2 MLB insiders hated what the Angels did at trade deadline, 1 was fine with the moves

Perry Minasian does not concern himself with trade grades and prospect rankings, he just wants to work within the confines of what he has and try to compete to the best of his ability. The Angels' general manager really does block out outside noise and tries to rally the troops, and he does that because he grew up working in clubhouses and he understands that the best way to succeed on the field is to come together to stick it to the outside world.

Minasian truly will need to do his best to ignore the haters, as fans and reporters are always going to be quite critical of the team. Especially this trade deadline, when the Astros, Mariners and Rangers all appeared to win their trades and the Angels were fairly inactive despite the two trades. Trading for Oswald Peraza, Luis García and Andrew Chafin are technically moves that were made, but nobody is pretending that those three are going to make tangible, significant on-field contributions in 2025 that help spearhead a playoff push.

2 MLB insiders hated what the Angels did at trade deadline, 1 was fine with the moves

Here are Buster Olney, Tim Kurkjian and Jeff Passan's comments on the Angels' trade deadline moves on ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" podcast in the context that they were grading every team's activity:

Olney: "This is a team that I think should be in its own special category, the Angels. Two days ago they were talking about selling off pieces like Taylor Ward. Teams thought they were going to make deals, and all of a sudden they won a game on Tuesday night from what I understand. Then they reverse course, and they bought some players. I don't understand. We've seen this three different times in the last four years with the Angels and the trade deadline. I give owner Arte Moreno a D."

Kurkjian: "Well, I had a guy I trust tremendously tell me, 'watch the Angels the second half, they're ready to go and they're going to make the playoffs.' I said, 'how are they going to make the playoffs?' and he didn't provide enough information to sell me on it. He wasn't the only one who thought the Angels were making a push...I think you still have to try when you have a chance to make the playoffs in a very ordinary American League, and they're trying."

Passan: "With all due respect to your friend, they don't have the pitching to make the playoffs...there's a lot to like in the Angels lineup, though. They have really good, young position players...The Angels, they're going to be the Angels. That's just what we've learned. They don't do anything like anyone else."

Olney gave the Angels one of his worst grades, and Kurkjian pushed back some, was ultimately OK with them trying to position themselves as Wild Card contenders but still relented that the deadline was tepid. Olney was quite critical of Moreno deciding to not sell because of two games, and nobody will fault him for that given his horrendous track record of running this team. Kurkjian bought himself some good will with fans by justifying the Angels' decision to not sell on Ward, Jansen, Moncada, Detmers, Rengifo, Anderson etc.

Passan, who loves to just say tongue in cheek "The Angels are Angelsing" or "The Angels are the Angels" as his LAA analysis, was on the podcast to provide rationale for why teams did what they did at the deadline. He clearly will never agree with how the Angels operate until he sees them make an actual playoff push. No one's going to blame him, fans are in-step with Passan's musings at the Angels' expense.

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