The Los Angeles Angels will not be bringing back manager Phil Nevin for the 2024 season, according to The Athletic's Sam Blum.
It's unknown at this time who they will replace him with, but here are three pretty good options for his replacement.
No. 3 Phil Nevin replacement for Angels manager job: Joe Espada
Joe Espada has a long history of coaching through MLB, MiLB, and other baseball organizations. Currently serving as the Astros' bench coach, he was a finalist for the New York Mets manager job a few seasons ago before Buck Showalter took it.
He started as a player, and his career spanned from 1996 to 2005 with many teams and even went foreign for a few years. He began his coaching career as the hitting coach for the Marlins' Greensboro Grasshoppers and Jupiter Hammerheads teams.
He was later named the Marlins' third base coach prior to the 2010 season and was even part of the coaching staff for the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics.
In 2015, he served as the Yankees' infield and third base coach before joining the Astros in 2017. He tried to become the Texas Rangers manager in 2018 and the Chicago Cubs manager in 2019, but both attempts failed, and he has been with the Astros since 2017, helping them win two World Series.
No. 2 Phil Nevin replacement for Angels manager job: Gabe Kapler
Gabe Kapler was recently let go from the San Francisco Giants, but he has a track record of being a very good coach, and it could be a steal for the Angels if they can acquire his services.
Kapler was the manager for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018 and 2019. In those seasons, they didn't suck but weren't good. With a record of 80-82 and 81-81, Kapler was fired.
Once he joined the San Francisco Giants, he emerged as a top-tier coach, but with the players they had, he was unable to fully see the team's potential. In his one good season, they shocked everyone and won 107 games in 2021.
Kapler has always been a good manager, and one day could even become a general manager with his successful history as a director of player development back with the Dodgers in 2014.
Kapler was the favorite to become the Los Angeles Dodgers' next manager after the failed coaching career of Don Mattingly, but he ultimately lost the job to Dave Roberts, who isn't the best of coaches and was only able to win one World Series so far, despite the amazing team he has had year after year.
If the Angels could acquire Kapler, it would be an amazing steal, but he is only second on this list because many other teams are willing to pursue him, and they are more likely to get him since their franchises are in better conditions.
No. 1 Phil Nevin replacement for manager job: Ray Montgomery
Ray Montgomery seems likely to become the next manager for the Angels, as he is currently the best in-house option unless they decide to look outside of the organization.
Montgomery is a former MLB player who played professional baseball from 1990 all the way up to 2001 with many teams, including the Astros, with whom he debuted, as well as the Pirates and Mets. He was always a good contact-hitter with quite a bit of power, but he never got much of a shot in MLB and only played in 47 games.
After his playing days, he turned into a scout for the Milwaukee Brewers and was the one who scouted Rickie Weeks, whom the Brewers ended up drafting second overall and who went on to have a long career.
In 2009, Montgomery was offered a position by the San Diego Padres to become their next scouting director, but he declined it because he didn't want to relocate. The next year, in 2010, he became the Arizona Diamondbacks' scouting director and served for four years before returning to where it all started, joining the Brewers as their scouting director.
In later years, the Los Angeles Angels hired him as the director of player personnel, and the following year, he became the Angels' bench coach. When the manager gets ejected, the bench coach takes over, and it seems likely he could be next in line to become the manager.
