Did Stan Kroenke Force the Angels' Front Office Shakeup Before Buying the Team?

One day the Angels fortunes will turn and the narrative will state Stan Kroenke's purchase of the team was the genesis of the turnaround. Perhaps John Mozeliak will get a passing mention if some of his prospect aqusitions turn into stars. But that narrative will be incorrect.

The Angels fortunes started to change the moment Molly Jolly was elevated to team president. Her qualifications, acumen, and autonomy stand in such sharp contract to previous Arte Moreno hires that it makes one wonder if Arte was truly behind the move. A promotion of this caliber fits more in line with the way Kroenke runs his teams than anything Arte Moreno has ever done.

Arte Moreno Chose Loyalists Over Qualified Executives

John Carpino was named team president just weeks after the Angels made it to game six of the American League Championship Series. Fresh off their third consecutive AL West crown, the team looked prime to continue their great run. But, in fact, the wheels were falling off the organization.

Soon the team would have the worst ranked farm system in the game which has led to the longest post season drought in baseball. And last winter the Angels did not even have a television deal in place to broadcast their games. Add in a wronful death suit, a stadium deal that led to federal prison time for Anaheim officials, and a clubhouse attendant selling sticum to opposing teams and the Angels were a mess. All under Carpino's watch.

What made John Carpino qualified to run a Major League franchise? His long history with Arte Moreno. Carpino joined Moreno in the billboard business in 1985, helped make Arte a ton of money selling his billboard company, then moved to the Angels. For the first seven years Carpino did what he did best, sales. He sold tickets and sponsorships for the reigning world champions who followed with years of on field success. Not exactly a tough sell.

Carpino replaced Dennis Kuhl who was Moreno's fraternity brother and also a former employee in his billboard company. Kuhl had no management or baseball experience whatsoever and has served as Chairman of the team from November of 2009 until present day. That trio managed to hire an intern named Tony Reagins as their first general manager. Qualifications did not matter, loyalty did.

How Molly Jolly’s Corporate Leadership Restructured the Franchise

Hiding right under Moreno's nose was a truly qualified candidate to run the team. Unlike Carpino and Kuhl, Molly Jolly has worked for successful organizations like Arco and Disney in key areas of finance and personell. She specialized in hiring skilled people and making sure companies had healthy bottom lines. Those are the traits of a leader, not a salesperson.

Jolly predated all three as she was Disney's Director of Finance for the Ducks and Angels simultaneously. The Angels won their only World Series with Jolly keeping their revenue stream flowing.

When Moreno purchased the team he had the good sense to leave much of the organization untouched. And Molly stayed on board in a new capacity. While Carpino handled public relations, Jolly was tasked with running the grueling day-to-day corporate infrastructure—overseeing Human Resources, Legal, Risk Management, Payroll, and Information Services.

Highly intelligent, driven, and immensely qualfied for the job Jolly began turning the Angels franchise around immediately. The first order of business was to restore the team's primary source of revenue: tv broadcasts. Rather than crawl to MLB for a streaming option, Jolly kept the Angels righ where they were and took over FanDuel Sports. No financial terms have been released but the station is making enough money to both fund the Angels and broadcast the Kings.

Next came the shocking move of firing general manager Perry Minasian. The move was not shocking because Minasian deserved to stay but because Arte Moreno skimps on front office spending; paying two general managers had never happend under his watch.

John Mozeliak Also Breaks the Mold

There has been a consistent theme for general managers hired by Moreno. None had ever been a general manager prior to being hired by the Angels. Reagins was an intern, Dipoto, Eppler, and Minasian were all first timers. It turns out Dipoto is actually a pretty good GM but of course that is the one Team Arte let walk.

Jolly having the authority to make a mid season change was as notable as the hire. John Mozeliak has a trophy case full of awards and a bank account full of money. He did not need to come back to the game and would only do so if he could run things his way.

That is a sharp departure from the usual Moreno regime. After all it was Moreno who signed Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Anthony then told his acting GM to stick within budget, hamstringing other signings.

Also very notable is the fact Mozeliak said at his introductory press conference that he was hired directly by Jolly with very little interaction with Moreno. Previous GM's noted they interviewed multiple times with Moreno.

Stan Kroenke, Not Arte Moreno, Hires Competent and Autonomous Executives

Not a single thing about Jolly or Mozeliak fits in with Moreno's previous hires. They are too accomplished, too qualified, and not tied to the billboard company. No, these are the types of hires Kroenke normally makes and they are operating the way his executives work on his other teams.

Executives under Kroenke's watch are hired for performance, not loyalty and are given both autonomy and the resources needed to succeed. And the proof of their performance lies in their championships and talent acquisitions.

Most notably, the Rams pulled off a massive trade to acquire Matthew Stafford and win a Super Bowl. In 2014 the Denver Nuggets selected little known Nikola Jokic who led them to a title. Colorado pretty much stole Devon Toews and have won multiple cups.

When Did Kroenke Start Having Influence?

Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke raises the Lombardi Trophy at the conclusion of Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. The Los Angeles Angels have been sold to Rams owner Stan Kroenke, adding to the Walmart heir's burgeoning and increasingly successful sports portfolio. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Two facts line up to create a legitimate question. If Kroenke and Moreno have been speaking face to face about this sale for months, did Kroenke start influencing Angels operations months ago? In looking at this using hindsight, it begs the question.

After all, one of two things must be true. Either Kroenke steered Arte on how to create a functional organization, complete with a TV deal, that he would be ready to buy or Arte suddenly learned how to identify talent and be a hands off owner. The smart money would be on the latter.

After all, Moreno has spent his entire tenure as Angels owner believing he is a baseball man. That he knows the game and his loyal friends are capable executives. He defended their collective failure to the point he claimed fans did not care about winning. At no point did he take personal blame and say the organization needed the type of shake up it has undergone this summer.

Jolly and Mozeliak are the type of people Kroenke puts into place. Educated and experienced in their fields, driven to succeed, Kroenke's executives get great results more often than not. They do things like create a new television network and sign distribution agreements with all the big carriers. They draft well and trade well. They operate like the Angels of the last four months.

Add it all up and it sure looks like Stan Kroenke started making a difference before he bought the team. Molly Jolly's first day as President should go down as the beginning of the Angels turn around.

It is just interesting to ponder who really promoted her.

Add us as a preferred source on Google