By Sam Bloom, Brittany Giroli and David O’Brien

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Los Angeles Angels have hired Ron Washington as manager, the team announced Wednesday. The team spoke with Washington in Arizona on Tuesday evening and the process moved quickly from there.

It is a two-year contract that will last until 2025. The terms of the agreement have not been released.

Buck Showalter was among a group of finalists for the position. At the end of the process, the Angels only considered people with previous MLB managerial experience.

Washington, 71, has long hoped for another managerial opportunity. In the year He resigned from the Texas Rangers in 2014 for personal reasons. In the year He led Texas to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011.

Washington spent the past seven years as the Braves’ third base coach and was a popular figure in Atlanta. Following his resignation from Texas, he was the coach of the Oakland Athletics.

Angels general manager Perry Minassian has extensive experience working with Washington. Minassian was in the Braves front office through the 2020 season. He was a scout with the Rangers for part of Washington’s tenure in Texas.

Washington is the Angels’ fifth manager since 2018, as owner Arte Moreno cycled through the position several times following unsuccessful tenures. Moreno had the final say in this hire.

It is not clear how many candidates interviewed with the angels. Several candidates, including former players such as Torii Hunter, Darren Erstad and Benji Gill, have reportedly been in contention for various positions. Gill, who spent the past two years as the team’s coach, was not interviewed, league sources said.

Washington will try to turn around an ailing franchise that needs a strong voice and leadership. Minassian said Tuesday that he hopes to hire a candidate who can bring gravitas to the job. Washington’s appearance in the playoffs suggests he can do just that.

The short-term nature of the deal is perhaps a reflection of Washington’s age. The fact that Minassian is in the final year of his contract may also be a factor.

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What does this mean for the Braves?

It’s hard to overestimate his impact on the Washington Braves during his seven years with a team that won six straight National League East titles and the 2021 World Series.

“I look back on this in my career as an honor to have had the opportunity to work with him,” said Alex Anthopoulos, president and general manager of baseball operations. “He’s the one you want. He deserves the chance. He is excited. I’m excited for it. It’s a big loss for us. And I’m in caps, bold, italics, all emphasis. A big, big void.

In addition to serving as a third-base coach and infield instructor, “Wash” was a fountain of old-school knowledge that made him work well even in new-school systems and analytics. He was a master of the funky bats that Washington used with the center fielders in his patented one-on-one pregame drills — they were voluntary, but every Braves infielder did them every day, so committed to a coach who showed such commitment to them. .

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Those sessions were soundtracked by washes, insult-filled streams of wisdom and advice, always honest, sometimes brutal, and positivity from players who made them better fielders and better teammates.

He nearly made it to the top of the coaching mountain by going to back-to-back World Series with the Rangers, but after returning to his old job as infield coach, he relentlessly attacked each player every day to make them better. The Rangers, the Athletics, and the elite players all credited Washington with turning the ball into a Gold Glove win, some of whom even presented him with their first Gold Glove.

He also made it his responsibility for many years to print a daily affirmation of positive messages and place it in every Braves player’s locker. – David O’Brien, Braves head coach

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(Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)