Buck Showalter wants to manage the Angels, per report

The Anaheim Angels have a managerial vacancy, and the newly unemployed Buck Showalter is interested, according to the New York Post’s Mike Puma.

This is very funny to me, and also makes a great deal of sense to me. Since his first stint as manager, with the New York Yankees, ended, Buck has gravitated towards situations with involved owners and weak general managers. As the first ever manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, he was legendarily involved in all aspects of the organization, with Joe Garagiola, Jr., an attorney without experience in an MLB front office, as the general manager.

After he was fired from Arizona, he ended up in Texas, where we know about how Tom Hicks was as an owner, and John Hart as g.m. After Texas he was in Baltimore, where Peter Angelos was a hands-on owner, and Dan Duquette, as general manager, was perceived as sharing more power with Showalter (and being dictated more by Angelos) than was normal for a general manager.

Most recently, Showalter spent two years working for the New York Mets in a situation that probably less suited his preference. Steve Cohen is an active, involved owner, of course, but mostly in regards to being willing to spend money and face the media (and fans). General manager Billy Eppler, who hired Showalter, didn’t seem to cede (or allow to be given) to Showalter the degree of control Buck seems to have had in some previous stops.

The Angels, of course, have tended not to operate like most franchises since Arte Moreno bought the team two decades ago. Moreno is seen as very hands-on, and when manager Mike Scioscia was there, he reportedly wielded an outsize degree of power. Current Angels general manager worked for the Texas Rangers as a clubhouse attendant beginning in 1996, and was hired by Showalter as a staff assistant soon after Showalter arrived in Texas. One would see that relationship as being something Showalter would find attractive about the Angels gig.

Puma says that the Angels managerial job isn’t seen as an attractive one. Aside from the obvious issues — a team with eight straight losing seasons, that is likely losing its best player, with a bad farm system — Puma notes that Minasian is entering his final season as the general manager. If Minasian gets fired in the next year, whatever manager takes this job runs the risk of it being a one year deal.