Mozeliak aiming to help Halos establish future with Deadline approaching

ANAHEIM -- Angels interim general manager John Mozeliak, who spent 30 years with the Cardinals, including 18 years as GM, said he sees some parallels in the state of the two organizations when he first joined them.

Mozeliak, speaking to the media before Monday’s 3-2 walk-off win in the opener against St. Louis, first joined the Cardinals ahead of the ’96 season, when they were coming off a stretch that saw them miss the postseason for eight straight years. But Mozeliak worked his way up the organization to GM after a tough ‘07 season and the Cardinals became consistent winners, including 15 straight winning seasons from 2008-22, 10 playoff berths and the 2011 World Series title.

“I reflect back to when I was first named general manager and that was a turbulent time for the Cardinals,” Mozeliak said. “And so for me, coming in here with an organization that is trying to get back to being a perennial winner, there are some similarities. But clearly when you look at having a successful franchise year over year, it really comes down to how you're built. … Scouting and player development have to be a major force.”

Mozeliak, hired in late June after Perry Minasian was dismissed, said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the talent in the front office but he could see himself making some structural changes. He said he hasn’t focused on finding a new GM yet and also hasn’t thought far enough ahead to know if he’ll remain with the organization beyond December when his contract runs out.

He's now spending his time planning for the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, as the Angels will be sellers. But just how aggressive they will be is the big question.

"We are going to have to be very open-minded,” Mozeliak said. “Obviously, we're not having the year we hoped to. When you think about the Trade Deadline, you think about the offseason, there's certain times where you have the ability to get better. And so understanding the market and where that's going, that's first and foremost my biggest thing.”

The Angels’ two biggest chips are right-hander José Soriano and lefty Reid Detmers, but they’re unique in that they are both under team control through 2028. Those types of players are rarely traded at the Deadline, but they could bring back big returns because they aren’t just rental players.

Soriano boosted his value by allowing two runs over seven innings on Monday while Detmers was impressive in his last outing against Detroit. Both said they’re trying to block out the trade rumors.

Mozeliak was asked about them specifically but spoke more in broad terms.

“I'm not going to mention names, but what I am going to stick to is we know things have to change,” Mozeliak said. “And what that looks like, who that looks like, that's to be determined. But not going into this with an open-minded approach, I think, would be a failure on my part.”

Mozeliak said the Angels are in the process of trying to determine the value of their players who are under team control beyond this year. It’s also considered a seller’s market because there are so few teams out of contention this season. But the Angels have to weigh the potential returns because it doesn’t seem like they’re looking for a total rebuild.

“That's the question we're trying to answer, right?” Mozeliak said. “So that's what we are asking for a little time and grace for, so we can understand what it looks like. But I don't want to ever think like we don't want to think about next year either. If we can find a way to do both, that would be awesome.”

Mozeliak was asked if he believes the Angels can contend next year and said it’s something he’s still trying to find out. They came into the series opener with an MLB-worst 39-61 record and haven’t made the postseason since 2014.

“That's a challenging task,” Mozeliak said. “Can I answer that like in a week and a half? I'm working through some things to sort of understand how to get there, and I don't know.”

But Mozeliak, who was hired by new club president Molly Jolly with the approval of owner Arte Moreno, said he believes he has the full authority to make necessary changes, including trades ahead of the Deadline.

"I definitely feel like Mr. Moreno is trusting me to get this right,” Mozeliak said. “And so, that's what I'm certainly going to try to do."