Sept. 15--REPORTING FROM SEATTLE -- The Angels broadened their search for a new general manager this week, with team President John Carpino traveling to New York, Boston and Cleveland to interview Yankees Assistant GM Billy Eppler, Red Sox Assistant GM Mike Hazen and Indians Vice President of Player Personnel Ross Atkins.
Carpino also recently interviewed Angels pro scouting director Hal Morris for the job, according to a person familiar with the search but unauthorized to speak publicly about it.
That brings to six the number of known candidates for a job that opened when Jerry Dipoto resigned in the wake of renewed friction with Manager Mike Scioscia on July 1. Angels assistant GMs Matt Klentak and Scott Servais also interviewed.
Hazen, 39, was promoted to an assistant GM in Boston when Ben Cherington ascended to the GM role after 2011, and he is expected to be a candidate for the GM job in Boston after Cherington's August resignation.
The Princeton graduate served as Boston's player development director for five years. He spent five years in Cleveland as a farm director and was a finalist for the San Diego GM job that went to A.J. Preller and the Dodgers GM job that went to Farhan Zaid.
Atkins, 42, was promoted to his current position in Cleveland last October. The former Indians minor league pitcher spent the previous eight years in charge of player development and is in his 16th year with the organization. He is fluent in Spanish and ran Cleveland's Latin American operations from 2004 to 2006.
Morris, 49, has been with the Angels since 2011 and was one of Dipoto's first hires. A former big league player, he oversees the club's major league scouts. Eppler, who is considered by some to be the front-runner, was a finalist when Dipoto got the job in 2011.
The Angels appear to have expedited their search because four other teams -- Boston, Milwaukee, Seattle and Philadelphia -- have GM openings, and several of the candidates they are interviewing are candidates elsewhere.
