3 mistakes Angels made at 2025 Winter Meetings

The Winter Meetings have come and gone, and the Angels came out with a minor move for some infield depth (with upside). Overall, a few of the top free agents available went off the board while the Angels' targets overall remain untouched. It was not a disastrous weekend by any means, but there were still some misteps by Perry Minasian during his time in Orlando. He has the entire offseason to still rebound, but nevertheless these three things were misteps by the Halos' general manager.

3 mistakes made by Angels during Winter Meetings

1. Spending time on the Grissom deal

To be absolutely clear, the trade for Vaughn Grissom is a good one. This is a former top prospect who, at the very least, can provide exceptional defense all across the infield. The cost to acquire him was minimal, and there is a chance it all comes together for him in Anaheim. However, Minasian was in the same place as every other front office executive in baseball as well as all the top agents. To spend meaningful time ironing out a deal for Grissom seems like a waste of the environment he was in. Rather than getting a meeting with Scott Boras or working on a bigger deal, Minasian spent time reuniting with Grissom, who he had a hand in drafting during his time in Atlanta. Again, a good move but an underwhelming one nonetheless.

2. Not topping Rays' offer for Steven Matz

Steven Matz was able to save his career in 2025 as a reliever, posting a 3.07 ERA. He hit free agency at the perfect time, and was able to land a two year, $15 million deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, per reports. This is an incredible value for the Rays, and a number the Angels should have been comfortable topping. The Angels are reportedly trying to go all in on a big free agent rather than taking their approach of several mid-tier free agents from past offseasons, but this value was simply too good to be true at a position of need.

3. Not shedding more salary

If they were not going to add any players via trade or signing, the least Minasian and the front office could have done was more addition by subtraction. Jorge Soler, Robert Stephenson, and Travis d'Arnaud are all signed to contracts that could be reasonably dumped this offseason, but all still remain in Anaheim as of now. The Anthony Rendon buyout is seemingly stalled as well, meaning there is a chance the promises of a big signing are still iffy at best. The Angels have ways to move salary, but did not execute any of them during the Winter Meetings.

Perry Minasian has shown he can work phenomenally under pressure (he regularly performs well at the trade deadline), but ultimately dropped the ball during the Winter Meetings.