interim

In 2012, when Mark Walter and his partners bought the Dodgers, team president Stan Kasten declared mediocrity would no longer be acceptable.

Would the Dodgers improve their minor league system? Yes. Would the Dodgers improve their major league roster? Also yes. Would spending in one area preclude spending in another? Absolutely not.

“These fans expect and deserve a team that can win,” Kasten said then.

So do Angels fans. For the first time this decade, with the arrival of John Mozeliak as interim general manager, they have legitimate hope.

Mozeliak, whose St. Louis Cardinals teams reached the playoffs more often than not in his 18 years running baseball operations there, is here to end baseball’s longest postseason drought, or at least steer the Angels in that direction.

At first, I was shocked to hear him say he does not believe the Angels need to rebuild. Under owner Arte Moreno, the Angels have resisted rebuilding, preferring to add lower-tier free agents and rush college players to the major leagues in an effort to field a competitive roster. That has failed: For the first time in franchise history, the Angels could finish in last place for a third consecutive season.

But, when Mozeliak and I sat down in the Angels’ dugout the other day, he explained that the path forward in Anaheim should not be tanking. It should be acting like the major-market team the Angels are — and were, during Moreno’s first decade of ownership.

“The one thing you have to realize about the Los Angeles Angels is: they do have resources,” Mozeliak said. “From Mr. Moreno to the market size, this is a place that could be a very, very special place.”

In Moreno’s first decade, under Bill Stoneman and Mike Scioscia, the Angels were a player development machine. In 2003, in his first winter as owner, Moreno signed the best position player on the free-agent market in Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero and the best pitcher on the market in four-time All-Star Bartolo Colon.

The questions Mozeliak asks and answers now are the same ones Kasten did with the Dodgers. Can the team deploy resources to upgrade scouting and player development? Yes. Can the team do the same with the major league roster? Also yes.

“There are many franchises in the game of baseball that cannot do that,” Mozeliak said. “They have trade-offs. They have to make a decision: If I’m going to give you $20 million for your infrastructure, that’s $20 million less for your payroll.

“This place is different.”

The Dodgers parallel only goes so far. Walter and Kasten inherited a core of Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. Mozeliak will work with Mike Trout and a long-touted “young core” that has shown by now it is not the foundation of a championship-caliber team.

No one expects Moreno to spend like the Dodgers do (and even Walter’s fellow owners want a salary cap in an attempt to stop the Dodgers). Yet, in St. Louis, Mozeliak built winners without the Cardinals owners ever paying a luxury tax.

The first step in revitalizing the Angels comes Saturday, in the draft.

“We’re going to take the best available player,” Mozeliak said.

Mozeliak said he is not interested in two recent Angels trends: paying less to a first-round pick in order to spread the savings around longer shots in the lower rounds, or targeting a polished college player in part because he could get to Anaheim in a hurry.

“I’m not wedded to a high school player or a college player,” Mozeliak said. “I want the best player.”

The second item on the agenda: the Aug. 3 trade deadline, which would afford Mozeliak the opportunity to collect prospects for such players as pitcher Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano and outfielder Jo Adell.

In 2020, Moreno nixed a trade that would have brought Andy Pages – then a Dodgers prospect, now an All-Star – to the Angels.

In 2023 and 2024, Moreno rebuffed trade offers for Shohei Ohtani that could have returned the likes of Junior Caminero or Jackson Merrill. No player of that caliber would be coming in return for what the Angels have to offer now.

Mozeliak said the Angels should not consider a trade proposal in isolation, without considering how to flex their major-market muscles to fill whatever hole a trade might create.

“If we understand what we’re doing today can help make us stronger tomorrow, and then look at potentially what we could do on the free-agent market,” he said, “that should be something we are doing in parallel thinking.”

Mozeliak said he does not believe any player should be untouchable. As if on cue, Trout walked by.

Trade Trout? That’s not happening, right?

“That’s not happening,” Mozeliak said.

In his hours of conversations with Moreno, Mozeliak said, the topic of whether the owner might sell the team “never came up.”

Does Moreno appear interested in staying for the long haul?

“Absolutely,” Mozeliak said.

Mozeliak said he had presented Angels President Molly Jolly with a 100-day plan for what the team calls a consulting role: run baseball operations on an interim basis; do a deep dive into how the Angels do things now and how they can do them better; recommend a new general manager. Maybe he stays in that role, or in a supporting role, or he simply leaves when his contract expires in December.

“I’m certainly confident in what we need to do, and I’m certainly confident this is a market that could be amazing,” he said. “It’s exciting times for me. I’m energized.

“I’m smart enough to know that one person cannot change everything. But one person can begin change, and that’s what I’m going to start to do.”

Distinguished executives, including the likes of Dave Dombrowski and Andrew Friedman, have wanted no part of the Angels. Then again, Mozeliak is only committed for six months. If Moreno does not do what Mozeliak believes should be done, and if Mozeliak is not allowed to begin that change, he can just walk away.

“I think I have that authority,” Mozeliak said, “and I think he understands that he can embrace change, because that is what is going to be required.”

Based on Moreno telling you that?

“Yes,” Mozeliak said.

The last time the Angels hired an experienced general manager from outside the organization: 35 years ago, when they also looked to St. Louis for Whitey Herzog. That didn’t work. Herzog won a power struggle in the front office, then quit anyway, amid disputes with ownership.

This might work, or might not. But think back to 2020, when then-Angels president John Carpino said this: “Obviously, we’re not doing it the right way. We’re not winning games. So something is not right in our organization.”

Carpino retired in April, without ever explaining what was not right in the organization or, based on the standings, repairing it.

Jolly replaced him and, within two months, secured Moreno’s approval to hire the architect of a World Series championship team to figure out what was not right in the organization, and to fix it.

In one bold step, the Angels admitted they had a problem and set out a path to remedy it. With three months to go in this wretched season, the MVP of the 2026 Angels is abundantly clear: Molly Jolly.

John Mozeliak is in Anaheim for one clear-cut reason: to set the foundation for the Angels to get back on track.

At his introductory news conference at Angel Stadium on Saturday, the team’s new baseball operations consultant and interim general manager laid out his vision for success — while acknowledging recent woes — alongside Molly Jolly, one day after the first-year Angels president relieved general manager Perry Minasian of his duties amid his sixth straight losing season.

“Obviously, [the Angels] lacked consistency in terms of when you think about winning, right? Because that’s the proxy,” Mozeliak said. “There’s a lot of things we can use to determine if the organization is healthy or not. … Where Molly and I are connecting on this is like, we understand wins and losses matter, but how do you get to a place where that becomes consistent?

“Look at the best clubs in baseball [and] what you admire; whether they’re large-market or small-market, they have a philosophy, they have direction, and they stick to it, right? … That’s ultimately what we need to do here, and that’s hopefully something I can help bring to them.”

Mozeliak spent 18 seasons (2008-25) as general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, a tenure consisting of 10 playoff appearances and a World Series victory in 2011.

The 57-year-old intends to “audit” the Angels in this new role alongside Jolly, with plans to hire a general manager by the time Mozeliak’s contract is up “sometime in December.”

“I brought on board John Mozeliak to assist me in preparing a baseball operation strategy as well as guide me in the search for a new general manager,” Jolly said, mentioning that her decision to fire Minasian and bring in Mozeliak had brewed for weeks.

“I did this because John has a proven track record of building and maintaining winning baseball cultures, and my goal is to bring that here to the Angels.”

Mozeliak didn’t rule himself out as the long-term answer at general manager and was emphatic about not speaking in absolutes. However, the longtime executive said he’d rather help Jolly “bridge the gap” during the Angels’ transformative period before anything else.

The Angels have plenty of gaps entering Saturday’s matchup with the Athletics. The Angels are tied for last in the American League with a 34-49 record while on the road to a 12th consecutive finish out of the playoffs.

And all of that is before mentioning the “sell the team” chants that flood the right-field upper deck at Angel Stadium at each home game oas ex-Angel Shohei Ohtani thrives with the Dodgers.

Mozeliak understands that the Angels have lacked direction in recent seasons. He asked for patience in rebuilding the team alongside Jolly.

“I knew coming in, this isn’t going to be something where Molly and I had a light switch and everything just starts working perfectly,” Mozeliak said. “It’s not going to work that way. … I would ask for some patience. We need a little time to sort of work through this … when we come out on the other end of this tunnel, we hope to be in a very successful place.”

Jolly said of Angels fans’ discontent, “I know what’s happening. I see it, I hear it. Fans have a right to have their voices be heard. Didn’t influence the decision that I wanted to make, but we all want to win. Our owner wants to win. I do. The fans deserve that, and that’s what we’re going to work toward.”

Mozeliak acknowledged he’d already forgotten some names of Angels personnel he was introduced to Saturday. But he also said that first-year manager Kurt Suzuki and the rest of the coaching staff’s jobs are secure through the season.

“I met with most of them this morning, and I told them they’re all fine for this year,” Mozeliak said. “There’s nothing they have to worry about. We’re not making any coaching changes right now. I really just need to get to know them, right?”

Mozeliak spoke to Suzuki on Saturday and said that he and his staff are “very impressive.”

Across the board, Mozeliak — who hasn’t yet met owner Arte Moreno since moving into this role — is focused on knowing who the Angels are at this point, with an “aggressive timeline” looming in the background.

With that said, Mozeliak shared that he isn’t “overly concerned” with the Aug. 3 trade deadline, nor is he worried about the MLB Draft, which starts July 11.

“My philosophy on the draft is to let the scouting director and his team do their jobs,” Mozeliak said. “The only real input I’m going to have is … understanding their process … and then if there are some financial decisions that are being banked into who we pick and why.”

Jolly brought in Mozeliak to help the Angels hire their fourth full-time general manager since 2012.

And while many might believe not much will change as long as Moreno remains the owner, Jolly said she has “autonomy” to assess the Angels’ baseball operations and is “confident in my authority and scope within the organization.”

Those invested in the Angels will believe it when they see it.

“When I think about the Angels right now, I just look at it as a very opportunistic time here,” Mozeliak said. “New leadership on the business side; we’re going to put a great team on the baseball side.

“But it’s going to be a place that I hope, in a couple years, we’re all proud of.”

The Angels have fired general manager Perry Minasian midway through their sixth consecutive disappointing season under his leadership.

The last-place Angels appointed former Cardinals GM John Mozeliak to be their interim general manager and baseball operations consultant on Friday. Mozeliak will oversee day-to-day baseball operations while assisting the search for the next GM, team president Molly Jolly said in a news release.

“Perry has been a valued leader who worked tirelessly over the last six years to strengthen our baseball operations department,” Jolly said. “I am grateful for his dedication, insight and many contributions to our organization.”

Minasian took over the Angels’ front office in November 2020, but the long-struggling franchise has made no discernible progress during his tenure under mercurial owner Arte Moreno.

The Angels’ streaks of 10 straight losing seasons and 11 straight non-playoff seasons are both the longest in the majors, and its farm system is still considered to be among the majors’ worst, just as it was when Minasian arrived.

The biggest transaction of his tenure occurred when Shohei Ohtani left the Angels after six seasons for the Dodgers in late 2023, the Angels failing to trade Ohtani for prospects before Ohtani became a free agent.

Minasian’s flurry of moves before and after the 2023 trade deadline seemed chaotic. The Angels kept Ohtani — a decision Moreno had a big hand in — and dealt away several prospects in an attempt to push for the playoffs.

But the Angels went 8-19 that August and fell so far out of contention that they placed several players on waivers in order to bring their payroll under the luxury tax threshold.

After holding the majors’ worst record for much of the current season, the Angels are tied for last in the AL standings at 34-48 heading into their game against the Athletics on Friday night at Angel Stadium. Los Angeles lost a franchise-record 99 games in 2024, its first season after losing two-time AL MVP Ohtani.

The Angels never won more than 77 games or finished higher than third in the AL West during Minasian’s tenure.

Minasian clashed with respected manager Joe Maddon early in his tenure, eventually leading to Maddon’s firing amid an epic losing streak in the 2022 season. After Phil Nevin and Ron Washington also failed to hold the managerial job for more than two seasons, Minasian hired first-time manager Kurt Suzuki from his own front-office staff last fall, giving him a one-year deal with the acknowledgment that their fates were tied.

Ray Montgomery served as interim manager in 2025.

A reduction in payroll forced Minasian to supplement this year’s team with low-cost players — several returning from major injuries — such as pitchers Alek Manoah, Jordan Romano, Drew Pomeranz, Kirby Yates and Brent Suter, outfielder Josh Lowe and infielders Yoan Moncada and Adam Frazier.

Most of the moves didn’t pan out, as Romano and Pomeranz were released, and Manoah, Lowe and Moncada have been busts.

The largest free-agent deal signed by Minasian was a three-year, $63 million contract for left-hander Yusei Kikuchi before 2025. Kikuchi was an All-Star last season but has been sidelined since late April because of a shoulder injury.

Minasian also signed reliever Robert Stephenson to a three-year, $33 million deal before 2024, but the right-hander is out for this season because of another elbow injury.

Jolly and Mozeliak are scheduled to speak at a news conference on Saturday.

Minasian is a former Rangers clubhouse attendant who rose to positions in the front offices of the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays as a protege of Alex Anthopoulos.

Minasian had never interviewed for a GM job before he was chosen to replace Billy Eppler by Moreno, who has repeatedly hired GMs with little to no prior experience in the job during his two decades of ownership.

Mozeliak left the Cardinals last fall after three decades with St. Louis, including the past 18 in charge of baseball operations.

The Franco-German KNDS company has presented a new main battle tank, which it is offering to France as an interim replacement for its Leclerc fleet. The development comes as France recognizes that it will need a Leclerc successor before the next-generation Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) becomes available. This joint French and German program is complicated and already delayed, while Europe at large is increasingly alert to the need for capable tanks and other armored vehicles as the threat from Russia grows, and trust around U.S. military backing diminishes.

The proposed CAPINT tank was unveiled at the Eurosatory defense show on the outskirts of Paris this week.

Europe currently has four major lines of development effort for future main battle tanks (excluding the United Kingdom), ranging from multinational programs to national developments. The landscape has become much more fragmented over the past two years, as nations have increasingly understood the urgency of fielding new-generation armored vehicles.

Arguably the most ambitious of these programs is the now-delayed Franco-German MGCS, which began in 2017 and is now expected to arrive in service some time in the mid-2040s. With the MGCS delayed by roughly a decade, both France and Germany have a looming capability gap. In the case of France, its Leclerc tanks are due to be taken out of service by 2038.

As well as the main battle tank that is supposed to be its centerpiece, the MGCS program, as a ‘system of systems,’ is expected to field other crewed and uncrewed vehicles. These will likely be tasked with electronic warfare, air defense, or as platforms from which to launch drones or loitering munitions or fire directed-energy weapons.

Alongside this effort, around a dozen European nations (excluding France) are currently working on research and development under the MARTE (Main ARmored Tank of Europe) program, which is looking at tank requirements for the post-2040 period.

Against this complicated backdrop, France and Germany have both come to the realization that they will need new tanks before the MGCS arrives in service.

As a result, Germany is now working on the Leopard 3, also known as the Leopard 2AX, expected to provide a service-ready fighting vehicle around the early 2030s.

Back in April of this year, French Armed Forces Minister Catherine ​Vautrin told parliament that Paris had decided to launch an “intermediate” tank program to mitigate delays affecting MGCS.

To meet the French requirement for a stopgap tank, KNDS is now proposing its CAPINT (CAPacité INTérmédiaire, or Interim Capability).

This will combine a French turret and main gun on the hull of a German Leopard 2, a tank that is already in production for a variety of customers. Should this solution be chosen, a new Leopard 2 would likely be set up in France to manage the demand.

Interestingly, another new tank on show in Paris this week, the New Main Battle Tank (NMBT) concept demonstrator, from the Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles (LRMV) joint venture, also uses a Leopard 2 hull as its starting point, although that may change in the future. Derived from the Rheinmetall Panther KF51, the new tank is being offered to the Italian Army, which is also looking for a successor to its current Ariete main battle tank.

Returning to the CAPINT tank, the turret will be uncrewed and armed with the 120mm ASCALON smoothbore gun from KNDS France. The plan is to have the turret able to accommodate a 140mm cannon in the future. The 120mm ASCALON has already undergone firing trials using an uncrewed turret on a moving vehicle. Meanwhile, the 140mm version of the ASCALON is planned for the MGCS.

#ASCALON

Unlike larger-caliber guns that have been proposed for future tank programs in the past, the 120 mm ASCALON offers the advantage of being fully compatible with all NATO-standard 120 mm ammunition. This means operators can maintain and leverage their existing ammo stockpiles.

The three crew of the CAPINT will be carried in an “armored citadel” at the front of the vehicle, which will be defended by passive composite armor as well as reactive and active protection systems.

The active protection system will be developed by KNDS and will be distributed around the turret and hull, so its defensive effectors provide more complete coverage.

In the meantime, it is interesting to note that a Leclerc outfitted with an anti-drone “cope cage” on top of its turret is part of the dynamic demonstration of military equipment at Eurosatory this week.

KNDS says it will complete a CAPINT demonstrator tank as early as 2030 and, should France choose to go with it, it could deliver the first series-production examples in 2035, leading to frontline deployment in 2037.

There is also a plan to incorporate into the CAPINT some of the advanced systems that are intended for the MGCS.

These elements are likely to include fully integrated AI, the aforementioned passive/reactive/active protection systems, counter-drone warfare, and beyond-line-of-sight engagement capability.

Another feature of the MGCS program that would likely be brought forward for the CAPINT tank is accompanying uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs). According to MGCS, one or two types of “robotic wingmen” are planned for the interim tank. These UGVs will be able to keep up with the tank, but will be small enough to be affordable. Their cost will also be governed by offering different levels of passive protection.

The renewed focus on tank programs reflects a broader resurgence of armored warfare across Europe, driven largely by lessons from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While that conflict has highlighted the vulnerability of tanks to drones, loitering munitions, and precision anti-tank weapons, it has also underscored that heavily protected, mobile firepower remains indispensable for combined-arms operations. As a result, European militaries that once downsized or delayed armored modernization are now investing heavily in new main battle tanks and upgrades.

While the need for interim tanks in both France and Germany is becoming increasingly urgent, the current push for the CAPINT and for the German Leopard 3/Leopard 2AX does risk putting the MGCS program under threat.

“We are already working to create what will be the combat of tomorrow,” KNDS CEO Jean-Paul Alary said during a press conference at Eurosatory yesterday. “Maybe the combat of tomorrow, the ambition of MGCS, will come a little bit earlier than the project itself.”

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, a German government spokesperson raised doubts about the future of MGCS, saying that the project would be focused on “platform-independent” technologies, adding that it was not clear whether a joint tank would still be built.

Depending on how capable these stopgap tanks prove to be, the decision of France and/or Germany to walk away from the more complex MGCS program could become easier. Much will likely also depend on the path that the MARTE program takes, with the possibility that MGCS requirements could be superseded. Meanwhile, recent experience with the Franco-German-led pan-European Future Combat Air System (FCAS) has highlighted just how difficult it can be to keep programs like these on track, regardless of how badly they may be needed.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Interim ODNI chief Bill Pulte has been slammed by Democrats as a Trump loyalist with no intelligence background.

United States President Donald Trump has directed Bill Pulte to cut staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as soon as he takes up his role as acting intelligence chief.

The order came in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, in which Trump doubled down on his choice of Pulte, a controversial pick.

“I have named William Pulte to be Acting Director of National Intelligence, who will take over on June 19th, and have asked him to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies,” Trump wrote.

Pulte’s appointment has sparked bipartisan pushback, with Democrats especially questioning his qualifications.

A businessman with ties to construction and private equity, Pulte has no intelligence or military background, and critics see him as a Trump loyalist who has attacked the president’s critics.

In Wednesday’s post, Trump did emphasise he was already searching for Pulte’s successor. “I am looking for a permanent ODNI Nominee with experience in National Security,” he wrote.

But Pulte’s short-term appointment has become a flashpoint in Congress, with Democrats refusing to renew a controversial surveillance measure until a permanent pick is selected.

When he takes up his interim role next week, Pulte will succeed former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down last month after her husband was diagnosed with cancer.

But Congress members like Democrat Mark Warner, a key figure on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, have decried Pulte as “grossly unqualified”.

Warner and other leaders have also warned that Pulte’s appointment would complicate negotiations to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows warrantless surveillance of communications involving foreigners.

That measure is divisive on both sides of the aisle, as it has also resulted in the surveillance of US citizens. It allows intelligence agencies to collect emails, texts and phone data without warrants, if the communications in question are believed to involve individuals outside the US.

Warner said naming Pulte to head the ODNI was like “throwing a live hand grenade” into Congress’s efforts to reauthorise Section 702.

Last week, all but one Senate Democrat and seven Republicans voted against a three-year extension of Section 702, citing concerns about Pulte. Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman was the only Democrat to break party ranks in that 52-47 vote.

But Trump has called on Congress to pass a temporary extension of Section 702, denouncing Democrats for blocking the bill.

“Just like they did on Border Funding, the Radical Left Dumocrats [sic] are trying to take our National Security hostage because of unrelated issues,” Trump wrote on Wednesday. “They should stop playing politics with the safety of our Great Country.”

Still, Trump has faced backlash from within his Republican Party, with congressional leaders calling on the president to select a permanent intelligence chief to put the matter to bed.

“We don’t need a weaponised DNI [director of national intelligence],” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters. “We need professionals here.”

Critics have questioned whether Pulte would use US intelligence capabilities to persecute Trump’s perceived political enemies.

Currently, the 38-year-old Pulte serves as the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In that position, Pulte has accused several of Trump’s adversaries of mortgage fraud. They include  Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, all of whom Trump has personally attacked.

Democrats have accused the 38-year-old Pulte of weaponising his government role for political aims.

England have described the arrangement for the second Test as “interim”, and its impermanence seems important.

On Monday, when it first emerged that Stokes and Gus Atkinson were in hot water, there was an immediate feeling it would spell the end of Stokes’ captaincy.

It still may. There is an ongoing investigation. Stokes could decide to walk.

But, with every passing hour, the temperature is cooling. Stokes could return for the third Test at Trent Bridge or, more likely, the series against Pakistan later in the summer.

Still, Stokes has given a window into what England’s life might be without him. For the first time in his career, Stokes the cricketer is not indispensable. Earlier this week, head coach Brendon McCullum had to defend his batting, and back Stokes to return to form.

If Brook had been put in charge, England may have seen something they like. Brook and McCullum seemed more aligned during the T20 World Cup than Stokes and McCullum did during the Ashes.

Brook would have been captaining his peers, whereas Stokes leads a group of younger men, many of whom grew up idolising him. Maybe England would have found a Stokesless formation that makes them stronger: the leg-spin of Rehan Ahmed as the all-rounder, followed by four specialist seamers.

None of this becomes an issue with Root in charge. He will be all too happy to hand over the reins when the time comes.

These roles were once reversed. In the Covid summer of 2021, Stokes stepped in for one Test while Root was on paternity leave. Root left a note on Stokes’ peg in the dressing room which said: “Do it your way”.

Now, Root will do it his way. Clapping his hands from first slip, long sprints to talk to his bowlers. A smile on his face, maybe a classic Rootian century. Not the puffed-out chest of an alpha like Stokes, just the calm reassurance of English cricket’s most dependable presence.

Once again, it is Joe Root riding to England’s rescue.