According to ESPN LA and Ken Rosenthal, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have a top choice for their open General Manager position: Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman.
Earlier today, SB Nation’s DRaysBay first reported that Angels owner Arte Moreno had met with Friedman over dinner on Tuesday night. This report has been confirmed from multiple sources, and it appears that the Angels are highly interested in having Friedman be their next General Manager.
But as Roger Mooney from the Tampa Tribune reminds us, the odds of Friedman actually leaving the Rays are low. He is in a favorable position with the Rays, given free reign to act as he desires, and he has a great working relationship with owner Stuart Sternberg, president Matt Silverman, and manager Joe Maddon. In Sternberg’s words:
“It would really only be because of the position the organization is in and what an uphill battle we have to go at it every year, Andrew loves climbing mountains, being an underdog, having to go at it, but at some point you want at least one of your hands not tied behind your back.”
As the meeting took place in St. Petersburg, it suggests that the Angels are very interested in Friedman. Who wouldn’t be? Friedman has transformed one of the most hapless franchises in baseball into a model franchise, making the playoffs out of the AL East three of the previous four seasons on a minuscule budget. Now that Theo Epstein is headed to the Cubs, Friedman is likely the most desirable General Manager “on the market”.
But is Friedman on the market? Is he even interested in joining the Angels? That’s impossible to say, and only time will tell.
For more on this story, see the original report and subsequent updates over at DRaysBay.