Bud Black returns to Angels as special assistant to the general manager

Former Angels pitching coach and San Diego Padres manager Bud Black will return to the Angels as a special assistant to General Manager Billy Eppler, one of a flurry of front-office moves the team announced on Tuesday.

Jonathan Strangio, a 27-year-old Harvard graduate who spent three years as the team’s baseball operations coordinator, was promoted to assistant general manager, joining Steve Martone, the former New York Yankees executive who was hired as an assistant GM by Eppler last week.

Former major league infielder Mike Gallego, 55, was hired as the team’s director of baseball development after spending the last seven seasons as Oakland’s third-base coach.

Justin Hollander, 37, was promoted to player personnel director after serving as baseball operations director for the last four years. Bobby Scales, 38, the team’s farm director for three years, was promoted to special assistant to the GM. Mike LaCassa, 29, was promoted to minor league operations director after spending 2015 as assistant player development director.

Black, 58, spent the past nine years with the Padres, compiling a 649-713 (.477) record before being fired last June. He was a finalist for the Washington and Dodgers managerial jobs and was reported to have been the Nationals’ choice to be their new manager.

But contract negotiations between Black and the team broke down, and Washington ultimately hired Dusty Baker as its manager. Black lost out to Dave Roberts in his quest to become the Dodgers manager.

Black, a former major league pitcher, spent four seasons as a special assistant to the GM in Cleveland before joining Angels Manager Mike Scioscia’s staff as pitching coach in 2000.

During Black’s seven seasons (2000-06) in Anaheim, the Angels made three playoff appearances and won the 2002 World Series. The Angels ranked among the top five in American League earned-run average in five of his seven years, and Bartolo Colon won the AL Cy Young Award in 2005.

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