After more than two decades inside the Los Angeles Angels’ front office, John Carpino is stepping down as team president, and longtime finance chief Molly Jolly is sliding into the top chair on April 6. Carpino’s exit closes a 23-season run in Arte Moreno’s organization, including 16 years as president, a move first reported Friday by ESPN and then echoed around local outlets.
Carpino, 66, was elevated to president in November 2009 and spent most of his tenure as the primary liaison to owner Arte Moreno. According to ABC7, Angel Stadium topped three million in attendance for 10 straight seasons on his watch, and the ballpark hosted the 2010 All-Star Game along with part of the 2006 World Baseball Classic. His 16-year run as president is the longest in the franchise’s 65-year history, a stretch that saw big crowds, big stars, and, more recently, big questions about results.
The new leader has finance roots
Molly Jolly is now entering her 26th season with the Angels and has long overseen the club’s finance and administration operation, handling budgeting, legal, risk management, human resources, and information services, according to team materials. The Angels’ media guide notes that she also manages stadium financial operations for non-baseball events and has been a steady presence through multiple ownership and front-office shifts, giving her deep institutional knowledge of how the club actually runs behind the scenes; see the Angels' media guide for her full bio.
Per ABC7, Jolly will oversee both business and baseball operations starting April 6, while general manager Perry Minasian continues to handle roster decisions. The report notes that, if this structure is confirmed, Jolly would be the only woman in Major League Baseball running both sides of the shop, a rare front-office setup in the league.
What it means on the field
On the baseball side, do not expect an overnight roster makeover. Minasian is still in charge of player personnel, so any big swings will still run through the GM’s office. Where fans could eventually see Jolly’s imprint is in how the Angels prioritize spending, player development, and stadium operations, areas where a finance-first background can matter as much as a scouting report.
The Angels have slogged through a decade of losing seasons and have reached the playoffs only once since Carpino took over as president, a cold reality that has put the front office and ownership under a hot spotlight. The Los Angeles Times notes that those droughts now stand as the longest active stretches of futility in Major League Baseball.
Legal context and lingering challenges
The leadership change follows a bruising civil trial over the 2019 death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. After 32 days of testimony, the Angels settled the wrongful-death lawsuit, and related criminal proceedings led to a 22-year sentence for former communications staffer Eric Kay. Carpino took the stand during the trial, and his testimony helped draw attention to internal practices and staffing decisions, according to reporting from ESPN.
Jolly now inherits a franchise juggling stadium questions, operational headaches, and the on-field task of trying to snap a long run of underperformance. Her early weeks in the big chair will serve as a test of whether the Angels’ front office can mix financial discipline with a renewed push on player development and an improved fan experience at Angel Stadium, without losing sight of the standings.
