that the Angels also asked the Cubs for permission to speak with the team’s vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz.
The Angels were 26-34 this season, extending their run of missing the postseason to six seasons. The franchise has made the playoffs just one time, in 2014, in the past 11 years.
In five seasons with Eppler as the GM, the Angels did not have a winning record, going 332-376 over that stretch. The Angels also had three managers in those five seasons, going from Mike Scioscia to Brad Ausmus to Joe Maddon.
