Minasian: Angels’ Approach On Ohtani “Self-Explanatory”
Angels general manager Perry Minasian spoke to the media yesterday and was asked how the club would approach the trade deadline in relation to Shohei Ohtani. “I think anybody that’s watched us play and where we’re at in the standings … I think it’s pretty self-explanatory with where we’re at,” Minasian said, as relayed by Sam Blum of The Athletic. When asked if the club’s performance over the next few weeks would impact that stance, he doubled down. “Pretty self-explanatory with where we’re at.”
The standings that he is referring to have the Angels currently at 41-34 as of this writing. That’s good enough to have them in position to secure one of the Wild Card spots in the American League. That would seem to mean that his “self-explanatory” comment is implying that, as a team firmly in contention, they will hold onto Ohtani rather than consider trade scenarios.
That’s a fairly understandable position to take, all things considered. Ohtani is a rental player, in that he’s slated to become a free agent at the end of this season. Players in that situation are often traded or featured in trade rumors, but they usually go from teams outside of contention to those who are in the hunt for the postseason.
Fans of rival clubs have naturally salivated over the possibility of an Ohtani trade for quite some time for a number of reasons. He is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player alive and continues to rack up stunning accolades on both sides of the ball. He already has one Most Valuable Player award and is making a strong case for another this year. His 24 home runs lead the league and his batting line of .295/.379/.623 amounts to a wRC+ of 170. In addition to that, he’s made 14 starts as a pitcher and has a 3.29 ERA.
That kind of elite play on both sides of the ball would be an upgrade to every club in the league and it’s difficult to even quantify how much to value it since it is so unique. The Angels would undoubtedly be able to recoup a massive haul if they made him available in trade talks but they would also severely undercut their own chances of success this year. Some observers might suggest that making the long-term move would be wise, but it’s understandable that the appetite for that path would be minimal. The club hasn’t posted a winning record since 2015, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014 and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2009. Punting away their best chance in quite some time would be quite a tough pill to swallow.
That’s not to say that there’s zero chance of an Ohtani trade coming together. The club was willing to listen to offers last year when they were 42-57 and well out of contention. At that time, Ohtani still had a year and a half before his impending free agency. Ultimately, no deal came together and the club tried to compete again here in 2023 with Minasian firmly declaring they wouldn’t entertain Ohtani trades. They grabbed complementary players like Brandon Drury, Hunter Renfroe and Carlos Estévez and are now having their best season in recent memory. The club has also maintained that it would like to keep Ohtani beyond this season but hasn’t been able to get him to commit to anything thus far and will only have a harder time as he gets closer to the open market.
That would seem to create the possibility that there’s some scenario where the club plays poorly enough in the next six weeks that a deal becomes more likely, though Minasian understandably had little interest in entertaining such a hypothetical while the team is in a fairly decent place. It seems the most likely scenario is that the Angels will hold onto Ohtani through season’s end and hope that they can finally break some of their streaks of ineffectiveness. Doing so would still allow them to give Ohtani a qualifying offer at season’s end and receive a compensatory draft pick, likely just before the third round of the 2024 draft. Rivals teams would undoubtedly be willing to give the Halos a package far more appealing than that single draft pick, though it seems like that’s not something they are seriously considering as long as they continue to play well.
Quickly turning to non-Ohtani matters, Blum says that it appears Gio Urshela might have to miss the remainder of the season. The infielder was placed on the injured list this week due to a pelvic fracture and the club has yet to provide any kind of official estimated timeline for his absence. If it is indeed true that he won’t be able to return this year, that would be a blow to their infield depth. He has appeared at all four infield positions so far this year while hitting .299/.329/.374. With fellow infielders Zach Neto and Anthony Rendon also currently on the IL and other players struggling, the loss of a versatile defender like Urshela would be significant.
Angels Notes: Deadline Trades, Minasian, Cobb, Ward
The Angels acted as sellers rather than buyers at yesterday’s trade deadline, moving Andrew Heaney to the Yankees and Tony Watson to the Giants in a pair of deals. However, these were the only moves made, as “we were not focused on tearing down this team by any stretch,” GM Perry Minasian told The Los Angeles Times’ Jack Harris and other reporters. The club also explored adding players (including “higher-salary players,” as Minasian put it) to the big league roster, but couldn’t work out any such trade prior to the deadline.
“I think this group has earned the opportunity to continue to compete. To me, we did not go into this trade deadline with the mindset of, ‘Let’s do a total rebuild’ or anything like that.”
With a 51-52 record, the Angels are only on the outskirts of the playoff race, sitting seven games out of a wild card slot and 12.5 games behind the Astros in the AL West. Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon are still on the injured list, so it isn’t entirely out of the question that Anaheim could mount a late charge once those two stars eventually return, and even this slim chance of contention was enough to hold the front office off on unloading all of its rental players. Rumors circulated around closer Raisel Iglesias in particular, though Iglesias remains in an Angels uniform.
Alex Cobb is another of the rental players who wasn’t dealt, and it could be that the veteran righty’s health situation factored into that situation. Cobb was placed on the 10-day injured list last night (after the deadline) due to inflammation in his right wrist, though the injury is thought to be relatively minor.
Acquired in a trade from the Orioles last February, Cobb’s first Angels season has been very solid, as he has delivered a 3.84 ERA/3.62 SIERA over 77 2/3 innings despite dealing with blister issues and now his current wrist problem. Re-signing Cobb would certainly seem like a solid option for a Halos team that still needs pitching, and Cobb told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger that he has let Minasian know that he would like to stay in Los Angeles, though the two sides haven’t yet had any official extension talks.
“I knew this was somewhere I wanted to be months ago….I’ve told a lot of people, you can kind of see which team is on the verge of being a championship-caliber team, and I don’t know that ‘on the verge’ is right, because we have so many talented guys,” Cobb said.
In less-positive news for the Angels, the team announced that Taylor Ward suffered a non-displaced left rib fracture during a Triple-A game yesterday, and Ward has been placed on the minor league injured list. There isn’t any current word on how long Ward could be out of action.
It’s a tough break on multiple levels for Ward, who won’t accumulate any MLB service time while on the minors IL. He was only optioned to Triple-A last week after spending much of the season on the Angels’ roster, hitting a respectable .240/.322/.426 over 232 plate appearances and playing at all three outfield positions.
Angels Notes: Trout, Upton, Rendon, Minasian, Trades
The Angels are expecting some major reinforcements to their lineup, though the exact timing of at least two of those bats is still up in the air. GM Perry Minasian told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (Twitter links) and other reporters that the team hasn’t yet determined a start date for Mike Trout‘s minor league rehab assignment, while Justin Upton might need a rehab assignment of his own before he is activated from the 10-day injured list.
A right calf strain sent Trout to the injured list back on May 18, and a subsequent shift to the 60-day IL meant that Trout won’t be able to return until July 17 at the earliest. Given the long layoff, a rehab stint certainly seems necessary for Trout, and the exact length of the assignment will be determined by both the condition of Trout’s calf and how long it will take the superstar to get fully ramped up for big league game action. Trout has already been participating in baseball activities, so if the rehab assignment gets underway soon, it is possible he might be ready to go when first eligible to be activated from the IL a week from today.
Upton has been on the IL since June 25 due to a sore back, and he has already missed more time than expected with what was initially thought to be a fairly minor issue. The outfielder will now be sidelined through the All-Star break, though there still isn’t yet any indication that Upton won’t be eligible for reinstatement in time for the Angels’ first second-half game on July 16. (Upton could do any necessary rehab work in minor league games during the break.)
In better news for the team, Minasian said Anthony Rendon should be ready to return by the time the second half begins. Rendon was retroactively placed on the 10-day injured list on July 5 due to a left hamstring strain, so he’ll end up missing a minimal amount of time if he does indeed get activated on July 16.
Needless to say, getting Trout, Upton, and Rendon back as quickly as possible will go a long way towards determining the Angels’ fate for the 2021 season as a whole, and in the more immediate near-future of their trade deadline plans. Despite multiple key injuries and well-documented pitching and defensive problems, Los Angeles still has a 44-43 record, and is a modest 4.5 games back in the AL wild card race. No deadline addition could compare to getting Trout and the red-hot Upton (with an 1.020 OPS in 112 PA since becoming the Angels’ leadoff hitter) back in the lineup, and while Rendon has struggled with injuries and inconsistency this year, the third baseman has a superstar track record.
With this in mind, Minasian said his front office is considering adding players before the trade deadline, though the GM stopped short of using a traditional “seller” or “buyer” label to describe his team. All options appear to be under consideration, however, as Minasian said the Angels were open to acquiring rental players under contract only for the remainder of the 2021 season.
Fangraphs gives the Halos a 16.5% percent chance at reaching the playoffs, though the x-factors of Trout, Upton, and Rendon could change the equation considerably. If all three are in form upon returning from the IL, the Angels will have one of the scariest lineups in baseball, so Minasian surely has to be focusing on pitching upgrades in his trade explorations. One would imagine that the Angels might still lean towards buying at the deadline even if they’re still hanging around the .500 mark come July 30, though Minasian isn’t likely to make a full-on shopping spree if L.A. is still something of a longshot for the postseason.
West Notes: Angels, Adell, Mariners, France, Diamondbacks, Widener
Angels manager Joe Maddon spoke with his GM Perry Minasian about potentially turning to top prospect Jo Adell in the wake of Mike Trout‘s injury, per Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times (via Twitter). Ultimately, the Angels feel Adell needs more development time and that takes precedence to the team’s need in the short-term. Adell has hit .246/.319/.631 in Triple-A, but his strikeout rate remains disconcertingly high at 36.1 percent. Elsewhere out west…
- Ty France could be back as early as tomorrow for the Mariners, per Corey Brock of the Athletic (via Twitter). Left wrist inflammation sent France to the injured list in the middle of May. France has walked at a career-best 10.5 percent rate in 153 plate appearances this season, but his numbers have otherwise been a touch down from last year. Still, despite a .278 BABIP and .137 ISO, both of which should rebound at least a touch, France has still been five percent better than average with the bat. If he’s not back on Tuesday, the Mariners regardless expect him to return at some point in their series against Oakland.
- Taylor Widener was removed from his start today with right groin discomfort, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter). Widener had just been activated from the injured list after a groin injury, so this is certainly an unwelcome development for the right-hander. He lasted just 1 2/3 innings before handing the ball to the bullpen. The bullpen did a nice job keeping the Diamondbacks in the game, but they ultimately lost 4-3 to the Rockies, their eighth straight loss.
West Notes: Rockies, Freeland, Angels, Suzuki, Ohtani
Denver native Kyle Freeland was a revelation for the Rockies in his sophomore season, posting a 2.85 ERA/3.67 FIP over 202 1/3 innings. Two years later, however, and the Rockies have yet to discuss an extension with their homegrown star, writes the Athletic’s Nick Groke. Freeland’s 2018 was an almost as a magical affair, so starved is the Rockies franchise for a cornerstone rotation piece. The bubble burst in 2019, of course, as his run prevention numbers ballooned to a 6.73 ERA/5.99 FIP. He found a middle ground over 70 2/3 innings in 2020, logging a 4.33 ERA/4.65 FIP with a 15.1 percent strikeout rate, 7.6 percent walk rate, and 51.5 percent groundball rate. Freeland agreed to a $5.025MM deal for 2021 on Friday, and he has two more seasons of arbitration before reaching free agency. Given the range of outcomes Freeland has already seen across four seasons, he’s likely to go year-to-year until reaching free agency after 2023. Let’s stay out west and check in with the Angels…
- Kurt Suzuki had offers for more money, but he signed with the Angels for $1.5MM, per the Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya (via Twitter). Suzuki was with the Braves when Angels’ GM Perry Minasian was an executive there, which certainly could have helped smooth negotiations. But Suzuki’s ties to California don’t end there. Had Suzuki any reservations, he surely could have reached out to Anthony Rendon, who bonded with Suzuki’s son while the two were teammates in Washington, writes Robert Collias of The Maui News. Not to mention, Suzuki’s a native of Hawaii, he won a College World Series playing for Cal State Fullerton, and he began his career playing in the bay for the A’s. At 37-years-old, Suzuki’s not going to be a 130-start catcher, and injuries have hampered his ability to control the run game, but he’s been an above-average bat by measure of wRC+ in each of the last four seasons. Not to mention, having been the trusted receiver of Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez the past two seasons, Suzuki no doubt has plenty of sage advice to impart to the Angels’ less experiences backstops about how to manage a ballgame.
- The Angels came to terms with five of their six arbitration-eligible players before yesterday’s filing deadline, but they’re heading to a hearing with star two-way player Shohei Ohtani. As if arbitration hearings aren’t complicated enough, Ohtani’s two-way abilities coupled with his injury history make him a particularly thorny case. Ohtani requested a $3.3MM salary, while the Angels countered at $2.5MM, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. New GM Perry Minasian says the Angels will be a “file-and-go” team, also known as “file-and-trial,” meaning they don’t plan to continue negotiations after the filing deadline. Of course, even teams with this philosophy occasionally reach an agreement between the filing date and hearing.
Angels Add Three To Front Office
New Angels GM Perry Minasian is bringing three of his former co-workers to his new team. Per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter), the Angels will hire Alex Tamin as an assistant GM, Dominic Chiti as a special assistant, and Rick Williams as a scout. All three were formerly employed by the Braves.
Tamin, Rosenthal notes, was also an assistant GM with the Braves, but his move to the Angels still qualifies as a promotion. Minasian, for example, ranked above Tamin with the Braves, despite the pair both holding the title of assistant GM. Minasian was the senior vice president of baseball operations and assistant GM, while Tamin held the sole title of assistant GM for major league operations. Tamin had previously been employed by the Dodgers as their director of baseball operations before moving to the Braves in December of 2017.He has a solid reputation for his work with analytics in player evaluation.
Chiti, meanwhile, was reassigned from his role as director of player development at the end of the 2019 season, the Athletic’s David O’Brien tweeted at the time. Last season, he served as a scouting special assistant, presumably a role similar to the one he’ll take on with the Angels.
Rick Williams was the Rays pitching coach from 1998 to 2000, at which point he joined the front office as a special assistant to the GM. He spent seven years as a scout for the Yankees and joined the Braves in 2014 as a special assistant for pitching development. Williams, Chiti, and Tamin represent the first three hires of Minasian as the new GM of the Angels.
Angels Name Perry Minasian GM
3:20pm: The Angels have announced the hiring. Minasian received a four-year contract, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets.
12:09pm: The Angels have decided on Braves assistant general manager Perry Minasian as their new general manager, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Rosenthal reported last night that Minasian was the favorite to land the post, replacing the recently fired Billy Eppler.
Following Eppler’s ousting, the Angels reportedly interviewed as many as 20 candidates for the position, though Minasian was one of just five to advance to the second wave of interviews. Also in the mix were Cubs senior vice president of player personnel Jason McLeod, D-backs assistant GMs Jared Porter and Amiel Sawdaye, and Mariners assistant GM Justin Hollander.
Ultimately the job will be entrusted to Minasian, who has been with the Braves since 2017 after a nine-year run working his way up through the Blue Jays’ scouting ranks. His appointment to this post makes for another rookie GM hire for Angels owner Arte Moreno, who has previously tabbed first-timers Tony Reagins, Jerry Dipoto and the aforementioned Eppler to lead his baseball ops department. (Dipoto had served as an interim GM in Arizona prior to being hired by the Angels.)
That’s not to suggest that Minasian is in any way a head-scratching hire — far from it. He’s previously been connected to GM vacancies, including the Mets’ opening prior to their 2018 hiring of Brodie Van Wagenen. Minasian has seemingly been preparing for an opportunity like this for most of his life, in fact. As MLB.com’s Mark Bowman noted back when the Braves hired Minasian in October 2017, he served as the Rangers’ bat boy while his father was their equipment manager and eventually rose to clubhouse attend and then to the team’s scouting department prior to his move to the Blue Jays. His brother, Zack, is currently the Giants’ pro scouting director.
From his time in the clubhouse to his tenure as a prominent scout and then an assistant GM and vice president who helped to bolster the Braves’ analytics department, Minasian has a wealth of experiences and vantage points — all of which have contributed to his ascension to the top of a big league baseball operations department.
Minasian inherits a crowded but manageable long-term payroll outlook in Anaheim. The Angels are at last in the final season of the 10-year, $240MM Albert Pujols contract negotiated by Moreno, and they’ll be out from underneath Justin Upton‘s five-year, $105MM deal after the 2022 season. Starting in 2023, the only players on the books for the Angels are Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, although they’ll have some key players up for arbitration that year — most notably Shohei Ohtani, David Fletcher and Griffin Canning.
Minasian joined the Braves after the 2017 season as they were emerging from a rebuilding effort. He’ll now join a club with an even greater win-now imperative — this time standing alone atop the operations hierarchy (although Moreno has a reputation for being far more involved in baseball operations maneuverings than most of his ownership peers). It’s been six years since the Halos and Trout last reached the postseason, and Moreno has clearly grown restless as that drought has grown.
Minasian should have the green light for an aggressive offseason if he wishes. Jason Martinez of Roster Resource/FanGraphs projects a roughly $36MM gap between the Angels’ current luxury obligations and the luxury tax barrier, and that only figures to grow once the Halos make some expected non-tenders. The Angels will need to address at least one middle-infield spot and perhaps add a catcher, but the bulk of Minasian’s heavy lifting should be expected to be on the pitching side of things — in the rotation and bullpen alike.
Minasian, Hollander Finalists For Angels GM Job
11:29pm: Minasian is seen as the “front-runner,” Rosenthal tweets.
11:03pm: The Angels have narrowed their search for a new GM. They’ll choose between Braves assistant GM Perry Minasian and Mariners AGM Justin Hollander, according to Ken Rosenthal and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Other serious candidates included Jason McLeod of the Cubs and Jared Porter of the Diamondbacks. Both were among the finalists recently removed from consideration, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Another Arizona exec, Amiel Sawdaye, was also among the finalists, Rosenthal adds.
It seems we’ll soon know which of the remaining candidates will get the gig. The Halos will likely announce their choice tomorrow, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Registers reports on Twitter.
The top baseball operations position came open in late September, on the heels of another disappointing season. Owner Arte Moreno elected to cut bait on GM Billy Eppler despite recently extending his contract by one additional year.
Despite a five-year run of losing campaigns under Eppler, the Angels aren’t expected to present a rebuilding opportunity for a new front office leader. The club still features some premium talent, headlined by living legend Mike Trout, with the payroll commitments to match.
Though the Angels reportedly considered a wide array of potential hires, including some with previous experience in a GM seat, the team clearly homed in on a certain archetype as its search progressed. The five finalists are all relatively youthful, rising-star types who’ve yet to run their own department.
Angels Down To Five GM Finalists
Nov. 11: Braves assistant general manager Perry Minasian is the fifth finalist for the job, Rosenthal tweets.
Nov. 10: The Los Angeles Angels are closing in on their next general manager. Per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter), the Angels have narrowed the field to a final five candidates. Granted, the field was said to have narrowed to three as of a couple of days ago, but regardless of how many remain in contention, Rosenthal adds that a decision could be made by the end of the week.
The known candidates are Cubs senior VP Jason McLeod, Diamondbacks assistant GMs Jared Porter and Amiel Sawdaye, and Mariners assistant GM Justin Hollander. The unknown fifth candidate fits a similar mold as an assistant GM type, per Rosenthal. Porter and McLeod both connect back to manager Joe Maddon and his time with the Cubs, while Hollander spent 9 years in the Angels’ front office before moving to the Mariners, notes Rosenthal.
As many as 14 different candidates were said to have interviewed for the role, most notably Michael Hill, formerly of the Marlins. Dave Dombrowski was rumored to be a consideration, but he proved unavailable for front office roles at this time. The Angels have apparently chosen to go the promotion route, selecting someone without significant prior experience in the role.