LA Angels: Grading GM Perry Minasian this offseason (Part 2)

Angels general manager Perry Minasian has been busy this offseason. A number of holes have been filled up with new additions, but it doesn’t appear the Halos are a serious World Series threat in 2021.

This piece is a sequel to our previous grade of Minasian’s offseason moves following the Kurt Suzuki signing.

OVERALL GRADE: C+

The Angels proceeded to address the one need that fans clearly knew, pitching. Minasian added starters that have some potential and provide depth to a struggling rotation. However, these starters aren’t any of the big-ticket starters that fans wanted to see.

The new additions, like the previous moves, are ‘average’ at best. They address the team’s needs but there was potential for more.

New Angels general manager Perry Minasian has been busy this offseason, but how much of an impact will these new additions have?

These moves reflect just how other teams might view the Halos farm system in terms of development and talent because there were plenty of starters available for trade, but the Angels didn’t pull the trigger.

Any one of these starters could have made the Halos rotation instantly better, which included Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, and Joe Musgrove, all of which went to the San Diego Padres. Instead, the Angels made trades and signings for starters that show that they wanted to play it safe this season and are banking on them to be low-risk, high-reward type of moves.

While these additions do slightly improve the team, they aren’t what fans in Anaheim were expecting, and we will have to wait and see if these moves pay off.

The Angels grabbed their first starting pitcher of the offseason, after signing Jose Quintana to a one-year, $8 million deal. Quintana has some previous ties with manager Joe Maddon during their time with the Cubs from 2017-2019.

Quintana was great during his tenure with the other Chicago team, the White Sox, where he posted an ERA+ of 118 with 781 strikeouts in a total of 951 innings of work during a span from 2012-2016. He was traded to the Cubs during the 2017 season, and then things went downhill from there.

Jose Quintana could be the most reliable option for the Angels starting rotation this season.

The left-hander averaged an ERA+ of 100, which is right around league average, as well as 529 strikeouts in only 544 innings of work through 2017-2020. While he was dealing with an injury during the 2020 season, which cut his short season even shorter. Making the trade worse for the Cubs was giving up Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease with the hopes Quintana would have a lasting impact.

Something was not working for Quintana on the North Side of Chicago, and now he will try to rebound with the Angels.

The Halos are hoping Quintana can return to his Chicago White Sox form, and only at a one-year deal, so they won’t be financially restrained. Quintana could also be used it as a trade chip if he figures things out and the Angels don’t compete. However, given how barren the Angels starting rotation is, it doesn’t seem likely.

While this isn’t the move that can put the Angels over the top, it does provide the team a reliable left-handed option in the team’s rotation that could give the team some innings. The Angels will have to see how he progresses after coming off an injury.

From what Quintana has posted on social media, he looks poised to make a strong comeback.

It feels like the Angels are secretly ran by Maddon with these additions. Another pitcher with ties to Maddon is right-hander Alex Cobb, who was acquired from the Orioles via trade. The Halos sent their No.7 ranked prospect, Jahmai Jones, to Baltimore.

To some, Angels gave up a lot to get Cobb considering that Jones was their seventh-best prospect, but Jones is far from being fully developed as the Orioles may look to progress him further at second base. This mainly has to do with the Orioles taking on the remaining $10 million of Cobb’s $15 million salary for the 2021 season.

The Angels are hoping Alex Cobb can return to his previous days as a starter for Joe Maddon.

Cobb is coming off a decent 2020 that saw him make all ten starts, posting a 4.30 ERA with only 38 strikeouts in 52.1 innings of work.

Cobb is finally getting out of the AL East, something the Angels are banking on that benefits him—having to face offensive-minded teams such as the Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, and his former team, the Rays. The 33-year old had an ERA+ of 106, which is just barely above average. However, from 2018-2020, his ERA+ drops to 86 with an ERA of 5.10. He’s a pitch-to-contact type of pitcher, which means he gets many batters to hit ground balls, which plays to the strong defense the Angels have in their infield.

This is another low-risk, high-reward type of move the Angels made with the hopes a solid defense and leaving the AL East will make Cobb a better starting pitcher in Anaheim.

One of the final trades the Angels performed during the off-season involved gaining some additional outfield help after acquiring Dexter Fowler from the St. Louis Cardinals. Once again, this is another player with ties to Joe Maddon from their days with the Chicago Cubs. The details of this trade aren’t fully revealed, as the Angels will trade a player to be named later or cash considerations.

The Cardinals will also cover $14.75 million of Fowler’s salary in 2021, leaving the Angels to pay the outfielder just $1.25 million.

Dexter Fowler will be relied on to help further the development of young talent this season.

Like the other newly acquired Halos, Fowler is another player that will be a free agent after the 2021 season. The Angels definitely don’t Fowler as a long-term solution. Instead, Fowler will be a stop-gap player until Jo Adell can continue developing in the minor leagues.

The Angels shouldn’t be expected to give up something too much for Fowler as he’s a statistically average player. Fowler will provide more of a leadership role to help the development of the young talent and help build a winning culture.

In 2020, his Fowler slashed .233/.317/.389 with an OPS+ of 92, which puts him just slightly underneath league average.

Fans shouldn’t be expecting too much from the 34-year-old outfielder that is mostly looked like a filler option until Adell or Brandon Marsh is ready.

This trade-only raises a question, and it’s a question that the Angels really need an answer to should their development pay off. When will Adell or Marsh be ready to stay in the big leagues permanently?

The Angels pulled off a decent offseason haul while being one of the more active teams in acquiring talent. They filled in all the holes previously had at the start of the off-season; however, they didn’t land any big-ticket pitchers available in the trade market.

As previously stated, this doesn’t mean the Angels didn’t try. Instead, it could mean other teams did not value the Halos farm system. This proves the Halos desperately need to get their development situation figured out. Nearly all of these moves are just filler roles because most of these additions are one-year rentals that won’t impact the club beyond 2021.

The Angels offseason additions will give them a chance to compete, but there is still room for more.

This means that the Angels would only have Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, Justin Upton, and Shohei Ohtani on the books after the 2021 season. The money will no doubt be there as Angels owner, Arte Moreno, isn’t afraid to spend big. However, it will take some convincing to future free agents that Anaheim should be their next destination to win a World Series.

It doesn’t appear based on these moves Moreno or Minasian is serious about the 2021 season. The moves are good enough to keep the Angels competing and possibly put fans back in the stands, but they don’t make the Halos a legitimate contender.

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With a weak farm and a developmental system that needs to be figured out for the current minor league players they already have, the future for the Angels goes beyond 2021, and Perry Minasian is planning for it already.