Billy Eppler Fired as Angels GM After 5 Seasons with Team

The Los Angeles Angels announced Sunday they fired general manager Billy Eppler.

Los Angeles entered the final day of the regular season fourth in the American League West with a. 26-33 record. Even with playoff expansion, the Angels will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight year, with five coming under Eppler's watch.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported Sept. 21 the Angels "still appear the most likely team to dump their GM" and added that Dave Dombrowski had emerged as the favorite to succeed Eppler.

Hiring Dombrowski would send a clear message. Time and again the 64-year-old has built a title contender, almost always relying on marquee free agents and often leveraging his organization's best prospects for readymade talent.

He was the architect of two World Series teams (Florida Marlins in 1997 and Boston Red Sox in 2018), and the Detroit Tigers claimed four straight division titles and two American League pennants.

The irony is that the Angels have basically attempted to use that blueprint for themselves while enjoying a fraction of the success. Los Angeles has regularly targeted star players on the open market—most recently Anthony Rendon—yet it has one playoff appearance since a trip to the 2009 American League Championship Series.

An owner who's willing to spend and Mike Trout, MLB's best player, should be more than enough to make the Angels an attractive job for GM candidates.

As the Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin reported, however, the perception about the franchise is far different. One source told Shaikin the Angels' GM gig ranks in the "bottom third" of the league.

Another source alluded to larger systemic issues:

"That's not the job it should be. It should be a great job. It should be one of the easiest recruitment jobs in the game. Who doesn't want to live there? To me, it's one of the best locations in the world. But something is going on there that is cannibalizing what they're doing.

"They fail every single year when it comes to putting a competitive team on the field. It can't be just the general manager."

The Angels' struggles highlight how top-heavy their offense remains and how starved they are for a genuine ace after their pursuit of Gerrit Cole fell short. MLB.com also ranked Los Angeles 21st in its most recent farm system rankings. That number will inevitably go down when Jo Adell no longer qualifies as a prospect.

Whoever becomes the lead decision-maker on baseball matters won't have an easy time getting the Angels to a place where they can compete for a second championship.