Angels agree to extension with GM Perry Minasian

The Angels and general manager Perry Minasian have agreed to an extension, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. It’s a multi-year pact, Fletcher adds in a column. The deal will run through at least 2026, per Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic, giving Minasian two more years.

Minasian was named the general manager of the Angels in November of 2020, following the firing of Billy Eppler. He had previous worked as a scout for Toronto and assistant general manager for Atlanta and was able to secure a four-year pact in his new gig with the Halos. This is the final season of that deal but it seems the club is satisfied enough with his performance to keep him around.

That might seem a little strange, as things haven’t been going especially well for the Angels. Despite having two superstars on the roster in Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout in recent years, the club hasn’t had a winning season since 2015, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014 and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2009. They are 54-73 this year, ahead of only the White Sox in the American League standings.

It’s a matter of debate as to how much blame Minasian can take for that, as it doesn’t appear as though he’s been given a lot of rope to work with in building around those guys. Looking at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the club hasn’t been a huge spender since he was brought aboard. The four-year, $58M deal they gave to Raisel Iglesias has been the biggest deal of his tenure, both in terms of years and guarantee. They already had big contracts on the books for Trout, Anthony Rendon, Albert Pujols and others when he came aboard, and seemingly didn’t want to add much more to that. Owner Arte Moreno plainly stated that he was paring back payroll going into 2024.

The franchise has seemingly had a mandate against significant investments in starting pitching, something that seems to come from ownership since it predates Minasian’s tenure. Since a five-year, $77.5M deal for C.J. Wilson late in 2011, things have been kept fairly modest. Joe Blanton got a two-year, $15M deal at the end of 2012 and then it took a decade for the club to give out another multi-year deal for a starter. At the end of 2022, Tyler Anderson got a three-year, $39M deal, still fairly modest in terms of rotation investments.

Minasian and his front office have seemingly tried to get around these limitations by drafting players they could fast-track to the majors, which they have actually had a bit of success with. 

Zach Neto was the club’s first-round pick in 2022 and Nolan Schanuel in 2023. Both players were up in the majors by last year and having good results. Chase Silseth, taken in the 11th-round in 2021, was pitching in the majors by 2022. Ben Joyce, taken in the third round in 2022, was in the big leagues last year and could now be the club’s closer. Christian Moore, taken 8th overall this year, is already thriving in Double-A.

That’s not to say that there’s nothing to criticize in Anaheim. Due to rushing all their prospects to the majors, the club’s farm system is generally considered one of the worst in the league. Baseball America, FanGraphs and ESPN all rank it dead last, while MLB Pipeline has it 29th, ahead of only the Astros. The major league roster is obviously lacking, given the poor results lately. There’s actually an argument that they have one of the worst long-term outlooks of the 30 clubs in the league.

But there is some controllable talent on the roster alongside Trout, with guys like Neto, Schanuel, Taylor Ward, Jo Adell, Logan O’Hoppe and others all slated to stick around through 2026 or longer. 

They could have made some of those players available this summer and kicked off a notable rebuild but didn’t. It’s not known whether that was a front office decision or something that came from ownership. The light spending in recent years means that the future payroll is starting to clear up. Despite having two massive contracts on the books between Trout and Rendon, RosterResource has the club’s guarantees at $109M next year and $89M in 2026. By 2027, Rendon, Anderson and Robert Stephenson will all be off the books, leaving Trout as the club’s only significant investment.

Moreno has clearly placed some constraints on Minasian but is evidently pleased with the way he has worked within them, so he’ll keep him around for another couple of years to see how things progress.