LAS VEGAS — The Angels have hired veteran major league manager John Gibbons to serve as the bench coach under new manager Kurt Suzuki.
They also hired former major league outfielder Adam Eaton to be their first base coach and outfield instructor.
General Manager Perry Minasian said the Angels are getting closer to filling out the rest of the coaching staff. The Angels previously finalized a deal with veteran pitching coach Mike Maddux to serve in that role.
Gibbons managed the Toronto Blue Jays during two separate stints, from 2004 to 2008 and from 2013 to 2018. Minasian worked with Gibbons in Toronto during his second stint.
Over the past two years, Gibbons was the bench coach with the New York Mets.
Eaton played 10 years in the majors, finishing his career with the Angels in 2021. He played for the Washington Nationals with Suzuki in 2019 and 2020. Eaton has spent the past few years working as the director of player development for the Michigan State baseball team.
As the Angels continue to assemble the staff under Suzuki, the most notable hire remains Maddux. Minasian, who had not spoken to the media since Maddux was hired, said on Tuesday that he’s excited for what he could bring to the staff.
Minasian said one of the connections that led Maddux to the Angels was Joey Prebynski. The Angels’ assistant GM and director of player development worked with Maddux in St. Louis.
“Obviously, the reputation speaks for itself,” Minasian said. “Productivity speaks for itself. He’s somebody I’ve known for a while and Joey Prebynski is really, really close with him from his time in St. Louis. So that helped. That helped Mike consider us. I couldn’t be more excited to have him. And I know Kurt’s pretty pumped up too.”
STEPHENSON UPDATE
Right-handed relief pitcher Robert Stephenson does not need surgery, and he’ll be ready to go for the start of spring training, Minasian said.
Stephenson missed the end of the season because of right elbow inflammation. He then spent more than a month getting opinions on his condition before finally being cleared.
Stephenson has missed most of the first two seasons of the three-year, $33 million deal he signed in January 2024. He had Tommy John surgery last year, and then dealt with a nerve issue that cost him two months in the middle of 2025.
Stephenson, 32, has pitched only 10 innings with the Angels, posting a 2.70 ERA. His track record, though, is good enough that the Angels are hoping he could be a high-leverage reliever – perhaps even a closer – if he’s healthy.
Minasian said right-handed reliever Ben Joyce is doing well, but it’s still too early to make projections on how he’ll bounce back from shoulder surgery. Joyce started playing catch in September. He still has not thrown at high intensity.
Joyce is another candidate to work in a high-leverage role in the bullpen.
DEAL OR NO DEAL?
Minasian said he’s been having face-to-face meetings with other teams and with player agents through his first day at the GM Meetings, but he could not characterize how close he is to any sort of deal.
“As I’ve done this for some time, you never know,” Minasian said. “Sometimes you might think you’re close and you’re not. Sometimes you don’t think you’re very close, and all of a sudden one phone call changes everything. Are we prepared? Yes. Have we done our due diligence? Yes. So what that entails, how quick things move, obviously you don’t control that. There’s other people in the process that you’re working with, whether it’s another team, an agent. So the pace is not necessarily dictated by us. We’re ready for anything.”
The Angels’ most important work this winter will be to upgrade the pitching staff, with one or two starters. Minasian is also looking for help at second base, third base and center field.
“Obviously pitching is a need,” Minasian said. “There’s no secret there. But we could use help on the offensive side. We can use help depth-wise, all those types of things. It’s still very early in the off season. Obviously these three days are big when you get the chance to meet face-to-face, talk to people, whether it’s teams, whether it’s agents. It’s a productive. You need these three days to kind of set the groundwork for things going forward.”